The famous and sacred Hindu temple is dedicated to Pashupatinath (Lord Shiva) and is located on the banks of the Bagmati River.5th century Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu has survived earthquake that flattened several World Heritages like iconic Dharhara tower and Darbar Square in Nepal.Behind the smoke rising from funeral pyres next to the Bagmati river, Kathmandu’s Pashupatinath Temple solemnly stands—unharmed by Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal.While the massive earthquake has flattened several centuries-old structures in Nepal, the Pashupatinath temple has suffered only slight damage. For the devout, the temple’s resilience may seem like a divine miracle, given the scale of destruction caused by the disaster. But for urban planners and historic preservationists, it offers a lesson in earthquake-resilient building.
The Temple That Survived Nepal's Earthquake - Pashupatinath Temple Remains Unharmed
“This coincidence is certainly a reason for introspection on how the Kedarnath and Pashupatinath temples can withstand such a huge calamity while newly-constructed buildings collapse even after a minor disturbance. It does evoke scientific curiosity,” said Arun Menon, assistant professor at the department of civil engineering, IIT Madras. Menon and his team have been assisting the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) in a project at Kedarnath under the ambit of the National Centre for Safety of Heritage Structure.
“The Pashupatinath Temple is safe, we have checked the shrine many times and it has developed no cracks,” a devotee at the temple said.“We are not going to offices, shops and residing at the temple only because we feel it is the safest place to be during this devastating time,” said a resident of Kathmandu who lost his family members in the quake on Saturday.
The Temple That Survived Nepal's Earthquake - Pashupatinath Temple Remains Unharmed
The exact reasons why the Kathmandu temple escaped virtually unscathed, when other historical sites were completely destroyed, warrants a technical investigation, according to Tej Kumar Karki, former resident and the town planning chief of Kathmandu city. In an email to CityLab, Karki outlines some structural features of the Pashupatinath Temple he thinks might explain its survival.
The Kedarnath temple, Menon said, could survive the flash floods possibly because of its massive structure and strategic location. The temple sits on a raised man-made platform. “In the case of the Pashupatinath temple I would say that the actual ground shaking varies from one point to the other. Two close structures could have different topographical features. The structural layouts are also different.”
The Temple That Survived Nepal's Earthquake - Pashupatinath Temple Remains Unharmed
First, unlike the Durbar Square or Dharahara Tower (collapsed sites shown in the Tweets below), the Pashupatinath Temple isn’t very tall. It is also made of solid material; its brick (as opposed to mortar) walls are held together by the strong metal sheets in its roof. And the temple, looked after by the Pashupati Area Development Trust, has been renovated a couple of times in the recent past “because of its importance, focus, and revenue generation capacity,” writes Karki.It suffered minor cracks on its boundary wall when the quake jolted Nepal, killing over 3600 people.
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