Mount Kailash

Overview

Mount Kailash is a 6,638-meter mountain in the Ngari region of western Tibet. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and followers of Bön, the indigenous religion of Tibet, revere the mountain, and pilgrims of all four traditions walk the Kora, a 52-kilometer circumambulation of its base. Climbing the mountain is not permitted, and no ascent has been recorded. Lake Manasarovar, which the same traditions regard as holy, is located about 30 kilometers to the southeast.

Present

Mount Kailash is located in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and access to the region is regulated by the Chinese authorities, who do not permit climbing. Pilgrimage centers on the Kora, also known by its Sanskrit name Parikrama, a 52-kilometer path around the mountain that begins and ends at the village of Darchen and crosses the Drolma La pass at about 5,630 meters. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain pilgrims walk the route clockwise, while Bön practitioners walk it counterclockwise. Most complete the circuit in about three days; some perform it as a continuous series of full-body prostrations, which takes several weeks. During Saga Dawa, a Tibetan Buddhist festival held at the full moon of the fourth Tibetan month, pilgrims gather at the Tarboche flagpole on the Kora route for the annual raising of a great prayer-flag pole. India and China jointly organize an annual pilgrimage season for Indian pilgrims, the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra.

Religious Significance

Bön (from antiquity) Bön, the indigenous religion of Tibet, which predates the arrival of Buddhism there, regards Mount Kailash as the seat of spiritual power and names it Yungdrung Gutseg, the nine-story swastika mountain. Bön tradition holds that the religion's founder, Tonpa Shenrab, descended from the sky at the mountain. Bön pilgrims circle it counterclockwise.

Hinduism (from antiquity) Hindus revere Mount Kailash as the abode of the god Shiva and his consort, the goddess Parvati, and identify it with Mount Meru, the mountain at the center of the universe in Hindu cosmology. Hindus believe that circumambulating the mountain cleanses sin and can bring liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

Jainism (from antiquity) Jain tradition identifies the region of Mount Kailash with Ashtapada, the place where Rishabhanatha, the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras, the enlightened teachers of Jainism, attained liberation.

Buddhism (from the first millennium CE) Tibetan Buddhists name Mount Kailash Kang Rinpoche, the precious jewel of snow, and regard it as the dwelling of Demchok, a meditational deity embodying supreme bliss. Buddhists believe that one Kora erases the wrongdoing of a lifetime and that 108 circuits bring enlightenment. Tibetan Buddhist tradition recounts that the poet-saint Milarepa won the mountain for Buddhism in a contest of spiritual power with a Bön practitioner.

History & Structure

Mount Kailash is a peak of dark rock and snow in the Gangdise range of western Tibet, rising to 6,638 meters above the surrounding high plateau. Its four faces are roughly aligned with the cardinal directions, and its summit is covered in snow year round. Four major rivers of Asia rise in the region around the mountain: the Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, and the Karnali, a tributary of the River Ganges. Lake Manasarovar, a freshwater lake at 4,590 meters, is located about 30 kilometers to the southeast. There are no structures on the mountain itself. Along the Kora route are small monasteries, among them Dirapuk and Zutulpuk, where pilgrims rest, and the Tarboche flagpole, the site of the annual Saga Dawa ceremony. The village of Darchen at the southern foot of the mountain serves as the starting point of the pilgrimage. Requests to climb Mount Kailash have been made to the authorities over the years, and none has been granted.

Additional Resources

• Related: Circumambulation of Mount Kailash (University of Colorado, Tibet Himalaya Initiative)
• Book: The Sacred Mountain: The Complete Guide to Tibet's Mount Kailas by John Snelling (1990)