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Kailash-Manasarovar
A Journey in the Footsteps of Sven Hedin & Swami Pranavananda
Speaker
For centuries, Tibet has remained a land of mystery. Though sacred to millions, Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar were still wrapped in myth as recent as the 1900’s. This session retraces the journey of two travelers, a Swedish explorer and an Indian ascetic, whose visits illuminated the mythical and sacred Kailash-Manasarovar region in Tibet.
Between 1907 and 1909, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin mapped the region. He traced the sources of the three great rivers – the Brahmaputra, Indus, and Sutlej – and became the first European to walk around Mount Kailash. Three decades later, Indian monk Swami Pranavananda arrived in the region. He offered a fresh view, challenging Hedin’s identification of the rivers’ sources, offering, for the first time, an informed Asian perspective on Tibet’s geography.
This visually rich talk brings their stories to life. Rare archival material, contemporary photos, and new research reveal how these journeys shaped our understanding of a sacred landscape.
The Q&A after the session offers room for your participation – whether curious about history, travel, or spirituality.
Speaker
Milan Moudgill
Milan Moudgill graduated from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, where he studied Visual Communication and specialised in Graphic Design. He has been practicing as a freelance designer in New Delhi for the last two decades, more recently also serving as visiting faculty in design colleges in and around Delhi. Photography is a hobby that he mixes with his love for traveling in the mountains. He has organised and led high-altitude treks in the Himalaya for over a decade, and in that period was commissioned from time to time to shoot and write for National Geographic Traveller and Outlook Traveller. Milan has shot film stills for ‘Monsoon Wedding’, ‘Vanity Fair’, ‘The Namesake’ and ‘A Suitable Boy’. Photography for the Kailash-Manasarovar project was undertaken between 2002 and 2007.
