The Maoist onslaught on Indian priests at the famed Pashupatinath temple at Kathmandu has been halted for the present, thanks to the initiative taken by the Maoist Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal "Prachanda" for implementation of the Supreme Court order of the stay order on termination of services of the Indian priests The "Nitya Pujaa"at the temple has been restored and things appear to have been smoothen out.

This episode has raised certain questions regarding with regard to the history of the temple and its builder or builders and whether Adi Shankaracharya of Kaladi, Kerala had at all visited the shrine in order to rid it of alleged growing Buddhist influence on this temple.

During the last fortnight or so, reports emanating from Kathmandu had placed the age e of the temple to only about 300 years or so. A few television channels there had mentioned names of the King(s) who had built it. In any case, there is a great deal of confusion yet about these two aspects - the date of establishment of the temple and the visit of Adi Shankaracharya.

At a discussion on these aspects, organized by the Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation on January 8, a paper was circulated which had said that the temple was built by Raja Bhoj (presumably of the Parmar dynasty of Malwa in today's western Madhya Pradesh)..This claim, unfortunately, was not backed by any quotation from reliable historical document. News channels in Nepal too apparently ignored this cardinal principle of reporting e vents of the past.

Fortunately, we have a most reliable source in our hands, the book "Chronology And History of Nepal ,from 600 B.C. to 880 A.D authored by the redoubtable Dr. Kashi Prasad Jaiswal, the distinguished writer of the celebrated volume ,"Hindu Polity".

In this book, he says that the Lichchavis of Vaishali in Bihar had conquered Nepal after the departure of the Kushanas from India and Nepal, around A.D.200 This departure was caused by the efforts of the Naga-Vakatakas of Central India, The Nagcas were also known as the "Bharashivas" as they used to carry idols of Lord Shiva on their backs, while going on battle so that they would not never show their backs to the enemies, preferring death rather than disrespect to their God.

The Lichchavis had ruled Nepal (actually the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding areas only) for more than 600 years. The third king of the dynasty (they followed a monarchical system and not a republican one as was their practice in Vaishalai) was named Pashuprekshadeva who ruled from c.A.D.255.

Dr. Jaiswal writes: Page 102 "They annexed Nepal around 200 A.D and established a direct government there marking the event with the installation of Pashupati- which is a Mukhalinga of the style of Naga Vakatakas.and the effective founder, Pashupreksha, the third king, who is credited with the introduction of Hindu caste rules and population (of four Varnas) from Hindustan and as being the founder of Pashupati temple".

So we have the evidence that the temple was built in the third century A.D, about 1800 years ago, by a King of Nepal and not by anyone from India. One king of this dynasty Samkardeva has been named as the monarch who had installed a trident (trishul) at the temple, which still exists. This could be sometime in the eighth century. A little later the metal Nandi was installed there, it too exists till today.

There is a legend in Nepal which speaks of Adi Shankaracharya having visited the temple during his peregrinations of Hindustan and having rid the Pashupati temple of Buddhist influence. In fact, some people of Nepal -not eminent historians- accuse the Shankaracharya of committing atrocities on the Buddhista during this visit and re-establishing Hinduism there. There is however, no historical evidence of this visit .In fact the greatest historian in modern Nepal, the Late Dr. D. R Regime, dismisses this theory as a legend, and has said some people have "wrongly places the visit of this southerner too Nepal" or words to this effect.

About nine years ago, this reporter had visited Kilda, the place on the bank of the Periyar River, where Adi Shankacharya was born, and had collected some material about him. They do not indicate this visit. However, only eminent historians are in a position to take a definitive view on this aspect, and not a journalist like this writer.
The cult of Pashupati is very old. When the Archaeological Survey of India had undertaken the excavation at Mahen-jo-daro in the Sind Province in 1923 or thereabout, one of the figurers discovered was that of a God, surrounded by animals, actually Lord Shi, i.e. Pashupati. Thus the legend is more than 4000 years old.

We have in the Mahabharata, the episode of Arjuna visiting a forest in the mountains where he was confronted by a Kirat warrior who was defeated. Actually, it was Lord Shiva in disguise as a Kirata and he had given the "Pashupat Asatra" to Arjun after the battle.