Antiquities from Ladakh at the British Museum

Antiquities from Ladakh at the British Museum

Some antiquities and interesting everyday articles from Ladakh at the British Museum Collection. All pics and accompanying text is from the British Museum Website.

Phur-bu (part of), dagger (ceremonial). Snake design. Made of gilded bronze; also engraved iron

Phur Bu (part of), dagger (ceremonial). Snake design. Made of gilded bronze; also engraved iron. Finial (Phur Bu?). Figure of Hayagriva with 4 heads and 6 arms mounted on do-rje. Made of bronze.

A circular amulet-box (gau) with a pair of cylindrical loops for suspension attached to the sides, made of silver with copper alloy and silver filigree decoration; inside the box and behind a circular window is a painted clay plaque (tsa-tsa) depicting a seated Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas; below the opening, a pear-shaped fragment of turquoise is set into the filigree.

Food container in four parts. Made of lacquered wood and papier mâché. Decorated externally with Kashmiri floral designs and internally with fish. The base is also decorated with fish.

Lock and Key

Bell made of metal

Lid made of metal with onion-shaped knob on top and chain at one side

Bell (for horse) made of metal, wood.

Bell (for horse) made of metal, wood.

Case (for charm) made of metal, stone, textile

Perak : Woman's head-dress made of cloth, cloth (canvas), coral, beads (lead), brass, pearls, turquoise

Pendant (one of a pair). Made of cloth, stones (semi-precious), turquoise, coral, bronze

Snow-shoe (one of a pair) made of wood, hide.

A Crampon made of Wood and Hide.

Reverse side of the Crampon

Pack Saddle Wooden for Horse / Mule

Loom (part of) made of wood, textile

Wooden folding table intricately carved with traditional dragon, lion, cloud, geometric and floral motifs and laquered and painted red, yellow, orange, green, blue and gold. Red flat-top with multi-coloured semi-circles immediately below; underneath this, panel with Greek key style geometric design. Front panel with two dragons facing one another with group of six (scrolls?) surrounded by flames at centre; cloud designs all around. Front table legs painted red with yellow edges and gold floral motifs. Side folding legs similarly painted but central panels carved with lion design surrounded with clouds. Top and back sides of table roughly painted blue.

Another view of the Wooden Folding Table.

Kashmir Musings I

The first is the traditional Khatamband wooden ceiling which is made of small geometric pieces of Walnut or Deodar wood as seen in the pic below. This originated in Persia and made it down to Kashmir. These are traditionally made without any nails or glue and are just fitted together using joints in wood. These intricate pieces of art serve as a heat insulator as well. However it is a time taking task and expensive as such. Also with wood getting expensive this art form is slowly disappearing from Kashmiri homes. We are still lucky to have this ceiling in some parts of the house which was done more than 40 years ago and it even survived the floods.

The second which most of you must be familiar with is the Bukhari, which as the name suggests came from Bukhara in Central Asia. Traditionally we had three kinds of Bukharis: Wood burning, such was the original type, then the Coal burning and finally the Saw Dust burning. The Coal one was the hottest but it came with the danger of asphyxiation. The Wood one was the second hottest but it need a constant supply of wood but never the less was the most popular one. In our house we had the Saw Dust one as it was most convenient though heat generation was less compared to the other two. However Saw Dust as a waste product was easily available in those times. Nowadays these are being replaced by Gas, Kerosene and Electrical heaters. And slowly the Bukhari would only be found at places like this. The Bukharis in the pic below are the extra large variety types and wood burning.

The Residency, which lends its name to Srinagar's stylish (once upon a time) Residency Road, after the light snowfall day before yesterday. 

This served as the Residence of the Resident of the British Indian Government to the Court of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.

Set amidst vast lawns and surrounded by numerous Chinars hundreds of years old it sits right opposite to what used to be the Polo Ground. The building now serves as a Handicrafts Emporium showcasing arts and crafts from the Valley.

Unlike other Hill Stations which were a part of the British dominion, Kashmir wasn't and the Maharaja explicitly forbade any foreigner from owning any land in the Valley (it still holds true in another manifestation which is now a Political issue). So all the British used to stay in Houseboats as they were allowed to stay on these and even own them.

The Residency building is a beautiful heritage building with two magnificent gates on either side. One gate led towards the Lal Chowk area while the other opened towards the exclusive, white only, Srinagar Club.

Around the Hari Parbat Hill

The Hari Parbat Fort as seen from the Badamwari below

The imposing Hari Parbat Fort. The present Fort was built by the Durrani Afghans in 1808 though originally the fortifications around the hill were built during the reign of Akbar who wanted to make a new capital here. I did some explorations around the Fort two weeks back and found some interesting things around. The original Fortification wall built by the Mughals still exist in parts around the lower parts of the Hill.

The most fascinating fact was that there was a tunnel from the Fort which led one to the shores of the Pokhribal Lake, an extension of the Nigeen Lake, right from the top of the Fort. The Tunnel entrance is still there at the Pokhribal Lake. Also a ventilation hole around 10 ft is still preserved in the Badamwari Garden. The Tunnel is now blocked so the secret passage way cannot be explored further. The Hill also holds the Shrine of Makhdoom Sahib such encompasses various historical structures of the Mughal Era, as well as the Sharika Devi Temple and the Chatti Padshahi Gurudwara.

The Akhun Mullah Mosque on the Hari Parbat

An alternate view of Srinagar old Town. As seen from above the Mosque of Akhun Mullah Shah near Makhdoom Sahib a little way up from the Kathi Darawaza. This little Mosque was erected by Dara Shikoh in attractive grey limestone to honor his tutor Akhun Mullah Shah. The Mosque was built in 1649 AD and it has a stone lotus over it's pulpit, the only one of its kind in Kashmir. Another little architectural gem of Kashmir. In the background is visible the Shankaracharya Hill with the Shankaracharya Temple, another gem that was made in the 7th century AD.

Massive Chinars overlooking the Srinagar city in the compound of the Akhun Mulla Mosque

The Chatti Padshahi Gurudwara as seen from the Hari Parbat

The Chatti Padshahi Gurudwara, one of the most revered Gurudwaras in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, in Srinagar as seen from the Akhun Mullah Shah Mosque. This Gurudwara is situated in the Rainawari locality near the Kathi Darawaza on the foot of the Hari Parbat. It is associated with the Sixth Guru who is supposed to have roamed around in the Valley spreading the message of Guru Nanak Dev ji.

Pokhribal Lake a part of the Nigeen Lake and the Lepers Colony behind it

The Boat Club at Pokhribal Lake at Srinagar

This pic was taken from the top of the now in ruins outerwall of the Hari Parbat Fort. The water body that you see here is called Pokhribal and it's an extension of the Nigeen Lake. Underneath the massive Chinars is a Shamshan Ghat run by the Ahle Singham, a local Sikh Group. The shed is where they cremate the bodies.

The White building is the Boat Club though there surely wasn't much boating happening and the place looked derelict. Just a few guys using the pier for trying to catch a fish on their improvised fishing rods. The White structure across the Lake is a water treatment plant or something on those lines.

Behind the plant there are old buildings and a big old Hospital. This is Kashmir's Leper Colony. This isolated spot was where all the Lepers in the state were kept. Due to ignorance Lepers were shunned and were forced to live in isolation over here. In time they married amongst themselves and had families. Now three generations of the Lepers families live here. The Lepers are still provided daily / monthly rations. Generally people tend to stay away from this place.

Next time will surely visit the Leper Colony. It's a place time and people forgot. And of course the pic has the Zabarwan, the Lakes, the Chinars and all other things usually associated with Kashmir.

A Family home and its field by the banks of the Pokhribal Lake. On the right you can see the Tunnel which linked the Lake to the Fort on the top of the Hill

An massive old Chinar by the Pokhribal Lake with an ancient structure. Next to the Chinar is a crematorium used by the Sikh families living in this area.

A view of the Nigeen Lake in the foreground and the Dal Lake in the background with the Zabarwan Mountains in the background.

The Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar as seen from the Hari Parbat

The Jamia Masjid in the Nowhatta area of Srinagar surrounded by the old part of Srinagar. This beautiful Mosque is one of the largest Mosques in Kashmir and has a capacity of well over 30,000. It was built in 1394 AD by a Sultan of the Shah Miri Dynasty. It is a beautiful piece of Architecture indeed though few outsiders visit this place. This was clicked from the Mosque of Akhun Mullah Shah above the Kathi Darwaza both of which are ASI designated monuments and again are beautiful examples of Islamic Architecture. 

The Pir Panjals in the background of Srinagar city as seen from the Akhun Mullah Mosque

Saddles of the Horse Empires

Central Asian Wooden Saddle.

The Saddles of the Horse Empires

I have already told you the story of the Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum. Of course like all Museums it holds so many Items and so many stories attached to them. Like a small cannon that belonged to General Zorawar Singh himself, Horse Bells gifted by the Raja of Kharmang to Munshi Aziz Bhatt, old Korans from the 16th Century and even a Rug made for one Shyam Lal who was a secretary to Alexander Burnes. 

Saddles Central Asia at the Mushi Aziz Bhat Museum

One of the most significant and important set of items on display is a collection of Saddles and Horse riding items from Central Asia, Tibet and even a Saddle of the mighty Mongols themselves. Of course these items carry little significance but in those days before the Internal Combustion engine came around the Horse was the means of transport and one of the most important weapons in Warfare especially on the Central Asian steppes. No wonder the Empires built by the Nomads of Asian Steppes including the one built by Mongols under Changez Khan were also known as Horse Empires. The tenacity of the Central Asian Horse and its amazing stamina and resilience made it one of the main factor in the conquest of the “civilized” world by these so called “Barbarians” who came in from the North riding their Horses. In fact Historians have credited the Horse as being the strongest strength of the largest contiguous Empire the world has ever seen, the Mongol Empire.

Tibetan Saddle

The Central Asian people from the Mongols to the Turkic people of the Central Asia like the Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Kazakh to the Persian Tajiks all revered the Horse and they were their most valued possessions. And of course one of most important Item required to ride a Horse was the Saddle of course and all other attached paraphernalia like the Stirrups and decorative ornaments and stuff for the Horses. 

Kirgiz Saddle

The display at the Museum has a great collection of these items as mentioned earlier. There are Saddles from Kyrgyz, the Uzbek, the Tibetans, even an English saddle and the most decorative being a Mongol Saddle. These Saddles are the same design that have come down from Millennia and not much has changed as far as the Saddles and their designs are meant. The fact that there is a great possibility that the Great Khan himself rode a similar Saddle when he subjugated the World is of course quite an overwhelming though.

English Saddle

Of course the Horse Saddles were important items of Trade on the Kashmir to Yarkand Silk Route Trail. I would assume that Horse Saddles from Central Asia were in demand on this side of the Great Mountain Wall. And the Central Asians were more sophisticated at this though the Europeans in the later ear were turning out good Saddles as well. One of the main difference was that Central Asian Saddles were made of Wood and Leather and were highly decorated reflecting the status of the Person riding that Saddle. European Saddles made of Leather and Metal were more work like and devoid of any decorative element. 

Mongol Saddle

In the pic below a few of the Saddles in the Museums collection are shown. The one on the right with Metal Studs is a Kyrgyz saddle from the 18th Century. The one in front is an Uyghur saddle from Eastern Turkestan. The one with a Carpet like covering is a Tibetan Saddle. The one next to it is the most prized one : A Mongol Saddle with a lot of decorations which sadly have deteriorated over time. And last but not the least an English Saddle in Leather and Metal.

European Saddle

The fact that people sat on these Saddles while crossing the Great Wall as I call it consisting of the Kun Luns, the Pamirs, the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams and finally the Great Himalayas themselves again gives one a sense of awe of the great Tradesmen and Soldiers who crossed this most formidable barrier for Trade and War. And their most faithful companion in both case was none other than the Horse.

Tibetan Arts and Antiquities at the Shanghai Museum

Tibetan Arts and Antiquities at the Shanghai Museum

The Shanghai Museum holds a collection of Tibetan Antiquities and Arts from down the ages in its Minority Ethnic Groups section. Here is a glimpse at some of the Tibetan pieces on display at the Museum.

Gilt Copper Figurine of a Wrathful Manjusri

Gilt Brass figurine of White Tara

Gilt Bronze Figurine of a Vajra Protector

Gilt Brass Figurine of Manjusri

Gilt Brass figurine of Ushnishavijaya

Hand Braided Bamboo Hat lined with guaze - Gansu

Left : Lacquered Hat with Pyramidal Point Right : Lacquered Hat with Flat Point

Tibetan Ceremonial Masks

Tibetan Ceremonial Masks

Kapala Bowl with a Copper Cover

White Copper Vajra Bell

Gilt Brass Top of a Stupa

Gilt Copper Stupa

Left : Silver Prayer Wheel with a hammered Motif Right : Brass Vajra Axe

Carved Wooden Sticks used for Printing Tibetan Qinghai

Lacquered Basket with a Painted Floral Motif and Golden Decoration.

Lacquered Bowl and Lid with a Gold Motif of Paired Dragons

Left : Monk’s Cup Shaped Butter Tea Copper Pitcher with filigree Motif. Mid Right : Silver Wine Cup with a hammered Bird Motif. Right : Silver Wine Cup with a Hammered Lotus Motif

Top : Brass Toothpick Case w/ Designs of Enamel Flowers, Birds and Human Figures. Bottom : Brass Carving Knife and Scabbard w/ Designs of Enamel Flowers, Birds and Human Figures

Ox Horn Vessel with a Relief Motif of an Exorcism : Tibetan Qing

Twisted Wire Bangles : Tibetan

Tibetan Ceremonial Dress w/ Jade and Metal Finery

British Museum Kashmir Collection Part I

The Kashmir Collection at the British Museum

The British Museum has a great Collection of Sculptures from Kashmir from the first Millenium AD. We try and highlight some of the selected pieces from the Museums Collection. All Pics and Descriptions are from the British Museum Website (http://www.britishmuseum.org/)

Sculpture of grey chlorite of the goddess Lakshmi, from Kashmir, northwest India. The deity is depicted seated in the pralambapadasana pose on a lion throne and crowned with a diadem made up of three crescent moons, in the Sassanian manner (now a little damaged). The nimbate deity is lustrated by two male attendants who bear large globular pots. In her right hand she holds a damaged lotus, while in her left hand she grasps the animal-headed terminal of an Indianised version of a classical cornucopia with, issuing from the very top, what is to become one of her foremost symbols, a full-bellied pot, purnaghata, bursting with abundance. At each side and below the lustrating male figures, are two camaradharani, while below them are two small male figures who pour pots of gold at her feet. Her throne is set on a plain moulded plinth typical of sculpture from Kashmir. / The sculpture is an unusually large and early example of imaging of the non-Buddhist sculpture of this region. It is also remarkable in that it clearly shows the way in which the Gandhara idiom of the 2nd-4th centuries was transmuted into a distinctively Indian form; here we are in the transition between the two, with a depiction of a Hindu goddess (Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity and wealth) and yet with features such as the pleated costume so reminiscent of Roman dress as well as the cornucopia, both brought ultimately from the west, while her crown is based on a Sassanian (Persian, and thus also western) model.

6th C / Kashmir

A figure of Vishnu, the left hand holding a conch, other 3 arms & feet missing. Made of stone (schist).

800 AD / Kashmir School / Height: 28.56 centimetres

Relief panel in smooth green chlorite of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha. The god is depicted enthroned and in the pose known as lalitasana, appropriate for an important person at ease. The throne is supported by lions, while at the centre, the remains of a human figure, perhaps a prostrate devotee, can be seen.

The deity wears the typical Kashmiri crown which derives, ultimately from Sasanian prototypes – note, the crescent moon elements along the front of the diadem. Other jewellery items include a necklace of beads, a garland, vanamala, across his lower body and – only clearly visible on the reverse – a sacred thread, yajnopavita. He is shown four-armed in the usual form, though one arm, the lower right, is damaged and the attribute cannot now be identified (though one would expect it to have been a broken tusk). The other three arms hold the canonical attributes of: rosary, mala (upper right); axe, parasu (upper left), a variant on the elephant goad, ankusa (the axe instead of the goad is seen elsewhere amongst Kashmiri images of Ganesha); and bowl of sweets, laddu (lower left). The figure is nimbate though this is only substantially visible from the reverse where it is depicted in the usual Kashmiri fashion as a disc lightly set into the surface of the soft stone.

Above the deity's right ear, a small circular hole has been drilled through the stone at some point in its life. This is perhaps all that remains of an ear ornament for the image; a similar, though now broken hole is seen on the left side. / The overall surface of the sculpture is smooth, the result over many centuries of use in a shrine. In Hindu veneration, puja, the rubbing of images with sandal-paste or other offerings, or the mere touching as a means of honouring and of reassurance, means that images from antiquity – especially those from a domestic shrine context, like this one – frequently have details that have been slightly or sometimes wholly, erased. The wonderfully tactile quality of the chlorite, make holding this image an added pleasure.

The lion support to the throne is found elsewhere in the Northwest though elsewhere in the subcontinent, and especially later in the trajectory of this god of auspiciousness, the rat is the animal more usually associated with him.

9thC / Kashmir

Seated Buddha seated on lion throne supported on a lotus with two deer facing a dharmacakra.

9th Century / Kashmir School Swat

A figure of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara seated on a cylindrical stool in a rocky setting, above two pairs of seated goats; wearing multicoloured lower garment with strips; his hands making the gestures of giving and protection (turned inwards), and holding a rosary, a triple staff, a waterpot, and the stalk of lotus; his 'parent' Buddha seated on his headdress, and an antelope skin draped over one shoulder. Made of brass with inlaid copper and silver inlaid and some gilding.

Identified by von Schroeder as Sugatisandarsana Lokesvara.Zwalf 1985

The Bodhisattva sits on a cylindrical stool in a rocky setting, with goats, perhaps of his mountain home Potalaka. His presumably multicoloured lower garment is shown by alternating strips of inlaid brass, silver and copper. The texts call this complex form of Bodhisattva 'Lokeśvara who points out good births' and his hands, read clockwise, make the gestures of giving and protection (unusually turned inwards), and hold a rosary, a triple staff, a waterpot, and the stalk of the silver-inlaid lotus. His 'parent' Buddha sits prominently on his headdress, and an antelope skin is draped over one shoulder.

10 Century /Kashmir

Standing figure of a four-armed Vishnu, flanked by personified weapons, Gadadevi – the club – and Cakrapurusa – the discus. Cast in a copper-alloy and inlaid with silver; abraded.

9thC-10thC / Kashmir School / Height: 237 millimetres Width: 135 millimetres Depth: 45 millimetres

Censer of copper alloy in the form of a four-armed flying male celestial figure who carries above his head, in his two upper hands, a hinged spherical vessel (one of the upper arms is now broken at the elbow). The vessel is pierced at the top to allow for the exit of aromatic smoke resulting from burning incense powder or resin inside the covered bowl. The figure bends on his left leg with the foot bent back beneath the body, while the right leg is thrust out behind; this would have formed the beginning of the handle but everything from the right knee downwards is now lost. The figure is clad in a dhoti which is clearly visible around the knees and lower legs, while over his left shoulder, the sacred thread (yajnopavita), is shown.

Censers feature in temple ritual as the conveyors of sweet-smelling smoke to the image of the deity (this is the offering of the sense of smell, just as lamps in the arati ritual, provide the offering of the sense of sight).

The figure is solid-cast using the lost-wax process; the censer-bowl is hollow-cast.

Floral imagery, so appropriate for this type of temple utensil, is apparent throughout, as follows:

1 – the figure kneels on his left knee on a lotus pedestal with downward-pointing petals (twelve full petals in total, but with one at the back missing; in between and below each full petal, a smaller one is visible)

2 – in his hands, joined in the posture of supplication and greeting, anjali mudra, further lotus blossoms are held

3 – hanging over his shoulders across his elbows and down to the bended knee is an intricately depicted garland (vanamala).

4 – upper-arm bands, one on each arm, are decorated with fully-open flowers

5 – flowers decorate the typical Kashmiri three-part crown, and floral garlands hang from it on to the shoulders of the figure

6 – where the crown meets the ears there are fully open blossoms, as is common in medieval stone and bronze sculpture from Kashmir

7 – the vessel, which the celestial figure carries above his head is, on the lower part, decorated with a lotus-petal design while the upper part bears a lush floral scroll

8 – the finial is set on the top of the vessel within a full-blown flower and the nozzle through which the incense passes is in the form of an opening flower.

In the very extensive bibliography for this sculpture, there has been some slight variation in the date suggested for it, but all scholars have placed it within the 9th-10th century bracket and thus mostly within the period of rule of the Utpala dynasty (856-939 AD). The accomplishment of the bronze casting and the iconography, all unequivocally place the production of the sculpture in, or close to, the Kashmir valley.

The last owner of the censer, wrote one of the most important articles about it (Digby 1991). In that article, Simon Digby identified the celestial figure as the leader of the gandharvas, the band of musicians and servers who attend on the gods. The name Puspadanta or Flower-teeth (ie. flowers carried between the teeth) for this figure was suggested by Digby. His identification is based 1) on the medieval text, the Mahimnastava where Puspadanta is described, and 2) the placing of the composition of the text in Kashmir. The linkage between this flower-bedecked image and the flower-thief who, in the text, is described as an aerial figure carrying floral offerings to his Lord, Shiva, makes convincing reading. In the same article, Digby relates the censer to the figures found on the massive back-plate from Devsar, now in the Sri Pratap Singh Museum, in Srinagar, and dated to the 10th century. He also notes that, like the back-plate, the censer has probably been buried at some time in the ancient past, thus accounting for the loss of both the lower right leg and the handle of the censer. This doubtless also explains the greenish patina and the lack of any evidence of significant smoothing of the image; such smoothing is frequently seen on images and utensils which have been in temple use over many centuries. He speculates that, when complete, the censer would have had what he called ‘a recurved handle’, ie. a handle arched away from the figure and thus able to balance the significant weight of the censer itself.

9thC / Kashmir

A leaf in black schist from a diptych depicting on one side a headless seated figure, probably an ascetic and on the other the Assault of Mara in the upper register and in the lower the First Sermon.

Zwalf 1985

Similar leaves of carved stone survive, parts of diptychs, portable folding objects showing scenes from the Buddha's life. The headless figure, hand on chin and seated on a stool above his Brahmin's waterpot, may be the ascetic who predicted the newborn's Buddha destiny; on the reverse panels show, above, the assault of Māra and, below, the First Sermon with the wheel just recognisable below the Buddha. The leaf was found at Khotan, in Central Asia, and is not the only example of this kind of object to have been found outside the Kashmir- Gandhara area of its manufacture.

7th C

Figures (group of). Typical Kashmir stupa on reverse. Made of stone (schist).

9th Century C

A bronze figure of Prajñāparamitā, holding a lotus and a book seated on a lion throne.

9th - 10th C

Figure (Buddha). Made of bronze.

9th C -10th C

Standing image of Śiva Mahesamurti, feet missing. Made of green stone.

9th C

Figure. Steatite stone figure of Gaja-Lakṣmī, seated on a lion.

700 C

Liṅga, with face of Śiva. Made of stone (schist).

7th C - 9th C

Figure (Viṣṇu.part of). Made of stone (steatite).

8th C

A gilded bronze figure of the Buddha seated on a throne supported by lions.

8th C

The Chingus Sarai

The Entrance to the Sarai

The Entrails of an Emperor : Chingus Sarai

(Advisory : Please use your discretion while reading this Post. Some parts of it might sound distasteful to sensitive people.)

On the Old Mughal Road or the Mughal Road as its called now lies a Sarai called the Chingus Sarai. This was among a series of Sarais built by the Mughals to serve as stop over points on their Journeys to Kashmir via the Pir Ki Gali. Some of these Sarais still exist though in a dilapidated condition on the Road. These include the most well known of these Sarais as well, the Aliabad Sarai which was right below the Pir Ki Gali. The Road and the Sarais on it were built by the Kurdish Governor of Kashmir and Lahore, Ali Mardan Khan

Inside the Chingus Sarai / Fort

Situated at an around 2000 ft the Sarai is around 130 kms from Jammu and around 35 kms from Rajouri. It is situated near the Village of Chingus along the banks of the Sukhtao River. It offers a spectacular view of the snowy Ranges of the Pir Panjals. This was the fifth Sarai on the way from Gujrat (now in Punjab, Pakistan) across the Pir Panjals into the Kashmir Valley and ending at Srinagar. The name of the Village earlier used to be called Khanpur and was established by the Jaral Hill Rajas. So why was the name changed ?

As most of you known that the Mughals were great patrons of Kashmir and none of the Mughals was as enamoured with Kashmir as Emperor Jahangir, also called Saleem, the somewhat rebellious son of Akbar the Great. Yes the same Saleem of Saleem Anarkali fame. As per historians Emperor Jahangir visited Kashmir a total of 13 times. In contrast Akbar visited Kashmir twice and Shahjahan and Aurangzeb once each. The Mughal Gardens in Kashmir are a legacy of the Mughal love affair with Kashmir. Emperor Jahangir himself is credited with the creation of the Shalimar Bagh while the others were laid down by his son, Emperor Shahjahan, who could never really enjoy Kashmir as much as he would have liked to. Jahangir’s grandson, the unfortunate Dara Shikoh was also a great Patron of Kashmir and the Chashmashahi Garden is said to have been a gift for Dara from his father Emperor shah Jahan.

The staying Quarters at the Chingus Sarai

Coming back to Chingus. The word Chingus is derived from the Persian word “Chingan” which means intestines or entrails. So why such a seemingly gory name for a halting Sarai on the way to what the Mughals called the Paradise on Earth. Well it so happened that in 1627 while on his way back from Kashmir, Emperor Jahangir fell ill at a place called Behram Gali (Behramgala) in the Poonch area. He was advised rest and the Royal Caravan decided to halt for a few days at Behram Gali before moving on. It would give the Emperor time to recover from ill health. And so they bade time and soon the Emperor health began to recover. And soon he got back to that Royal favourite past time of Shikar ie Hunting.

One day while on a Shikar it is said that it so happened that one of the Royal attendants was trying to drive a group of Deer into within the hunting Range of the Emperor. Apparently while doing so he slipped and fell down from a certain height on the top of the Hillock. This happened right in front of the Emperor and while he watched a big rock dislodged by his fall fell on top of the attendant and the poor fellow died a painful death in front of the Emperor Jahangir. And tragically the Royal attendants Mother was also present on the scene and after watching her son’s life end so painfully she started wailing and crying as any Mother would do in such a scenario. This chain of events had a great adverse effect on the Emperor.

The Emperor fell ill again and this time the Empress Nurjahan decided to rush him to Lahore. But alas his time had and this time there was no recovery. The Great Moghul Emperor Mirza Nur-ud-din Beig Mohammad Khan Salim aka Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir Badshah Ghazi aka Jahangir died at the age of 58 at the next halting station in Rajouri.

A fairly recent addition, a Mosque inside the Sarai.

The Empress decided to keep his death a secret in order to avoid a war of succession (which was quite vicious amongst the Mughals) before the time that she got to Lahore and took control of the situation. If the news of the death leaked out while she was far away from the Imperial Courts she and the claimants she backed would be at a distinct advantage. And as it is there was a lot of conflict between her and Prince Khurram (who would later become the Emperor Shahjahan) and they were engaged in a bitter power struggle. And she knew once Prince Khurram came to knew of the death of his father all bets would be off. They decided to prop up the body of the Emperor on top of the Royal Elephant so as to give the impression that he was alive.

But there was a slight issue. Now that they were almost in the heat of the Plains the Body would start to smell and it was impossible to hide the smell that emanates from a dead body. A close confidant, a Royal Doctor I assume, suggested that they take out the Intestines and the Entrails of the Emperor so that they can delay the process of the Body decaying and giving off the smell. And hence the Intestines of the Mughal Emperor were removed and buried in what would henceforth be called the Chingus Sarai. The Sarai which holds under its soil the entrails of the Emperor. And while doing so they also made a Grave where they buried the intestines.

The Garve of the Mughal Emperor, Jahangir

To cut a long story short they made it back to Lahore and as envisaged a bitter conflict ensued but eventually it was Prince Khurram who emerged on top and was crowned the Emperor and Nur Jahan ended up in prison. However subsequent to that the late Emperor was buried at Shahdara near Lahore. This gave Emperor Jahangir the unique distinction of having two graves, one at Shahdara and one in the foothills of the Pir Panjals at the Chingus Sarai.

The Chingus Sarai has got some attention from the authorities but not really the kind of attention that one of the Great Emperors of Hindustan deserved. And that's the story of the Chingus Sarai.

For those who venture into Kashmir using the Mughal do go have a look. History and its knowledge can even make the most mundane looking old structure suddenly come alive and the same holds true for the Chingus Sarai. There is a Marble Tomb at the place where the entrails were buried.

Pics Credit :Parshati Dutta

A Place Called Chushul

A Place Called Chushul

Chushul is a Village close to the Indian LAC with China in the Eastern Ladakh region close to Pangong Lake as well as Rezang La. At an altitude of around 4360 m it used to be the main Village of the Changthang block in the Ladakh region earlier. And it is one of the five designated locations along the LAC where the Border personnel from both countries meet to have formal meetings in order to maintain peace at the LAC.

On the way to Chushul and driving along the Pangong Tso.

We passed this place on our way from Pangong Lake to Tso Moriri which I must rate as one of the finest drive one can do in the Trans Himalayas cutting across the Changthang. Once we got to Chushul we realised that one of our Vehicles was short on fuel. And since Chushul was one of the main Villages on the way and uncertain of whether we will get fuel anywhere ahead we decided to look for Petrol in Chushul. We had already crossed Chushul when we decided to turn back and when we came back into the Village we passed by the Police Post . And there was an old Policeman sitting outside. We asked him where we could get Fuel. He told us and then suddenly he asked us for our Inner Line Permits.

The Village of Chushul and the Monastery in Yellow

All of us in 4 Vehicles were Residents of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and as such we dont require Inner Line Permits. J and K residents just need to show IDs to prove their credentials and they are good to go. And plus we had a letter from JK Tourism which pretty much gave us an open Pass as far as the ITBP/ Army guys were OK with it. The Policeman just saw the Letter and checked the IDs of the guys in the first Car and told us to go. Since I am no longer a permanent resident of JK being based in Gurugram I was carrying my old Passport photocopy which had been issued in Srinagar. But I had still got an ILP made for myself just in case. But it didnt come to that and the Policeman was satisfied that we were all JK residents and let us go.

And then we got the fuel had Lunch and we were on our way again. We again passed the Police Post and this time there was another younger Policeman there who signalled us to stop. We stopped and told him that we had already shown our papers. He looked at all of us. And then suddenly I realised that he was staring at me. The Policeman then said “ Iska permit Kidhar hai” pointing at me. He again said “Yeh foreigner ka Permit kahaan hai ?”. Out of all the Kashmiri guys he somehow assumed me to be a Foreigner. I was slightly amused and started smiling. I blurted “Sirji main Foreigner nahin hoon. Srinagar se aaya hoon” He started laughing and bade us n our way.

Before entering Chushul, traditional pile of Horns to ward off evil.

Now to more important stuff. Historically this was the place where the Treaty of Chushul was signed in 1842 which officially demarcated the border between Ladakh and Tibet as a consequence of which Ladakh became a part of the Sikh Kingdom of the Punjab. After the death of General Zorawar Singh in Tibet his Army had been routed. The Tibeto-Chinese Army then marched towards Leh and almost captured it. Except for a small Dogra detachment that was entrenched in the Fort. The Dogra Detachment held on till the time fresh troops arrived under Diwan Hari Chand and Wazir Ratnu. The Dogras drove out the Tibeto-Chinese and started chasing them and the Tibeto-Chinese forces dug in at Drangtse.

In a brilliant tactical move the Dogras flooded the Tibetan fortifications by diverting a local River and they were again forced to flee Eastwards. The Dogras were again on their heels as avenging the death of their beloved General Zorawar Singh was their most motivational factor. The opposing Forces finally met on the open fields at Chushul in August 1842 and in the engagement the Tibeto-Chinese force was defeated and their General was decapitated in a form of brutal medieval revenge. With their General avenged they could now go back as both sides had by now now lost the appetite for further engagements.

The fields of Chushul

Both sides then decided to have a treaty by the way of which their territories would be demarcated and recognised by each other. And the Tibetans and the Chinese gave up any claim whatsoever that they had over Ladakh. So on 16/ 17th September 1842 was signed the Treaty of Chushul at Chushul and it said

"As on this auspicious day, the 3nd of Assuj, samvat 1899 (16th/17th September 1842) we, the officers of the Lhasa (Governrnent), Kalon of Sokan and Bakshi Shajpuh, commander of the forces, and two officers on behalf of the most resplendent Sri Khalsa ji Sahib, the asylum of the world, King Sher Singh ji, and Sri Maharaja Sahib Raja-i-Rajagan Raja Sahib Bahadur Raja Gulab Singh, i.e.. the Muktar-ud-Daula Diwan Hari Chand and the asylum of vizirs, Vizir Ratnun. in a meeting called together for the promotion of peace and unity, and by professions and vows of friendship, unity and sincerity of heart and by taking oaths like those of Kunjak Sahib, have arranged and agreed that relations of peace, friendship and unity between Sri Khalsaji and Sri Maharaja Sahib Bahadur Raja Gulab Singh ji, and the Emperor of China and the Lama Guru of Lhasa will hence forward remain firmly established forever; and we declare in the presence of the Kunjak Sahib that on no account whatsoever will there be any deviation, difference of departure (from this agreement). We shall neither at present nor in the future have anything to do or interfere at all with the boundaries of Ladakh and its surroundings as fixed from ancient times and will allow the annual export of wool, shawls and tea by way of Ladakh according to the old established customs.

Should any of the Opponents of Sri Sarkar Khalsa ji and Sri Raja Sahib Bahadur at any time enter our territories, we shall not pay any heed to his words or allow him to remain in our country. We shall offer no hindrance to traders of Ladakh who visit our territories. We shall not even to the extent of a hair's breadth act in contravention of the terms that we have agreed to above regarding firm friendship, unity, the fixed boundaries of Ladakh and the keeping open of the route for wool, shawls and tea. We call Kunjak Sahib, Kairi, Lassi, Zhon Mahan, and Khushal Chon as witnesses to this treaty."
And to this day the territories as designated in this Treaty as held as the Official border as recognised by the Indian Government though the Chinese from time to time play some hanky panky as has become their norm in this Sector. But of course that doesnt take away from the significance of the Treaty or from the importance of Chushul itself.

Traditional Cow Dung for using as Fuel

A visit to Chushul would always be worth it if you love the Mountains and love some History as well.

Pic from August 2018. Chushul, Eastern Ladakh.

When Two Great Gamers Met in High Asia

When Younghusband met Grombchevsky

When the Two Great Gamers Met in High Asia

The Great Game was game of intrigue and one upmanship played between the two Greatest Empires of that time, the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire that was played in the most of the Nineteenth Century. At stake for the British was the Jewel in the Crown, the Indian sub-continent while for the Tsarist Russia it was their Empire in Central Asia. Both these Empires met somewhere in high Asia in the midst of the Mountains of the Great Himalayan System.

The British had constant nightmares of Cossacks riding over the great Mountains and making a dent in their Indian holdings. The fact that Tsarist Russia overran most of Central Asia during this time and that a body of Cossacks now sat on top of the Wakhan not very far from the Kashmir territories did not make things comfortable for them either. The Great Game was played in a region stretching from Persia to Afghanistan over to India and Tibet and the whole of Central Asia.

Sir Francis Younghusband

There have been many Western Explorers who went on different assignments in these Mountains but one of the key reasons was always to find out more about the Politics and the Geography of the regions which were not under the Control of the Empire. The frontiers of the Punjab Empire of Maharaja Ranjit Singh were a key target as they bordered the wilds of Afghanistan as it slowly gave way to Central Asia. Also of great interest to them were the Routes that were traditionally taken from Kashmir via Ladakh into Central Asia. The Cossacks had a reputation and the British wanted to have the information on all the possible Routes that the Cossacks would take in case they decided to lay their claim on the Jewel in the Crown.

Younghusband's Route from Peking to Kashmir over the Mustagh Pass

One of the great players of the Great Game from the English side was the well know Gentleman, Sir Lt. Col. Francis Edward Younghusband. He was born at Murree and joined the Military in the footsteps of his father and elder brother. His first achievement was to make a Journey through Manchuria and China mainland and onto the Takla Makan into the Tarim Basin and from there onto the fabled Central Asian Khanate cities of Kashgar and Yarkand and from there over the Pamirs and the Karakorams over the Mustagh Pass into Kashmir and finally into British territory. He led several other expeditions into the Mountains and he led the British invasion of Tibet in 1903. He has been widely accepted as a great Explorer and Soldier. More on him and his Expeditions in a later Post.

On the Tsarist Russian side also there was no dearth of Men who were no less. One of the most accomplished players from their side was Bronislav Grombchevsky, an Officer in the Russian Imperial Army of ethnic Polish descent. He led many expeditions into Kashgaria as the region of the Tarim Basin in the late 1800s. This Region was of great interest to the three Empires which met in the vicinity, the third one being the Chinese Empire. The region of Kashkagia  was a Khanate ruled by the insolent Ulugh Beg, who tried to balance the influences of all these three Great powers in his own tyrannical way. Among his missions were an expedition along the Gilgit River with his Cossacks which led to alarm bells ringing in the British Empire and were one of the reasons for the Hunza Chitral missions of the British Army to subjugate the errant local Rulers and which eventually ended in Gilgit being taken on lease from Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and the creation of Gilgit Agency.

One of the most interesting Event that took place between these two contemporary Giants of the Great Game took place in 1889. Captain Younghusband, as he was at that time was despatched with a small detachment of Gurkha soldiers to explore unknown regions of Northern Ladakh where the trade between Ladakh and Yarkand had been disrupted by Hunzai raiders. While on this mission Capt.Younghusband’s detachment was camping somewhere along the wilds of the Yarkand River. As it so happened Grombchevsky and his detachment of Cossacks were Camping somewhere in the vicinity as well. Two great European officers of competing Empires (the largest in the World at that time and the most powerful as well)  were camped close to each other in High Asia, an unknown Mountainous wilderness where India met Central Asia. Of course they had to meet as these Officers were also Gentlemen.

Bronislav Grombchevsky

Bronislav Grombchevsky sent an invitation to Capt. Younghusband to come over to his Camp for dinner. Capt. Younghusband accepted the offer. So the Capt with his Gurkha escort went over to meet his Russian counterpart. It is said they sat late into the night having a Gentlemanly discussion on the current situation and the Great Game intrigues. Apparently over copious amounts of Vodka served by the Russians Capt.Younghusband candidly asked Grombchevsky about any Russian plan to invade India through these mountains. Not really sure what Grombchevsky had to say on this but he made a point by telling his Cossacks to put on a display of their legendary Horsemanship in front of the British Captain who is said to have been suitably impressed. After the Cossacks were through with their performance Captain Younghusband told his Gurkhas to put on a Rifle drill for his Russian hosts. The Drill along with the Gurkhas brandishing their Khukris to the cry of “Jai Maha Kali, Ayo Gorkhali” are said to have impressed Grombchevsky even more as it was quite unlike anything he and the Cossacks had ever seen before. The Captain made his point and he made it well.

The Northern Frontier of Kashmir by Francis Younghusband 1880

The night over both parties parted, Capt Younghusband carried on with his explorations in the Karakorams while Grombchevsky continued on his way towards Tibet.

The Russian invasion of India through High Asia over the Mountains never happened and the Great Game became a fascinating chapter in History.

Of that famous meeting between the two European Officers in High Asia with their Cossacks and Gurkhas still exists and I m posting that here. Interestingly the pic is from Russian sources and besides the Officers and Soldiers from each side it mentions the ethnicity of the people who were a part of the respective retinues are mentioned. We find Tajiks, Sartowie (?), Kirghiz, Kunduzi, Wakhani, Kashmiri, Baltistani, Tibetan, Hindu (Indian ?), Mongol, Saraiki, Kirghiz Tibetan, Kashgari, Togily Pachpu (?) and Saraikoli mentioned.

In the pic we see Capt Younghusband in the center left wearing a hat with his Gurkhas behind and other members of his party on his left. On the right is Grombchevsky with his Cossacks behind him and other staff on the right sitting on the Ground.

Pic from November 1889. Somewhere in the Raksam Valley on the Yarkand River.

Vittorio Sella's Himalayan and Karakoram Classics

Vittorio Sella's Himalayan and Karakoram Classics

Vittorio Sella (28 August 1859 – 12 August 1943) was an Italian photographer and mountaineer, who took photographs of mountains which are regarded as some of the finest ever made.

Sella was born in Biella in the foothills of the Alps and acquired his interest in Alpinism from his uncle, Quintino Sella. He made a number of significant climbs in the Alps, including the first winter ascents of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa,[3] and the first winter traverse of Mont Blanc.[4] He took part in several expeditions further afield, including three to the Caucasus (where a peak now bears his name),[5] to Mount Saint Elias in Alaska, to the Rwenzori in Africa, and the 1909 expedition to K2 and the Karakoram. The latter three expeditions were in the company of Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi. Sella continued to climb into his old age, and made his last attempt on the Matterhorn at seventy six. The attempt failed when one of his guides was injured in an accident.[4]

The Duke of Abruzzi on the Chogolisa

The high quality of Sella's photography was in part due to his use of 30×40 cm photographic plates, in spite of the difficulty of carrying bulky and fragile equipment into remote places. He had to invent equipment, including modified pack saddles and rucksacks, to allow these particularly large glass plates to be transported safely.[6] His photographs were widely published and exhibited, and highly praised; Ansel Adams, who saw thirty-one that Sella had presented to the US Sierra Club, said they inspired "a definitely religious awe".[7] Many of the photographs he took were of mountains which had not been previously recorded and so have historical as well as artistic significance; for example by recording the retreat of glaciers in the Rwenzori mountains in Central Africa.[8]

The Baltoro Glacier from Urdokas

Sella died in Biella in 1943. His collection of photographs is now managed by the Sella Foundation (Fondazione Sella) in Biella.[8] Some pictures of Sella are exhibited in the Museo Nazionale della Montagna "Duca degli Abruzzi" in Turin.

The Gasherbrum

The K2

The K2

The Kanchenjunga

The Kanchenjunga

The Kanchenjunga

The Kanchenjunga

The Everest

The Muztagh Tower

The Muztagh Tower

The Nanga Parbat

The Nanga Parbat

The Wedge Peak

Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian Antiquities

A decorated Mongol Horse Saddle

Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian Antiquities

The name Kargil is famous now. Mainly because it is associated with a War that was given its name as it was fought in this area almost 20 years back and it was the country’s first televised War. But few would imagine that once upon a time it was a major trading Route on the Silk Route which connected Northern and Peninsular India with Central Asia and China.

Kargil is at a strategic location and is as such almost equidistant from Skardu, Leh , Padam in Zanskar and Srinagar. Infact its name itself is derived from its location. Kargil literally means a place to stop from all directions. Its etymology has evolved from the word Garkill. Where “Gar” means from all places and “Khil” to stop. And true to its name, all historical accounts of British and European travellers reveal Kargil to be just that. Situated along the river Suru (a tributary of the Indus, which flows into Gilgit Baltistan) it boasted of a fort built by the Ladakhi King in the 19th century. The old caravan bazaar ran along the river and a few mud houses by the slopes nestled in a green oasis of the Suru valley.

The old crumbling Kargil Sarai 

Traders from all over the region and beyond converged upon Kargil. There were Punjabis, Kashmiris, Baltis, Yarkandis, Ladakhi, Tibetans, Afghans, Arghuns, Pathans, Kirghiz and all other ethnicities from the neighbouring Regions. The Dogra Rulers as well as the British promoted this Trade after the Dogras came into power and consolidated their Rule in the Region. They also improved and facilitated the creation of the Treaty Road which was a Trade Route all the way from Srinagar to Yarkand.

At the time that the trade was flourishing there was a certain Gentleman by the name of Munshi Aziz Bhat of Kargil who was the official petition writer for the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir for the Baltistan Wazarat. A Petition writer in those days was a powerful man, as if you had an issue that you wanted to bring to the higher authorities and the highest being the Maharaja, who had to approach the Petition writer to do it on your behalf. So the strength of your case basically lay on how the Petition writer presented it. As such Munshi Aziz Bhat was a very well respected man in Kargil.

The Kargil Sarai facing the Suru River.

Munshi Aziz Bhat was a trader also being on the Central Asian trade Route and owned a number of shops in Kargil and his trading company was called Munshi Aziz Bhat and Sons. He set up a Serai, the Kargil Serai in 1920 to offer boarding lodging and storage places to the Traders. Soon the Serai became a stopover place for all kinds of traders from all kinds of places in Kargil. The Kargil Serai also served as a kind of an unofficial Post Office which received a lot of mail especially from the Hoshiarpuri Punjabi traders. The Serai had in its front a couple of shops as well which the Traders could use to display their wares. The Serai was a busy one in the late 1800s as well as the early 1900s and it saw many traders come and go.

Janet Rizvi in her epic Trans-Himalayan Caravans, Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh (p 260) mentions “ …it would seem that for the transporters belonging to the villages downriver from Drass, Kargil (rather than Srinagar) was the centre to which they went in the first instance in search of work. The hub of this activity was Munshi Aziz Bhat’s sarai, which was a depot for goods going in all four directions...there was in particular plenty of coming and going between Kargil and Skardu…”

An old style Building in the Kargil Bazar

And then came the turmoil of 1947 when initially Kargil was occupied by invaders from the other side. And ofcourse with the Chinese occupation of Xinjiang and its move on Tibet the Trade Route was finally shut down by the Chinese in 1949. A once buzzing trade route and all its dependencies were suddenly shut. The Kargi Serai lost its guests as even the Hoshiarpuri merchants went away. The Serai fell into disrepair and meanwhile Munshi saab also passed away.

The Seari was however bequeathed as family property to Aziz Saab’ descendents and so the three storied Serai remained for decades. A lonely relic in the Kargil bazaar of a time long gone. It remained under lock and key for a good 50 years but its condition kept on deteriorating. No one it seems was aware of what lay inside the Serai since decades.

An establishment still run by descendants of the Punjabi traders from Hoshiarpur who were at the frontline of the Central Asian trade.

In was a chance discovery in the beginning of this century that some workers were sent to the place to clear some mess as parts of the structure had collapsed. The workers unearthed some very interesting items and reported these to the owners. The Owners then decided to come and check for themselves and they unearthed in what can only be called a priceless treasure in form of various items related to the Central Asian trade and items from all over Central Asia, the Indian sub-continent, Tibet and even Europe. As luck would have it a visiting historian persuaded the family to preserve this price less collection instead of it ending up in some antique shops. And so was set up the Aziz Bhat Museum of Central Asian and Kargil Trade Artifacts to display the Collection of items unearthed.

The range of artifacts unearthed from the Munshi Aziz Bhat Sarai has given invaluable insights into not only the forgotten trade history but also into the corss-cultural, cosmopolitan past of Kargil. These artifacts aren’t mere antiques but they are a testimony to the fact that Kargil was a melting pot of cultures, languages, lifestyles and ideas. They are now on display in a part of the Munshi family’s house that has now been converted into the Musuem.

Saddles from Central Asia. 

The diverse collection of artifacts include not only the goods that were traded along the route but also the items used by the traders and people involved in the trade.  Some of the choicest artifacts include hookah pipes from Yarkand, rugs from Kashgar, fabrics — dyed and raw silk from Khotan in China, natural dyes, costumes, jewellery, coins, shoes, utensils and ammunition. Apart from these, the museum incorporates mercantile items from the late 19th and early 18th centuries like leather skins, coarse cotton cloth, carpets from Central Asia, British horse seats and saddles, buttons from Italy and items from the factory of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Over the years, the museum has also acquired various local artifacts that are relevant to Kargil, some of the key artifacts have been the first hand written Quran by the Buddhist Ruler King Namgyal of Kartse sometime in the 14th/15h century and a number of legal manuscripts that are written both in Tibetan and Urdu for the benefit of the King as well as his people. This was at the time when Islam was spreading across Ladakh and most of the rulers were Buddhists.

This Museum is a must go recommended place to go to in Kargil in case you are interested in the history of the Central Asian Trade along with the Central Asian Museum.

In the pic above

1. Toiletries / Soap, Lux soap, Tooth Brush, / Shaving Brush, Pear soap, and Shaving Soap. / Place: - England, Germany, Italy, USA./ Period : 1903, 1905,1926, 1939. All these finished & believed to be luxury, were imported From England, Germany & USA. After reaching the Mumbai Coast, these luxury items travels all the way from Mumbai To Central Asia, Via Yarkand, Khotan, & Kashgar.  The merchants with caravans of these goods either batter or sold these items to nobles.

2. Local Name :- Jola / Place : Cuba / Period : 18th Cent 100 LBS,  Sugar  sack  from  Cuba imported  to  Central Asia.

3. Modern medicines / Place : Britain ,USA / Period:- 18th Century /  Introduced  by  the  different Moravian  Missionaries these medicines were unknown to Central Asia & Tibet.

4. Raw silk thread, Plain Silk & Imperial silk / Local Name : Shahi. / Place : Khotan/ Preiod : 17th Century Known as Shahi, or the Imperial cloth, introduced to the world from Khotan.

5. Thanka  (Paintings) / Local Name : Thanka / Place : Rangdum. / Period : 16th Century
A  rare  Thanka Painting, gifted to Munshi  Aziz  Bhat, by the villager of Rangdum.  Showing the wheel of life.

6. A Rug from Bukhara / Local Name : Namdah (Fingma). / Place : Bhokara. / Period : 1822.
A Central Asian Rug from Bhokara, Name of Mohan Lal (from Kashmir) who  happens to be the Assistance of Sir. Alexender Burnes, a British officer of the company is written in the Center.

The Gilgit Manuscripts

A leaf from the Gilgit Manuscript

The Gilgit Manuscripts : A Treasure Forgotten

A couple of cattle grazers in 1931, in a village Naurpur near Gilgit once came upon a wooden box in a circular chamber in side a Buddhist stupa which contained a large number old Manuscripts pertaining to Buddhism. Little did they know that they had stumbled upon one of the most important finds of the century. The Gilgit Manuscripts are the oldest surviving religious Manuscripts from the sub-continent and of the oldest ones in Buddhism.

The cattle grazers took the collection to the Wazir of Gilgit who in turn turned it over to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir and the news of the discovery of this Great Treasure spread world wide. Opinions vary about the date of this manuscript. One branch of scholars says it was written in the second century AD., while another puts the date at somewhere between the sixth and seventh centuries.

The Hand Painted Covers in which the Manuscripts were kept

Gilgit was at that time at the cross roads where South Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Asia met and it was an important stop on the Silk Road. Many monks from India carried the message of the Buddha from here to Tibet, China, Korea and even as far as Japan. It was along the Silk Road that Buddhism spread eastwards towards the rest of Asia. Gilgit hence played an important part in the spread of Buddhism and hence this find.

The almost seventeen centuries old Gilgit Manuscript has been giving historians a hard time, as no one has yet been able to fully decipher it. The lamination of the manuscript by the National Archives of India sometime ago has once again put the limelight back on this all-important literature concerning India, Tibet, China, Japan and other neighbouring countries.

Another leaf from the Gilgit Manuscipt

In fact in 1897 - 34 years before it was discovered - the Buddhist Text Society of Calcutta had published references to the Gilgit Manuscript saying that if it were ever to be found it would unravel the ancient history of several communities as it is considered to be the oldest Buddhist manuscript.

A corpus of many Buddhist texts such as the Four Sutras from the Buddhist canon, including the famous Lotus Sutra, the Manuscripts survived because they were written on the bark of the Bhoj (Birch) Tree which does not decay and obviously helped by the sub zero temperatures in Gilgit. They were written in the Buddhist form of Sanskrit in the Sarada or the Sharda Script. The Gilgit Manuscripts deciphered thus far cover a wide range of subjects such as religion, religious rituals, philosophy, iconometry, monastic discipline, folk tales, medicine and culinary art.

The most famous of the Gilgit manuscripts, the Gilgit Lotus Sutra is preserved in the National Archives of India in Delhi. Known as the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra – or the teachings of the white lotus and sun – the sutra is the basis of the Tiantai and Nichiren schools of Buddhism. In 2012 a facsimile edition of it was published by by the National Archives jointly with the Institute of Oriental Philosophy and Soka Gakkai, a Japan-based non-governmental organization.

Another cover for the Gilgit Manuscript

"In August 1938, seven years after the discovery of the texts, the archaeologist Madhusudan Kaul Shastri led a systematic excavation of the Naupur site and discovered another larger chamber at the base of the structure. The chamber contained another set of the Gilgit Manuscripts along with votive objects and probably Buddhist cult bronzes.

"According to renowned scholar Karl Jettmar, inscriptions on these bronzes “reveal that they were produced and dedicated due to the generosity and the religious zeal of a Patola Shahi”. The Patola Shahis, also known as Palola Shahis, were the rulers of Gilgit and Baltistan from the late sixth to the early eighth centuries AD.

"Shortly after, Kaul Shastri and his team outlined the specifications of the second group of manuscripts and other finds from the site including the hand painted covers of two manuscripts.

"In the third phase, the well-known Italian scholar Giuseppe Tucci secured another small group of the manuscripts in 1956. Obtaining them from a street vendor in Rawalpindi, he presented them to the Karachi museum.

"Roughly 60 manuscripts and 17 Avadnas emerging from Naupur are of unmatched significance in Buddhist studies. These are the oldest surviving collection of religious texts in the subcontinent. Based on the paleographical evidence, scholars agree that local Buddhist devotees compiled these texts between the fifth and sixth century AD. With the exception of only a few scripts, all the manuscripts were written on birch bark in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit language in the Gupta Brahmi and post-Gupta Brahmi script.

More leaves from the Gilgit Manuscript

"The manuscripts contain sutras from the Buddhist canon, the Samghata Sutra, Samadhiraja Sutra, Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, and Bhaisajyaguru Sutra.The Samadhiraja Sutra is one of the important Mahayana canonical texts, which are collectively called Navadharma. The Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, popularly known as Lotus Sutra, figures prominently in the Gilgit Manuscripts and scholars agree it was the most venerated sutra of the Buddhists from the Gilgit area"

Though the grammatical and literature aspects of the text are gradually becoming more of historical interest in the contemporary world, what is of interest is the social relevance of some of the sutras mentioned in the manuscript. Experts feel that when the full text is deciphered a common thread will be found in the language and people of countries like India China, Japan, Thailand, Tibet and Korea which would have the potential of altering the very geo-political map of the region.

At present the main collection is with the National Archives in New Delhi and some parts with the British Museum in London and at the Karachi Museum. Apparently Nehru had the many body of the Manuscripts bought by a special Plane from Srinagar in 1948 after the Tribal Invasion. However a small part of the manu scripts still lie at the Shri Partap Museum in Srinagar though not on display.

The importance of the Gilgit Manuscripts can be guaged from this Report in the BBC :

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-17935041

As luck would have it I managed to have a look and some parts of this Great Treasure at the Sri Partap Singh Museum yesterday and was even allowed to take pics. :)

Some more leaves

To come face to face with such a great treasure is truly a humbling experience and I could not help but tremble with excitement as the significance of what I was going to see. This is the Holy Grail of Buddhist Learning.

NOTE : Compiled from nformation on the Gilgit Manuscripts from various references on the Net.

PS : The Museum plans to put this on Display as it is shifting to a new Building and some Galleries are already open for Public viewing. The Museum has a great collection and is a must see when you visit Srinagar. I will try and share more treasures from the Museum here.

Herodotus's Legendary Fox Sized Gold Digging Ants

Herodotus's Legendary Fox Sized Gold Digging Ants

Herodotus was a famous Greek historian of the ancient times who lived around 500 BC and he was born in Asia Minor in the Persian Empire. He was referred to as the Father of History as he wrote a lot of history and tales of the unknown from lands far off. One of his most intriguing account was the one of the legendary Gold digging ants, as big as Foxes, which lived in the high Himalayas in a land he called Dardae (In Sanskrit is was called Dardesa, the Land of the Dards). Those who have studied history, especially accounts of history written by ancient Historians always had elements which were hard to believe and seemed more like flights of fantasy mixed with some facts. You always take it down with a pinch of salt.

Herodotus wrote exactly this “ Another kind of Indians live in the neighbourhood of the town of Kaspatyros, and the land of of Paktyika (present day Paktia Province in Afghanistan) away towards the North from the rest of the Indians, their way of living is about the same as that of the Bactrians. These are the most warlike of all the Indians, and it is they who are sent for Gold; for in the this district there is the sandy desert. In this desert and this sand there are Ants which are smaller than Dogs but larger than Foxes for some which were caught are now in the possession of the King of Persia. These Ants make for themselves burrows below the Ground, and in doing so throw up the Earth, as ants do with us, and in the same manner they look exactly like ours. This thrown up sand contains the Gold and for the sake of this sand the Indians are sent into the desert…….” He also wrote this “ When the Indians arrive at the place of the Gold dust to fill their bags, they fill quickly and ride away as soon as possible. For the Ants, which, as the Persians would tell, have found out what has happened through their sense of smell, are at once after them and they are exceedingly swift. Thus if the Indians do not gain a good start before the ants have gathered, none of them would be able to escape…..”.

Even Megasthenes , the Greek Ambassador at the court of , relates a similar story of Gold digging ants who dig not for the Gold but for making their burrows. The Gold he says was incidental. Infact those of you who have read History of Western Tibet / Dardistan written by Westerners will know that this Legend of Gold digging Ants is described by every single one of them.This is the starting reference point for the History of this region from a Western perspective.

But it was not only the Greek / Roman historians who alluded to this legend. There was a reference to this ‘Ant Gold” in the Puranas and the Mahabharata. It is said that a Northern tribe, called the Khasas, bought Paipilika Gold (Paipilika is Sanskrit for Ant) as a tribute to Yudhishtir. Of course it's common knowledge that the Himalayas are rich in mineral deposits and that includes Gold as well. Gold was found under the ground as well as long the streams as fine dust. Cunningham describes how Gold sifting in the Indus and the Shyok River was done by Muslim Baltis as the Ladakhi Buddhists were forbidden from doing so as they were expected to work in the fields.

Francke in his classic “A History of Western Tibet” also alludes to this legend and describes how he was given accounts of these Gold digging Ants in the Village of Kalatse, which though now Ladakhi was at one time inhabited by Dards. He apparently saw one of these creatures but of course they were regular Ants and not the Giants that Herodotus described. Francke wrote “I was even shown the kind of Ant which, according to the belief of the Kalatse people, was the Gold digger. It was a very tiny, creature, and far from the size of a Dog or Fox, but we must allow the story to have grown a little on its was from India to Greece.”

Of course in my assumptions there must have been instances of Ants digging in an area rich in Gold deposits and digging up Gold as well and this being collected by the locals. This is a completely plausible Theory but what about the “Giant Ants bigger than Foxes but smaller than Dogs ? “

Through most of History other Historians took this Giant Gold Digging Ants theory as a figment of Herodotus’;s exaggeration and adding a adding a dose of fantastic to his historical records. Many of them them even decried him as a liar and a fancy story teller. So was Herodotus was entirely wrong and this was just a yarn he had spun ? Not exactly as it was proven by a Gentlemen who took upon himself to solve this Great Mystery of the Giant Gold Digging Ants.

The Gentleman was a French ethnologist Michel Peissel wrote a book named, “The Ants’ Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas” in 1984. And he mentioned that the area described inhabited by these creatures was actually the Deosai Plateau in Baltistan.

And the creature which was being alluded to were not Ants but the Long Tailed Golden Marmot and the Himalayan Marmot (These are two different species but both are found in the Himalayas). The Long Tailed Golden is more of a species found in Central Asia and the Hindu Kush, Pamirs and the Tian Shans though some are found in the Himalayas as well. A Golden Marmot which digs for Gold sounds just about right actually.

We are all aware that Marmots live underground and for the same they dig deep burrows and have a maze of interconnecting burrows underground. All this burrowing entails that they throw up a lot of earth. And the Deosai Plateau is said to be rich in Gold Dust deposits. The Marmots dug up the earth and included in this were fine Gold dust particles that were then taken by humans.

But which humans was the question again. Peissel claimed to have interviewed groups of people from Tribes living on the Deosai ie the Minaro, Maruts or Sonival tribes and apparently they confirmed this method of collection of Gold. And I have also been told Stories by people in the Kargil area about how the Marmots supposedly pile up Gold inside their burrows. So something is starting to make sense.

It was the Long Tailed Golden Marmot or the Himalayan Marmot which fits the description and Herodotus is proven to be partially correct. But how did he confuse the Marmots with the Ants ? Peissel has an explanation for this last piece of the puzzle as well. Apparently the Persian word for “Marmot” and “Mountain Ants” is very similar so somewhere along the line the word which was meant to mean Marmot was taken as Ant and the legend of the Giant Gold Digging Ants took birth. To be fair to Herodotus he had never mentioned that he saw one of these Ants. And the creatures kept by the King of Persia (the most powerful sovereign in the World at that time )  were just that Marmots.

Just one last part about the ferociousness of the Gold digging Ants described by Herodotus. Many of us regularly come across Himalayan Marmots while visiting Ladakh and there is a lot of Human and Marmot interaction (totally uncalled for and something to be discouraged) and they mostly come across as gentle Creatures. Maybe back in the days when they were much less habituated to humans they would react differently. Long Tailed Golden Marmots are however much more rarer. I remember coming across a Long Tailed Golden Marmot somewhere in the Muskoh area, which actually lies at the edge of Deosai, and that guy wasn't exactly pleased to see us. We of course kept our distance though the Marmot wasn't aggressive. Maybe if we would have gone closer he could have shown aggression. Can't really guess.

Or maybe this story of the “ferociousness” of the creatures was invented by the same people who harvested the Marmot Gold but wanted to discourage anyone else from coming and claiming a right on their Gold. In those times people could believe anything. Whatever was the reason it surely kept people away and the mystery took well over two thousand years to get solved.

So the next time you come across a Himalayan Marmot or better still a Long Tailed Golden Marmot do try and think of the Legend of Herodotus’s Fox Sized Ants.

Pic from April 2018. A Long Tailed Golden Marmot on the go, Muskoh Valley, Drass, Ladakh.

The Kashmiri Spy in Tibet

The painting from the Qing Era shows the Induction of the 9th Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso, in 1808 as its watched by the Ambans and Qing officials on one side and by Tibetan Clergy and other Tibetans on the other side.

The Kashmiri Spy in Tibet

In the early 1700’s the region of Tibet as as well as Turkestan (as Xinjiang used to be called at that time) come under the control of the Chinese Imperial Qing Dynasty as they defeated the Dzungar Mongols who had come to occupy Tibet. As a result of this the Qing Dynasty was now in control of Tibet and in order to exercise this control the appointed an Officer called the Amban to overlook the running of the state and especially keep his eyes and ears open for ambitions that a foreign nation / power might have on Tibet.

For the same purpose the Ambans and their network of informers and spies were always taking stock of various Traders who visited Tibet and Lhasa and soon after the Qing assumed dominance they imposed restrictions on many Traders coming from Nations that were assumed to be a threat to the Qing control over Tibet. And this was most severely applied to Europeans who the Qing saw as the most obvious threat. And then there were the Russians who were also expanding their Empire towards the East. The Europeans were restricted to trade only through Canton (Hong Kong) while traders from Russia could only come through the trading Post at Kyakhta.

While impositions were imposed on almost all outsiders, there were three Groups of traders that were allowed relatively freer access to Lhasa. These were the Newaris of the Kathmandu Valley, the Andijanis of the Ferghana Valley and the Kashmiris. For some reason these three Groups of people were left alone to their own devices. One of the reasons was that these people had been trading with Tibet for hundreds of years and many of them had even settled there. And they connected the region with the important markets in the Indian subcontinent in case of the Newaris and the Kashmiris and to Central Asia vai the Andijanis. An important consideration for the Qing was that as per their own assessment all these traders came from Countries / Regions that were not a threat to their sovereignty over Tibet.

Towards the end of the 18th Century however the Qing perceptions begin to change. The Gurkhas attacked Tibet twice and though peace was restored after the intervention of the Qing, the Qing were now suspicious of the Newaris as they couldn't really distinguish between them and the Gurkhas as both were from Nepal, though the Gurkhas had taken the Kathmandu Valley from the Newari Rulers. And in the beginning of the 19th Century the Afaqi Khojas revolted in Turkestan and for some time they held the main cities of the Tarim Basin and they lost their confidence in the Andijanis of Ferghana as well.

Through it all one community which kept up its “neutrality” in the eyes of the Qing were the Kashmiris. The Kashmiris were known as Kachee by the Tibetan and Kashmir was called Kachee Yul. Infact the term Kachee came to be used for all Muslims in Tibet irrespective of where they came from. Kashmiri traders and craftsmen had been visiting Tibet since the 10th Century as many Kashmiri craftsmen were bought in to decorate the Monasteries as Buddhism grew in Kashmir and the Kashmiris were supposed to be the best at this trade. As a result Tibetan art shows even till day a great Kashmiri influence. Also as a result many Kashmiris settled in Tibet and took Tibetan wives and intermixed with the local populations.

Now as far the Qing and their Ambans were concerned they knew of the Kashmiris and their long standing Trade relations with the Kashmiris. But one thing they weren't sure was about the location of Kashmir. They knew it was a Region to the West of the Tibetan plateau but that was about it. They had no idea about the Political affiliations of Kashmir or of the Kashmiri people. And the Kashmiri people were seen as outsiders who usually minded their own business with little interest in the Politics of Tibet or of the Qing. And they were good Traders who did a large volume of business in Lhasa. And the point to be noted is that most Kashmiris used to visit Lhasa through Patna and Nepal instead of of the Route over the Himalayas.

The fact that Kashmiris had easy access to Tibet did not go unnoticed to the British. The British for long held ambitions on getting through to Tibet as it was uncharted territory to the North of the their greatest possession. Also there was a constant fear of Imperial Russia gaining influence in Tibet. Many British and Western explorers had wanted to break into this Forbidden Land but were not very successful. So the British had to fall upon its native subjects to do their bidding in Tibet.

In the wake of the Anglo Gurkha War of 1814 and the British Victory, the British came to be in possession of Garhwal and gained direct access to Tibet from there but the British were always turned back at the frontier by the Tibetans who themselves were wary of any unknown foreigners. It was around this time that an enterprising Kashmiri trader, Ahmed Ali offered his services to the British. Ahmed ali presented himself as a well connected Kashmiri who had a relatives who lived in Lhasa and had travelled to Lhasa many times on his own. The British were very interested in this guy and the key to Tibet that he might hold. But they could not give him any Official sanction as they wanted to exercise plausible deniability in case Ahmed Ali was caught. The point was that the Qing had not realised the the same guys they were having a tough time with in Canton were now sending spies into Tibet. As far as the Qing were concerned the “Pilangi” as they called them (Tibetan / Chinese version of Firangi as they were referred to in India) and the Britishers in Canton were two distinct people from different Countries. And the British of course didn't want this little secret revealed to the Qing.

All said and done Ahmed Ali proposed that he also be made the agent for trading Indian goods in Tibet on behalf of the British. And of course the British would not give him any legal standing. As it so happened Ahmed Ali himself was no old Tibetan hand. He spoke no Tibetan and in fact his business in Tibet was taken care of by an old Kashmiri employee Abdullah and he was also joined by Ahmed’s brother. However the business didn't go as well as proposed though all the time Ahmed was collecting information through his guys in Tibet. In 1827 Ahmed was called to Tibet by his brother and Abdullah to settle the losses they had incurred.

Ahmed Ali had no option but to go to Lhasa as his brother insisted on the same. He went to Lhasa and due to the losses he had a falling out with his brother and Abdullah and the matter was brought to the notice of the local authorities. Somehow the matter was settled but now Ahmed Ali had no one to handle his operations in Lhasa. Another old Tibetan Kashmiri suggested that he take the services of his brother Fazlullah Fakroo, another Tibetan Kashmiri. And again his enterprise started. However his affairs with his brother and Abdullah were not settled. His brother sued him for his share of family property back home and the case was taken to Court and representing Ahmed Ali in his absence was his new employee Fazlullah.

Through all his business troubles Ahmed Ali kept on compiling information on Tibet through Abdullah and his brother when things were good and later on through Fazlullah. He had considerable information on hand gleaned through various sources including Route maps and distances and also the Political situations in the different towns and Villages. Just that he was good Spy but no so good a Businessman. Anyways there was no end to his financial woes as the Court ruled in the favour of his brother and Abdullah and now the Spy was bankrupt as well. So he bade his time by hanging around the Mosque in Lhasa. And as ill luck would have it he had a falling out with Fazlullah who he accused of causing great losses in business and filed a case against him.

On the Court disposition Fazlullah first made a suggestion to the Court about the suspicious activity that Ahmed Ali was indulging in. About all the questions he always kept on asking and noting them down. The Court brought this to the notice of the Amban and now everyone was interested in the Spy. As a result the Spy was son picked up by the Qing authorities and all his papers and notes were confiscated and he hauled up for interrogation.

Now the thing was Ahmed Ali did not speak Tibetan or Chinese and all his notes were in Persian and English. So the authorities had to gather a group of people to decipher and translate his papers. Translators were found for Persian and it is said it took them two months to decipher and translate all the notes. The notes contained information about the Routes, Passes and general Topography of Tibet, the strength of Chinese and Tibetan soldiers, the working of the Financial departments, the general dispositions in Sichuan and Gansu and other such information deemed as sensitive. But for the English notes they could not find any any translator. The Spy was caught red handed it seems.

The Spy however would not give in so easily. He said he took notes only as per the “custom of his homeland” and he intended to write a book which could be used by other Traders from Kashmir and elsewhere to visit Tibet for trade. He was promoting Trade in Tibet through this. And he swore that not an iota of information had been sent over the Himalayas to any power inimical to the British. The Qing officials of course had a hard time believing his theory and were convinced that he was a Spy. Though who exactly he was spying for was never very clear to them. At the same time Ahmed Ali sent a message to the East India Company asking them for help as he was working for them. He played his Ace.

The British were now in a delicate situation as they didnt want Ahmed Ali to put them in the spot and jeopardise their relations with the Qing which would surely have repercussions in their Trading Post in Canton as they were aware that Ahmed Ali would reveal their little secret to the Qing. The British made a secret appeal for help to the powerful Nepali Prime Minister Bhim Sen Thapa to use his good relations with the Tibetan and the Qing to secure the release of the Spy. But they were surprised when they were told by Bhim Sen Thapa that Ahmed Ali had already been released by the authorities and was probably already on his way back.

So why did the Qing authorities release Ahmed Ali without any punishment ? Well for one he was expelled from the Country and handed over to the Nepalese authorities with requests to send him over the border to India. It seems that the matter was quite a sensitive one but the Qing didn't really want to undermine the confidence of the Kashmiri traders. As they were the people through which they could still have a lucrative trade with other Regions without compromising on their own strict no foreigner’s Rule. There were also suggestions that Ahmed Ali had agreed to supply some information from the British side to the Tibetan and Qing authorities. Maybe he was just a smart Guy who somehow managed to squeeze out of the situation. What was the exact reason of his release is still shrouded in somewhat of a Mystery and hence we can only now try and and make guesses on the actual circumstances that led to him being just deported instead of being severely punished. Maybe we will never know.

Of course even after this incident the British intrigues in the region didn't cease and we saw the Era of the “Pundits”, native men who went to Tibet to carry out surveys for the British including people like Pandit Nain Singh Rawat and others. However whatever happened to Ahmed Ali after his return is unknown. The Kashmiri Spy just vanished from the annals of of the history of Political Intrigue in the History of the Himalayas.

The panting from the Qing Era shows the Induction of the 9th Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso, in 1808 as its watched by the Ambans and Qing officials on one side and by Tibetan Clergy and other Tibetans on the other side.

The Gurudwara and the Hindu Dharamshala at Leh

The Gurudwara and the Hindu Dharamshala at Leh

I had previously done a Post on the almost impossible Trade Route which connected Leh to Yarkand. 

This time I had gone to Ladakh on a specific reason to go looking for clues that still survived of the great Trading Route.Of course there were other agendas on my plate as well but I wanted to find out more about this Trade and the People and commodities involved in the Trade. Of course there is mention of the Great Trade Route in the Books but since most people have lost interest in this all the remnants lie kinda forgotten. 

The Trade ended in around 1949 when China closed the trading Route to what they now called Xinjiang. And it was almost 70 years now since the show ended. No one had a clue and no one seemed interested. And most asked what I was doing roaming around seemingly aimlessly where as I could be at Penguin Lake getting photographed sitting on a Scooter. Or go and meet Alexander’s family members. Or try to get permission to go to Umingting Ta, where if I could get a selfie with my tough guy look I could own Social Media for 3 days I imagine. Jokes apart I was trying my best to find something at least connected to the legendary Trade.

As luck would have it I happened to meet Sajid bhai who runs a well known Hotel in Leh and at his Hotel lobby he has a great collection of antiques and memorabilia. Sajid bhai told me that his family was involved in the Central Asian Trade and the place where his Hotel exists today was the site of a great Sarai where the Merchants from Yarkand would come down and stay. His family enjoyed Royal Patronage and this land was right next to the Leh Palace. But the most interesting fact was when Sajid bhai told me that his Mother was from Kashgar, another fabled city in Eastern Turkestan making the troika of the great cities at the edge of Tarim Basin viz Yarkand, Khotan and Kashgar. Some connect was being made. He directed me to the Central Asian Museum newly set up in Leh.

Next I visited the Central Asian Museum in Leh. A great building and very well set up though I must mention that I was a tad bit disappointed by the Collection they had. I was even more disappointed by the fact that Photography wasn't allowed inside the Museum as they had some interesting stuff. But still it had an impressive amount of information and Photos on display and one interesting information was the Volume of Trade for a certain period measured by the number of Laden Mules/ Horses : Donkeys : Camels came into Leh and were registered with the authorities. The numbers of Caravan Animals in 1871 are as given under (I copied the information on a Paper) :

From Kullu : Laden Horses/ Mules : 388 ; Donkeys : 35

From Rampur : Laden Horses/ Mules : 15 ; Donkeys : 35

From Turkestan : Laden Horses/ Mules : 956 ; Donkeys : 13 ; Camels : 18

From Kashmir : Laden Horses/ Mules : 464

From Changthang / Tibet : Laden Horses/ Mules : 460

Imports to Ladakh from North India included dyes, cotton cloth, spices, pears, rice, sugar, tobacco as well as personal items such as Needles, Soap and Combs. From China and Turkestan came Silk, carpets, cloth, gold, silver, turquoise, corals, brocades and velvet. At that time the distance between Leh and Yarkand was 548 miles and the Journey took around a month. On the other hand the time from Leh to Lhasa was around 3 months.

As mentioned in another Post the trade from the plains of Punjab used to start from Hoshiarpur and it was mostly Hoshiarpuri trader who were involved in this Trade and a number of them used to come to Leh from the Plains and some would even go to Yarkand. As time went by many of them settled partially in Leh and down in the Plains many Hoshiarpuri traders moved to Kullu.

And then I decided to take a walk in the Leh Market which is now a cobblestone street off-limits to cars. The first clue lies in the fact that a number of Shops/ Trading Marts in Leh are operated by Punjabis. Lajpat Rai Trilok Chand and Het Ram Vinay Kumar were the shops that caught my eye. Typical Punjabi trader names. Of course there are many newer Punjabi traders but most of them go away in the harsh winter but return as the Sun warms the high Desert. On enquiry at Lajpat Rai Trilok Chand, who have a big store in the main Bazaar a gentleman confirmed their link to Hoshiarpur and that they were originally from there. 

And then I came across this old building which stood out amongst the new buildings in the Bazaar. And then i noticed a Saffron Flag on top and on getting closer I noticed the “Khanda” on the Flag. So it was an old Gurudwara in the Main Bazaar. And looking at the building I suddenly noticed another old board which said “Hindu Dharamshala” and it had a date in Hindi which I assume said 1933 but Im not quite sure. It turns out that the second Floor was a Gurudwara, the first Floor was a Hindu Dharamshala and the Ground Floor was shops. Im sure this served as the resting place for the Punjabi traders coming from Hoshiarpur as that was the main point of Trade in the Punjab with the Hills and the Mountains beyond. And the Shops were used by them to probably display their merchandise.

And below is the pic of the said Building which probably no-one even gives a second look to. I wish I could rummage through the stuff they have probably stacked away somewhere in the Dharamshala.

That would make a great Story for another day I guess.

The Battle of Basgo

The Battle of Basgo : When the Mughals fought the Mongols

Here is an interesting tale which encompasses a vast myriad of actors and shows how the history of the Himalayas intertwines containing threads that includes the various people living in and around the Himalayas.

Around 1643 Tibet was a dependency of the Mongols and the Mongols played an important part in the power struggle between the various sects of Tibetan Buddhism who seemed to be engaged in a permanent duel. It was primarily a struggle between the Yellow hat sect and the Red hat sect. The Mongols were the military power who decided on the matter of which sect would come out on top in this struggle.

The Mongol Gushi Khan, the ruler of the Dzungar Khanate, put his weight behind the Fifth Dalai Lama, who was the head of the Yellow Hat sect. But as a quid pro quo the whole of Tibet came under Mongol suzernity and was a welcome addition to the Dzungar Mongol Empire, an Empire which strecthed from Tibet to Kazakhstan to the Mongol steppes and well into Siberia. At that time it doesnt seem to have occured to the Mongols or to the Dalai Lama to subjugate Western Tibet (Ladakh) which was a seperate kingdom though which paid tribute to the Tibetan kingdom.

But then circumstances played up and created a situation which caused the Mongols to cast their gaze on Ladakh along with their Tibetan allies.

It so happened that the King of Bhutan was a follower of the Red Hat sect and this got him into a spat with the Dalai Lama who was the most dominant figure of the Yellow Hat sect and his Mongol allies. As it happened the King of Ladakh at that time, Delek Namgyal of the powerful Namgyal dyanasty sided with the King of Bhutan in this spat as the head Lama of Bhutan was his patron Lama as well.

This incensed the Mongol Tibetan rulers of Tibet and soon an army was despatched to Ladakh let by a Mongol Lama named Tsang consisting of both the Mongols and Tibetans. In the first engagement the Ladakhi Army met the Tibeto-Mongol Army near the Pangong Lake and were driven back to their capital and castle which at that time was at Basgo.

It should be noted that the Raja of Bushahr, Raja Kehari Singh also supported the Tibeto-Mongol invasion as he wanted to recover parts of Kinnaur which were claimed by the Namgyals of Ladakh.

Finding himself in the midst of being surrounded in his castle at Basgo by the Tibeto-Mongol, the Gyalpo (Ladakhi word for the King) decided to ask help from the only power he knew could take on the Mongols and the Tibetans. He wrote to the Mughal Governor of Kashmir to come to his rescue in exchange for which he will switch his allegiance to the Moghuls instead of the Tibetans in the future. The Mughal Governor forwarded the request to Emperor Aurangzeb,who agreed to help on two conditions, first the Pashmina trade should be an exclusive Mughal preserve and the Gyalpo should convert to Islam.

The Gyalpo found himself between a rock and a hard place. Atleast agreeing to the Mughla conditions would ensure that he had a good chance of getting through this crisis. Alive. He agreed and soon a Mughal force was despatched to take on the Mongols and the Tibetans.

Interestingly the Mughals themselves were of Turkic-Mongol origin. Infact the word "Mughal" was the Persian word for the Mongols. Emperor Babur was himself a descendent of Timurlane and a princess of the Chagatai order. The Chagtais were descended from Chagatai, the second son of the Great Khan himself. The stage was now set for these Mughlas to meet on the field their long lost Mongol cousins.

As a side act the Raja of Kullu, Raja Bidhi Singh, also sided with the Mughals, as Lahaul and Kullu used to pay tributes to the Ladakh kingdom and as such he was obliged to side with the Namgyals. On a side note the Raja plundered the Zanskar Valley while the stage was being set for the main engagement.

The Mughal force crossed the Indus over two wooden bridges at Khalaste and marched towards Basgo. The two armies met at a plain called Jargyal between Basgo and Nimmu. This is referred to as the Battle of Basgo fought in 1679. And the battle hardened Mughals along with their Ladakhi and Kullu allies proved too strong for the Tibeto-Mongols and their Bushahri allies. The Tibeto-Mongols were pushed back and routed all the way to Spituk where after a brief lull the fighting erupted again until they were driven beyond the Pangong Lake to a place called Trashisgang. They built themselves a Fort and shut themselves in and the Mughal Army now turned back, confident that the Tibeto-Mongols were gone for good. But of course Mongols being Mongols, they were wrong, but more of that later.

In the meanwhile the Gyalpo had moved west to the Fort of Tinmogang, around 30 west of the Fort at Basgo. And the Mughals now turned up to get their pound of flesh. All the Pashmin trade rights were given to the Mughals and as per Mughal chronicles the Gyalpo converted to Islam and took on the name Akbat Mahmud Khan. As a guarantee the Mughals took with them to Kashmir as "guests" a few members of the Royal family including one of his sons.

The Ladakhi chronicles however make no mention of his conversion to Islam. Maybe the King didnt want to reveal this fact to his subjects and especially to the Orthodox Buddhist Lamas who would get extremely incensed at the fact that their King converted to Islam. As per outside historians the King converted to Islam but this information was kept secret and not recorded anywhere in the Ladakhi chronicles. He simply could not afford to face the wrath of the Lamas.

Having been satisfied and their conditions fulfilled the Mughals went back over the Zoji La to Kashmir leaving the Gyalpo in charge as before.

Once the Mughals went back, the Tibetians with new re-enforcements from the new Dzungarian Khan, Galdan Boshugtu Khan, attacked again in 1684. This time the Tibeto-Mongols were victorious and the Gyalpo just didnt have the time or the inclination to call upon his Mughal allies and neither were the Mughlas perpared or interested in intervening again.

In the aftermath a Treaty was signed between the Tibetans and the Ladakhis which set the border between Ladakh and Tibet and it restricted the Kashmir hold on the Pashmina trade only till Spituk. It also set the annual tribute that Ladakh had to send to Tibet.

This fragile peace would hold on for another 150 years till General Zorawar Singh happened. Another story for another day.

References : Francke : History of Western Tibet, O.C. Handa:'Buddhist Western Himalaya: A Politico-Religious History' and Vinayak Razdan who had written a Post on the same and I added more information to his Post.

The Brave Shen - Pa

The Brave Shen Pa

In the beginning of December 1841 at an altitude of over 14000 ft on the Tibetan Plateau with the temperatures well below freezing he got the news that a large contingent of the Imperial Chinese Army consisting of more than 10,000 soldiers along with their Tibetan allies was coming for him and stop his whirlwind advance. He had already faced smaller contingents and had already snatched, the Imperial Chinese Banner, the Mantalai Standard from them in an encounter. That had given them a measure of this man.

In a fashion typical to him and only him he must have weighed the odds. His Troops, about 3000 in number, were out of supplies, hungry, suffering badly from the intense Cold to the point that they had sawed off the butts of their Guns to burn them for warmth. He had already added more than 150,000 sq km of territory to his King’s domain and fought and come up on top in extremely difficult situations like taking his Army up the Umasi La at the onset of Winter. He had captured the holiest of the holy, the Kailash Parbat and Mansrover for his King. No King would want more.

A Replica of the Chinese Imperial Mantalai Standar kept at the Zorawar Musuem at the Zorarwar Fort in Leh

But not him. He had promised Lhasa. And Lhasa he would deliver. The Western Tibetan Kingdom including Rudok, Guge, Purang and Spiti were already under his wing. He was in Tirathpuri by the Satluj when he got the news of the advance. He despatched a small band of advanced troops under Nono Sonam to lead the initial forays into the rival Army. His men were massacred but Nono Sonam managed to escape and get back. Next a bigger band of around 600 men under Ghulam Khan and Nono Sonam were despatched to check the advance of the adversary. They fought well and they fought hard but they were routed by overwhelming number of the opposing force. Both Ghulam Khan and Nono Sonam were taken prisoners.

When he had started on his Trans Himalayan Expeditions he was accompanied by the following 12 Officers who led his Army and now after 7 years of Campaigns in the highest Himalayas and now just a couple of them were alive :

Mian Rai Singh
Mehta Basti Ram
Mirza Rasool Beg
Rana Zalim Singh
Abdul Razak Singh Mankotia
Mian Tota
Sardar Uttam Singh
Wazir Khwaja Bhanjal
Sardar Samad Khan
Nardeep Singh
Imam Malik
Syed Madin Shah

Out of all these Officers only probably Col Mehta Basti Ram of Kishtwar would die of old age. All of them were completely dedicated to him.

Replica of a Pistol presented to Raja Gulab Singh by General Zorarwar Singh

He decided to act in the only way of defence he knew. Attack. On the 10th of December with the remnants of his Army he decided to fall upon the oncoming Army though he knew the odds were stacked up against him. Heavily. But the “Shen - Pa” as their adversaries called them fell upon them with all the ferocity they were well known for. The Shen - Pas first attack on the Chinese / Tibetan Army has been described as “lightning fury” by a noted historian. Hell was unleashed in the biting cold between the two Armies engaged in Battle at over 4800 m above sea level.

The a fierce Battle ensued for two days. On the 12th December he himself decided to lead a charge on the enemy positions with his last best men left. While leading the charge with his signature fury he got a bullet in his thigh and fell off his Horse. Seeing him fall immediately he was surrounded by enemy soldiers. He was down but not out and he drew his sword. He dealt terrific blows to anyone who came close. Eventually a Horseman thrust his Lance at him and it went through his Chest. He fell. Dead.

His men now panicked and fled in all directions and were cut down by the enemy. Around 600 to 700 were taken prisoners. Col Mehta Bast Ram who was holding the Fort at Taklakot also decided to withdraw and crossed over into Almora. They were defeated. And he was dead.

The Nallah in Susru Valley near Panikhar where General Zorawar Singh first emerged in Ladakh.

But now the victors had a new problem. His body. They held him in reverential awe as the bravest of the Shen-pas. They cut off his head and carried it off to Lhasa as a Trophy. It was apparently entombed in a stupa. Parts of his remains were taken to the Simbiling and the Sakya Monasteries. All other remains were scattered so that this feared Shen - Pa might not rise again to do what he did. A Stupa was built to him somewhere around Mansrover. It stands there to this day.

Many engagements and Battles were fought thereupon between the same adversaries and finally Peace was reached with the signing of the Treaty of Chushul. And Col Mehta Basti became the First Governor of Ladakh.

In The History of Western Tibet by Rev.A.H. Francke who was a Moravian Missionary in Ladakh mentions that the Ladakhi's sing a poignant song of His wife, whom they believe to have accompanied her husband to Ladakh, and who had to return alone across the Zoji Pass. In this song Urdu words are mixed in a quaint way with the Tibetan:

I do not wish to eat bread received from the sinful Northerners, I do not wish to drink water received from the sinful Northerners
Amidst the inhabitants of this land I have no friends and relations, In the Northern Plain I have no brothers and friends
In the place of friends and relations I had only You
In the place of brothers and friends I had only You
And it was only You who made me a despised widow
And it was only You who made his Queen a despised widow
When arriving on the Zoji Pass, my fatherland can be seen
When arriving on the Zoji Pass, Lahore and the Panjab can be seen
Although I can see my Fatherland, I shall not arrive there
Although I can see my Fatherland, Your Queen will not arrive there......

And he further wrote : Now that the greatest General the Dogras have ever had has found his death on the battle-field, let us pause for a moment and place a wreath of tribute on his grave. For, Oriental though he was, we cannot help admiring a greatness in this man by which he far surpassed his surroundings. In the beginning of his conquests he was extremely cautious ; but this was essentially necessary, considering the naturally protected position of Western Tibet, and his entire want of knowledge of the geographical conditions of this country. But, as he had a keen eye for the defects of his enemy, and was a great strategist, all these difficulties were overcome. After the conquest was complete, the continual insurrections presented a new problem for his ingenuity to solve. By the manner in which he treated them, and in which he quelled them one after another, without any extra amount of cruelty, he showed not a little measure of wisdom. He proved himself a true soldier in the endurance of extraordinary hardships and in setting an example of personal courage ; and if he had not met with an early end on the battle-field, he might have impressed his name on the pages of the great history of the world.

His name was General Zorawar Singh Kahluria.

The Horsemen of the Pir Panjals

Horsemen of the Pir Panjals

The Horsemen and the man-made points around the natural springs

The Horsemen of the Pir Panjal are a group of rock sculptures and reliefs found at similar locations at the foot of the “Galis” or on the main Gali itself.  The sculptures are mostly of Horsemen along with some other reliefs of what seem to be local Gods and Devtas. And they usually have a natural water spring nearby and an accompanying pond. Few of the people who have studied these amazing sculptures agree that these were strategic locations on ancient Routes that connected different villages in the Pir Panjals. These probably served as resting areas after a particular Gali was crossed and the men as well as the horses could then refresh themselves. And they probably served a navigational purpose on the Routes that they are found on.

The Horsemen with reliefs of local gods in the background

In the Jammu region these are found in the Ramban area of Jammu on the Sangaldan Gool road near Gool Village and also at Gadi Nalla and Nar area of Tehsil Gool and Sildhar area of district Reasi near Mahore. This area is also referred to as the Gool Gulabgarh area. This area lies at the point where the Jammu Region gives way to the Kashmir region and as a consequence has a mixed population of Dogri, Gujri and Kashmiri speaking people. Out of these locations only the first one is accessible by a Road while the others require to hike up in the mountains to these long forgotten sculptures. The one near the Gool Village is called the “Ghora Gali” which is an obvious reference to these Horse sculptures. There are said to many other such locations which dot the mountain landscape but no one is really sure of how many locations.

At the top of Ghora Gali, overlooking the scenic Gool area

The sculptures themselves show a great detail especially for the Horsemen.And these Horsemen came in different sizes even at the same site. There are sculptures in different sizes with one or two or even three people astride the horse. Interestingly all the Horsemen appear to be armed and carry different kinds of weapons as were prevalent in the day and age these were erected. They appear to be some kind of warriors of an Army on a campaign and these structures are representations of that. Also there are a a few reliefs showing local deities and geometrical figures but overall its the Horsemen who overwhelmingly dominate these sites.

The Horsemen are in different sizes and configurations

As per the local folklore these Horsemen were sculpted by the Pandavas themselves during the time of their exile as they were purported to have spent some time in this area. That’s as far as the legend goes. These were sculpted by the local people themselves as per some sources. They seem to be more Bactrian inspired than Indic which is reflected in how the Horsemen are dressed and the styling of the arms they carry. Even the figures of the deities etched on the stone slabs have little resemblance to the contemporary deities. And the geometric figures just add another element of mystery. And then the whole mystery of when these great sculptures were created. The people who created these Sculptures reflect a very developed art of sculpting looking at the fine details that are shown in the Horsemen. Who exactly were these local people and under what influence were these created and why so many Horsemen ?

The reliefs of Horsemen can also be seen on the base

As per Indic traditions of that time it was usually a small Temple or sculpture of the contemporary Hindu Gods at that time that adorned such Mountain passes and along the tracks along the mountains. But the fact that these sites contain mostly these finely sculpted Horsemen should hold some significance. And no such Horsemen sculptures exist anywhere else in the Indian subcontinent except this region. Maybe it points to these being created by an Army of Horsemen from outside, from one of those cultures which held the Horsemen in great reverence, again a reference to a link to Central Asia. Maybe they came in settled here for a while on a campaign and then got assimilated in the local population or they just left and this is the only visible clue that they left behind.

Overview of the site from the Gool Sangaldan Road

At the Ghora Gali site itself I counted well over a 200 Horsemen in various sizes and conditions. Some still standing, some broken, some lying flat on the ground and still others which appeared to be buried. Further excavation of the site will probably reveal more of these Horsemen that have been completely buried over a period of time.

The specimen kept at the Shri Pratap Singh Museum, Srinagar

The lack of scientific research is the reason that all these questions mostly remain unanswered. On top of that these sites mostly lie neglected and many of the magnificent Horsemen sculptures have just fallen to the ground as the locations where they are at usually receive a lot of rain and snow. Astoundingly on the Ghora Gali site itself there was no board of the ASI and these sculptures are not even listed on the ASi site. The state Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums had however listed this as a protected site in 1986. In fact three of these Horsemen were taken and put on display at the Shri Pratap Singh Museum in Srinagar. While speaking to an official at the Museum about these Horsemen even he replied that these showed remarkable Bactrian/ Greek influence but more research has to go into these as to establish the facts.

A semi frozen pond on the site fed by a natural spring

As of today even the Ghora Gali site, which lies right on the Roadhead the picture is of neglect. More and more of these Horsemen are falling over and getting destroyed. Though it seems that now there is some work being done on fencing off the site to keep the grazing livestock off the site. There is also talk of the Tourism Department promoting the site as a Tourist spot in the coming time along with other tourist destinations in the area like the Hot Springs at Tatapani. Hopefully with more people coming to visit these wonderful sculptures would get the attention that they deserve. With the attention will come further research into these Sculptures and the sites associated with them and finally we might get definitive answers on the Horsemen of the Pir Panjals.

The Boali or Ponds fed by natural spring water

Original article here : https://www.livehistoryindia.com/cover-story/2018/03/18/the-mysterious-horsemen-of-the-pir-panjal

Burzahom : Ancient Kashmir and its Dogs

Burzahom : Ancient Kashmir and its Dogs

Burzahom : Ancient Kashmir and its Dogs

The most Ancient remains of human settlement discovered in Kashmir are at a place called Burzahom near Srinagar. It is a settlement from the Neolithic Period and transits to the ancient period ranging from 8000 BC to around 1000 BC. It was discovered in 1935 and the excavations were done over a period of time and the excavations have been in three stages, NP III corresponding to the later period, NP II to the middle period and NP I to the earliest period. The Site is currently on Unesco World Heritage Watch List and it might get the status of a World Heritage Site in the future maybe.

The Burzahom Site

As per the UNESCO "The Neolithic Site of Burzahom in the district of Srinagar, India brings to light transitions in human habitation patterns from Neolithic Period to Megalithic period to the early Historic. From transition in architecture to development in tool-making techniques to introduction and diffusion of lentil in North-Western India, the site of Burzahom is a unique comprehensive storyteller of life between 3000 BC to 1000 BC.

Archaeologist have excavated subterranean dwellings as well as burial pits at Burzahom. One of the most famous Work of art discovered at the site is a scene painted on a stone which shows the Burzahomese on a hunt. There are two hunters and a Deer and along with them is their best friend, yes you guessed it right, a Dog. And also interestingly the scene depicts two suns. As per the scientists the this is the first instance of a supernova being recorded in ancient times. Which of course makes this indeed a very interesting find.

The Hunting Scene drawing with 2 Suns

Dogs it seems held a special status in the Burzahom culture. Dogs, Wolves and Ibex seemed to hold a special significance as burial pits containing their skeletons have been found. More interestingly a couple of burial pits have been discovered where the Dog is buried right next to the master within the compounds of the dwelling units. There is even an instance of Dogs buried in two layers one above another. Unlike in NP I where no burial remains have been found, in NP II culture many such burial pits have been found. This points out to the growth of a belief system and a transition to the ancient age from the Neolithic period.

Interestingly this Dog burial culture is similar to the Shilka culture, for whom the Dog was almost a cult animal, around the Shilka River which is a tributary to the Amur River in Siberia bordering Mongolia as well as other such cultures of the Gilyaks, Ulchis and Goldis where till recent history Dogs were sacrificed and buried with their owners. Probably to serve them in the their afterlife as well. It surely sounds cruel in today's time and age and actually it is but in that time and age it made sense to those people to send a dead man's best friend along with him to the next world. where animals were sacrificed as well and buried along with the person.

A Dog burial pit

The pottery found at the site seemingly has a great similarity to similar remains found in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. And as mentioned earlier the burials practices and the type of tools found have been inferred as having close resemblance to those found in North Chinese Neolithic cultures which borders Siberia as well as Mongolia.

This practice is not seen anywhere in India. This again points out to the fact that Kashmir was the place where Central Asia met the Indian subcontinent. UNESCO also states that ' The results of excavations have provided dynamics of interchange of ideas between Central Asian and Southwest Asia through the Valley of Kashmir which acted as a bridge between higher Himalayas and beyond on one hand, and the Gangetic Plains and Peninsular India on the other hand during the third millenium BC. The interaction of local and foreign influences are demonstrated by the art, architecture, customs and rituals as also possibly by the language as demonstrated by some graffiti marks on pottery and others"

Historian M K Kaw in his book "Kashmir and its People : Studies in the Evolution of Kashmiri Society" writes " It is also clear that the Dog had a special place for the Burzahomese right from the day he settled in the Valley. This is further substantiated with the finding of a burial in period NP II where the Dog is buried with the owner in the house floor, preferably the compound. He has depicted him in the engraving on the stone slab already stated earlier. The Dog guarded his herd and helped him in pursuing the hunt on which his sustenance depended "

As of today the Dog is thriving. Thriving too much according to some people. And Srinagar is full of feral Dogs. Of all the cities I have been to I have never seen such a great number of Dogs in any other city. Another fact that I think is responsible is that people in Kashmir consume a great deal of meat. And of course a lot of this gets wasted and consumed by these Dogs and hence due to the availability of meat they thrive. Some people also put the blame on the political situation but I would rather not go there.

But of course that doesn't change facts about the importance of the Dog in the Burzahom Culture. And the fact that we have been friends for a very long time.

I am using 4 pics to highlight the Story as it is an important one which needs to be told and people made aware ( If you think you have a story which needs to be told with multiple pics please contact the Admins.)

Main pic from February 2018. Srinagar, Kashmir

Some of the pics are from the Internet and are being used only for Educational purposes. In case you hold a copyright to a pic and want it removed please let me know and I will take the pic down.

The Indus Irony

The Indus Irony

The Indus. The Sindhu. The River which gave a country its name. The River which gave a religion its name. The River where the earliest recorded organised human settlements were created. The River around which the most ancient of all the Religious scriptures (in a sense) were written. A river that drains the Western Himalayas, the Karakorams and the Hindu Kush. A River than dumps twice the amount of water that the Nile does in into the Ocean.

In the most mystical of lands that it gives its name to, where Rivers and Mountains are worshipped, the Indus should have been the Deity number 1. But its not. It’s not even a Deity. It isn’t even sacred. So what happened ? Why did the Indus lose all its “religious” (deemed) significance ? I will try and give my view on that. Now if you are a particularly religious person I would suggest you stop reading and go on to the next Post.

Let’s go back to the Indus Valley civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization arose in the Indus and the Ghaggar Hakra (Saraswati) basin. The Sutlej at one time flowed into Ghaggar Hakra system and not into the Indus as it does today but scientists don’t agree on when actual change took place. It should be remembered that the Satluj is today the easternmost tributary of the of the Indus. This is where the most developed civilization of the ancient world developed. Permanent settlements, planned sanitation and the works. And this advanced civilization was called the Indus Valley Civilization. Of course like all civilizations it came to an end due to reasons we will not dwell into.

And then it was in North Western Pakistan, in the Indus basin, just as the Indus enters the plains down from the might Himalayas, that the most sacred of the Vedic scriptures (I’m deliberately not using the term Hindu as in my view these aren’t the same things in the religious sense though Hindu itself is a geographic term), the Rig Veda was composed. The main “Devas” were Indra, Soma and Agni. The main River mentioned was the Sapta Sindhu (The Indus and its seven tributaries). The main Gods of the “Hindu” pantheon as it is today were hardly even mentioned. The holiest of the holy, the Ganges just gets two passing references and that too in the later Hymns.

The Rig Veda, as those of you who ever tried giving it a go is quite an enigma. Many a times I have tried but failed unless we have an accompanying translation (transliteration works to a limited extent). Now translations unlike transliterations are not mathematical. It is more or less what it is the translators perceives a Hymn to be. So you have to rely on the Translator’s interpretation of it. But until and unless you master the language of the Rig Veda and read it for yourself the only tools available are translation and transliteration.

That being said the Rig Veda has a very wide latitude, it included Monotheism, Pantheism, Animism, Agnosticism even Atheism (as put by my friend of mine). Yes Athieism. In today’s world order of rigid Religious beliefs, it is remarkable that the Rig Veda even questioned the existence of God itself. Yes you heard me right. I quote Rig Veda Hymn 10:129 also called the Hymn of Creation (Just the last two stanzas). Make whatever you want of this

But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
the Devas (gods) themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

Whence all creation had its origin,
he, whether he fashioned it or whether he did not,
he, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
he knows – or maybe even he does not know.

The point I’m trying to make is that it was very different from the Hindu religion of today. Over a period of time the Vedic religion began to be codified into the Upanishads called the Vedanta. Religious rituals and hierarchies were created. The breathing space in which the Rig Veda was created started to get muzzled. And in a reaction to this there arose different schools of thoughts like Buddhism and Jainism (these were Godless religions) and these began to challenge the dogmas of what the Vedic religion had become. Of course the different Kings/ Kingdoms of that time also played favorites with the Rulers using Religion as a powerful political tool. a

The Ganges at Haridwar

And in turn the institutionalisation of the Vedic religion got even stronger and this was particularly true in the Gangetic basin. A shift happened. The epicenter shifted to the Gangetic plains with the evolution of Brahmanism. A new trinity of Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh came up. The Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati became the Holy Rivers. The Gods of the Rig Veda were all but forgotten and the same happened with the River of the Vedas, the mighty Indus. As it happened the Indus basin became a stronghold of Buddhism and that is from where Buddhism spread all around Asia. It made sense for the “Institutionalisers” of the religion to associate what was formerly the Vedic religion with Geographics to the East of the place where it originated. And slowly “the sense” of importance of the Indus was diluted over a period of time. All the focus was on the heartland River than the borderland River. We were told a certain River was more sacred than the other River though both of them performed exactly the same function like all Rivers.

And this I call the Indus Irony. It isn’t sacred. It’s not revered. It’s not worshipped. Not that it will make a difference.

It’s the mighty Indus. As mighty as the Mountains that it comes down from. It will keep flowing.

PS I just read this on Wiki : In November 2011, satellite images showed that the Indus river had re-entered India, feeding Great Rann of Kutch, Little Rann of Kutch and a lake near Ahmedabad known as Nal Sarovar.

Disclaimer : This is entirely my own personal theory. No disrespect is meant towards any religious belief or any river or any scripture. It is a linear mathematical study trying to establish the facts keeping out the “God’s will” factor. In the spirit of the Rig Veda Hymn 10:129