Bhotiya communities of Uttarakhand along the traditional Kailash–Mansarovar corridor — a sacred geography shaped by people, movement, and memory. The Bhotiyas and Kailash–Mansarovar: Indigenous Custodians of a Sacred Himalayan Corridor By Adv. C.V. Manuvilsan I. Sacred Routes and Forgotten Custodians: Discussions on Kailash–Mansarovar often reduce the journey to a modern “pilgrimage event”—a calendar-bound yatra, regulated by permits, logistics, and international borders. What gets obscured in this framing is a deeper continuity: sacred circulation existed long before passports, check-posts, or ministries. That continuity was sustained not merely by belief, but by people who lived on the routes themselves. Among such communities, the Bhotiyas of Uttarakhand occupy a distinctive place. They were not transient pilgrims; they were custodians of passage—guides, traders, and ritual participants—whose lives were interwoven with the high passes leading toward Mount Kailash and Lak...