Mount Kailash, Tibet, China
Mount Kailash (also known as Mount Kailasa; Kangrinboqê or
Gang Rinpoche, is a 6,638 m (21,778 ft.) high peak in
the Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains), which forms part of Trans
Himalaya in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The mountain is located near Lake
Manasarovar and Lake
Rakshastal, close to the source of some of the longest Asian rivers: the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Karnali also known as Ghaghara (a tributary of the Ganges) in India. Mount Kailash is considered to be sacred in
four religions: Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism.
Mount Kailash so magical, so majestic, so serene, and so
tranquil makes her existence timelessly sprinkling the aura of spirituality
throughout the Himalayan region. The towering 21,778 ft. high peak Mt. Kailash
in the Himalayas, 25 miles north of the Mansarovar lake is hailed as the abode
of Shiva. It is an arduous trek to Kailash through the snow-clad Himalayas and
is attempted only by a few. The Tibetans refer to Kailash as Kangrimpoche
(Jewel of Snow). Kailash is also referred to as Hemakootam.
The mountain was already legendary before the great
Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were written. Indeed, Kailash is
so deeply embedded in the myths of ancient Asia that it was perhaps a sacred
place of another era, another civilization, now long gone and forgotten. It is
one of the shrines of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams - Shiva Sthalams glorified in the
early medieval Thevaram poems by Tamil Saivite Nayanmars. Kailash is the
fifth of the Thevara Sthalams hailed by the Tamil hymns of the Nayanmars,
located outside of Tamilnadu/Kerala/Karnataka i.e. in Vada Naadu (the northern
lands). This is one of the 4 Devaram Paadal Petra Sthalams in the Himalayas. The
other three being Gowrikund, Kedarnath
and Indraneela Parvatam (Pashupatinath Temple).
Mt. Kailash has the unique distinction of being the
world's most venerated holy place at the same time that it is the least
visited. The supremely sacred site of four religions and billions of people,
Kailash is seen by no more than a few thousand pilgrims each year. This curious
fact is explained by the mountain's remote location in far western Tibet. No
planes, trains or buses journey anywhere near the region and even with rugged
over-land vehicles the journey still requires weeks of difficult, often
dangerous travel. The weather, always cold, can be unexpectedly treacherous and
pilgrims must carry all the supplies they will need for the entire journey.
Etymology
The mountain is known as Kailasa in Sanskrit. The name also could have been
derived from the word Kelasa, which means crystal. The Tibetan name for the mountain is Gangs Rin-po-Che. Gangs or Kang is
the Tibetan word for snow peak analogous to alp or hima; rinpoche is an honorific meaning "precious one"
so the combined term can be translated "precious jewel of snows”. Tibetan
Buddhists call it Kangri Rinpoche; 'Precious Snow Mountain'.
Bon texts have many names: Water's Flower, Mountain of
Sea Water, Nine Stacked Swastika Mountain. For Hindus, it is the home of the
wild mountain god Shiva and a symbol of his penis; for Jains it is where their
first leader was enlightened; for Buddhists, the navel of the universe; and for
adherents of Bon, the abode of the sky goddess Sipaimen.
Another local name for the mountain
is Tisé mountain, which derives from ti tse in the Zhang-Zhung language, meaning "water peak" or "river
peak", connoting the mountain's status as the source of the mythical Lion,
Horse, Peacock and Elephant Rivers, and in fact the Indus, Yarlung
Tsangpo / Dihang / Brahmaputra, Karnali and Sutlej all begin in the Kailash-Lake Manasarovar region.
Geology
The region around Mount Kailash and the Indus headwaters
area is typified by wide scale faulting of metamorphosed late Cretaceous to mid Cenozoic sedimentary
rocks which have been intruded by igneous Cenozoic granitic rocks. Mt.
Kailash appears to be a meta
sedimentary roof
pendant supported by a massive granite base. The Cenozoic rocks represent offshore marine limestones deposited before subduction of the Tethys
oceanic crust. These sediments were deposited on the southern margin
of the Asia block during subduction of the Tethys oceanic crust prior to
the collision between the Indian and Asian continents.
Pilgrimage
For
brief details, please refer below link;
Religious
Significance
For
brief details, please refer below link;
Literary
Mention
It is one of the shrines of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams - Shiva Sthalams glorified in the
early medieval Thevaram poems by Tamil Saivite Nayanmars. Thirunavukkarasar
on his way to Kailasam is said to have been transported by divine
intervention to Tiruvaiyaru - Dakshina Kailasam. Karaikkal Ammaiyar is said to
have trekked to Kailasam and returned to Thiruvalangadu. Sundaramoorthy Nayanar is said to have travelled to
Kailasam on a white elephant, while his contemporary Cheraman Perumal Nayanar
of Tiruvanjaikkalam composed Tirukkayilaya Gnana Ula at Mt. Kailash.
Sambandar sang praises of Kailasam from Sri
Kalahasti. Kailash is the fifth of the Thevara Sthalams
hailed by the Tamil hymns of the Nayanmars, located outside of
Tamilnadu/Kerala/Karnataka i.e. in Vada Naadu (the northern lands).
Mountaineering
Mount Everest is 8848 metres (29029 ft.) in height and
its summit has been scaled by over 4,000 people, while Mount Kailash is 6638 metres
(21778 ft.) and its summit is unclimbed. In 1926, Hugh
Ruttledge studied the north face, which
he estimated was 6,000 ft. (1,800 m) high and "utterly
unclimbable" and thought about an ascent of the northeast ridge, but
he ran out of time. Ruttledge had been exploring the area with Colonel R. C.
Wilson, who was on the other side of the mountain with his Sherpa named Tseten.
According to Wilson, Tseten told Wilson, "'Sahib, we can climb that!' as
he too saw that this (the SE ridge) represented a feasible route to the
summit."
Further excerpts from Wilson's article in the Alpine
Journal (vol. 40, 1928) show that he
was serious about climbing Kailash, but Colonel Wilson, “Just when I
discovered an easy walk to the summit of the mountain, heavy snow began to
fall, making the ascent impossible.”. Herbert
Tichy was in the area in 1936,
attempting to climb Gurla
Mandhata. When he asked one of the Garpons
of Ngari whether Kailash was climbable, the Garpon replied, "Only a man
entirely free of sin could climb Kailash. And he wouldn't have to actually
scale the sheer walls of ice to do it – he'd just turn himself into a bird and
fly to the summit."
Reinhold
Messner was given the opportunity by
the Chinese government to climb in the mid-1980s but he declined. In 2001,
reports emerged that the Chinese had given permission for a Spanish team to
climb the peak, which caused an international backlash. Chinese authorities
disputed the reports, and stated that any climbing activities on Mt Kailash
were strictly prohibited.
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