Muktinath

Temple and sacred site (tirtha) at the
headwaters of the Kali Gandaki River in
Nepal; the temple sits at nearly 13,000
feet at the foot of Annapurna, one of the
highest mountains in Nepal. Muktinath
is a sacred site to both Hindus and
Buddhists; each has a temple there. The
Buddhist temple is built over a vent of
natural gas, which produces a flame
when lit. The Hindu temple, dedicated
to the god Vishnu, is built over a natural
spring that is channelled outside the
temple through 108 spouts shaped like
heads of cows. The Kali Gandaki River is
also religiously important because the
river bed is one of the major sites of fossilized black ammonite. Known as the
shalagram, this ammonite is considered
a self-manifestation (svayambhu) form
of Vishnu.