Floods Block the Sacred Trail to Mount Kailash

Hundreds of pilgrims who were on their way to Mount Kailash were hit by the devastating floods that struck the Nepal–Tibet border on 26 August 2026. The floods destroyed the most common border crossing used to reach what many consider the most revered holy mountain in the world, located in the Tibet autonomous region of China.

Mount Kailash is known by different names in different religions. Hindus call it the home of the god Shiva, Tibetan Buddhists see it as the dwelling of the deity Demchok, and Jains believe it is the place where their first spiritual teacher, Rishabhanatha, achieved liberation. The mountain also attracts non‑religious travelers who come for its harsh beauty and the challenge of the journey. Pilgrims and tourists do not climb the peak. Instead, they walk a path about 33 miles long around its base, a route many believe brings blessings and purification.

The story of Kailash goes back thousands of years. Ancient Indian traditions described a range of snowy mountains to the north called the Himalaya, or “abode of snows.” Beyond them, Indian cosmology spoke of a cosmic mountain called Meru, thought to stand at the center of the world. The historian Alex McKay notes that the earliest mentions of a mountain named Kailash—Kailasa in Sanskrit—appear in the Hindu epics, composed roughly between the 4th century B.C.E. and the 4th century C.E.

In the Ramayana, an epic that tells the story of the god‑king Rama’s search for his abducted wife, the monkey king Sugriva describes the far‑off north, including Mount Kailash and Mount Meru. In the Mahabharata, another epic about a dynastic war, the prince Arjuna visits a hermitage on Mount Kailash. These epics do not give a specific location for Kailash. They portray it as a forbidding realm of sages and gods, not a place for human pilgrims. The Mahabharata lists sacred sites for pilgrims across northern and western India, but Kailash is not among them. The epic repeatedly says that ordinary people cannot travel to the Himalayas.

It is in the Puranas, a collection of Hindu religious texts written between roughly the 3rd and 10th centuries, that Kailash is described as the abode of Shiva. The Puranas also begin to link Kailash with the earthly form of the divine Meru. Yet it is still not a fixed pilgrimage destination and is not tied to a particular point on the map.

Over time, scholars cannot pinpoint exactly when, but local traditions in North India began to identify specific peaks as Kailash. At least five different mountains in the states of Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand have been claimed as the Kailash, and people continue to visit them today.

When Buddhism spread from India to Tibet in the 7th century, Tibetans inherited Buddhist scriptures that mentioned Meru, Kailash, and other sacred mountains. They also had a long history of mountain veneration, making offerings to mountains believed to be homes of local deities. Among these was the mountain now known as Kailash in western Tibet.

Tibetan traditions record that the geographical site of Kailash was claimed by practitioners of more than one religious tradition. In the 11th century, the saint Milarepa converted it to a Buddhist site after defeating a non‑Buddhist rival in a contest of magical power. In the centuries that followed, Kailash became known as a particularly auspicious place for meditation and pilgrimage. Tibetans believed that while the mountain was the dwelling of the deity Demchok, its true nature was visible only to the spiritually advanced. Any pilgrim who visited Kailash, known to Tibetans as Gang Rinpoche, would receive blessings.

Even in Tibet, however, Kailash was only one of many pilgrimage sites. Most pilgrims visited the capital city of Lhasa.

The first clear reference to Hindu pilgrims from India visiting the Tibetan Kailash appears in 1670, according to McKay, although earlier visits are possible. Its identity as the Kailash was not fully settled until the Indian subcontinent came under British colonial rule in the 19th century. British surveyors mapping the border regions traced the sources of rivers such as the Indus to areas near Kailash. This matched ancient descriptions of Kailash as giving rise to rivers, and the identification stuck.

By the 19th century, a small but steady flow of pilgrims traveled from India and Nepal, usually alongside trade caravans crossing the Himalayan passes.

After China asserted control over Tibet in 1950, China and India negotiated official pilgrimage routes in a 1954 agreement. That arrangement did not last long. In 1959, a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule was suppressed, and the Dalai Lama – the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism – fled to India. Religious life inside Tibet was severely restricted in the following years. In 1962, India and China fought a war over their disputed border, after which the border closed to Indian pilgrims for nearly two decades.

Routes reopened in 1981, and Tibetans were permitted to resume pilgrimage as well. But since then many Tibetans have found it difficult to obtain the necessary permits, and others have criticized the excessive construction of hotels and roads at Kailash.

Most pilgrims travel with private tour companies. In 2026, demand ran well above the Chinese government’s quota of 24 000 permits for Indian pilgrims. The Indian government also sponsors an official pilgrimage, with participants chosen by lottery, but places are limited to 1 000 people. Pilgrimage by Indian travelers had reopened only in 2025, after being suspended since 2020 because of COVID‑19 and a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley over the still‑disputed India‑China border.

Kailash receives more pilgrims than at any point in its history. Most travelers from India now fly to Kathmandu and continue by bus through Gyirong, a road crossing between Nepal and Tibet that was expanded in 2014 and opened to international travelers in 2017. It became the most popular route after the 2015 earthquake damaged the main alternative. It was this crossing that the 26 August 2026 floods destroyed.

The destruction of the Gyirong crossing has forced pilgrims to seek alternative routes, many of which are longer and more dangerous. Local communities that depended on pilgrimage tourism have suffered economic losses. The Chinese government has announced plans to rebuild the crossing, but the process is slow and subject to environmental and political scrutiny. Meanwhile, international organizations have called for better disaster preparedness in the region, noting that the Himalayas are increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Despite the setbacks, the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash remains a powerful symbol of faith, resilience, and cross‑cultural connection. As the world faces growing environmental challenges, the story of this sacred mountain reminds us that spiritual journeys can inspire hope and cooperation across borders.