Masta does not have a fixed idol. In some places a stone is placed; in others, worship is done with Trishul, bells, and flags. These simple, unadorned outdoor shrines called Than or Maandu are the sacred anchors of the Masta tradition, located on hilltops, in forest groves, and at the edges of villages across western Nepal. Without the elaborate stonework or institutional backing of mainstream Hindu temples, they are vulnerable to weathering, neglect, encroachment, and the slow erasure that comes when younger generations stop visiting. In Bajura, many Masta sacred groves have been turned into pasture or cleared for buildings a loss that is simultaneously spiritual and ecological.

The Foundation’s Temple Cleaning and Preservation program mobilizes youth volunteers many of them trained Youth Ambassadors to make regular visits to shrine sites throughout the year and especially before major festivals. Volunteer teams clear overgrown vegetation, repair deteriorating boundary stones and ritual platforms, replant protective trees according to traditional norms, and restore the ritual cleanliness that makes these spaces spiritually functional. All work is carried out in consultation with the local Dhami or elder custodian of each shrine, ensuring that the physical restoration respects the sacred protocols and community ownership of each site.

Preservation also has a documentation dimension. As part of each site visit, teams photograph the architectural and iconographic features of the shrine, record its history and associated mythology from local elders, and map its location with GPS coordinates. This creates a growing inventory of active Masta shrines their conditions, their custodians, and their stories that forms the Foundation’s Sacred Sites Register. Sacred groves once protected by belief in local deities are now being preserved under environmental laws, acknowledging their dual ecological and spiritual significance and the Foundation is actively working to get key Masta sites formally recognized and protected under Nepal’s cultural heritage legislation.