The Reason Behind Lord Shiva Choosing Mt. Kailash as His Abode

We know that Lord Shiva resides on top of Mt. Kailash, in the Himalayas. (The darkened triangle near the top left corner)

Long, long ago, I used to think that Lord Shiva resides on top of Mt. Kailash and absorbs the torrent of River Akash Ganga from Heaven in his matted head. This could only mean that Mt. Kailash was the tallest among all the peaks in the Himalayas. Why would this Lord-of-Everything reside in a lower peak, my mind questioned and answered in the affirmative; Mt. Kailash is tallest.

This idea was further reinforced when I was perhaps ten years old and when the Tamil film director A. P. Nagarajan was focusing on mythology-based movie-making. Of course, Nandi, the gate-keeper to the Lord was super-alert.

I am one of the most perfect examples of how a human can hold two contradictory ideas in their mind simultaneously. I knew that Mt. Everest was the highest peak, but also carried the notion that Mt. Kailash was the highest. No cognitive dissonance!

I searched for Mt. Kailash and Mt. Everest in a map and I got both. It is given above. They are not even close. But, for Lord Shiva that should not have mattered. I knew that Lake Manasarover is the source of Rivers Brahmaputra (to the east), Indus and Sutlej (to the southwest, approx.) There also seems to be another river, Karnali, but not of much importance to the topic discussed here.

What topic am I about to discuss?

Did Lord Shiva have something against Mt. Everest, which in Sanskrit is called (I googled this) Sagarmatha, (“Peak of Heaven”; from the little Sanskrit I am aware of this meaning is gobbledykook)? I guess not. He is passionless (except when he dances).

Was Mt. Everest too difficult for Him to climb? I guess not. After all, He is omnipotent. I asked many other questions – all inside of me – and I could proceed no further.

Then, I reached out to Goddess Parvathi (...of the mountains). I immediately said No! I am a feminist, of the dyed-in-the-wool category – what a God can do, a Goddess can too.

That is when it struck me perhaps His mount Nandi could not climb up even to the base of Mt. Everest.

But, there is another reason, not invoking God/Goddess or their mounts. When civilization spread from the northwest towards the plains of Ganga/Yamuna, (as it is generally agreed) some people ventured up the Himalayan peaks, or at least to its base camp areas (this is what we see in 1956 movie, “The Ten Commandments”, Moses at the foothills of Mt. Sinai), and they went up to Mt. Kailash and no further eastwards.

Then, it was believed that Lord Shiva resides there.

Yet, there is one problem: Gomukh, the supposed origin of River Ganges is at least 250 km further west. And, there is no inflow into River Bhagirathi from Lake Manosarovar. That is, Lord Shiva is in deep meditation on Mt. Kailash, and River Aakash Ganga descended from Heaven on River Bhagirathi, at Gomukh. Geographical disconnect of the most severe kind.

Let us leave Heaven and come down to earth. I am led to make the following supposition:

Our ancestors, coming in from the northwest needed a peak to give respite to themselves and to Lord Shiva and the highest point they could notice then was Mt. Kailash. They needed Lord Shiva to be expressed in what became scriptures then and there. So, they made Mt. Kailash the abode of Lord Shiva.

The above is pure speculation, but not unreasonable, I contend.

Some secular details of the two peaks:

Mt. Kailash – Height 21800 ft; Longitude 81.33^o E; Latitude 31.07^o N

Mt. Everest – Height 29050 ft; Longitude 86.93 ^o E; Latitude 27.99^o N

(I do not believe in ascribing pseudo-accuracy to numbers; two decimal places sit fine with me). The numbers above mean that Mt. Everest is southeast of Mt. Kailash – the basic information from which I drew the inspiration to speculate!    

Raghuram Ekambaram

P. S. Amarnath is the winter abode of Lord Shiva; then, you can further speculate. Be my guest.