Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर, romanized: Mānasarōvar), also called Mapam Yumtso (Tibetan: མ་ཕམ་གཡུ་མཚོ།, Wylie: ma pham g.yu mtsho, THL: ma pam yu tso; Chinese: 瑪旁雍錯; pinyin: Mǎ páng yōng cuò) locally,[a] is a high altitude freshwater lake near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

In his Tibetan-English dictionary, Sarat Chandra Das states that Mapam Yumtso is derived from Mapam meaning unconquerable or invincible and Tso Madröpa is derived from Madropa meaning "ground heated by the Sun" both used in combination with Tso, the Tibetan word for lake.

[6][7] It is located in the southwest region of Tibet north of the western tripoint of the border between China, India and Nepal.

[10][13][14] The major rivers rising from the region include Yarlung Tsangpo (which becomes the Brahmaputra), the Indus, the Sutlej and the Karnali, a tributary of Ganges.

The Rigveda mentions that the Indus River flows north because of Indra, a geographical reality only in the Tibet region.

According to Frits Staal, this makes it likely that some of the ancient Vedic people traced the route of the Indus river and had seen the valley near Mount Kailash.

[32] Numerous sites in the region are associated with Padmasambhava, who is credited with establishing Tantric Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century CE.

[33][34] Vajrayana Buddhists believe that saint Milarepa (c. 1052 – c. 1135) had a challenge with Naro Böncham, a follower of Bön religion on the banks of Manasarovar.

[39] It is believed by Jains that after Rishabhanatha attained nirvana, his son emperor Bharata had constructed three stupas and twenty four shrines of the 24 tirthankaras in the region.

Typically, historic pilgrimage sites that were frequented by Buddhists, Hindus and Jains attracted discussion in their respective texts and the construction of infrastructure by wealthy patrons or kings.

[25] According to Luciano Petech, Tibetan records indicate that the region was considered to be their sacred geography by the late 12th-century, with reports of Buddhist monks meditating in the Go-zul cave of Kailash and circumambulating the mountain.

[47] According to Alex McKay, the possible synthesis of esoteric Buddhism and Shaivism may have expanded and brought Kailash and Manasarovar into the shared sacred geography for both Buddhists and Hindus.

[57] Since 2020, a motorable road is available till the Lipu Lekh pass through the Indian side of the Mahakali valley, before crossing over to China.

[31][63] Pilgrims believe that bathing in the lake and circling the mountain is a spiritually beneficial practice that can bring various positive effects, such as the cleansing of one's sins.

[64][48][65] For the Khas people of the nearby region of Humla in northwest Nepal, a ritual bath in the lake is an important step in gaining their shamanic powers.

[60] There are many stupas, flag poles, Buddhist monasteries and praying stations on the banks of the lake, many of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution of China from 1966 to 1976.