Mount Kailash | Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shiva, Tibet, Manasarovar, Mapam, Bon, & Pilgrimage (original) (raw)

Geography

Mount Kailash is the second highest peak in the Kailash Range, rising 21,778 feet (6,638 meters). It is approximately 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of the most northwestern point of Nepal, approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the nearest border between China and India, and some 300 miles (480 kilometers) northeast of India’s capital, New Delhi.

Lake Mapam, or ManasarovarThe crystal clear waters of Lake Mapam (Manasarovar), with pyramidal Mount Kailash towering behind it, Ngari prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

Approximately 20 miles (35 kilometers) south of the mountain lie two lakes. The more religiously meaningful of them is Lake Mapam (Mapam Yumtso in Tibetan, Mapang Yongcuo in Chinese, and Manasarovar in Sanskrit). In Hindu mythology, Manasarovar (“Lake of the Mind”) is said to have been created by the god Brahma through mental effort. At an elevation of 15,052 feet (4,588 meters), it is one of the highest bodies of fresh water in the world, and it is known for being crystal clear. To that lake’s west lies another lake, known as Rakshastal (“Lake of Demons”) in Sanskrit, Lagngar Cho or Lhanag Tso (“Poison Lake”) in Tibetan, and La’angcuo in Chinese. Unlike Lake Mapam, it is salty and lifeless.

Abode of Hindu gods

KuberaOne resident of Mount Kailash in the early Hindu sources is Kubera, the god of wealth. Sculpture in magnesian schist, Varuna, Karnakata, circa 1050; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The earliest textual mentions of Mount Kailash, as Kailāsa, can be found in the Sanskrit epics Mahabharata (c. 400 bce–200 ce) and Ramayana (c. 500 bce–200 ce). The name Kailāsa is likely derived from Sanskrit kelāsa (“crystal”). In the Mahabharata the mountain is associated primarily with Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth, but it is also a location where ascetic practices are performed, and its snowy peak is mentioned as a poetic trope of loftiness. Kubera is said to dwell there in a mythical city called Alaka and to be attended by various semidivine beings, such as _yaksha_s (nature spirits), _gandharva_s, and _kinnara_s (the latter two being half-humanoid celestial musicians, often imagined with horse heads). In the Ramayana Kubera is said to have taken up residence on Mount Kailash after fleeing the island of Lanka when his half brother Ravana, king of the _rakshasa_s (demons), took over the island. Ravana is said to have followed Kubera to Mount Kailash and to have absconded with his flying flower-chariot (pushpaka vimana).

The Ramayana is most closely associated with the god Vishnu in his incarnation as Rama, but Shiva appears in the text as well, and Kailash is identified as that matted-haired ascetic god’s domicile, where he lives with his wife Parvati (who is herself, as her name means, the daughter of a mountain). The last book of the Ramayana narrates that, after Ravana has taken the flower-chariot from Kubera, Shiva’s servant and vehicle Nandi warns Ravana to steer clear of the pleasure garden on Mount Kailash, where Shiva and his wife sport. Ravana becomes enraged and lifts the whole mountain, making it shake. But Shiva pushes the mountain back down with his toe, crushing the demon’s arms beneath it. In Hindu Agama literature (c. 700 ce), Shiva does not merely push the mountain onto Ravana but traps him there for a thousand years, during which Ravana incessantly praises Shiva and wins the god’s divine favor. The scene of the demon Ravana trying to lift Mount Kailash, with Shiva and Parvati atop it, is commonly found in Hindu sculpture and goes by the title Ravana-anugraha-murti (“sacred image of blessing Ravana”).

ShivaA large statue of Shiva, outside the Shivoham Shiva Temple, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The mountainous background makes the god appear to be meditating in the Himalayas.

By the era of the Puranas (400–1500 ce) the association of Mount Kailash as the abode of Shiva and Parvati had become a fully engrained part of Shaiva mythology, and in the Tantras (earliest texts c. 500–900 ce) the mountain is identified as a Shiva lingam, a sacred symbol of the god that is considered either abstract or phallic. For some Hindus, the mountain is the point of descent of the celestial Ganga (Ganges River): it is said to touch down from heaven there and flow invisibly through Shiva’s hair to Gangotri. The earliest strands of Hindu literature differentiate Mount Kailash from Mount Meru, the center of the universe, but in time the two mythically significant mountains coalesced. As Meru, it is thought that the mountain’s four sides are made of precious stones and metals—crystal, ruby, gold, and lapis lazuli—and that four rivers flow from it, dividing the four continents of the world.

Kailashes across India

The sacred geography of Kailāsa, the mountain abode of Shiva, and Mount Meru as the peaked cosmological center, has been repeated across India in contexts of Hindu worship. Many mountains in India are accorded the status of being like Kailāsa, and Shiva temples abound on mountaintops that are both other homes of Shiva and conceptual replicas of Mount Kailāsa. The 8th-century Kailāsa (Kailasanatha) Temple, carved into a hillside at the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, is the most remarkable of the cave temples in that complex, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.

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Brihadishvara TempleThe central vimana (spire) of Brihadishvara Temple towering over the temple's courtyard and the city of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India, as seen by looking to the northeast.

Hindu temple architecture prominently features a tall steeple, called a shikhara (“mountain peak”), above the central shrine room (garbhagriha; “womb house” or sanctum sanctorum). These structures are often amalgamated in local lore with Mount Meru and Mount Kailash. A prominent example of that identification between mountain and temple tower is found at the Brihadishvara Temple, devoted to Shiva. It stands in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, almost the completely opposite end of the subcontinent from Mount Kailash. Built between 1003 and 1010 ce, the temple’s massive vimana (a pyramidal version of the shikhara) stands more than 200 feet (60 meters) high. It is referred to in temple inscriptions as Dakshina Meru (“Mount Meru of the South”) and imagined as Shiva’s dwelling place in South India.

Buddhist sacred space

Tibetan Buddhism accords sacred significance to many sites of the Tibetan landscape. In that branch of Buddhism, Mount Kailash is identified with Mount Meru, sometimes called Sumeru, the center of the universe. It is referred to in Tibetan as Gang Tise (“Great Snow Mountain” or “Snow Jewel”). Mount Kailash is considered by Tibetan Buddhists to be the center of a great natural mandala (a symbolic diagram used in ritual) in which the geographic features around it are arranged in a symbolic representation. At the center of the mandala is thought to be the Tibetan Buddhist deity Chakrasamvara (Tibetan: Demchog), who is visualized as engaging in meditation rituals with his consort Vajravarahi atop their dwelling place, Mount Kailash. Other Buddhist sources claim that the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, visited Mount Kailash. The Buddhist arhat (“worthy one”) Angaja is also said to dwell on Mount Kailash.

MilarepaThe great ascetic Milarepa; mineral pigments and gold on cotton cloth with silk borders, Tibet or Nepal, 19th century; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Mount Kailash, as Tise, is particularly important within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, which associates the site with the ascetic master Milarepa (1028–1111 or 1040–1123, according to most scholars), who meditated there. Milarepa is noted in the tradition for extreme asceticism—he turned green from living off nothing but nettles—and for incredible abilities earned through meditation. In one legend, he had a magical duel with a practitioner of Tibetan Bon religion and bested his rival, thereby claiming Kailash as his own refuge for meditation. The cave where Milarepa meditated on Mount Kailash is a pilgrimage destination for Buddhists.

Tibet’s soul mountain

Mount Kailash, also under the name Tise, is a sacred mountain in the Bon tradition of Tibet, a native religious system that preceded, influenced, and was influenced by the development of Tibetan Buddhism in the late 1st millennium. Bon practitioners (Bonpos) and some historians consider Mount Kailash to have been the center of the ancient Zhangzhung kingdom and civilization (c. 500 bce–625 ce), which flourished in western Tibet, although little information about the culture remains, and much of it is filtered through later Bon sources. Bon practitioners consider Zhangzhung to have been the prior stronghold of the Bon tradition. Bon belief holds that 360 deities, called gekho, who represent the days of the lunar calendar, dwell atop Mount Kailash. The mountain is also said to be the home of the gods Welchen Gekho and Nyipangse. In later Bon texts, Mount Kailash is termed the bla ri (“soul mountain”) of the region.

Jain myth and meaning

RishabhanathaA statue of the first Jain Tirthankara, Rishabhanatha, in meditation. White marble with traces of pigment, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, circa 1612; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In Jainism, Mount Kailash has sometimes been identified with Ashtapada (“eight steps”), a mountain in Jain mythology on which Rishabhanatha, the first of 24 Jain Tirthankaras (“Ford-makers”), achieved final liberation (moksha). The Jain Tirthankaras are savior figures who have achieved final liberation, crossing over the metaphorical river that is the endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Rishabhanatha, as the first to achieve this feat, is credited as the founder of Jainism, prior to the historical Tirthankara Mahavira. Mount Kailash is itself considered a tirtha (“ford”), or sacred site, in Jainism and is an important destination for Jain pilgrimage. However, not all Jains agree on this point; indeed, some contend that Ashtapada is not the mountain currently identified as Mount Kailash and that the site of Rishabanatha’s liberation has been lost.

Mount Kailash is a popular destination for religious pilgrimage (yatra) among all four religions. The trek around the mountain (parikrama or pradakshina in Hinduism and Jainism, kora in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon) is approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) and can be completed in about three days, although a full tour, including transportation and acclimation to the elevation, can take longer. An inner kora route of approximately 20 miles (35 kilometers) can be completed in one day. Hindus and Buddhists circumambulate the mountain clockwise, whereas Jains and Bon practitioners circle the mountain counterclockwise. For Hindus, seeing the sacred mountain is considered a form of darshan, vision of a deity. In recent years, tourist companies have provided helicopter trips to the mountain and aerial darshan.

Kailash also spelled:

Kailāsa or Kailas

Tibetan:

Gang Tise or Gang Rinpoche

Religious pilgrimages to Mount Kailash and Lake Mapam were permitted after the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1951 and guaranteed in the Sino-Indian Treaty of 1954. However, access was restricted after the Tibetan uprising of 1959, and the frontier was closed in 1962. Pilgrimage access was reopened in 1981. Despite ongoing border tensions, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua agreed that a limited annual number of pilgrims from India would be allowed to visit the sacred mountain and lake. In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as additional border skirmishes between India and China in the Ladakh and Aksai Chin regions, prompted a five-year pause in pilgrimage to the area. In June 2025, pilgrimage from India to Mount Kailash and Lake Mapam recommenced.