Mansrovar

Mansarovar is a fresh-water lake in Tibet 2,000 km from Lhasa. To the west of Lake Manasarovar is Lake Rakshastal and towards the north is Mount Kailash. Manasarovar Lake lies at 4,556 m above mean sea level. It is the highest fresh-water lake in the world
Lake Manasarovar is relatively round in shape. The circumference of Manasarovar is 88 km, depth is 90 m and it occupies a total area of 320 km. The lake freezes in winter and melts only in the spring.
Like Mount Kailash, Lake Mansarovar is a place of pilgrimage, attracting religious people from India, Tibet and the neighboring countries. Bathing in the Manasa Sarovar and drinking its water is believed to cleanse all sins. Pilgrimage tours are organized regularly, especially from India, the most famous of which is the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra which takes place every year. Pilgrims come to take ceremonial bathes in the cleansing waters of the lake. According to Hindu religion, the lake was first created in the mind of the Lord Brahma. Hence, in Sanskrit it is called “Manasarovar”, which is a combination of the words Manas (mind) and Sarovar (lake). The lake, in Hindu mythology, is also supposed to be the summer abode of swans, who are considered as very wise and sacred birds. It is also believed the Devas descend to bathe in the lake between 3 and 5 am the time of the day known as Brahma Muhurta. Buddhists also associate the lake to the legendary lake known as Anavatapta in Sanskrit and Anotatta in Pali, where Queen Maya is believed to have conceived Buddha. The lake has a few monasteries on its shores. The most notable of which is the ancient Chiu Gompa Monastery, which has been built right onto a steep hill. It looks as if it has been carved right out of the rock.

Attractions
The holy Mt. Kailash, a mystical power in people’s minds, has been a symbol of relief from suffering to generation after generation of believers. The region is revered by four different religions as one of the most sacred pilgrimage destinations in Asia.

Hindus regard Mt. Kailash as the earthly manifestation of Mt. Meru-their spiritual center of the universe, described in the ancient texts as a fantastic “World Pillar,” 139,440 km high around which everything else revolves, its roots in the lowest hell and its top kissing the heavens. On the summit sits Lord Shiva who shares this lofty peak with his consort Parvati, daughter of Himalayas. Below, Mansarovar floats in the shadow of holy Kailash as the lake formed in the mind of God. It was created to show the omnipotence of Brahma’s mind (manas). To bathe in the lake and to drink its waters is to be delivered to the paradise of Brahma and to cleanse the sins of a hundred lifetimes.

Lying as they do beneath the symbolic temple of Kailash, Mansarovar and Rakshash Tal represent the water tanks present at the entrance to every Hindu temple. The round shape of the former is like the sun and the curved outline of Rakshash Tal symbolizes the moon. These ideas are expressed in the names of the two lakes, Mansarovar being associated with ‘light’ and Rakshash Tal meaning the ‘lake of the demons’. To Hindus Mansarovar symbolizes the receptive, female aspect of creation, the yoni, while Mt Kailash symbolizes the active male aspect, the lingam. In 1948, some of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were ceremonially scattered on the holy lake.

How to reach Mansrovar: