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 President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav offering prayer at Krishna Mandir at Patan observing Krishna Janmasthami, the birth anniversary of Hindu god Krishna, Thursday, Aug 12 09. nepalnews.com/rh

Krishna Janmashtami, a festival marking the birth of Hindu god Krishna, is being celebrated all over the country on Thursday.

On this auspicious occasion, President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, as the head-of-the state, visited Krishna Mandir (temple) in Lalitpur at around 9 am in the morning and offered prayers at the temple. He also received tika and blessings from the temple's main priest.

Senior government ministers, the Army chief and top government officials also attended the prayer this morning. However, communist Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal did not visit the temple to offer prayers.

In the past, when Nepal was a Hindu kingdom, the country's monarchs visited the Krishna temple to offer prayers and flowers to Lord Krishna and receive tika and blessings, as per the time-honoured tradition.

On this day, people throng to the temples of Lord Krishna, a playful god who, according to Hindu mythology, killed his uncle Kanksa to relieve his people from age-old tyranny, acted as a mentor for the Pandavas in their victory in the famous battle of Mahabharata  and stood as a beacon of the triumph of the good over evil.

Lord Krishna's love and devotion towards his beloved Radha is also equally celebrated by followers of Hinduism. nepalnews.com