Excerpts from A pilgrimage to Kailas Manasarovar - An Odyssey in Tibet by Tarun Vijay Mount Kailas base camp, Tarchen, 11 A.M. The sun shone bright and high. It was the clearest blue sky I had ever seen, except for a patch of clouds enveloping the Holy peak of Mount Kailas like a white silken curtain. We, a group of 30 pilgrims came out of our base-camp rooms to offer obeisance to the Holy Mount Kailas. With folded hands and prayers on our lips, we waited for the clouds to move away. Suddenly everything changed. The sound of the snowy silence, the colour of the sandy planes, the fluttering of the prayer flags. The enthralled voices of the pilgrims sounded like mantras. Clouds drifted away as if responding to our fervent prayers. Mount Kailas appeared in its full majestic effulgence. It was the moment of truth, the golden opportunity to be worshipping Shiva with chants of Mahamrityunjay, the supreme mantra of victory over death! Tears of joy and fulfilment rolled down. We embraced each other in divine brotherhood. Many believed that they had been waiting for this moment for several lifetimes. This was the first opportunity to offer obeisance to the legendary 22,028 feet high Mount Kailas, abode of Lord Shiva and the 'Navel of the Earth'. True to the descriptions in the scriptures, the Land of Shiva is simply enchanting, mesmerizing and divine. Since ages men and women have travelled to this natural shrine to attain peace and Nirvana. I do not know what inspired me to join this group and undertake the arduous 865 kilometre long journey from Delhi, but having reached my destination, I strongly felt that without this Yatra, my life would have been less meaningful. In Tibet, Kailas is worshipped with great reverence. The Tibetan names for Mount Kailas are Kang Rimpochhe and Mount Ti-se, meaning the snow clad supreme mountain. According to an ancient Hindu scripture the Shiva Purana, a pilgrim who has had Darshan [1] of Kailas and has bathed in the waters of lake Manasarovar acquires absolution for the sins of the past seven generations of his family. Even the extreme atheist cannot but bow his head in reverence when he first sets his eyes on Kailas. Waves of spirituality envelope one entirely. This is the only place on earth where Mahadev Shiva, the God of Gods, dwells and where one can actually 'see', 'touch' and feel his divine aura! It takes two days to complete the 54 kilometre long parikrama or circumambulation of Kailas. To the south of Kailas is lake Manasarovar or Manas with a circumference of 90 kilometres. Parikrama of Manas can be done within two days. In Tibetan language Manas is called Tso mapham or Tso mawang. To the south of Manas is the Gurla Mandhata mountain named after Mandhata, a great king of the yore, who did penance here. This whole region finds vivid descriptions in the Indian scriptures. The Ramayana says : "There is no mountain like Himachal (Himalaya), for in it are Kailas and Manasarovar. As the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himachal." The great poet Kalidasa beautifully described Kailas and Manasarovar in his masterpiece Kumarsambhavam : "In the northern part there is a mighty mountain by name Himalaya—the abode of perpetual snow—fittingly called the Lord of mountains, animated by Divinity as its soul and internal spirit (or in other words, Divinity Incarnate), spanning the wide land from the eastern to the western sea, it stands, as it were, like the measuring rod of the earth. At the direction of King Prithu, the selfsame mountain was used as a calf by all other mountains, while the Mount Meru (Kailas) stood as an expert milker of cows and milched the Mother Earth the milk of shining gems and medicinal herbs of wonderful virtue and supreme efficacy (in order to adorn the Himalayas)." Our journey began at Delhi by bus which was bound for Dharchula. The rest of the trek is covered on foot or on mule-back. The whole route is a feast of hypnotic scenic splendour. A pilgrim travelling in a party is bound by a time schedule, otherwise one could spend hours enjoying just one scene. The milky magic of numerous cascading waterfalls and shades of greenery and miracles of nature like Mount Om. This is a glacier on top of a mountain shaped like the Hindu symbol of the supreme cosmic power of "Om". Mount Om is a repository of shared religious beliefs as well as a shared boundary between India, Nepal and Tibet. (photographs on pages 10 & 45) From 1958 to 1980, the Chinese routes to Kailas were
closed for Indian pilgrims because of the political tension in Tibet.
The Western tourists
and explorers were allowed via Kathmandu (Nepal) and Lhasa (Tibet), though
in restricted numbers. However, during the Cultural Revolution in China
in the 1960's, the entire region was sealed off because the Chinese were
not keen to reveal the devastated monasteries of Tibet to western tourists.
By late seventies many of the monasteries were rebuilt or cosmetic repairs
undertaken by the Chinese Government. The Chinese were also eager to improve
relations with India. In 1979 the erstwhile Indian foreign minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee approached Beijing with a request to open the route to
Kailas Manasarovar for the Indian pilgrims. It was readily accepted and
under an agreement between New Delhi and Beijing, the first batch
of Indian pilgrims reached Kailas Manasarovar in September 1981 after a
gap of two decades. Since then the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA) has been organising pilgrimages for the Indian nationals. Every year
applications for this pilgrimage are invited from Indians during the month
of April. After scrutinizing the applications, MEA calls the applicants
to undergo a medical test by the doctors of Indo-Tibetan Border Police
in Delhi. Those found fit to undertake the tough journey to Kailas are
authorised to travel with the group. Approximately 500 pilgrims are sent
in fourteen batches beginning first week of June through September. Each
pilgrim spends about 35 to 40 thousand Indian rupees, including five hundred
US dollars which are paid to the Chinese government towards visa fees and
boarding and lodging facilities in Tibet. Starting from Delhi, the journey
is completed within 27 days. A lot of tourists and pilgrims reach Kailas
via Kathmandu after obtaining visa from the Chinese embassy. There are
many travel agencies conducting the package tours to Kailas Manasarovar
offering their own fare-structures. Regardless of the route selected, the
preparations for the pilgrimage must start four to six months ahead of
the scheduled date of departure. This includes practising mountain-climbing
or walk-ups and work-outs and survival technique to acclimatize ones' body
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