Gokyo is a most beautiful place about fourteen miles west of Mount Everest and with good views of it. It is a small herding community situated beside the three lakes of Gokyo and beside the foothill of Gokyo Ri which rises above it. Video and picture dowsing seems to indicate that the E-line passes through Gokyo Ri and the lakes. Tradition has it that the god Shiva plunged his trident into the earth and formed the three lakes of Gokyo; bathing in them is said to bring fertility. Shiva, "The Auspicious", is the Hindu god of energy who manifests in a thousand forms. As the benevolent "Lord of the Beasts" he is the guardian and protector of all Nepal and a patron of its kings since the seventh century. Gokyo is the take-off point of the hot air ballon flight over Mount Everest in 1990.