Kailash: The Mountain at the Centre of the World

Mt. Meru, also called Mahameru, Sineru, Neru, Kelasa and today Kailash, is often mentioned in the Pali Tipitaka, particularly in the Jatakas. In the Mahabhrata it is occasionally called Hemakuta and the Jains called it Athapada. In ancient Buddhist geography the Earth, was conceived as a disk "supported by space" (akasattha) and which rotated "like a potter's wheel or the stone in an oil mill." In the centre of this disk was Mt. Meru, the highest point on Earth and the meeting place of the four great continents (mahadipa or mahapathavi).

- BHANTE S. DHAMMIKA OF AUSTRALIA

After Mt. Everest, Mt. Kailash is the most celebrated mountain in the Himalayas. The name Kailash is derived from the Sanskrit kailasa meaning 'crystal.' It is 6,714 meters above sea level and some 2.000 meters above the surrounding plain. Despite its fame it is by no means the highest mountain in the Himalayas, not even the highest in the region. However, the absence of any high mountains in Kailash's immediate vicinity gives it the impression of tremendous height and its unusually semi-symmetrically-shaped peak attracts and holds the attention.

The Kailash region is the source of four of India's major rivers; the Indus, Sutlej (the easternmost tributary of the Indus), Brahmaputra, and the Ghaghara, a major tributary of the Ganges. In geographical lingo the Kailash region is "the hydrographic nexus of the Himalayas." These features, together with its remoteness, the quality of the light due to the rarefied altitude, and the purity of the air, all combine to give Mt. Kailash and its environs a strangely beautiful, even a mystical aura. Those who have been there often attest that it is one of the most, and some say perhaps the most beautiful landscape on Earth. Ancient Indian authors never tired of eulogizing the mountain's beauty. The Jatakamala describes it as "draped in rain-clouds hanging low and tinged with the hue of the twilight."

After Kailash itself, the most spectacular mountain in its general vicinity is the 7,694 meter high Gurla Mandhata, known as Sudassana in Pali. According to Pali commentarial literature, Sudassana is one of the five mountains surrounding Kailash. It is also described as sloping downwards "like a crow's beak" which is actually a rather good description of its western side.