The Sacred Mountain of Tibet: On Pilgrimage to Kailas

Pyramid-shaped, snowcapped Mount Kailas rises more than 22,000 feet above sea level in the Himalayas of western Tibet. No climber has tainted its slopes, for Kailas has been sacred for over 1000 years. To followers of Bonpo, the pre-Buddhist animist religion of Tibet, it is the ``soul'' of the region; to Hindus, the throne of Shiva; to these, to Jains and to Buddhists, Kailas is the divine taken physical form. Kailas is also key to a question that once puzzled geographers: the sources of India's four great sacred rivers, the Indus, the Brahmaputra, the Sutlej and the Karnali (a tributary of the Ganges) are all found in this region. In 1987, the authors joined more than 5000 other pilgrims in circumambulating Kailas. Johnson's first-rate color photographs are placed to enhance Moran's clear and informative commentary, which concludes with a brief, wise discussion of the mountain's ``secret'' and what one finds there: ``A mountain. A lake. So high.'' (July)