Mount Kailash
कैलास
Shiv's abode in Tibet
Kailash is a 6,638 m peak in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet, near Lake Manasarovar, regarded in Hinduism as the abode of Shiv with Parvati and their children. It is also sacred to Buddhists, Jains and Bon followers.
Why it matters, and to whom
Hindus hold it to be Shiv's home. Buddhist texts identify it with the mythological Mount Meru, Jain scripture says the first Tirthankara, Rishabhadeva, reached moksha there, and Bon followers call it the abode of the sky goddess Sipaimen. The Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra and Ghaghara rivers all rise near it.
The kora
The circuit around the mountain is 53 km and takes about three days on average; full-body prostration circuits take about three weeks. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains walk it clockwise and Bon followers counterclockwise. Hindu pilgrims bathe in Manasarovar before the kora.
On this site
The Shiva Purana's Kailasa Samhita is named for the mountain and appears in full on this site, though it is a teaching manual rather than a description of the place.
Pancha Kailash
The master plan noted a concept of five Kailash peaks. The sources read for this page do not mention it, so it is left out until it can be properly sourced.
Read the source chapters
Source note
Built from one encyclopedic overview, read only partly. It is a first pass, not a cross-checked page.