The Spiral Kora of Mount Kailash

Wolfgang Wöllmer and Alexey Perchukov

Mt. Kailash in the far west of Tibet is one of the holiest mountains in the world, worshipped by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bönpo. During the last two decades, Indian pilgrims as well as Westerners have visited this remote region. Pilgrims and tourists perform the circumambulation, the Kora of Mt. Kailash, which in India is called Parikrama. A Kora is usually clockwise – a spiritual circumambulation of a temple, a mountain, a lake or any other sacred place. The Kora of Mt. Kailash (fig. 1¹) is a 52 km route at altitudes of 4800 m to 5670 m, which some Tibetans walk in one long day, but most Indian pilgrims and visitors from western countries usually take 2½ days.

As with other holy mountains, there are several paths for the circumambulation of Mt. Kailash. Those who have performed it twelve times can do the Inner Kora¹. In the Horse Year of the Tibetan calendar cycle, this condition is fulfilled by doing a single Kora1. The Inner Kora is a path leading directly into the south face of Mt. Kailash. However, it never leads around the holy mountain itself, but goes around Mt. Nandi¹, a southern outlier of Mt. Kailash, and is, therefore, also called the Nandi-Kora (fig. 1). There is a second Inner Kora with the same restrictions as the Nandi-Kora, called the Secret Dakini Path. It is an alternative route in the northeast side of the holy mountain, instead of the Dölma La crossing the Khandro Sanglam La, the Pass of the Lion-faced Dakini (fig. 1).

Figure 1: Kailash Kora Map¹. The Nandi-Kora and the Secret Dakini Path are shown as dotted lines; the figure also shows the Nangkor¹, a real Inner Kora of Mt. Kailash including the Northern Traverse¹ and the Southern Traverse¹, as dashed lines (Ngari Korsum Association, Switzerland, copyright www.kailashprojekte.ch)

Whereas the Kora of Mt. Kailash is described in most traveller guides for Tibet, there are very few descriptions of the Inner Kora. Only recent publications^1,3,4 deal with these Inner Koras. As stated above, these Inner Koras should not be accessed prior to the completion of twelve Koras of Mt. Kailash or a Kora in the holy Horse Year of the Tibetan calendar cycle. In addition to these Inner Koras, there are also more distant Koras¹. The Barkor1,5 connects the holy lakes Manasarovar and Rakshas Tal, Tirthapuri and the sources of the four holy rivers - Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), Indus, Sutlej and Karnali. The last is the source of the holy river Ganges. The Takor^1,5 is an extension of the Barkor to the historical Kingdom Guge. The access roads to Mt. Kailash, the classical 1400 km north route via Mendong, Gertse and Ali, and the 520 km south route via Saga and Drongpa, form the 1920 km Outermost Kora¹.

In recent years, new routes or combinations of routes received new names for special Koras for advanced pilgrims. As both paths of the Inner Kora do not go around Mt. Kailash, the Nangkor, an Inner Kora of Mt. Kailash, a path for the circumambulation of the holy mountain inside the Kora of Mt. Kailash, including the Northern Traverse and the Southern Traverse, was described¹ (fig. 12). The Northern Traverse¹ crosses Mt. Vajrapani, Mt. Avalokiteshvara and Mt. Manjushri, the three northern outlier mountains of Mt. Kailash, and joins the Secret Dakini Path. The Southern Traverse¹ is a path from the Zuthrul Phuk Gompa over the passes Gevo La and Shapje La to the Gyangdrak Gompa, described in the first Kailash guide from 1948, 2^nd edition 1983⁶, but was then forgotten, even to local people1. This path was redetected in 2006¹. The combination of the Nandi Kora and a circumambulation of the middle northern outlier, Mt. Avalokiteshvara, was called the Vajra Kora^1,7, as on a map these combined routes look like a vajra, a meditation attribute of Buddhists. Walking into the eight major valleys up to the base of the central mountain was called the Lotus Kora^1,7, as the orbited outlier mountains resemble a lotus flower with eight petals, although these petals are not symmetric.

Figure 2: Map of the Mt. Kailash region^1,2 with the paths of the Spiral Kora, the Sapphire Kora (blue), the Emerald Kora (green), the Ruby Kora (red), and the Golden Kora (yellow). Extras are the thin lines and the routes of the Golden Kora not yet explored are the dotted lines.

From 18-20 March 2016, the Third International Conference about the Phenomenon of Mt. Kailash, titled Assembly for Kailash – Path Along the Spiral of Unity, took place in Varna, Bulgaria. Several presentations demonstrated various alternatives to the known Kora of Mt. Kailash. The central issue was the Spiral Kora, a combination of routes around Mt. Kailash with increasing nearness to the central holy mountain. A successful approach to a Spiral Kora was presented⁸. The presentations and discussions at this conference opened new perspectives and showed that some very special routes are walkable⁹, and suggested others to be tackled. Only shortly after the conference, some of these routes were successfully explored¹⁰.

For the Hindus, Mt. Kailash is the residence of god Shiva with his consort Parvati; for Buddhists of Buddha Cakrasamvara (tib. Demchok) and his consort Vajravarahi (tib. Dorje Phagmo). This paper uses the Buddhist terminology. Buddha Cakrasamvara has four faces, symbolizing the jewels - the faces of Mt. Kailash in the four directions are believed to be made of^1,11. The first face is blue, so the east face of Mt. Kailash is made of lapis lazuli or sapphire. The second face is green, so the north face of Mt. Kailash is emerald. The third is red, the ruby west face of Mt. Kailash. The fourth is yellow, defining the south face of Mt. Kailash, considered to be made of gold. In honour of the four faces of Buddha Cakrasamvara, and according to the four faces of Mt. Kailash, four turns of the Spiral Kora can be defined and named according to the jewels.

Figure 2 shows a map² of the Mt. Kailash region with the Kora of Mt. Kailash and the routes of the four turns of the Spiral Kora drawn in the appropriate colour. The first turn, the Lapis lazuli or Sapphire Kora, is very close to the Kora of Mt. Kailash, but remains on the west bank of the Lha Chu with good viewing conditions of the west face of Mt. Kailash, and stays on the north side of the Dölma La Chu. It includes the Drira Phuk Gompa, but passes the Zuthrul Phuk Gompa. After a special start directly uphill from Darchen, the second turn, the Emerald Kora follows the Kora of Mt. Kailash on the west and north side, then the Secret Dakini Path and in the end the Southern traverse¹. The third turn, the Ruby Kora, follows very special paths deep inside the Mt. Kailash massif. It includes the Northern Traverse¹, visits the Kuber Kund (Tib. Ragta Dutse) and crosses the mountain Tashi Tseringma Palace into the Menlung Chu valley and branches over the western ridge to the Ghedun Lha Chu valley. Finally, it ascends from the Gevo La to the summit of the mountain Buddha’s Throne. Some parts of it were explored only recently¹⁰. The latest exploration was the SW Ascent/Descent¹⁰ at the start of the Ruby Kora, which may be named ‘Shiva Lingam Descent’. Even for the fourth turn, the Golden Kora, the exploration of parts⁹ was shown on the Kailash Conference in Varna. Some paths were previously explored¹, but several parts are still waiting to be explored, for example the descent from the pass east of the mountain Buddha’s Throne down into the Two Lake Valley with the two holy glacial lakes Kapala Durchi and Kapala Rakta. They are still speculative as it is uncertain if they are practical for the pilgrim, which means on these paths the use of mountaineering equipment is to be excluded. The parts of the Golden Kora not yet explored are shown as dotted lines in the figure. On three of the turns of the Spiral Kora, there are some optional ‘extras’ - the Chuku Gompa and the caves above it, as well as the Gauri Kund (Tib. Thugje Chenpo Tso) on the Sapphire Kora, Vajravarahi’s Kapala on the Emerald Kora, the summit of Mt. Nandi (Tib. Neten Yenlakzung) on the Golden Kora. The start of the Golden Kora, the passage below Mt. Tisum from Vajravarahi’s Pass to the Western Gate, and the exit from the Golden Kora down from Vajravarahi’s Pass to the Kora of Mt. Kailash in the Lha Chu valley, are shown in fig. 3. As this exit starts directly under Mt. Tisum, the white snow cap of which represents the jewel crystal^1,11, it may be called the ‘Crystal Descent’, because it is no longer a kora, just a descent.

Figure 3: The SW edge of Mt. Kailash/Mt. Tisum, composition of three photographs taken by W. Wöllmer from Vajravarahi’s Pass, directly under Mt. Tisum. The Golden Kora conforms in the first part with the Nandi-Kora, then it turns to Vajravarahi’s Pass and descends over the ridge down to the Western Gate. At the end of the Golden Kora, the Crystal Descent leads down from Vajravarahi’s Pass to the Kora of Mt. Kailash in the Lha Chu valley. Both of these parts are speculative, as they are not yet explored.

The Spiral Kora is a route for the advanced and experienced pilgrim. As the Emerald Kora, the Ruby Kora and the Golden Kora include the Nandi Kora and the Secret Dakini Path, the restrictions named above are to be respected also for the Spiral Kora, except for the first turn, the Sapphire Kora. With increasing nearness to the central holy mountain itself, the turns of the Spiral Kora are of increasing challenge and require surefootedness.

Mountaineering equipment has no place on the pilgrimage paths of Mt. Kailash. The pilgrim on the described paths imposes reverence to the holy mountain and shows respect for other pilgrims. So the Spiral Kora with increasing nearness to the holy Mt. Kailash represents the essence of pilgrimage. Walking these paths is of great merit - it fills the pilgrim with joy as there are wonderful views of the mountain and an extraordinary energy present at Mt. Kailash, the holiest of mountains.

Summary
Mt. Kailash in Tibet is one of the holiest mountains, worshipped by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bönpo, as well as visitors from Western countries. This paper details the various Koras/Parikramas/Circumambulations possible around this holy mountain.

References

1. Wolfgang Wöllmer; “The Inner and Outer Paths of Mt. Kailash”, Vajra Books, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2014, ISBN 978-9937-623-14-8
2. Map by Dr. Christoph Klein, Ngari Korsum Association of Tibetans in Switzerland, 2014
3. Sergey Balalaev: “The Call of Kailash”, Publishing House “Kodeks” Moscow, Russia, 2010
4. Bruno Baumann: “Kristallspiegel” (“Crystal Mirror”), Nymphenburger Herbig Verlagsbuchhandlung München, Germany, 2005, (in German)
5. Gary McCue: “Trekking Tibet”. The Mountaineers Books, Seattle, WA, USA, 3rd edition, 2010
6. Swami Pranavananda: “Kailas – Manasarovar”, Surya Print Process, New Delhi, India, 2nd edition, 1983
7. Sergey Balalaev, personal communication, 2014
8. Sergey Balalaev and Galina Kotovskaya: “Spiral Kora at Mt. Kailash, by results of expedition of 2015”, Third International Conference about a Phenomenon of Kailash, Varna, Bulgaria, 2016
9. Alexey Perchukov: “Latest Explorations of the Mandala of Kailash”, Third International Conference about a Phenomenon of Kailash, Varna, Bulgaria, 2016
10. Alexey Perchukov, personal communication, 2016
11. Wolfgang Wöllmer: “The Mandala and the Faces of Mt. Kailash”, Third International Conference about a Phenomenon of Kailash, Varna, Bulgaria, 2016

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