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Chapter 02
Three Field Trip Reports
In Hindu tantric iconography Meru and Kailash are identical. Some attempts by western authors to show Kailash and Meru as two different mountains citing geographical reasons are not completely unmotivated with a logic rendered frivolous as Kailash existed before the great continents collided. Similar iconographies in Buddhism, Bon, Hindu and Jain suggest a common origin pointing to the same mountain ‘Kailash'. In some Buddhist iconography Kailash is represented as a lotus with eight concentric rows of petals and the mountain peak shown as the central bud in the lotus which is likened to the Mount Kailash surrounded by eight lower ranges of meadows. To my mind these iconographies are important proof of Mount Kailash being Ashtapad as unlike texts which were destroyed in huge quantities succeedingly by various invaders who came to control the Kailash region (Buddhists took over from the Bons and then were subsequently pillaged by the Muslim invaders e.g. Kazakhs from Central Asia before being taken over by Communist regime in toto during the Cultural Revolution). It would not be an extrapolation to say that Bons had similarly taken control of the region from the Jain-Hindu supremacy (After all it is well known in Puranic lore that Vishwakarma was the architect of the region and Kubera ruled once upon a time). The region having seen generations of invaders must have been divested of any meaningful relic. Iconography unlike oral traditions of texts can last much longer and in some way provides immunity from the pervasive destructive nature of any invasion. The Kailash Mansarovar region owing to its natural setting and beauty has always been rich in imagery and iconography. To depend overwhelmingly on relic objects/archaeological monuments of such antiquity is akin to feigning ignorance of the chaos that this region has been through in its history. Besides, native adaptations are very common in history, (specially Shiva temples during the Mughal rule in India) which serve to camouflage those that they should serve to preserve. The relic remains of plundered monasteries and temples over centuries have been carted away by unsuspecting natives, unscrupulous traders and as trophies and curios by visitors and invaders alike in the region. My personal opinion on this issue is that it is beyond the pale of archaeologists most of whom whose knowledge of ancient traditions, mysticism and culture is minimal let alone their familiarity with the hoary antiquities of Jainism. There is more than one way of arriving at the truth and that truth is not necessarily revealed from bricks, wood and mortar. Any evidence of this kind can only be of supplementary nature and cannot form the core of historical evidence. Reliance on iconography, oral traditions and sequencing of events based on native texts is a surer way of learning historical facts. I do not know of anyone more informed about Kailash Mansarovar in recent history than Swami Pranavananda who had spent considerable time researching in the region and spending sometimes over a year continuously in the monasteries around Kailash-Manasarovar. Much of the credit of the Kailash-Manas yatra organized by the Government of India, goes to Swami Pranavananda whose intimate knowledge of the routes, geology, culture and history of the region helped the government in planning out the Yatra. His interest both in Srividya and Mount Kailash was not coincidental and I would concur and tend to attach high significance to his belief that Mount Kailash is Ashtapad.
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- The Ashtapad Initiative
