01Shiva’s mountain
The Puranas speak of Kailasa as the seat of Mahadev, where he sits in yoga with Parvati beside him and the ganas around, and from whose slopes the great rivers flow. Brahma, the kathas say, made the lake Manasa-sarovara from his mind, manas, so that the rishis doing tapas on the mountain might bathe; to bathe in it and drink its water is held to wash away the sins of lifetimes. The peak, about 6,638 m high, stands apart from the ranges around it, its four faces turned to the quarters. From its region rise the Sindhu, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra and the Karnali. For Jains it is Ashtapada, where Rishabhadeva attained nirvana; for Tibetan Buddhists it is Kang Rinpoche.
02Parikrama and the road there
Pilgrims walk the parikrama of the mountain, about 52 km, in three days, crossing the Dolma La pass at over 5,600 m; Hindus and Buddhists go clockwise, Bon followers the other way. Climbing the peak is not allowed. In 1841 Zorawar Singh’s Dogra army reached Taklakot near the lake before winter and a Tibetan counter-attack destroyed it; he was killed on 12 December 1841. In modern times the Ministry of External Affairs has run the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra since 1981, over the Lipulekh pass and, from 2015, through Nathu La in Sikkim. The yatra was suspended in 2020 and resumed in the summer of 2025.
The life of this place
- 1841Zorawar Singh’s army reaches Taklakot near Mansarovar; he falls at To-yo on 12 December.
- 1981The Government of India’s Kailash Mansarovar Yatra begins.
- 2015The Nathu La route opens.
- 2025The yatra resumes after a five-year break.
Indian pilgrims go through the Ministry of External Affairs yatra, applied for in spring, or through licensed operators via Nepal; prepare for altitude.
