Kailash Manasarovar Yatra: Pilgrims’ progress

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.

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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