, photo = Mana Village, Badrinath, Uttarakhand, India.jpeg , photo_caption = Mana Village, Badrinath, Uttarakhand, pak , elevation_m = 5632 , elevation_ref =
(

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of E ...

2) , traversed = India National Highway NH58 , location =

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

–

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, range =

Garhwal Himalayas The Garhwal Himalayas are mountain ranges located in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Geology This range is also a part of Himalaya Sivalik Hills, the outer most hills of the Himalaya located in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Major peaks ...

, map = India Uttarakhand , label = Mana , label_position = top , coords = , topo = Mana Pass ( hi, माना दर्रा; ) or Chongnyi La ( hi, चोंगनी ला‌; ) is one of the highest vehicle-accessible passes in the world, containing a road constructed in the 2005-2010 period for the Indian military by the

Border Roads Organisation The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring ...

and visible on 2011 imagery on visual globe systems such as

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

. The well-graded gravel-dirt road is higher on the Indian side than the new road on the Tibetan side, and rises to on the Indian side of the border, 250 m west of the low point of the Mana Pass

Geography

Mana Pass is located within the

Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve The Nanda Devi National Park or Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, established in 1982 is a List of national parks of India, national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) in Chamoli district, Chamoli Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, ...

, 47 km north of the town of Mana, India and 52 km north of the Hindu

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

town of

Badrinath Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. A Hindu holy place, it is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage and is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. ...

. It is the source of the Saraswati River, the longest stem of one of the longest

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

tributaries, the

Alaknanda River The Alaknanda is a Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In hydrology, the Alaknanda is considered the source stream ...

. That river trickles through several scenic small ponds between the pass and Lake Deo Tal three km southwest of the pass. Mana pass is also the

key col In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

for climbing

Chaukhamba Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Gangotri Group of the Garhwal Himalaya. Its main summit, Chaukhamba I, is the highest peak in the group. It lies at the head of the Gangotri Glacier and forms the eastern anchor of the group.Andy Fansha ...

peak. Mana as a name derives from "Manibhadra Ashram", the ancient name of the town of Mana.

History

Mana Pass was an ancient trade route between

and Tibet. Mana Pass led from Badrinath to the kingdom, now province, of

Guge Guge (; ) was an ancient dynastic kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a va ...

in Tibet. The Portuguese

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

António de Andrade António de Andrade (1580 – March 19, 1634) was a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1596. From 1600 until his death in 1634 he was engaged in missionary activity in India. Andrade was the first known ...

and Manuel Marques became the first known

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

ans to enter Tibet across Mana Pass in 1624. The pass continued as a minor trade route until its closure in 1951 by the Chinese. On April 29, 1954,

and

signed an agreement granting pilgrims and indigenous travelers the right to travel between the two countries through Mana Pass.

Access

The pass is reached from the south by an extension of India National Highway 7 (NH-7, old number NH-58) that connects

Fazilka Fazilka, also known as Bangla, is a city and a municipal council in Fazilka district of Punjab, India. In 2011, it was made the headquarter of the newly created Fazilka district. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI) project originating in ...

with

, though beyond Badrinath the graded road is subject to landslides. Group of enthusiast motorcycle riders often can be seen on this road. Free Souls Rider Motorcycle Club was first non military citizens to scale the heights of Mana Pass and hold the record in The Limca Book Of Records.

References

Bibliography

* Holdich, Sir Thomas H; Tibet the Mysterious, (1906) University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts * MacGregor, John. Tibet: A Chronicle of Exploration, (1970) Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, SBN 7100-6615-5

External links

Trading Routes of the Himalayas Agreement Between India and China
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mana Pass Mountain passes of Uttarakhand Mountain passes of Tibet Mountain passes of China Mountain passes of India Mountain passes of the Himalayas China–India border crossings India–Tibet relations