As long as there have been ancient religions in Asia, there has been a reverence for Mount Kailash. The cosmologies and origin myths of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism each speak of Kailash as the axis mundi - the center and birthplace of the entire world. Kailash is spoken of as the mythical Mt Meru in the Vedas. The mountain was indeed legendary even before the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were written.
Hindus believe Mount Kailash to be the home of Lord Shiva. According to Sanskrit literature, the immortal Shiva lives atop Kailash where he spends his time practicing yogic austerities with his divine consort, Parvati. For a Hindu, to make the Yatra to Kailash and have the darshan (divine view) of Shiva's home is to attain release from the clutches of ignorance and delusion.
Tibetan Buddhists call the mountain Kang Rimpoche, the 'Precious One of Glacial Snow.' To Jains, Kailash is known as Astapada, the place where Rishaba (the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras) attained liberation. And for followers of Bon, Tibet's pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religion, Kailash is Mount Tise - the site of a 12th century battle between the Buddhist sage Milarepa and the Bon shaman Naro Bon-chung
Hindus believe Mount Kailash to be the home of Lord Shiva. According to Sanskrit literature, the immortal Shiva lives atop Kailash where he spends his time practicing yogic austerities with his divine consort, Parvati. For a Hindu, to make the Yatra to Kailash and have the darshan (divine view) of Shiva's home is to attain release from the clutches of ignorance and delusion.
Tibetan Buddhists call the mountain Kang Rimpoche, the 'Precious One of Glacial Snow.' To Jains, Kailash is known as Astapada, the place where Rishaba (the first of the twenty-four Tirthankaras) attained liberation. And for followers of Bon, Tibet's pre-Buddhist, shamanistic religion, Kailash is Mount Tise - the site of a 12th century battle between the Buddhist sage Milarepa and the Bon shaman Naro Bon-chung
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