High on the remote western Tibetan plateau in
the northern most region of the Himalayas, sits
Mount Kailash, the holy mountain. The Tibetan
people have named it Kang Rinpoche, or snow
jewel, and the Hindus refer to it as Mount Meru.
Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrims from the world
over go to this holy mountain to circumambulate
rather than scale the 22,028- foot high peak.
Hindus who walk around the 32-mile circumference
of Mount Kailash use the term parikrama. They
believe that lord Shiva, one of their three main
gods, resides atop what they call Mount Meru.
Tibetans refer to the clockwise circumambulation
as a kora. Both words mean the same thing
pilgrimage. Doing a walk around the mountain can
away a lifetimes worth of sins.
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