Nandi, Shiva's sacred bull, guards the approaches to Mount Kailash. No devotee may pass without Nandi's approval, and he stands eternally vigilant at the gateway to his master's abode.
Shiva dwells atop Mount Kailash in eternal meditation with Parvati, the mountain serving as his cosmic abode from which he presides over the universe.
Mount Kailash is sacred to both Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. Hindus worship it as Shiva's abode; Tibetans revere it as Kang Rinpoche, seat of the Buddha Chakrasamvara.
Kailash rises within the domain of Himavan, lord of the mountains, who gave his daughter Parvati in marriage to the ascetic god dwelling on his highest peak.
Kamadeva loosed his flower-arrows at Shiva meditating on Kailash, hoping to kindle desire for Parvati — but Shiva's third eye blazed open and burned the god of love to ash on the mountain's sacred slopes.
After Ravana drove Kubera from Lanka, the god of wealth built his golden city of Alaka on the slopes near Kailash, becoming Shiva's neighbor and earning a place among the Dikpalas from his northern seat beside the sacred mountain.
Lake Manasarovar, born of Brahma's mind, lies at the foot of Kailash — the two together forming the sacred landscape where pilgrims bathe in the lake's purifying waters before circling the mountain above.
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