The priests in both shrines are selected from India's southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Both priests affix the word 'ling' after their names to convey their proximity to the god as his worshipper and both temples have a cluster of five Shiva shrines.

The Kedarpeeth seer, who has arrived in Nepal for a month's rituals during monsoon, says the main deity of both priests is Birbhadra, a companion of Shiva, according to Hindu scriptures.

On Aug 22, the seer will formally install a two-foot image of Shiva, also called Doleshwar, at the Bhaktapur shrine. It would be regarded as Kedar math's official recognition of the Mahabharata relic in Nepal.

Famed for the Pashupatinath temple, Buddhist sites and other ancient shrines, the former Hindu kingdom of Nepal is looking to attract more Hindu pilgrims from India and across the world with the discovery of the divine relic.

Two thousand Indians, mostly from the south and Maharashtra, have already reached the Pashupatinath temple, the temple authorities said. 'We expect at least 3,000 pilgrims during the installation of the image.'

Besides the boost in religious tourism, the claim should excite archaeologists and historians as well.

There is already a Mahabharata range in the Himalayas in Nepal while the Terai plains in the south are said to be part of the ancient kingdom of Virat, the king at whose court the five Pandava brothers lived incognito after gambling away their kingdom to the Kauravas.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)