000			02306nam a22001697a 4500
020			_a8120831527
082			_a915.104 J6139 S _b22917
100			_aJohn Snelling
245			_aThe sacred mountain _b travellers and pilgrims at Mount Kailas in western Tibet, and the great universal symbol of the sacred mountain _hEnglish
260			_aDelhi _bMotilal Banarsidass Publishers _c2006.
300			_a457 _b xi, 241 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm
500			_aMount Kailas, the most sacred mountain in the world. Uncannily symmetrical, this remote and remarkable peak located in the forbidden land of Tibet might have been built by superhuman hands. It stands out of a primordial hands. It stands out of a primordial landscape, a horizontally stratified plinth thousands of feet high, crowned with a perfect cone of pure snow. To Hindus it is the throne of the great god Shiva. Buddhists associate it with Chakrasamvara, a powerful Tantric deity and with the sage Milarepa, who fought a magic duel there with a shaman priest in ancient times. To the Bonpo, the followers of the indigenous religion of Tibet, it is the giant crystal on which their founder, Thonpa Shenrab, descended to earth from the skies. For more than a millennium, Buddhist, Hindu and Bonpo pilgrims have been visiting this throne of the Gods and performing pious cirumabulation around it. John Snelling recounts their difficult and dangerous pilgrimages and analyzes the spiritual significance of Kailas and of sacred mountains in general. He also retells the tales of the handful of western travelers, who reached Kailas between 1715 and 1949, an exclusive club of intrepid explorers, mountaineers, big game hunters and officials. Then in 1984 the Chinese authorities allowed Westerners freer access, so the tales of a new wave of contemporary traveler's have in this completely revised and enlarged edition been added to those of their great precursors. The new edition of this acclaimed travel book is particularly indispensable for all those wishing to visit Mount Kailas, for it contains a comprehensive guide for travellers as well as up-to-date maps.
650			_aPilgrims and pilgrimages
650			_aMountain worship
650			_aChina--Tibet Autonomous Region
942			_cBK
999			_c78127 _d78127