Demystifying Nithyananda's self-proclaimed country United States of Kailasa

"Supreme pontiff of Hinduism", "reviver of Kailasa", and "Bhagavan", the controversial godman Nithyananda is known by different names in a country he founded, the United States of Kailasa. According to Kailasapedia, a shabbily-built copy of Wikipedia, he was elected the "supreme pontiff of Hinduism" in 2016.

Months after fleeing India in 2019 after being charged with accusations of rape, A Rajasekaran, better called Nithyananda, announced the creation of this nation, also called Shrikailasa.

The "nation" made it to headlines again in February this year when its "representatives" attended a discussion conducted by the United Nations in Geneva. A saffron-clad woman with Nithyanada's tattoo on her right arm, who later came to be known as Ma  Vijayapriya Nithyananda, represented Kailasa at the meeting.

Nithyananada later tweeted calling her "Kailasa's Permanent Ambassador" of the USK.

What is Kailasa?

Founded by fugitive "godman" Nithyananda in 2019, Kailasa is a community established as "a safe haven to all the world's practising, aspiring or persecuted Hindus, irrespective of race, gender, sect, caste, or creed, where they can peacefully live and express their spirituality, arts, and culture free from denigration, interference and violence".

According to the country's official website, its mission is to "preservation, restoration and revival of an enlightened culture and civilisation based on authentic Hinduism".

However, despite a wide virtual presence, the UN has not given official recognition to Kailasa. According to Montevideo Convention, of 1933, a territory must have a permanent population, a government, and a capacity to have a relationship with other countries, to be recognised as a country.

The delegation to the UN was seen as Nithyananda's attempt to do so, but the UN has called Kailasa's submissions "irrelevant".

Where is Kailasa located?

Several reports have claimed that Nithyananda bought an island near Ecuador and named it "Kailasa". However, it is not clear where the country is actually located. The Ecuadorian government told BBC that Nithyananda was not in their country.

In the answers posted to the questions of Business Insider's Matthew Loh, on Kailasa's website, the "Press Office of the Holy See of Hinduism" said, "SPH has never claimed he owns an island".

The followers of the "country", however, have a huge digital presence. They launch frequent press releases, post updates on Twitter and even take questions from journalists.

They even have their own national flag called Rishabha Dhvaja. Their national animal is Nandi and the national flower is Lotus. They even have the Banyan Tree as their national tree.

From the website, it seems that the "country" is run mostly digitally. According to "Kailasapedia", there are currently 16,638 "spiritual embassies" of Kailasa around the world.

A search for "Kailasa" on Google Maps reveals some Hindu temples in the southern half of India and a link to a website.

How is Kailasa governed?

Like other countries, Kailasa claims to have several departments for administration. These include the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Health, and Department of Information Broadcasting among others.

For the economy, it has a Reserve Bank.

The bank accepts donations from Hindus across the globe and claims to lend them to the members of the community.

"What are we trying to achieve is to create a framework for an economic network for Kailasa, where contribution to the Kailasa mission will go directly into building a superconscious society, running on the core principles of benefit for all, and generate a multi-fold return for the participants and investors in the economy," its website says.

Moreover, it aims to create a "Hindu Reserve Bank" with its "own supply of money". The money, according to the website, should not be "contaminated by fiat currency".

Interestingly, it adds, "An ideal way to create such a currency is through cryptocurrency."

Apart from charity from members, there is no clear indication of how the economy of Kailasa is run. Although a couple of years ago, it launched its own currency but its use is unspecified.

Citizenship of Kailasa

The so-called country claims to have a population of 100 million Adi Shaivites and 2 billion practising Hindus. However, there is no record of these citizens anywhere.

The "country" offers e-citizenship through e-passports through their platform "Koogle". The website also has a specimen of the "e-citizenship card" that it offers to its "citizens".

"Kailasa has more than 7 million e-passport applications. E-Citizenship of the United States of Kailasa is open to all born, practising and aspiring Hindus worldwide, who will receive an E-Citizen ID upon successful application. This ID will enable you to access unique, customized free spiritual services offered by Kailasa. There are millions of Hindus including those in India who have signed up and benefited from our E-Citizenship service," a post on its Twitter account says.

So, what exactly is Kailasa?

Kailasa can at best be called a "micronation'. By definition, micronations are political entities whose members claim that they belong to an independent nation but lack any legal recognition.

It is similar to Rajneeshpuram, established by Osho in the 1980s in the US. However, Osho's micronation had a specified location and physical presence.