Holy site faces a looming pollution crisis (TA)

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pilgrims atfirst seeing the cobalt waters of Lake Manasarovar, backed by

dramaticsnow-capped mountains - especially after four gruelling days along a

dirt trackknown as China's National Highway219.Its name means "Lake of the

Mind", referring to its mythological creation in thethoughts of the Hindu

supreme deity Brahma. To its north, rising like a gianticy-pole, is the

sheer-sided 6700-metre Mount Kailash, reputed home of the Hindugod of creation

and destruction, Shiva, whose symbol for Hindu worshippers is astone

phallus.Indians, who sometimes call the mountain the Phallus of the World ,

have beentaking the arduous trek across the Himalayas for at least 17 centuries

to bathein the lake and take a clockwise walk around its waters (80 kilometres)

and themountain's lower slopes (50 kilometres).The pilgrimage is believed to

wash away the sins of a lifetime, preparing theway for reincarnation into a

higher form of

being after death.To Chopa, Mayor of the nearby Tibetan village of Hor, the

prospect is lesspleasing. "These Indian visitors have no regard for

environmental care," he saidover a meal in Hor's main restaurant, serving spicy

food at one of its threetables. "That's why you would have seen so much rubbish

at the lake."Chopa, who like many Tibetans has only one name, is particularly

irked by theHindus' practice of throwing off their old clothes and casting them

into thewaters of Manasarovar once they have taken a holy dip, before putting on

newclothes to symbolize their cleansed state. "Every year we have to hire people

toclean up the mess," he said.The shores of Manasarovar certainly do have the

beginnings of a litter problem,with plastic water bottles and other packaging

strewn along the pilgrims' route.The air is clean, the grass is fresh and it

will be a great place forrelaxation.It could be disputed,

however, whether the 6000 Indians and Nepalis (also mostlyHindus) who visit each

year are any worse than the 30,000 other foreigners andthe uncounted numbers of

Chinese and Tibetan visitors.Chopa's own village of mud brick houses is no

advertisement for environmentalcare. Waste water streams across the main

street, and its 1634 people have touse a central patch of rubbish-strewn open

ground, complete with scavengingdogs, as their toilet. Chopa, 28, a doctor,

says there are lots of plans for atreatment plant and other works, but

currently the village's waste flows intothe holy lake.(Remarks by G.C.Asnani :

Even if we take rest of the account with a pinch ofsalt, certainly, the

village’s waste flowing into the holy lake Mansarovar isnot tolerable at all.

It should be the concern of all of us, at least theHindus, to see that the Lake

is kept pure, free from pollution. )--------------------Article:Subject:

Manasarovar: holy site faces a looming pollution crisisTue, 06 Jul

2004"S.Kalyanaraman" kalyan97 Courtesy:

IndianCivilizationHoly site faces a looming pollution crisis

(TA)The Age - Melbourne,July 3, 2004At the end of a dirt track in the Himalayas

lies a holy site that is facing anonslaught from tourism. Hamish McDonald

reports from Lake Manasarovar.It is hard not to share the joy of countless

Hindu and Buddhist

pilgrims atfirst seeing the cobalt waters of Lake Manasarovar, backed by

dramaticsnow-capped mountains - especially after four gruelling days along a

dirt trackknown as China's National Highway219.Its name means "Lake of the

Mind", referring to its mythological creation in thethoughts of the Hindu

supreme deity Brahma. To its north, rising like a gianticy-pole, is the

sheer-sided 6700-metre Mount Kailash, reputed home of the Hindugod of creation

and destruction, Shiva, whose symbol for Hindu worshippers is astone

phallus.Indians, who sometimes call the mountain the Phallus of the World ,

have beentaking the arduous trek across the Himalayas for at least 17 centuries

to bathein the lake and take a clockwise walk around its waters (80 kilometres)

and themountain's lower slopes (50 kilometres).The pilgrimage is believed to

wash away the sins of a lifetime, preparing theway for reincarnation into a

higher form of

being after death.To Chopa, Mayor of the nearby Tibetan village of Hor, the

prospect is lesspleasing. "These Indian visitors have no regard for

environmental care," he saidover a meal in Hor's main restaurant, serving spicy

food at one of its threetables. "That's why you would have seen so much rubbish

at the lake."Chopa, who like many Tibetans has only one name, is particularly

irked by theHindus' practice of throwing off their old clothes and casting them

into thewaters of Manasarovar once they have taken a holy dip, before putting on

newclothes to symbolise their cleansed state. "Every year we have to hire

peopleto clean up the mess," he said.The shores of Manasarovar certainly do

have the beginnings of a litter problem,with plastic water bottles and other

packaging strewn along the pilgrims' route.The air is clean, the grass is fresh

and it will be a great place forrelaxation.It could be disputed,

however, whether the 6000 Indians and Nepalis (also mostlyHindus) who visit each

year are any worse than the 30,000 other foreigners andthe uncounted numbers of

Chinese and Tibetan visitors.Chopa's own village of mud brick houses is no

advertisement for environmentalcare. Waste water streams across the main

street, and its 1634 people have touse a central patch of rubbish-strewn open

ground, complete with scavengingdogs, as their toilet. Chopa, 28, a doctor,

says there are lots of plans for atreatment plant and other works, but

currently the village's waste flows intothe holy lake.Moreover,

environmentalists and religious figures around the world areincreasingly

alarmed more by the possibility of ill-judged efforts by Chineseauthorities to

"develop" the tourist potential of the area, considering thegarishly

inappropriate buildings already popping up in Tibet's bigger cities

andtowns.The lake and mountain also

represent Tibet's position as source of most of thegreat rivers flowing into

Asia's heavily populated lowlands. Around Manasarovarspring the headwaters of

the Ganges, the Indus and the Brahmaputra, which waterthe Indian

subcontinent.>From Tibet's south-east flow the Mekong, Salween and Irrawaddy

rivers ofSouth-East Asia. From the northern region of Qinghai, now a separate

Chineseprovince, come the Yangtze and Yellow rivers of Eastern China. A

collapse of theenvironmental balance in Tibet could have catastrophic results

for a hugeportion of humanity.Already the numbers coming into

Manasarovar-Kailash by four-wheel- drivevehicles, either from the Nepal

capital, Kathmandu, or Tibet's capital, Lhasa,are stressing the pristine

environment much more than the thousand or sopilgrims who take the traditional

pilgrim route by foot from the highestroad-head on the Indian side of the

Himalayas.There are persistent rumours of

a plan to build a ring road around Kailash,allowing visitors to cleanse their

sins in seated comfort. Chopa says that asfar as he knows, there was a plan to

improve the footpath, and installwaystations for the pilgrims to rest, but

there would be no access for vehicles.Chopa says his village administration

wanted to help by setting up a series ofvisitors' camps around Manasarovar.

"The air is clean, the grass is fresh and itwill be a great place for

relaxation," he says. "But it will be just tents,totally in Tibetan style,

notpermanent buildings."So far, Chinese officialdom has shown some awareness of

environmental risks. Amajor tree-planting program is in evidence along the

Yarlung Zangbo, as theBrahmaputra is called in Tibet, though talk of a super-

dam just before itleaves Chinese territory worries experts downstream.The

avowedly atheist Tibet Government has also deferred to religious sentimentat

Kailash. Three

years ago it refused permission for a Spanish expedition toclimb the mountain,

after stiff protests from Hindu groups. A proposal put twoweeks ago by a Nepali

aviation company to run tourist flights around the peakmay also be

vetoed.http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/02/1088488150163.html?onfiltered=true

 

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