Kailash Manasarovar Yatra: Pilgrims' progress

The Hindu

a day ago

Damini Pandya, 68, had taken a vow of silence for eight days before she reached the clear, ice-blue waters of the Manasarovar Lake in Tibet. There, the retired government officer from Ahmedabad in Gujarat gazed at the majestic snow-capped Kailash mountain in the distance. It had taken her 17 days to get there, walking for three days with low oxygen at an average altitude of about 15,000 feet above sea level. Breaking into a wide smile, she splashed cold water over her head — a ritual that Hindu pilgrims believe purifies the body and soul.
Eight days after she began her maun vrat (vow of silence), Pandya crossed into India at the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. Breaking her vow, she said that the silence had helped her absorb the spiritual significance of the yatra. 'I did not utter a word for days because I wanted to be with god. I broke my vow after I entered India, but I don't have words to describe the cosmic energy I felt in Lord Shiva's abode,' she said.
Pandya and more than 30 other yatris spent a week in Tibet's Ngari prefecture, where they trekked the 52-km circumference of Mount Kailash, called the parikrama or the kora.
This was Pandya's second solo trip after 2019. She entered Tibet through the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand, which, she said, was a shorter route compared to the journey through Nathu La pass. It may well be her last visit to Mount Kailash, as the Chinese government has restricted the yatra to those under the age of 70, given the high altitude and concerns about illnesses.
The youngest member of the group, Arpit Rai, 19, from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, who travelled with his father Shashikant Rai, 55, said he is keen to return to Mount Kailash. 'Between Kashi (another name for Varanasi) and Kailash, Shivji (Lord Shiva) is the common factor. Perhaps Shivji wanted us to visit together for the first time. It was an unforgettable journey despite the long travel time in altitudes we are not used to,' he said. The yatris travelled for 14 days by bus covering nearly 3,000 km and took three days to do the parikrama by foot, covering around 50 km.
Geopolitical considerations
Damini Pandya and the Rais were part of the first batch of Indian pilgrims since 2019 who were allowed to cross into Tibet as part of the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra, organised by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown; the violent clashes between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army at Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control; and stand-offs at other points such as Demchok, about 250 km from Kailash Manasarovar, ensured the yatra was suspended. Four years later, after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Delhi and Beijing began discussions on normalising relations and restoring a number of different mechanisms between them. The yatra, held between June and August each year due to weather conditions, was prioritised, even as other mechanisms, such as direct flights between India and China, are set to restart.
Suman Lata, who recently retired as a school teacher in Delhi, said that while crossing over, the group did not feel any of the tensions between the neighbours that have dominated bilateral ties over the past few years.
'We have no link with politics, so we don't think about such things. I can only say that the Indian government sent us off very well and the Chinese government has received us extremely well too,' she said. Lata was among the 13 women on the group. Like her, half of them had come alone on the yatra.
For officials on both sides, the final go-ahead in February 2025 presented a daunting task. They had to build facilities along the way in a short period of time. These included reviving immigration posts at various entry points for the yatris, providing rest stops, oxygen banks, and medical facilities. At the hostel in Zhunzhui Pu, near Taklakot, where the pilgrims stopped for a night before beginning the Kailash parikrama, extra tents were set up inside the atrium to accommodate more people.
This is a part of Tibet where people live off subsistence farming. Tourism is the only means of making a living, local workers said, adding that the resumption of the yatra has come as a relief for them. According to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra website, yatris who pay about ₹3 lakh for arrangements need to budget about 990 Renminbi or RMB (₹12,000) to pay the local porters and 2,370 RMB (about ₹29,000) for pony handlers. In addition, many of the porters do odd jobs for the yatris and make some extra cash, just enough to get by during the brutal winters.
During the years when the yatra stood suspended, pilgrims came in via Nepali tour groups. They included many people of Indian origin from the U.S. and the U.K. But the yatra, and Indian pilgrims in particular, have been a mainstay for the local workers in Tibet.
Preparing for the journey
According to an External Affairs Ministry response in Parliament, the number of pilgrims allowed to join the yatra each year, which is negotiated between the foreign ministries of India and China, has fluctuated every year since the route was reopened in 1981. In 2015, there were 999 pilgrims. By 2019, there were 1,364.
Each of the 15 batches of yatris (10 via Nathu-La pass and five via Lipulekh pass) of about 50 pilgrims this time includes two liaison officers — government officials who apply to join the yatra; 2-4 cooks; and a medical officer from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Each of the pilgrims is chosen by a computerised lottery. Of about 5,000 applicants, 750 were chosen this year. They then had to undergo strenuous medical tests to be proclaimed fit to undertake the journey.
'Despite the acclimatisation for two days each at two centres in Sikkim — one at 11,000 feet and the other at 13,500 feet — some 30 out of the 33 pilgrims in my batch experienced high-altitude sickness and breathlessness at times,' said the medical officer, who did not want to be named. 'My job was to monitor the health of the pilgrims and ensure that those with hypertension and diabetes take their medicines regularly. A few experienced cramps, but they were too excited by the experience to let these affect them,' he said.
One of the cooks, who also did not wish to be named, said it was a challenge to prepare vegetarian food for people from so many different parts of India. But previous experience with the armed forces helped. 'When one caters to soldiers with different acquired tastes from all over the country, one finds the formula to make something that appeals to everyone. We focused on pulse-based items and vegetables provided by the Chinese authorities,' he said.
While many pilgrims praised the arrangements, some expressed discomfort with the sanitation facilities along the way. According to retired Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force Sadanand Jakhare, they were 'comparable to public toilets in India'.
He said, 'The Chinese officials were hospitable, although restrictive and not very expressive. They declined to let us explore the countryside, even a little beyond the designated places. We were under constant watch.' However, he added that he was 'impressed' by the roads and the use of solar power that he saw along the way.
Some people were also unhappy about the restrictions on worship. Pilgrims are not allowed to take a full dip in Manasarovar Lake. Officials said the practice was discontinued in 2016 after Indian pilgrims were found using soap to wash themselves in the lake, and leaving items of clothing and jewellery there.
'The yatra is not for comfort,' said Devi Prasad Ketkar, a retired manager from Mumbai, who was on the pilgrimage with his wife Pradnya.
Ketkar also served on the organising committees for the group. 'There is no place for negative energy or negative comments during our visit here… visiting Mount Kailash and doing the parikrama gives us all the answers we need,' he said, as others in the group nodded. As the pilgrims stepped into the waters of Manasarovar Lake, the air was filled with chants of 'Om Namah Shivaya', 'Om Parvati Pataye Namah', and 'Har Har Mahadev'.
A melange of faiths
In Hindu scriptures, Mount Kailash is believed to be the home of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati, who live there with their sons Kartikeya (Muruga) and the elephant-headed god, Ganesha. Lake Manasarovar, where the gods and goddesses are believed to descend for a bath every day, was created, according to the scriptures, by Lord Brahma from a part of his brain (manas means mind and sarovar means lake in Sanskrit).
With its peak at 6,638 metres (21,778 feet), Mount Kailash has not been summitted in modern memory. After 2001, the Chinese government banned attempts to climb it due to the religious sensitivities of different faiths. Mount Kailash has four rock faces (north, south, east, west), with characteristic snow ridges on one side. The features of the mountain are believed to resemble the 'three eyes' of Lord Shiva, specifically the tripendra (three lines of ash worn on the forehead), and his spine. This makes it a marvel for pilgrims as they circumambulate the mountain.
Along the route, there are devotees of other religions as well. Buddhists believe that Gautam Buddha's (Siddhartha's) mother Maya visited Lake Manasarovar. They also say that Mount Kailash, or Mount Meru as it is called, is the source of spiritual energy in the world. For Jains, the founder of the faith Rishabhadeva, known as the first Tirthankara, is believed to have achieved salvation at the mountain. For followers of the Bon tradition, the shamanistic religion that Tibetans adhered to until the 6th century King Songtsen Gampo introduced Buddhism, bringing texts from India, the mountain and the lake hold a special significance. And for nature-worshippers, Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake represent the most mysterious of the Himalayan 'mountain of mountains' and 'source of all rivers', with the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Indus, and other major rivers emanating from these sites.
It is this melange of faiths that keeps travellers going on the rocky and rugged paths towards the sacred sites. With oxygen levels on the high plateau a significant 30% lower than in the plains, the area is tough for human habitation. Pilgrims often need dozes of high-altitude medicine — both allopathic and traditional Tibetan and Chinese potions made from extracts of the herb Rhodiola — as well as portable oxygen cannisters to keep going on the arduous trek.
Changing temperatures
While the weather is cold, dry, and harsh the year around, local tour guides and shopkeepers admitted that rising temperatures have become a concern as well. In the past few years, environmental agencies, including China's meteorological authority, have warned about climate change and global warming in the Tibetan plateau. They have said that there is a possibility of higher temperatures, glacial lakes overflooding, and a thinning of the permafrost, especially as the Chinese government undertakes major rail, road, and tunnelling infrastructure across the plateau.
In 2019, the Indian Ministry of Culture submitted an application to UNESCO for 'Sacred Mountain Landscape and Heritage Routes', requesting world heritage status for Kailash Manasarovar-linked areas on the Indian side, to protect the ecosystem around the holy sites better. The Ministry also said that a similar exercise could be carried out on the Chinese side. But given security considerations, and the fact that the Pulan airport close to Kailash Manasarovar also serves as a major military and air force base, the area is unlikely to be opened up for the kind of scrutiny that international agencies would require.
For the yatris, however, what counts is the exhilaration of coming close to what they believe is the doorway to heaven. Raj and Vinod Yadav, former bankers in their late 60s, said that they have been on the yatra multiple times. Raj said that this was her 25th visit to Kailash Manasarovar, while her husband Vinod had travelled for the fifth time.
The Yadavs went on their first trip together in 2001 and then again the next year. 'The pilgrimage became an addiction,' Raj said. 'I kept going every year, sometimes thrice a year, through all the routes in India and Nepal, including via choppers and flights from Kathmandu to Lhasa.'
She is disappointed that China has restricted the age of pilgrims. 'There is something that keeps drawing me to Kailash Manasarovar,' she said. 'I intend to go again in August via Nepal, two months before I become ineligible.' She has already started making plans for her next and possibly last tryst with the sacred mountain and lake that remains a dream for many.
Suhasini Haidar was part of a delegation of journalists invited by the Embassy of China in India to cover the first Kailash Manasarovar Yatra since 2019, while Rahul Karmakar reported from Sikkim