Pilgrimages In The Himalaya

Pilgrimages are an important expression of cultural life of all communities in the Himalaya. They are undertaken to destinations often remote from human settlements where the hand of man rarely sets foot, many of them situated at high altitude “power places” always close to a spring, a lake or a pond. They stand for the most meritorious and rewarding ventures, to be carried out on auspicious days of the calendar. Many civilizations consider water as the best agent of purification of body and soul as well as regeneration and is associated with the life-force of a region, sustaining and protecting the land and its inhabitants, representing the life-giving feminine function correlated with mountains representing the male principle.