Hindu Gods & Goddesses of Nepal: A Deity Directory

Hinduism is the religion of the great majority of Nepalis. At the 2021 National Population and Housing Census (2078 Bikram Sambat), 81.19 percent of the population, some 23.68 million people, identified as Hindu, while 8.21 percent were Buddhist. Nepal was the world's only Hindu kingdom until it became a secular federal republic in 2008 (2065 BS); Hindu deities nonetheless remain woven into public ritual, statecraft and daily domestic life.

The pantheon is built around the trimurti, the three great gods Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer, together with the Devi or Goddess in her many forms, and a vast supporting cast of avatars, guardian deities and local mother-goddesses. Worship in Nepal is strikingly syncretic: in the Kathmandu Valley, Hindu and Newar Buddhist devotion overlap so completely that many shrines, including Machhindranath, Swayambhunath and the living goddess Kumari, are venerated by both faiths.

Unlike neighbouring India, Nepal names no single official god, yet Pashupati, a form of Shiva, is universally treated as the unofficial national deity, and the goddess Taleju Bhawani was the royal tutelary deity of the Malla and Shah courts. This page works through the principal gods and goddesses one by one, noting for each its role, its vahana (animal mount), its consort, its most important Nepal temple and the festival or jatra tied to it, cross-referencing the site's temples, festivals and religions sections.

Shiva, affectionately called Mahadev (the great god), is the most widely worshipped deity in Nepal. He is revered here above all as Pashupati, 'Lord of all creatures', a benign five-faced form of Shiva as the herdsman of every living being. His seat is Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal's holiest Hindu shrine, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 and administered by the Pashupati Area Development Trust. The gilded pagoda enshrines a four-faced stone lingam and is open only to Hindus.

Shiva is worshipped chiefly in the abstract form of the lingam rather than as a figure. His iconography, where he does appear in human form, includes the trident (trishul), a third eye, the crescent moon and the river Ganga in his matted hair, a serpent coiled at his neck, and a tiger skin. His vahana is Nandi the bull, who kneels facing every Shiva shrine, and his consort is Parvati (also worshipped as Durga and Uma).

The great Shiva festival is Maha Shivaratri, the 'Great Night of Shiva', celebrated in Falgun (February to March), when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and ash-smeared sadhus converge on Pashupatinath. The entire month of Shrawan (July to August) is sacred to Shiva, its Mondays (Sombar) marked by fasting and long temple queues. Other major Shiva sites include the sacred trident-formed lake of Gosaikunda in Rasuwa (a mass Janai Purnima pilgrimage), Halesi Mahadev in Khotang, known as the 'Pashupatinath of the East', and Doleshwar Mahadev in Bhaktapur, believed by many to be the head of the Kedarnath shrine.

Vishnu, the preserver of the cosmos, is worshipped across Nepal under the name Narayan. The Shah kings who unified Nepal were traditionally regarded as living incarnations of Vishnu, giving the god a distinctly royal association. His vahana is Garuda, the man-eagle; his consort is Lakshmi, goddess of wealth; and he is often shown reclining on the coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Ananta) upon the ocean of milk.

The most striking Vishnu shrine in the valley is Budhanilkantha, north of Kathmandu, where a five-metre monolithic image of Vishnu reclines on Shesha in a recessed water tank, carved from a single block of black basalt around the 7th to 8th century. It is busiest at Haribodhini Ekadashi (Kartik, October to November), when Vishnu is believed to wake from his cosmic sleep; by tradition the reigning monarch never visited. Nearby Changu Narayan, one of the oldest temples in the valley, is a UNESCO-listed Vishnu shrine, while Muktinath in Mustang honours Vishnu as Mukti Narayan and is counted among the 108 sacred Divya Desam sites, revered by Buddhists too.

Vishnu's avatars are worshipped as gods in their own right. Ram (Rama), the seventh avatar, and his consort Sita, revered as Janaki, are the focus of the marble Janaki Mandir in Janakpur (built in 1910), the reputed birthplace of Sita, which comes alive at Vivaha Panchami and Ram Navami. Krishna, the eighth avatar, is honoured at the elegant stone Krishna Mandir in Patan Durbar Square, especially at Krishna Janmashtami.

Devotion to the Goddess (Devi or Shakti, the feminine divine power) is central to Nepali Hinduism. She is worshipped in gentle forms such as Parvati, Saraswati and Lakshmi, and in fierce warrior forms such as Durga and Kali. The supreme festival of the Goddess is Dashain (Vijaya Dashami or Navaratri), Nepal's longest and most important celebration, marking Durga's victory over the buffalo-demon Mahishasura; the nine forms of the Navadurga are worshipped over nine nights, and animals are sacrificed at Devi temples nationwide.

Across the hills, the Goddess is worshipped as Bhagwati, the wish-fulfilling mother. The most famous is Manakamana in Gorkha, an incarnation of Parvati whose name means 'wish of the heart'; her worship is tied to the 17th-century Gorkha court, and pilgrims now reach the ridge-top shrine by Nepal's first passenger cable car, opened in 1998. Pathibhara Devi crowns a 3,794-metre ridge in Taplejung, while Dakshinkali at Pharping, south of Kathmandu, honours the black, fierce goddess Kali with animal sacrifices every Tuesday and Saturday.

The valley's most politically charged goddess is Taleju Bhawani, a tantric form of Durga who served as the royal tutelary deity (kuladevi) of the Malla dynasty. She was brought north in the 14th century by King Harisimha Deva of Simraungadh, and King Mahendra Malla raised the great Taleju Temple beside Kathmandu Durbar Square in 1564; its inner sanctum opens to the public only once a year, on Mahanavami, the ninth day of Dashain. Sister Taleju temples stand in Patan and Bhaktapur.

Taleju's power is embodied in the living goddess Kumari. A prepubescent girl, chosen from the Newar Buddhist Shakya clan against thirty-two auspicious bodily signs (battis lakshan), is venerated as the earthly vessel of Taleju and Durga. The Royal Kumari of Kathmandu lives in the Kumari Ghar at Durbar Square and rides through the old city in her chariot during the Kumari Jatra of Indra Jatra, a vivid emblem of Nepal's fused Hindu and Buddhist tradition.

Bhairav (Bhairava, 'the terrifying one') is the ferocious manifestation of Shiva and the great guardian deity of the Kathmandu Valley, revered by Hindus and Newar Buddhists alike. He appears in many forms, most famously the Ashta Bhairav, the eight guardians posted around the valley, and is depicted with bulging eyes, protruding fangs, a garland of skulls and a retinue of dogs. His consort is Bhairavi (a form of Kali).

The most awe-inspiring image is Kaal Bhairav (Kala Bhairav) at Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu Durbar Square, a monolith more than twelve feet high carved from a single black stone, showing the six-armed god trampling a corpse. Long regarded as the protector of the city and the giver of justice, oaths were once sworn before him in the belief that a lie told at his feet would bring instant death. The colossal gilded mask of Seto (White) Bhairav is unveiled only during Indra Jatra, when rice beer flows from his mouth to the crowd.

Bhairav also drives some of Nepal's most dramatic street festivals. At Bisket Jatra, Bhaktapur's New Year celebration, rival crowds haul the towering chariot of Bhairav through the town in a tense tug-of-war. Pachali Bhairav in Kathmandu and Akash Bhairav on New Road are further centres of his cult, each with its own jatra and ritual retinue.

Some deities belong less to grand pilgrimage than to daily life. Ganesh (Ganapati), the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is the remover of obstacles and is invoked first at the start of any ritual, journey or new venture; his vahana is the mouse. The valley is ringed by four principal Ganesh (Binayak) shrines, Surya Binayak in Bhaktapur, Karya Binayak in Lalitpur, Jal Binayak in Chobhar and Ashok Binayak (Maru Ganesh) in Kathmandu, visited especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Hanuman, the monkey god and the devoted servant of Ram, embodies strength, loyalty and protection. His vermilion-smeared statue, installed by King Pratap Malla in 1672, guards the gate of the old royal palace, which takes its name, Hanuman Dhoka, from him. Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, music and the arts, rides a swan; students and artists worship her at Shree Panchami (Basanta Panchami) in Magh, notably at the Saraswati shrine below Swayambhunath.

Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu and goddess of wealth and fortune, is honoured on the third day of Tihar (Deepawali), when homes are cleaned, lit with rows of lamps and opened to welcome her. Surya, the sun god, is worshipped by the Madhesi community at Chhath. The rain-and-harvest god Machhindranath (Bunga Dyah), patron of Patan, is the quintessential syncretic deity, worshipped by Buddhists as the bodhisattva Karunamaya (Avalokiteshvara) and by Hindus as a form of Shiva or Lokeshwar, and paraded in the months-long Rato Machhindranath Jatra, Nepal's longest festival.

The list below summarises Nepal's most-worshipped Hindu gods and goddesses, pairing each with its cosmic role, its vahana and consort where relevant, the principal Nepal temple where it is enshrined, and the main festival or jatra dedicated to it. Where a deity's temple or festival has its own page on this site, follow the temples and festivals sections for fuller detail.