Mount Meru

In Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain cosmologies Mount Meru is a mountain at the center of the world, the peaks of which contain heavens and divine realms. It is surrounded by many lakes, rings of mountains, and further out, the great ocean and four continents. Humans live on a southern continent called Jampudvipa. Buddhists interpret Jampudvipa corresponding to India, and Mount Meru is roughly equivalent to the Himalayas. Many Buddhists and Hindus identify Meru with Mount Kailash, a peak in western Tibet, as the focus of pilgrimage.