After six-year wait, 36 Indian pilgrims arrive at Mount Kailash and Mansarovar for yatra
Six years after the last Kailash Mansarovar yatra (pilgrimage) was held, a group of 36 Indian pilgrims conducted the arduous trek around the 18,000-feet-high Mount Kailash and took in the waters at the Mansarovar lake. The yatra at one of Hinduism's most holy sites is the first of the people-to-people mechanisms between India and China that is being restored after the COVID-19 pandemic and Line of Actual Control (LAC) military stand-off which was decided when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at Kazan last year. It is expected to be followed by other mechanisms, including the restoration of direct flights, opening of visas and tourism routes, as well as resolving economic and business-related issues through a separate mechanism. The pilgrims also arrived even as National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited China for SCO meetings.
The first batch included all ages from 18 to 69, the group's organising leaders told a group of Indian journalists at the Zhunzhu Pu hostel, where they will stay for a few nights as they complete their Parikramas (circling the mountain and lake). Each group includes a doctor, and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), that is the nodal agency for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra body (KMY) has also coordinated with the Chinese government to allow Indian cooks to travel ahead of the group and set up tents to provide them with food they are more familiar with.
'We are so happy that this yatra has been restarted, and for the past few years most of us had been approaching the MEA and the KMY repeatedly hoping they would resume the pilgrimage,' said Shailendra Sharma, coordinator of the group, whose members looked visibly moved by the experience.
When asked, Suman Lata, newly retired as a school teacher, said while crossing over, the group had not felt any of the tensions between India and China that have dominated bilateral ties over the past few years, after the Galwan clashes, and stand-off between the Indian Army and the PLA at points like Demchok, only about 250 km east of Pulan (also called Burang).
'We have no truck with politics, I can only say that the Indian government sent us off very well and the Chinese government has received us extremely well too,' she told reporters.
The group is one of 15 groups that are coming through the Nathu La pass in Sikkim and Lipulekh Pass with about 750 originally chosen, traversing more than 3,000 km from Gangtok and back between June 15 and July 2. Others will follow the same path or come via Lipulekh Pass from Uttarakhand, a slightly more difficult and longer trek to the strategically located peak close to the trijunction of India, Nepal and China.
Survey of facilities
In the run-up to the yatra, local officials said they conducted a thorough survey of facilities that would be used. While several non-resident Indians (NRIs) have been able to conduct the pilgrimage using private travel agencies over the last few years, their numbers have been lower than before, which meant a downturn in the work local Tibetan porters receive, and business in small neighbouring towns.
'The grand organisation for this cross-Himalayan cultural exchange is an important consensus between the leaders of India and China,' Wen Tao, Deputy Commissioner of Ali Prefecture, who came to greet the first batch and oversaw arrangements, said. He added that Chinese officials had worked on improving the efficiency of the immigration check point at Nathu La with biometrics, providing multilingual interpreters at different stages, oxygen facilities and special prayer areas at the sites.
Recovering from the day's trek of more than 19 km, that took them to a height of 5,590 metres via Dolma Point, Pranav Gupta from Jammu said they were grateful to both governments for the itinerary that ensured they acclimatised gradually to the higher altitudes and oxygen issues. 'It is faith not fitness that really gets us through each day of this trek,' said Ms. Lata.
Apart from Hindus who revere the 6,638 m high peak as the abode of one of their most powerful gods, Shiva, as well as the gates to the heavens, the sites are also worshipped by Buddhists, who believe the peak, that is referred to as 'Mount Meru', is the central source of spiritual energy. For Jains, one of their first Tirthankaras Rishabdeva is believed to have attained salvation after a trek to what they call Mount 'Ashtapada'. Tibetan Bons, another ancient religion, also revere the mountain and the lake, and pilgrims and worshippers of several faiths are seen doing the 'Koras' or routes around them in the summer season. As a result of the 'sacredness' of the sites, the Chinese government decided in 2001-2002 to ban all attempts to climb Mount Kailash, and visits to the Mansarovar lake, one of a twin pair of lakes there, are also strictly regulated. India and China agreed in 1981 to restart the ancient pilgrimage route.
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