After his father's (King Mahendra) death in 1972, King Birendra consulted his court astrologers, who advised him to delay his coronation for three years, with the most auspicious moment for his crowning being at 8:37 am precisely on 4 February 1975. Soon after dawn on that day, King Birendra was driven to the temple of his ancestral palace, the Hanuman Dhoka ("Gate of Hanuman"). There he was smeared with mud taken from various symbolic places - the bottom of a lake, the tusk of an elephant, a mountain, the confluence of two rivers and the doorstep of a prostitute's house. Then, with Queen Aishwarya beside him, he was cleansed with butter, milk, yogurt and honey as priests chanted praises and salutations.