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Melting pot of Hinduism and Buddhism

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Religious practices are an important part of the lives of the Nepalese people. Mythologies of various Hindu gods and goddesses around in this country and cultural values are based on the philosophies of holy books like the Gita, Ramayana, etc.

Women and children visit neighborhood shrines at dawn to after worship to the gods. Holding plates of rice, flowers, and vermillion powder, then perform puja by lighting incense, ringing the temple bell and applying ‘tika’ a red paste on their foreheads, passersby step at temples and show their reverence to the gods by spending an few minutes praying, occasionally groups of men sit near temples playing music and singing hymns until late night.

In Nepal Hinduism and Buddhism are the two main religions. The two have co-existed down the ages and Hindu temples share the same complex as Buddhist shrines, Hindu and Buddhist worshipers may regard the same god with different names while performing religious rites.

Nepal is the secular state many other religious like Islam, Christianity and Bon are practiced here. Some of earliest in habitants like the Kirats practice their own kind of religion based on ancestor worship and the Tharus practice animism. Over the years Hinduism and Buddhism have been influenced by these practices which have been modified to form a synthesis of newer belief.
 

Culture is embedded in the high peaks of Nepal, tradition flows with its rivers, art traverses through its valleys and religion lies in the heart of its people. Nepal, in short, is a country where art, culture and religion are a part of life of the inhabitants. People celebrate every moment with aroma, adding novelty to the traditions without affecting their essence.