Sunrise on Mount Kailash. Photo courtesy of: http://www.geocities.com/~abhiyan/pg_kailash.html

To Tibetans, it is known as Ghang Rimpoche (Precious Jewel of Snow). They see it as the navel of the world.

To Buddhists, Kailash is the abode of the Arhats (those who have attained paradise) as well as the Abode of the Gods.

		Kailash from the monastery at Chiu Gompa. Photo courtesy of Hans Forst from Verbotene Konigreiche im Himalaya.

For the more ancient religion of Bon it is the site where its founder, Shanrab, is said to have descended from heaven.

For Hindus, it is their spiritual center of the universe. It is described in their mythology as a fantastic ‘world pillar’ 84,000 miles high, around which all else revolves, its roots in the lowest hell and its summit reaching the heavens. On top lives their most revered God Shiva and his consort Parvati.

	Can you find Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarowar? Photo courtesy of August Gansser from Throne of the Gods.

(left) Most ancient cultures have viewed the world as symbolically representing an unseen and unseeable reality, perhaps paradise. This 1936 photograph of a very old Tibetan map of Kailash and Lake Manasarowar comes from a fresco in the lamasery at Tinkar in Nepal; it is a good example of that kind of viewpoint.