{"id":54543,"date":"2025-07-12T10:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=54543"},"modified":"2025-07-12T11:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T06:00:46","slug":"kailash-mansarovar-yatra-resumes-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/kailash-mansarovar-yatra-resumes-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Resumes 2025: Routes, History &#038; Key Details"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a five-year pause due to Covid-19 and India-China tensions, the Kailash-Mansarovar yatra resumed in 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This year, 750 pilgrims were selected by the Ministry of External Affairs.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Five batches of 50 pilgrims each are travelling via Uttarakhand\u2019s Lipulekh Pass, while 10 batches of 50 each are using Sikkim\u2019s Nathu La Pass.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Mount Kailash and the Sacred Lakes: Spiritual and Geographical Significance<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rising 6,638 metres in <\/span><b>Tibet\u2019s Ngari Prefecture<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> near India and Nepal, Mount Kailash holds deep religious importance for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Tibetan Bon followers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hindus believe it is Lord Shiva\u2019s abode; Jains see it as the site of their first leader\u2019s enlightenment; Buddhists call it the universe\u2019s centre, and Bon traditions consider it the home of the sky goddess Sipaimen.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">South of the mountain lie two lakes \u2014 freshwater <\/span><b><i>Manasarovar<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and saltwater <\/span><b><i>Rakshastal<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 both central to these spiritual traditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mount Kailash also serves as the source of four major rivers: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Brahmaputra, Indus, Sutlej, and Karnali,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> making it both a spiritual and geographical landmark.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>How Kailash-Mansarovar Became a Popular Pilgrimage<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though revered for centuries, Kailash-Mansarovar wasn\u2019t a mainstream pilgrimage site for ordinary Indians until the early 20th century.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tibetologists note that early Hindu and Buddhist texts described Kailash as a divine place accessible only to advanced spiritual practitioners.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This changed after 1904, when Tibet opened up to British subjects.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles Sherring, then Almora\u2019s district collector, visited Kailash in 1905, recommended improving the pilgrimage route, and promoted it.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His efforts helped popularise the <\/span><b>Lipulekh pass route<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and brought attention to the site among the broader Hindu community, encouraging pilgrim traffic for both spiritual and economic reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By 1930, around 730 Indian pilgrims made the journey annually, until China\u2019s annexation of Tibet in 1950 led to its closure.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pilgrimage resumed in 1981, making way for the first batch of Indian pilgrims to Kailash via Lipulekh since its closure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra: Then and Now<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage involves two main treks:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a 90 km circumambulation of Lake Mansarovar, taking 3\u20135 days, and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a tougher 52 km circumambulation of Mount Kailash, completed in around three days.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the late 1990s, pilgrims would begin at Tseti camp, walk around Mansarovar via places like Huore and Seralung Monastery, then trek around Kailash starting from Tarchen, passing landmarks such as Dirapuk and Dolma La.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With new motorable roads, trekking on the Indian side has reduced from 27 km in 2019 to just 1 km in 2025.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Nathu La route, opened in 2015, offers an even easier journey \u2014 pilgrims cover the entire 1,500 km stretch from Nathu La to Mansarovar by car or bus.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This reflects how the pilgrimage has become more accessible over time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/kailash-mansarovar-yatra-resumes-after-five-years-history-of-a-storied-pilgrimage-10121108\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra resumes in 2025 after 5 years. Know routes, historical context, spiritual importance, and journey details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":54569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1487,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-54543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-kailash-mansarovar-yatra","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}