Nepal's Pashupatinath Temple missing Indian devotees amid COVID-19 lockdown

The temple has remained closed for devotees for the past five months.

The Indians are also not preferring to visit Kathmandu amid lockdown measures.

The large section of the devotees who attend the temple are from India.

On an average close to two to three thousand people from India used to visit the revered Hindu shrine devoted to Lord Shiva daily, according to the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT), reports ANI news agency.

"Till the very second week of March, we use to have constant flow of Indian tourists which used to go up till around two to three thousand people. They use to come in groups and conduct worship here, which includes special puja too. All these do not take place now," PADT's Member Secretary Ghana Shyam Khatiwada told the news agency.

The PADT hopes that if the Nepali government decides to open the temple by making people follow all the security measures, then the number of devotees, both from India and Nepal, are expected to rise.

Speaking on the offerings made by the Indian tourists,  Ghana Shyam Khatiwada told ANI, "Sometimes the amount used to soar high to half a million. If we calculate on monthly basis then it used to stand at 4.5 million when there is special occasions but when devotees especially from India's Southern part use to come here it sometimes used to increase by two folds."

Indian PM Narendra Modi had also visited the temple during his trip to the Himalayan nation.

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