Mystical systems
Mount Kailash
Direct answer
Mount Kailash is a 6,638 metre peak in western Tibet, revered by Hindus as the abode of Shiva and held sacred also by Buddhists, Jains and followers of Bon, who walk around it.
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At a glance
- Also called
- kailash parikrama, kailash kora, kang rinpoche, kailash manasarovar
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Pilgrimage, Holy Mountain, Kumbh Mela, Omphalos
Mount Kailash is a 6,638 metre peak in western Tibet, revered by Hindus as the abode of Shiva and held sacred also by Buddhists, Jains and followers of Bon, who walk around it.
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Why is Mount Kailash sacred?
Kailash stands alone in the far west of Tibet, a dark rock pyramid with a cap of snow and a face scored by a great vertical cleft. For Hindus it is the seat of Shiva and Parvati. Tibetan Buddhists call it Kang Rinpoche, precious jewel of snow, and regard it as the palace of the deity Demchok. Jains know it as Ashtapada, where the first of their teachers, Rishabha, reached liberation. For Bon, the older religion of Tibet, it is the nine-storey swastika mountain and the soul of the land.
Pilgrims do not go up it. They go round it, on a path of about fifty-two kilometres that crosses a pass more than 5,600 metres high. Hindus and Buddhists walk clockwise and Bon followers the other way. Most take three days; some Tibetans do it in one, and some measure the whole circuit in full-length prostrations over weeks. Below the mountain lies Lake Manasarovar, where pilgrims bathe or drink.
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What sets Mount Kailash apart
Kailash is honoured by going around and never up. Its summit is far from the highest in the region, and its standing owes nothing to altitude records: it is isolated, almost symmetrical, and placed where four rivers that water much of South Asia begin. That geography matches the old Indian picture of a central mountain from which rivers flow to the four quarters. The direction of walking is itself a statement of faith, clockwise for Buddhists and Hindus and counter-clockwise for Bon.
- Height: 6,638 metres
- Place: Ngari prefecture, western Tibet
- Tibetan name: Kang Rinpoche, precious jewel of snow
- Circuit: about 52 kilometres, over the Drolma pass at some 5,630 metres
- Rivers rising nearby: the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Karnali
- Ascents: none recorded; climbing is not permitted
Often mistaken for something else: Mount Meru is the mythical mountain at the centre of the world in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain cosmology; Kailash is the real peak in Tibet that pilgrims identify with it.
The story behind Mount Kailash
The mountain is praised in the Sanskrit epics and Puranas as the home of Shiva, and Tibetan tradition tells of a contest of powers there between the Buddhist yogi Milarepa and a Bon master about the eleventh century. Four great rivers rise in its neighbourhood: the Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra and the Karnali. There is no recorded ascent. The climber Reinhold Messner was offered permission in the 1980s and declined, and the Chinese authorities have since kept the peak closed to mountaineers.
Why Mount Kailash matters
Mount Kailash is perhaps the clearest case of a mountain held sacred by leaving it alone, and one honoured by four religions at once.
How to read Mount Kailash
It is the goal of one of the hardest pilgrimages in Asia, made in the summer months, and a standing image of the world mountain in Indian and Tibetan thought.
Mount Kailash in practice: an example
Tibetans say that one circuit wipes away the wrongs of a lifetime; the devout aim for thirteen, or for one hundred and eight.
Where readings of Mount Kailash go wrong
The circuit lies at extreme altitude and pilgrims have died of mountain sickness. It calls for acclimatisation, permits and medical advice.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- kailash, mount kailas, kailash parikrama, kailash kora, kang rinpoche, kailash manasarovar
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
Why is Mount Kailash sacred?
Hindus hold it to be the home of Shiva, Tibetan Buddhists the seat of the deity Demchok, Jains the place where Rishabha was liberated, and Bon the spiritual centre of their land. Many also identify it with Mount Meru, the axis of the world.
Has anyone climbed Mount Kailash?
No ascent has been recorded. Out of respect for the faiths that revere it, climbing is not permitted, and noted mountaineers have declined to attempt it.
How long is the walk around Mount Kailash?
About fifty-two kilometres. Most pilgrims take three days, crossing the Drolma pass at over 5,600 metres. The Tibetan name for the circuit is kora and the Sanskrit name is parikrama.
