Hindu devotees performed rituals in memory of their departed family members on the occasion of the Bala Chaturdashi festival at the Pashupatinath temple on Monday morning.

After taking a sacred bath in the Bagmati river adjoining the temple early in the morning, the devotees scattered Satbij or seven types of grains or seeds—paddy, barley, sesame, wheat, gram, maize and finger millet—as they followed a prescribed path around the temple.

People who have lost their family members come to the shrine to spend the night awake, lighting oil-fed lamps in their memory in the Kailash area, Ram Mandir and on the western side of the Pashupatinath temple.

Photojournalists Sanjog Manandhar and Angad Dhakal of the Post have captured some photos of the ritual.