Muktinath

Muktinath is a popular piligrimage site for both Hindu and Buddhist located in Kaligandaki Valley a an altitude of 3,710 meters in Mustang. Within Hinduism, it is called Mukti Kshetra, which literally means the ‘’place of liberation or moksha. This temple is considered to be the 106th among the available 108 Diya Desam, which are considered sacred by the Sri Vaishnava sect. The ancient name of this place in Sri Vaishnava literature , before Buddhist origin is Thiru Saligramam. This houses the Saligram Shila, considered to be the naturally available form of Sriman Narayan the Hindu Godhead. The Buddhists call it Chumig Gyatsa, which in Tibetan means’’Hundred Waters ‘’. Although the temple has a Vaishnava origin, it is also revered in Buddhism. For Tibetan Buddhists, Muktinath-Chumig Gyatsa is a very important place of Dakin’s, goddesses known as Sky Dancers, and one of the 24 Tantric places. They understand the murti to be a manifestation of Avalokitesvara.
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition states that for this reason, Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism had meditated at Muktinath on his way to Tibet. This temple is praise by many saints of Hindu practice. The scripts narrating the importance of this temple are available in Vishnu Purana with the Gandaki Mahathmya.