Taking a dive in the holy rivers may be a way for salvation as the devotees believe and more importantly, lakhs of Hindus still follow this practice, but it may be banned in the holy Kailash Mansarovar in future due to environmental reasons.
General visitors or tourists may not be much concerned with such kind of steps which are being mooted, but for devotees who go in large numbers on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage every year, such restrictions will come as a matter of huge disappointment.
These kind of reservations regarding restricting visitors from bathing in the holy lake Kailash Mansarovar surfaced during a meeting organised in China recently this month in which stakeholders from India, China and Nepal and tour operators from across the globe took part to discuss how to promote tourism in the Kailash landscape in the upper Himalayan zone.
The environmentalists and authorities concerned from other countries objected strongly to this conventional way of bathing in the holy Kailash-Mansarovar by the visitors.
In view of the extremely fragile ecosystem of this Himalayan zone that not only holds huge strategic importance for neighbouring countries like India, China and Nepal, but also great religious importance and that too for ancient times, some of the representatives and the authorities concerned raised their reservations in this meeting over the way the visitors/ devotees take bath in the holy lake in the Kailash Mansarovar applying soaps or shampoo.
The participants were of the view that any kind of chemicals, including use of soap and shampoo, pollute the lake waters, posing danger for many living creatures in the lake.
However, keeping in view religious importance of taking dive in the holy rivers or lakes for Hindus, Commissioner of Kumaon AS Nayal, who was representing India in this meet said that necessary steps can be taken to find a way out to maintain purity of lake waters and the ecology system of this Himalayan region.
"Taking a dive in Ganga and holy lakes is part of Hindus' belief. But we suggested in this meeting that a kind of regulation in the form of penalty could be put in place against those who are found polluting the lake waters," Commissioner Kumaon told The Pioneer.
This meet was basically aimed at promoting tourism activities in the Kailash-Mansarovar landscape. That is why stakeholders from all these countries had joined together to contemplate on to move ahead on this ambitious subject maintaining ecological balance of this Himalayan zone, added the Commissioner of Kumaon.
However, the participants expressed hope that a way would be found out to address all these concerns, he further said.
The historic Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage had to be suspended by the Government in June this year following devastating monsoon that Uttarakhand had to reel under.
Over thousand devotees in as many as 18 batches i.e. 60 pilgrims in each batch, had to go on the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage this year. But the pilgrimage had to be suspended mid way after allowing only one batch to go on the said pilgrimage in June due to adverse weather conditions.
Since taking a dip in the holy lakes and rivers like Ganga remains ultimate aim of the hundreds of devotees that go to Kailash Mansarovar every year from different parts of the country, it is to be seen how the authorities concerned address these issues related to religion or faith maintaining ecological balance of this Great Himalayas.