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Dramatic
Himalayas
By Mehru Jaffer
What a feeling it is
to be in the Himalayas. Known as the roof of the world, to be in the
midst of the highest and broadest mountains on this earth is to be on
a literal high.
Opened out like two
generous arms of the creator it is not surprising that the Himalayas
is called the abode of gods. In between the Himalayas in Kashmir in
the northwest, and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast lies the ample
bosom of the youngest mountain range in the world. This is amazing
territory, a virtual maze of stiff peaks clad perpetually in snow,
dangerous walkways, crystal clear streams and a vegetation so varied
in the valleys that it both boggles the mind as well as provides much
solace to the soul.
For thousands of
years holy men have made homes in these hills, enjoying both mystical
moments and hardships. It is the sheer grandeur of the mountains that
perhaps inspires people to keep close to the great walls. "The
expanse of the Himalayas teaches me humility every moment of my life.
That is the only and most important lesson that I have learnt in these
decades of wandering," confesses one who in all of his 50 years
has owned nothing more than a staff and a loin cloth. While lesser
beings may use the foothills to beat the heat of the plains, the sage
and sadhu seek the heights just to keep sane and to make simple sense
of life.
Apart from the
stunning landscape, the mountains are attractive also because they
conjure up images of much romance as a meeting place of so many
different peoples, cultures and religions. They remain the home of
fascinating legends, animals and myths some nestled in dark caves
behind a thick curtain of a waterfall and others lurk in deep
gorges.
Isolated villages
stand since times gone past of a racially mixed people, including the
first descendants of the expanding Indus Valley civilisation of the
Dravidian people who moved to the foothills of the mountains thousands
of years before the birth of Christ followed by a mixture of the
Mongol and Aryan races. Rajput adventurers appeared much later. The
first westerners to the region are said to be Jesuit missionaries in
search of Prester John's legendary land.
If the cuisine of a
place is allowed to say anything about the different mix of people
having influenced a place then Dharamkot, a tiny village in the 2,000
kilometres long Shivaliks range of the western Himalayas is only one
example where it is possible today to enjoy pizzas baked in clay
ovens, Israeli salad, Tibetan momos and the best tandoori chicken in
the world. The cappuccino served here is not bad either.
Engulfed in its
mystical surroundings, Dharamkot provides a spectacularly mesmerising
view of the snow white range of the Dhauladhar mountains often crowned
with a brightly coloured rainbow that arches across all geographical
borders and rains down an equal amount of joy upon all Hindus,
Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Sherpas, Tamangs, Gurkhas, Baltis,
snow leopards, red pandas, yetis and yaks alike. While standing
suspended between little except the satin blue sky above and a
hairline ridge below the realisation that indeed no part of this earth
is the personal property of any one individual person, race or
religious group is a humbling experience. And when that happens all
man made conflicts over my land, my people and my religion pale into
meaninglessness, at least for that moment.
The next thought is
of Kashmir which is so difficult to enjoy these days due to the
terrible violence taking place against its people and the territory is
contested as a land of Muslim brotherhood. This is despite the fact
that once upon a time Kashmir was not even land. Geologists conclude
that the valley of Kashmir was a huge lake called the Karewa. As the
lake drained away human beings settled here and called the place
Kashyapamaar after the sage Kashyap.
It is the Buddhist
emperor Ashoka who built the city of Srinagar around the year 250 BC,
spreading Buddhism in the area and beyond to Ladakh, Tibet and Central
Asia. Muslims came in the 14th century and soon the entire valley
embraced Islam except for a small minority of Hindus, while Buddhism
preferred to disappear into the Himalayas.
The Moghul rulers may
have had their capital in the plains of Agra, Delhi or Lahore but they
loved Kashmir as it reminded them of their Central Asian past. Akbar
built the Hariparbat fort and Jehangir designed the Shalimar gardens
insisting in a spontaneous moment of poetic inspiration that if there
is heaven then it is here in Kashmir. The Sikh conqueror Ranjit Singh
replaced Muslim rulers in 1820. The religion of most Kashmiris maybe
Islam today but the influence of all the cultures that have over
thousands of years made their home in the area is evident in the way
of life, handicrafts and language of its people. Basholi miniature
paintings are most precious for their depiction of the story of Hindu
lovers Nala and Damyanti.
The narrow 2,000
kilometres long strip of the Shivaliks range that includes Jammu is
also known as the foothills of the Himalaya and runs in a continuous
belt through the Kangra valley up to the Kumaon hills. The landscape
is as lilting as a symphony as it rolls up and down despite the weight
of thick acacia and pine forests over jagged rocks and rivulets that
are heard but not seen flowing over sediment that was scattered
haphazardly when the Himalaya first tore through the ocean belt some
80 million years ago, ruthlessly splitting the land mass during the
Jurassic era, into two.
This act of collision
of the soft sedimentary crust with hard volcanic rocks pushed the
latter upwards to create the highest mountain range on this planet
with a landscape and bio diversity of flora and fauna that is as awe
inspiring as it is enchanting. The debris that settled in a ring
around the rising mountains is the Shivaliks range or land of Shiva,
the lord of destruction. Carried away by the recent stay in the
Shivaliks there was little choice but to prostrate in phallic worship
before the lingam of Shiva, a symbol of the awesome erection of the
still rising Himalayas. It is said that the Himalayas continue to
thrust upwards at 0.8 cm annually.
In the face of such
dramatic designs that nature seems to have in store for human beings
it makes little sense for any one of us to be battling each other
either over land, money or women.
-----Mehru Jaffer
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