Number of words: 890
Even in the strictest geological terms Kailas stands alone, being the world’s highest deposit of tertiary conglomerate – a vast pile of cemented gravel laid down in the period immediately preceding the arrival of early man and then thrown up into the sky. It has four clearly-defined walls that match the points of the compass, and on its southern face a deep gully runs down from the summit, cutting across an equally distinctive rock band of horizontal strata. This is the mark that has earned Kailas the title of ‘swastika mountain’, and it is this southern face, emblazoned with its talisman of spiritual strength, the swastika, that the pilgrim first sees as he climbs out of India; Kailas on the horizon and, occupying much of the depression in the middle distance, what was formerly one large circular lake with an island at its centre but is now two lakes divided by a narrow isthmus of high ground.
The larger of these two lakes, roughly circular in outline and about fifteen miles across, is the sacred lake Manasarovar – the lake ‘formed in the mind [of God]’. In his Himalayan Districts Atkinson quotes an account of its creation from one of the later Puranas, the Skanda Purana:
The sons of Brahma proceeded to the north of Himachala and performed austerities on Kailas. There they saw Shiva and Parvati and there they remained for twelve years, absorbed in mortification and prayer. There was then very little rain and little water, and in their distress they went to Brahma and worshipped him. Then Brahma asked what their desire might be. The Rishis [sages| answered and said We are engaged in devotion on Kailas; make a place for us to bathe in.’ Then Brahma by a mental effort formed the holy lake of Manasa and the Rishis again engaged in mortification and prayer on Kailas and worshipped the golden ling which rose from the midst of the waters of the lake.
By the time that this account came to be written lake Manasarovar had long been established as the queen of lakes. Among those who extolled its virtues was the great Hindu classical poet Kalidasa, writing in the third century AD, in his lyrical poem, The Cloud-Messenger. Since the days of the Mahabharata, Manasarovar had increased mightily in reputation and sanctity. Indeed, long before the time of Ptolemy it had become the holiest and the most famous lake in Asia, conferring great merit to those who reached its shores:
When the earth of Manasarovar touches anyone’s body or when anyone bathes therein, he shall go to the paradise of Brahma, and he who drinks its waters shall go to the heaven of Shiva and shall be released from the sins of a hundred births. Even the beast that bears the name of Manasarovar shall go to the paradise of Brahma. Its waters are like pearls.
The pilgrim who succeeded in crossing the Himalayas was expected to follow the precepts laid down in the Puranas:
He should bathe there and pour a libation of water to the shades of his forefathers and worship Mahadeva [the great god, Shiva] in the form of a royal swan. He should there make the parikarama of the holy Manasa lake, gaze at Kailas, and bathe in all the neighbouring rivers.
The lake’s growth in status had also been matched by the nearby mountain: from being a mere acolyte to the world- pillar, Kailas had now risen to become its earthly avatar, a physical manifestation of a metaphysical phenomenon. Part of the impetus behind this dramatic promotion must have come from the realization that there really was something quite extraordinary about the hydrography of the Kailas-Manasarovar region. Increased movement by Indian travellers emissaries, marauders, traders and wandering pilgrims – beyond the northern barriers, particularly during the years of the Ashokan empire in the third and second centuries BC, had led to greater contact with other peoples, and increased knowledge. The time came when enough evidence had been gathered to show that the four largest rivers on the subcontinent – though they emerged from the mountains many hundreds of miles apart, all had their origins in one small corner of the distant plateaulands beyond the Himlayas. However, this increase of geographical knowledge could only detract from the majesty and mystery of the world-lotus. Without any formal announcement of the change, Meru assumed a purely abstract form – and Kailas took its place.
An equally important factor in the advancement of Mount Kailas was the elevation of Lord Shiva to the top division of the Hindu gods, to take his place beside Brahma and Vishnu in the Hindu holy trinity. Much of the writing in the Puranas is given over to promoting the virtues of one or other of Brahma’s new partners, either Shiva or Vishnu. This rivalry ended in the triumph of the more popular, orthodox cult of Vishnu, the Preserver, over the older, more elemental cult of Shiva, Destroyer and Transformer. The vast majority of modern Hindus as worshippers of Vishnu or one of his more approachable avatars, such as Rama or Krishna. Vaisnavas – followers of Vishnu – are strongest in Northern and Central India; Shaivas are in a majority only in South India and in the Himalayan regions.
Excerpted from page 25–28 of ‘A Mountain Tibet ’ by Charles Allen