There are sharp reactions from India over an attack on two Indian priests at the Pashupati Nath temple in Kathmandu, one of Hinduisms holiest places.
Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood has met with the government in Kathmandu, and in Delhi the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement.
"The attacks have caused deep anguish and serious concern in India. India strongly believes the unprovoked and criminal act goes against the grain of civilisational ties," said the statement.
"We strongly believe that this unprovoked and criminal act of violence goes against the grain of the civilisational ties of friendship that have existed since time immemorial between the peoples of Nepal and India. The safety and security of Indian citizen's abroad is an abiding and core concern of the government of India and we continue to closely monitor the situation surrounding yesterday's unfortunate incident in Kathmandu," it added.
On Friday, Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt, from Karnataka, were stripped and attacked physically and verbally inside the temple, allegedly by Maoists.
Keeping with a temple tradition of employing priest mainly from south India, the two were appointed only in September by the Communist-led government's Prime Minister Madhav Nepal.
The previous Maoist government had decided to scrap the tradition.
Now they have approached the Indian in mortal fear, urging temple authorities to send them back to India immediately and provide them security till the airport.
India registered a protest in Kathmandu. Assurances were given that one of the attackers was arrested and action would be taken.
In 2008, the Maoist-led government had sacked three south Indian priests serving at the temple and replaced them with Nepali Brahmins.
But it was forced to revoke the decision after mounting pressure.
