The mountain of energy - mount kailash
Where earth rises into silence, energy gathers into a single, eternal peak.
Size: 50 x 38 inches
Medium: Marbled glass, smalti, iridescent glass on acrylic substrate.
iNSPIRATION
In July 2017, I trekked up to the base of Mount Kailash, the sacred abode of Lord Shiva. As I stood before the majestic mountain, I felt the very air vibrating with an unseen power. The mountain did not speak, yet its silence was alive — immense, magnetic, filled with presence. Each step of the trek brought me closer not just to its form but to its pulse; a resonance that seemed to rise from the earth and move through my being. That experience became the seed of The Mountain of Energy – Mount Kailash mosaic.
Through this mosaic, I have captured the mountain’s energy — the way it hums with the contained force of creation. The concentric circles in the mosaic represent waves of vibration radiating from Mount Kailash, while the Trishul anchors the composition as the symbol of Shiva’s cosmic strength. Through rhythm, repetition, and light, I have tried to express what I felt there — the awe of standing before pure energy made visible, stillness made radiant, the mountain itself breathing the divine.
For me, Mount Kailash is not just a place, but an awakening of energy within and without.
To stand before Mount Kailash is to feel both humbled and uplifted. To sense in its presence the unspoken truth that is shared by many faiths: that there exists a centre of stillness beyond all divisions, a space where all prayers meet and rise.
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eXPRESSION
I have sought to capture not only the physical grandeur of Mount Kailash, but also its vibrations, the invisible energy that one feels more than sees. The rhythmic geometry of this mosaic carries within it the symbolic essence of Mount Kailash —Shiva’s mountain, the cosmic axis.
The concentric circles at the bottom of the mosaic suggest the energy vibrations that reside in the heart of this majestic mountain, the eternal expansion of the sound Om, spreading endlessly through space and time. The repetition of these circles mirrors the cyclical nature of existence — creation, dissolution, renewal — the eternal breath of Shiva.
The Trishul anchors the rising energy, embodying Shiva’s threefold mastery over will, knowledge, and action, and grounding the spiralling motion into divine order.
The parallel lines emerging from the mountain’s heart mirror waves of potent energy — the unseen vibration of Mount Kailash flowing outward into the world. These radiant channels carry the sense of a living force — strong, steady, and eternal — spreading Shiva’s energy beyond the mountain’s still form, connecting earth to sky and matter to spirit.
The tesserae are cut in varying shapes and textures, creating a play between the rough matte stone, reflective glass and the irregular surfaces of smalti. These surfaces mirror the dual nature of Kailash itself — solid and eternal, yet alive with shifting light. Each fragment is placed to catch and release light, allowing the mountain’s stillness to shimmer with unseen motion — transforming stone into vibration, and form into energy.
The movement of colour — from earthy reds to luminous whites and blues — mirrors the soul’s ascent from matter to consciousness, from earth’s density to the clarity of spirit. Gold tesserae flicker like light on stone, recalling the sacred radiance of the Himalayan peaks at dawn. Together, these elements transform the mountain from just a mountain into a magnetic force — an emblem of pure energy - where stillness itself vibrates with the eternal presence of Shiva.
Thus Kailash rises—an enduring altar of pure, concentrated energy.