Birupakshya: The Tale of a Holy Kirati God at Pashupatinath
A Kirati named Birupakshya, also known as Kali, lived during the time of King Dharmadatta. People thought she came out of the ground slowly. This is what happened to him.
Birupakshya left home when he was young and didn't talk to his family. His mother also left home after many years of not seeing him. She wandered far away. They ran into each other in a forest by chance, but since they hadn't seen each other in so long, they didn't recognize each other. They lived together as strangers, but over time they became friends and then lovers. They were filled with regret when they found out they were mother and son. This sad event taught us how important it is to know our social ties and control ourselves.

In search of atonement, Birupakshya prayed to Lord Pashupatinath for a way to make amends. Pashupatinath told him to drink the liquid copper from twelve big pots. Birupakshya melted the metal with his bare hands, and the fire burnt off his beard, eyebrows, and eyelids. His face was so badly burnt, he couldn’t help but look deformed—hence the name Birupakshya (the one with the deformed face). The way the story is told, Birupakshya realized too late that Pashupatinath was actually trying to make him drink himself to death.

Buddha pardoned him and presented him with a beaded crystal rosary, directing Birupakshya to articulate the mantra "Shadamsari" while spinning the beads. Only when the mantra had been chanted an ample amount of times—allowing the wearer to almost unconsciously work with the beads—would the trail of sins leading back to Birupakshya's past erase itself and permit his soul to ride the short path to liberation. Afterwards, watching a man calmly saw a tree into pieces, Birupakshya learned from this simple act the true meaning of patience and perseverance. Soon he was following his teacher's order. He chanted a mantra under the guidance of an old potter. The potter filled large pots with water, chanting the mantra as he worked. Birupakshya chanted even when his fingertips burned. He worked in the presence of the potter until the mantra had rendered him pure enough to stand in Pashupatinath's presence without fear.

Birupaksyha, seeing this, realized that Pashupatinath and Buddha were one and the same and prayed in reverence. This event is commemorated annually at Pashupatinath on Bakhumlal Ashtami (Mukha Ashtami). It symbolizes religious tolerance and unity—something that is still very much an integral part of Pashupatinath today. The Birupakshya statue at Aryaghat of Pashupatinath dates back to the 4th Century. It shows a form of Shiva, gentle of nature with a smile on his lips. The idol has a third eye on his forehead, a crescent moon on the left side of his head. In the making of the statue, the artisans from the ancestral Shiva lineage contributed their skills towards crafting this statue that stands as one of the rarest forms of Shiva—a statue with an etched smile on its nature-friendly visage. If my conjecture is right, this is the only form with a smile among the varieties of Shiva statues that have been worshipped in the past.