Few mountains in the world rival the grandeur of
Mount Kailash (6714m) , the famed holy peak in Western
Tibet. Kailash has long been an object of worship
for four major religions. For the Hindus, it is
the domain of Shiva. It is also the abode of Samvara-a
multi armed, wrathful deity worshipped in the Chakrasamvara
Tantric cycle of Tibetan Buddhism. The Jains of
India also revere the mountain as the site at which
the first of their saints emancipated. And in the
ancient Bon religion of Tibet, Kailash was the sacred
nine storey Swastika Mountain, upon which the Bonpo
founder Shenrab alighted from heaven.
Sprawling below Mount
Kailash is the sacred Lake Manasarovar (4560m),
where a ritual bath will deliver a pilgrim to Brahma's
paradise and a drink of its water relinquishes the
sins of a hundred lifetimes.
The 53 Km Kailash circuit is the holiest of all
Tibet's pilgrimages and the beacon which draws most
travellers to Western Tibet. It is said that a Single
Parikarma erases the accumulated sins of a lifetime,
while 108 circumbulation will achieve Salvation
Or Nirvana.
