The Mansarovar Yatra was suspended in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was further affected by the chill in Indo-China ties following the confrontation between the two armies at Galwan in Ladakh
The resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra after a five-year hiatus is a small beginning towards normalising the complex relationship between India and China. The pilgrimage to Mount Kailash holds special significance for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. A few hundred Indians have been undertaking this pilgrimage every year since 1981 — beginning with 59 pilgrims in 1981 and rising to 919 in 2017.
The Mansarovar Yatra was suspended in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was further affected by the chill in Indo-China ties following the confrontation between the two armies at Galwan in Ladakh. The pilgrimage is being resumed as part of comprehensive measures agreed upon by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia. As part of this agreement, 750 pilgrims will travel to Tibet in August.
Though the resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra alone cannot restore trust between the world’s two most populous countries and two major economies, it will help revive people-to-people contacts, thereby improving understanding between them. Over thousands of years of their existence, India and China — two ancient civilisations — dominated the world, yet they never fought each other because they operated in their own separate spheres.
For thousands of years, India never feared China’s supremacy. Similarly, China did not worry about India when the entire Southeast virtually became a part of the Indosphere. Luoyang never hesitated to learn from Kannauj or to worship an Indian — the Buddha — as god. As an unstable China or India is not good for any country, they must learn to live with each other. If India and China can bring back their age-old trust in each other, it will do immense good to the world and its inhabitants, and hopefully, the resumption of the Mansarovar Yatra is a start in that direction.
