Muktikṣetra Between Worlds: Hinduisation, Syncretism, and Sacred Geography in the Himalayas

Abstract

The Muktikṣetramāhātmya, embedded in the Himavatkhaṇḍa of the Skandapurāṇa (chapters 55–56), extols Muktikṣetra, a sacred site in present-day Mustang, Nepal. It narrates how Brahmā performed a fire oblation on water, with fire symbolising Rudra and water representing Viṣṇu, underscoring the site’s salvific power. Bathing here on the 10th day of the bright fortnight of Jyeṣṭha is said to grant liberation. The text also highlights the 108 water springs at Muktikṣetra, home to the Muktinātha temple—an element first documented in Tibetan sources, suggesting an earlier Tibetan Buddhist sacred geography. This paper argues that the Muktikṣetramāhātmya and the Muktinātha temple were central to the Hinduisation of a formerly Tibetan Buddhist site. Likely facilitated by the Khasa kingdom’s expansion, this transformation incorporated Sanskrit textual traditions, temple construction, and Hindu ritual practices to assert religious authority. Yet, Hinduisation did not erase the site’s Buddhist legacy; rather, Muktikṣetra became a shared sacred space, reflecting broader patterns of Tibetan-Hindu religious syncretism in the Himalayas. By analyzing the political and religious dynamics of this transformation, this study situates Muktikṣetra within the wider discourse on māhātmya literature, sacred geography, and religious coexistence in the region.