Culture Indian and Nepali

The Himalayan population belongs to distinct culturally isolated indigenous Himalayan population. Those cultures – Hindu (Indian and Nepali), Buddhist (Tibetan), Islamic (Afghanistan–Iranian) and Animist (Burmese and southeast Asian) – have created here their own individual and unique place.[5]

In Indian tradition, Rishabhdev’s son Emperor Bharata Chakravartin, after whom India was believed to be named Bharatvarsha attained nirvana at Mount Kailash.[44]

There are many cultural aspects of the Himalayas. In Jainism, Mount Ashtapad in Himalayas is a sacred place where the first Jain Tirthankara,

Rishabhdeva attained moksha. It is believed that after Rishabhdeva attained nirvana, his son, Emperor Bharata Chakravartin, had constructed three stupas and twenty four shrines of the 24 Tirthankaras with their idols studded with precious stones over there and named

it Sinhnishdha.[45][46][47] For the Hindus, the Himalayas are personified as Himavath, the father of the goddess Parvati.[48] The Himalayas is also considered to be the father of the river Ganges. Two of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for

the Hindus is the temple complex in Pashupatinath and Muktinath, also known as Saligrama because of the presence of the sacred black rocks called saligrams.[49]