Himalayan Bridge 9780367611712, 9781003105718

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Himalayan

Bridge

The centrality of the Himalayas as a connecting point or perhaps a sacred core for the Asian continent and its civilisations has captivated every explorer and scholar. The Himalaya is the meeting point of two geotectonic plates, three biogeographical realms, two ancient civilisations, two different language streams and six religions. This book is about the determinant factors which are at work in the Himalayas in the context of what it constitutes in terms of its spatiality, legends and myths, religious beliefs, rituals and traditions. The book would suggest that there is no single way for understanding the Himalayas. There are layers of structures, imposition and superimposition of human history, religious traits and beliefs that continue to shape the Asian dynamics. An understanding of the ultimate union of the Himalayas, its confuences and its bridging role is essential for Asian balance. This book is a collaborative effort of an internationally acclaimed linguist, a diplomat-cum-geopolitician and a young Asianist. The book provides countless themes that will be intellectually stimulating to scholars and students with varied interests. Niraj Kumar is the author of a magnum opus on Asian Integration—Arise Asia: Respond to White Peril (2002). His recent works include Sriyantra and Geophilosophy of India (2014), Asia in Post-Western Age (2014) and Rainbow of Indian Civilization (2015). He received initiation from Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1992 and is associated with the Society for Asian Integration (SAI). George van Driem is the Director of the Linguistics Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland, where he holds the Chair of Historical Linguistics. He has conducted feld research in Bhutan, Nepal, northeastern India and the western Indian Himalayas since 1983. Ambassador Phunchok Stobdan is a distinguished academician, diplomat, national security expert and Senior Fellow at IDSA. Ambassador Stobdan is a specialist on Asian affairs covering Central Asia and Inner Asia— including Xinjiang, Tibet, Myanmar and the Himalayan region.

Himalayan

Bridge Editors

Niraj Kumar George van Driem Phunchok Stobdan

KNOWLEDGE WORLD

KW Publishers Pvt Ltd New Delhi

First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Niraj Kumar, George van Driem and Phunchok Stobdan; individual chapters, the contributors; and KW Publishers The right of Niraj Kumar, George van Driem and Phunchok Stobdan to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan) British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-61171-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-10571-8 (ebk) Typeset in Minion Pro by KW Publishers

Contents About the Editors/Contributors Abstracts Preface Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: Himalayas: Geology, Genetics, Identity 1. India-Asia Collision and the Making of Himalayas A. K. Jain 2. Challenges to the Himalayan Watershed Uttam Kumar Sinha 3. From the Dhaulagiri to Lappland, the Americas and Oceania George van Driem 4. Textile, Text, Terracing, Territoriality: Weaving a Pan-Himalayan Identity Niraj Kumar and Chingngaih Biak PART II: Prism of the Past 5. Refection of the Himalayas in the Ancient Indian Texts: A Note K. K. Mandal 6 Encounter and Engagement: Vignettes of the Trans-Himalayan Region Suchandana Chatterjee 7. Te Indian Frontier Administrative Service: Romanticism and Hostile Borders Claude Arpi 8. Himalayan Buddhism Travels West Glenn Mullin PART III: Mosaic of Politics 9. Te Trans-Himalayan Geopolitics P. Stobdan 10. Himalayas to Unite Akhilesh Suman 11. Why Siachen Matters to India Nitin A.Gokhale

ix xv xix xxxi xxxiii 3 33 45 73

111 129 139 159

181 191 199

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12. Empowering the Kashmiris Ifikhar Gilani 13. Drug and Arms Flow in the Eastern Himalayan Region Namrata Goswami 14. Cultural Continuity and School Education in Bhutan: Current Initiatives, Challenges and Opportunities Dorji Tinley 15. Buddhist Identity Politics in Nepal since the 1990s Tsering Choldan 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

PART IV: Philosophy, Art and Culture Relevance of the Nalanda Tradition for Contemporary Society: Wisdom, Non-Sectarianism and Secular Ethics Dorji Damdul Footprints of Nalanda Master Naropa in the Himalayas Gyalwang Drukpa Sowa Rigpa: Traditional Medical System of the Himalayas Pema Dorjee Himalayan Food Culture Jyoti Prakash Tamang Art Heritage and Law: Railroading Geographical Indications Act and Kangra Miniature Paintings Namrata Neog Alchi Murals: Tracing the Multiple Traditions Geetika Kaw Kher Pre-Vaishnavite and Post-Vaishnavite Dance Forms of Manipur Sinam Basu Singh

PART V: Spiritual Odyssey 23. Rishikesh: Silent Hum of Mystery Ambika Talwar 24. Te Himalayas: A Mystic’s Viewpoint Swami Paranand Tirth Bibliography Index

207 215 229 243

253 263 269 277 299 309 321

339 347 361 383

Dedicated to Our Ancestors who passed through the Himalayan corridor picking up seeds, stems and leaves of rice, sugarcane, tea, maize, lemons, mangoes and fathomless wisdom!

About the Editors / Contributors

EDITORS Niraj Kumar is the author of magnum opus on Asian Integration, “Arise Asia- Respond to White Peril” (2002). His recent works include “Sriyantra and Geophilosophy of India” (2014), Asia In Post-Western Age(2014) and Rainbow of Indian Civilization(2015). He received initiation from Swami Ranganathanadaji Maharaj of Ramakrishna Mission in 1992. He is associated with the Society for Asian Integration (SAI), a society committed to enhance connectivity across Asia. George van Driem is the Director of the Linguistics Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland, where he holds the Chair of Historical Linguistics. He has conducted feld research in Bhutan, Nepal, Northeastern India and the Western Indian Himalayas since 1983 and authored several in-depth grammars and grammatical studies. He conducted a linguistic survey of Bhutan from 1989 to 1992. In 2001, he produced the frst major ethnolinguistic synthesis of the greater Himalayan region, extending from Central and South Asia to Southeast and East Asia, entitled “Languages of the Himalayas”. Nowadays, he is working on Asian population prehistory collaborating with linguists and population geneticists, to fnally reconstruct human population prehistory. He has promulgated the theory of Symbiosism or the symbiotic theory of language. His Darwinian model of the human mind explains language as a semiotic organism, a mutualist symbiont which has arisen and evolved in the hominid brain.  Ambassador Phunchok Stobdan is a distinguished academician, diplomat, author and national security expert. He began his career as a security analyst in 1989 at the Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA), and became a Senior Fellow in 2005. Ambassador Stobdan is a specialist on Asian afairs covering Central Asia and Inner Asia, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Myanmar and the Himalayan region. He has written extensively on a wide range of security-related subjects in a number of professional journals on strategic afairs, books and newspapers both in India and abroad. He served in Central Asia twice, as Director at the Embassy of India, Almaty (1999 and 2002) and Ambassador at the Embassy of India, Bishkek (20102012). He has also served as Joint Director in the Indian National Security Council. Between October 2006 and November 2007, he was Director of the Centre for

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Strategic and Regional Studies at the University of Jammu. He is a member of the India International Centre, New Delhi. Some of his select publications are “India and Kazakhstan: Civilizational Explorations” (Heritage Publication, 2003)”, “Te Last Colony: Muzafarabad-Gilgit-Baltistan”, (India Research Press, New Delhi, 2008), “Central Asia: Democracy, Instability and Strategic Game in Kyrgyzstan”(2014) , “India and Bhutan: Te Strategic Imperative”(IDSA Occasional paper, 2014). Recently, he established Ladakh International Centre (LIC) at Leh to promote research on Himalayas and Trans-Himalayas. CONTRIBUTORS Professor A.K. Jain was a UGC Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Roorkee (1970-71). Afer a brief stint at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, he joined the University of Roorkee and worked there till 2006. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the University of Karlsruhe between 1979 and 2001, and JSPS Fellow at the Hokaiddo University in 2004. He has been responsible for establishing National Facilities on the Electron Probe Micro Analyzer and the Geochronology/Isotope Geology at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. While at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, he started research programmes in Arunachal and Sikkim Himalaya on regional stratigraphy, structural and tectonic relationships between lesser and higher Himalaya, which was then extended to Garhwal, Kumaon, Himachal and Ladakh sectors. He carried out detailed investigations on deformation and strain patterns of the higher Himalayan metamorphic rocks, and their evolution within the ductile shear zone. A new model was proposed to explain the classic Himalayan inverted metamorphism by widely distributed ductile shear fabric, which became an internationally accepted mechanism. He had been member of various committees of UPSC, Universities and National Institutions as well as of Governing Bodies of WIHG and Research Council of NGRI, Hyderabad. Uttam Kumar Sinha holds an adjunct position at the Malaviya Centre for Peace Research, Banares Hindu University. At IDSA, he is the Managing Editor of  Strategic Analysis (Routledge) and edits the Strategic Digest. He leads the IDSAPRIO institutional cooperation on peace and confict studies. His research areas focus on non-traditional aspects of security with particular attention on climate change, trans-boundary water issues, Himalayas and the Arctic region. His recent work includes edited volumes,  “Non-Traditional Security Challenges in Asia: Approaches and Responses”  (Routledge 2015); “Arctic: Commerce, Governance and Policy”(Routledge, 2015); “Emerging Strategic Trends in Asia” (Pentagon Press, 2015), and a monograph, “Climate Change Narratives: Reading the Arctic” (IDSA, 2013).

ABOUT THE EDITORS / CONTRIBUTORS • xi

Chingngaih Biak hails from Churachandpur, Manipur in the Eastern Himalayas. She is a keen chronicler of Zomi culture. Dr. Krishna Kumar Mandal holds a Doctorate in history and works at Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India. He is the co-editor of “Science Technology and Medicine in Indian History” (Essays in Honour of Dr. Devendra Kumar Singh)” (2000). He also co-authored with legendary historian R.S. Shrama, “Vishwa Itihas Ki Bhumika”(2010). E- mail:[email protected]. Dr. Suchandana Chatterjee is Fellow of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata. Her work at the Institute has primarily focused on the Eurasian region. Her research interests include shared spaces and connected histories of Eurasia. She has edited and co-edited a number of books on features of transition in Eurasia and Central Asia, Asian connectivities and competing discourses of encounter and engagement in the trans-Himalayan Buddhist space. Her books include The Steppe in History-Essays on a Eurasian Fringe(New Delhi: Manohar,2010), Politics  and  Society  in  Tajikistan  in  the  afermath  of  the  Civil  War  (Greenwood Press and Hope India Publications, 2002), Mind and Vision: Perceptions of reform in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (Bookwell,2006). Claude Arpi is born in Angoulême (France) in 1949. His real quest started in 1972 with a journey to the Indian Himalayas. Afer graduating as a Dental Surgeon from Bordeaux University in 1974, he decided to come to India. Since then he has been an enthusiastic student of the history of Tibet, China and the subcontinent. Claude Arpi regularly writes on the geopolitics of the region, Tibet, China & India relations, environment and Indo-French relations. He is the author of “Tibet: Te Lost Frontier” (Lancer,2008), “Te Negotiations Tat Never Were”(2009), “1962: Te McMahon Line Saga” (2012)and “Glimpses of Tibetan History”(2013). His website can be visited at http://www.claudearpi.net/ Glenn H. Mullin is a Tibetologist, Buddhist writer, translator of classical Tibetan literature, and teacher of Tantric Buddhist meditation. He divides his time between writing, teaching, meditating, and leading tour groups to the power places of Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia. He lived in the Indian Himalayas between 1972 and 1984, where he studied philosophy, literature, meditation, yoga, and the enlightenment culture under thirty-fve of the greatest living masters of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Author of over 30 books on Tibetan Buddhism, many of these focus on the lives and works of the early Dalai Lamas. Some of his other titles include “Te Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa’s Commentary Entitled A Book of Tree Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro’s Six Dharmas”(2005), Te Practice of Kalachakra (Snow Lion,1991); and

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Te Female Buddhas:Women of Enlightenment in Tibetan Mystical Art (Clear Light Books,2002). He is running an organization “Ariun Rashaan,” or “Magic Healing Waters” in Mongolia to help support Mongolian Buddhist culture. His personal website can be visited at http://www.glennmullin.com Dr. Akhilesh Suman is the President, Society for Asian Integration. He earned his Doctorate in literature and still preferred to involve in the feld of journalism. He has worked both in Hindi and English media. Presently, he is working in the Audio-Visual Media. He has visited various countries while covering diferent assignments like South Korea, Tailand, Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, US, Singapore, Britain, Russia and France. Nitin  A.  Gokhale  is an outstanding journalist covering strategic affairs for over three decades. He has been unravelling the emerging contours of conflict from Indo-Myanmar borders to  Af-Pak borders and has developed a panHimalayan perspective towards geopolitics of the Himalayas. He is the author of acclaimed work, Beyond NJ 9842: The Siachen Saga (2014). He was the Defence Editor at NDTV news channel. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow and the Editor of Vivek, a bi-monthly journal published by Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi. Ifikhar Gilani is one of the top most political commentators on Kashmir. He has authored several books including a best-seller, “My Days in Prison” (Penguin,2005) for which he was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Prize in 2009. Presently, he is the Senior Assistant Editor of national English newspaper, DNA. Dr. Namrata Goswami completed her doctorate from Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2005 on the topic “Just War Teory and Humanitarian Intervention: A Comparative Case Study of East Pakistan and Kosovo.” She was a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Washington. D.C from October 2012 to June 2013; Visiting Fellow at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg (November–December 2010); the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), August 2006 to July 2010; and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University, Melbourne from April to August 2009. She is a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, 2012-2013. She edited “Imagining Asia in 2030: Trends, Scenarios and Alternatives” (Academic Foundation, New Delhi, 2011). Dr Dorji Tinley is the Director of Research and External Relations in the Royal University of Bhutan. He has a PhD (with Cum Laude) from the University of New England, Australia. He is leading the establishment of an Institute for GNH (Gross National Happiness) Studies, in the Royal University of Bhutan. His recent book is titled, ‘Improving Women’s Participation in Local Governance: A Explorative

ABOUT THE EDITORS / CONTRIBUTORS • xiii

Study of Women’s Leadership Journeys in Eight Districts of Bhutan’ (2014). Email: [email protected]. Tsering Choldan is a Lecturer at Department of Political science, Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (CIBS), Choglamsar, Leh, Ladakh, India. Geshe Dorji Damdul is the Director, Tibet House, New Delhi, Cultural Centre of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He fnished his Geshe Lharampa Degree (equivalent to PhD) in 2002 from Drepung Loseling Monastery afer ffeen years of study in Buddhist philosophy. He joined Gyudmed Tantric College for a year of Tantric studies. In 2003, the Ofce of H.H. the Dalai Lama sent him to Cambridge University, England for English studies. He was a visiting fellow in Girton College, Cambridge University. In 2004 -05, he served as the philosophy lecturer for the whole semester for Emory University Study Abroad program held in Dharamsala, India. He was appointed as the ofcial translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama in 2005. In 2008, he was also appointed as a Visiting Fellow in Delhi University. His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa Jigme Pema Wangchen is an active environmentalist, educator and the spiritual head of the Drukpa Lineage, one of the main Buddhist schools of the Himalayas founded by the great Indian saint Naropa (1016-1100 CE) with a 1000-year legacy in India. He has millions of followers worldwide. In 2007, His Holiness founded the not-for-proft international humanitarian organization  Live to Love. In September 2010, the United Nations honoured His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Award for his efort in promoting environmental education and gender equality, as well as for his various humanitarian works through various chapters of Live To Love to “create compassion into action”. He has been named “Te Guardian of the Himalayas”, by Water Keeper Alliance during the UN week in September, 2013. His website can be viewed at http://www.drukpa.com/aboutus/about-the-lineage/his-holiness-the-gyalwang-drukpa. Dr. Pema Dorjee is a renowned Tibetan Physician.  Dr. Pema Dorjee is advisor to Sorig Literary Research Department, Clinical Research Department and Translation Department, Tibetan Medical & Astro College, Dharamshala. He is the author of “Te Spiritual Medicine of Tibet”(1999) [ with Janet Jones, Terence Moore] and “Tibetan Healing Science: Bod Kyi sowa Rigpa” (2009) [with Eleanor Lincoln Morse]. Professor Jyoti Prakash Tamang is the Head of the Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Sikkim University, Tadong 737102, Sikkim, India. He was awarded Gourmand World Cook Book Award, Paris for his book , “Himalayan Fermented Foods: Microbiology, Nutrition, and Ethnic values” in 2010. He was also

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conferred National Bio-Science Award of Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India in 2005, and United Nations University Women Association-Award, Tokyo in 1996. E-mail:jyoti_tamang@ hotmail.com. Namrata Neog fnished her M.A. in Archaeology from Cardif University, UK(2014). She hails from Assam and passionately engaged in anthropological study of Naga Tribes. She was a Photographer and Researcher of Naga Tribes during Hornbill Festival, 2014 .Earlier, she worked as Miniature Expert Consultant with Kangra Arts Promotion Society (KAPS),Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. E-mail: [email protected]. Dr. Geetika Kaw Kher is Assistant Professor at Amity School of Fine Arts (ASFA). She is an Art historian, Aesthetician and has obtained her Ph.D in 2014 from Department of Art History and Aesthetics, M.S. University, Gujarat on the topic, “Dynamics between Philosophy and Practice in Lakulisha-Pashupata Order”. Sinam Basu Singh is a Doctoral Scholar based in Imphal, Manipur. An outstanding performer of various Manipuri dance forms, he is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar in 2014. He performed as Indian representative during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa) Youth Summit, Russia 2015 which was held at Kazan from 1st July to 7th July,2015. Professor Ambika Talwar is an educator, published author and artist, who has written poetry since her teen years. She has won an award for a short flm at a festival in Belgium. She practices IE:Intuition-Energetics™, a fusion of modalities, goddess lore, sacred geometry and creative principles for wellness and wholeness. She teaches at the Cypress College, Cypress in California, USA. She is the author of 4 Stars & 25 Roses (2008), Creative Resonance: Poetry—Elegant Play, Elegant Change(2006), Words for hungry Tongue (2000), Poems in Color (1995). E-mail: [email protected] Swami Paranand Tirth belongs to the monastic lineage of Shankaracharya. Besides being a monk, he is also a scholar of Yoga, Tantra and agama and an ardent devotee of Shri Vidya. He heads a U.S. based non-proft YTA (Yoga Tantra and Agama Inc.) which has been formed to propagate eastern metaphysics for

universal welfare.

Abstracts

India-Asia Collision and Making of the Himalaya A. K. Jain Critical evaluation and comparison of the available geological and geochronological data from the northern parts of the Himalaya and Trans-Himalaya mountains highlight that these mountains did not initially evolve by the collision of continents of the Indian and Asian plates. Instead, subducted Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in front of the Indian continent melted to produce the calc-alkaline suite of the Shyok–Dras volcanic arc and the Ladakh batholith. Hence, the Indian plate initially subducted beneath and started building up the then existing intra-oceanic island arc. Timing of the frst impingement of the Indian and Asia plates has been better constrained at around 57.5 Ma by comparing (i) the bulk ages from the Ladakh batholith (product of partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere) with (ii) the subducted continental lithospheric and UHP metamorphosed Indian crust in the Tso Morari, and (iii) biostratigraphy of the youngest marine sedimentation in Zanskar. Te continental lithosphere of the Indian plate did not directly accrete with any Asian continent to make the Himalaya, initially. Hence, there was no direct continent-to-continent collision/fusion in the Himalaya in the beginning. Te Himalaya witnessed its frst rise and emergence from deeply exhumed terrain in the Tso Morari afer around 53 Ma, followed by sequential imbrication of the Indian continental lithosphere and associated exhumation during rise of the Himalayan mountains from north to the south since 45 Ma. Keywords: Batholith, collision of plates, intra-oceanic islands arc, lithosphere, Zanskar, Tethyan ocean, Tso Morari, radioactivity.

Challenges to the Himalayan Watershed Uttam Kumar Sinha For almost half the world’s population, water-related dreams and fears intersect in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau. China and India, given the distances that the Himalayan rivers traverse the respective territories, are critical players in the hydropolitics of the region. India is simultaneously an upper, middle and lower riparian. China’s hydrological position, on the other hand, is one of complete upper

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riparian supremacy. China is the world’s most independent riparian country. Tis hydrological position gives it enormous latitude in shaping larger political equations with its riparian neighbours. Climate variation and its impact on water resources bind the Himalayan region together. Some of the impacts of climate change are already being observed with glacial melt, seismic activity, and unpredictable weather patterns. States would need to reorient their riparian polices on a multilateral basis. While, on the one hand, a shif from merely ‘sharing waters’ to ‘sharing benefts’ is necessary, on the other, it is imperative not to lose sight of the ecological consideration. Keywords: Anthropocene, Tird pole, Himalayan Hydrology, Hydropolitics, Riparian States, Tibet, regional cooperation

From the Dhaulagiri to Lappland, the Americas and Oceania George van Driem Te myths of a Mongoloid race and a Sino-Tibetan language family tree still survive in modern discourse. Both paradigms are false and historically rooted in ”scientifc” racism. Te two myths must be abandoned. Te history of linguistics is strewn with false “Sino” theories that were founded upon methodologically fawed comparisons, bewilderment about the historical grammar of Chinese and inadequate knowledge of Trans-Himalayan languages. None of the models is supported by sound evidence, and they all represent false language family trees. Delving into prehistory, the focus of this paper lies on a subset of early Holocene episodes that led to the ethnolinguistic phylogeography which one observes in eastern Eurasia and Oceania today. Tis paper further proposes on the basis of ethnolinguistic prehistory, that, when our ancestors emerged from Africa on their way to East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Siberia, the Americas and even Lappland, many of these ancestors frst passed through the Eastern Himalaya and crossed the Brahmaputra. Te Eastern Himalaya furnished the ultimate cradle for the ethnogenesis of the various Uralo-Siberian and East Asian language families, the molecular tracers of which survive today as the paternal lineages N (M231) and O (M175). Tese two linguistic phyla are Uralo-Siberian and East Asian. Te geographical locus of the ancestral haplogroup NO (M214) lay in the Eastern Himalaya. Afer the two Y-chromosomal lineages N and O split up between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago, the spatial dynamics of the two haplogroups diverged greatly extending from Americas, Lappland to Oceania. Keywords: Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Ethnogenesis, Ethnolinguistic phylogeography, Father Tongue Correlation, Historical Linguistics, Hmong-Mien, Kradai, Population Genetics, Prehistory, Tibeto-Burman, Trans-Himalayan.

ABSTRACTS • xvii

Textile, Text, Terracing, Territoriality: Weaving a Pan-Himalayan Identity Niraj Kumar, Chingngaih Biak Tere is veritable explosion of literature on the new area study of zomia. Te concept of Zomia is not well-constructed. We ofer to examine the entire Himalayan belt inhabited by Tibeto-Burman language speaking people (Trans-Himalayans) using the concept of Nomadia, derived from Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of Nomadology. We propose a Kang culture of Tibeto-Burman speakers with common belief in sacredness of mountains and the river streams. Asia can be seen as a box with four culture bands of Kanji, Kang, Karma and Koran, from east to west, respectively. Eastern half of Kang culture zone does not have written history or any memorial of civilization. Te textiles can be read as texts and new Textile Tree can be created to discover the connectivity among various migrating communities in the region. Study of Naga textiles has been done, as Naga sub-culture is the cockpit of Kang culture. Te terracing in the weaving technique has been juxtaposed vis-a-vis habitat sharing of hornbills, totemic birds of many of these communities, rice-cultivation and nature of vegetation in altitudinal division. Near absence of circles in the patterns of women tubular skirts has been examined. Even though, communities in these regions have developed a diferent ontology based upon striation, the society is egalitarian and they resist attempt by the state to impose order of the book (written law/Constitution) and bureaucratic hierarchy. We fnd interconnectedness between landscape, plants, birds and humans in Nomadia. Te grids and bands, the stripes and the squares that are woven in women’s skirts are the narrative of their history. Te grids share the neighbourhood in ‘mutuality of being’. One band moves on when another band follows them. Tere was never a major war for territory among these people before the outsiders with the book, began to impose order over them. Studying these patterns of colour bands and striation over tubular women skirt, one can connect communities. Since, language- families have become redundant; it is proposed to prepare the textile trees among the communities of Nomadia. Tis efort can be augmented with comparative study of mitochondrial DNA haplotype. Ethnocostumology, rather than Ethnolinguistics is proposed as the better tool to write the missing history of the region. Keywords: Beyul, Brahmaputra, Buddhism, Chin, Chindwin, costumicide, cyberzomia, ethnogenesis, ethnocostumology, habitat, Himalaya, Hornbill, Jingpo, Kailash, Kang, Kangla, Kangtui, Kuki, Lhasa, Linagshan, materiality, mithun, Naga, nomad, Shangri-la, skirt, striation, terrace-cultivation, text, textile, yak, Yunnan, zo.

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Refection of the Himalayas in the Ancient Indian Texts: A Note Krishna Kumar Mandal In the Kausitaki Upanisad are mentioned the southern (daksina) and the northern (uttara) mountains, evidently in allusion to the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges. Himavant, ‘snowy’ appears as an epithet of mountain in the Atharvaveda. It is also used there and in the Rigveda as well as later, as a noun. Baudhayana Dharmasutra defnes Aryavarta as the land east of Vinasana; west of Kalaka-vana, ‘Black Forest’, or rather Kanakhala, near Hardvar; south of the Himalaya; and north of the Pariyatra or the Paripatra mountains. Te Manava Dharmasutra in accord with the Vasistha Dharmasutra defnes Aryavarta as a region between the Vindhya and the Himalayas the two ranges which seem to be the boundaries of the Aryan world in the Kausitaki Upanisad also. Te vast areas across the Himalayas and Hindukush from Pamir up to Arctic (Somagiri) are stated by some to form ancient Uttar Kuru region and described in detail in the great epics, Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Te Himalayas are ofen mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures and were familiar to the Buddha himself. Te Himalayas are the setting for numerous Jataka stories. Afer the Tird Council convened by King Ashoka, fve monk led by the arahat Majjhima were sent to the Himalayan region to spread the Dhamma Te Jain scriptures also mention about a location in the Himalayas. ‘Ashtapad Maha Tirtha’ where the frth Tirthankar, Bhagwan Rushabhdev, attained nirvana. Te Arthasastra underlines the importance of the Himalayas from diferent perspectives. Te Arthasastra mentions that the land extending over thousands of yojanas from the east to the west and stretching northwards from the sea to the Himalayas was the cakravartin ksetra. Te Himalayas straddled Indian imagination for millennia. Each peak and each valley was sancatifed by the sages and seers. Te local tradition and the Great tradition mirror each other in these valleys and the peaks. Keywords: Himavata, Buddhism, Ashtapada Maha Tirtha, Vedas, Ramayana, Uttarakuru, Aryavarta, Arthasastra, Mount Kailash, Madhyadesha, Dharamsutras, Kailasa.

Encounter and Engagement: Vignettes of the Trans-Himalayan Region Suchandana Chatterjee Tis chapter explores Russian and non-Russian trajectories within the Eurasian space and the ways in which those narratives can be situated within the broad perspective of transnational Buddhism. Growing interest in the resurgence of Buddhism in the postSoviet period points to a Tibetan engagement revolving round the ideal of Buddhist enlightenment that connected people and spaces of Asiatic Russia and South Asia. Te discussion is about diverse pathways of reform in colonial societies in the early decades of the 20th century as well as the multiple trans-Himalayan connections and experiences

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of Indian scholar travellers (like Mahapandita Rahul Sankrityayana) and surveyors in service of the East India Company (like Sarat Chandra Das). Te attempt here is to focus on the experiences of these travelling minds, pointing to the orientalist networks between the Buddhological school of St. Petersburg and a difused group of non-Russian orientalists on the India-Nepal border. Te Tibetan journeys and Tibetan missions in which both South Asian and Russian orientalists participated refect a series of regional processes that unfolded at the turn of the century. Such accounts point to the fascinating aspects of transnational Buddhism which impacted on the minds of visitors coming from various backgrounds. Such textual analysis also opens up a broad discursive space about interactive moments in regional histories of South Asia and Central Asia. Keywords: Agvan Dorjiev, Nepali-Tibetan borderland, Nicholas Roerich, Rahula Sankrityayana, Sarat Chandra Das, Shambhala, Trans-Himalayan space, Younghusband expedition.

Te Indian Frontier Administrative Service: Romanticism and Hostiles Borders Claude Arpi Nehru inspired by the works of Verrier Elwin developed his philosophy of NEFA: primitive people have to be dealt with care and friendliness and require expert knowledge which our average administrator does not possess. It was necessary to establish a specially trained cadre. Nehru’s ideas remained vague for a few years and it was only in 1953/54 that the project started to take a concrete shape. Te cadres of Administration in NEFA had two parts. Firstly, the NEFA Civil Service which encompasses the posts of Circle Ofcers and Extra Assistant Commissioners and secondly, the Indian Frontier Administrative Service which was established in 1956 by the Government of India through special recruitment by inviting applications from ofcers from all walks of life as also the existing All India Services. Ofcials of IFAS the cadre served in Tibet as well as Gangtok. Te chapter chronicles the contributions of some of the brilliant IFAS ofcials like Maj. K.C. Johorey , Bob Khathing, Maj. S.M. Krishnatry, Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali. Keywords: NEFA, Verrier Elwin, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indian frontier Adminstrative Service, invasion of Tibet, K.C. Johorey, PLA troops, Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai, Achingmori massacre, Lama hierarchy

Himalayan Buddhism Travels West Glenn Mullin Tis is the sixth 500-year period for almost two generations now from Shakyamuni Buddha’s time. If one looks back over the past fve decades, one can certainly see that the Himalayan lamas have come out very strong in terms of international activity, in fact stronger than any other form of Buddhism. One of the reasons for this is their numbers. Although Tibet did not have a large population, it had nourished an enthusiasm for enlightenment. Tese lamas have not only transplanted

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Himalayan Buddhism onto western culture, but also actively engaged in rebuilding the institutions back in Tibet. Te Chinese communists destroyed Tibet’s 6,500 temples and monasteries during “Te Cultural Revolution.” When Mao died, not a single Himalayan monastery or temple was open and active in Tibet. Now, three decades into the Chinese government policy of liberation, more than 500 of the 6,500 complexes have been rebuilt to some degree. Two-pronged activities – the spread of Himalayan Buddhism around the world and the rebuilding of Himalayan Buddhism within Tibet – are both very auspicious signs for the success of the next 500 years of Buddhism in the world. Te paper looks at the enormous eforts made by the Himalayan Buddhist lamas in rebuilding their variant of Buddhism from the scratch through multi-dimensional eforts. Keywords: bindu, Gelukpa, Hinayana, kusha grass, Lankavatara Sutra, Mahayana, Mongol, Prajnaparamita Sutra, psycho-neuro-immunology synchronicity, transmission, Vajrayana, Zen.

Te Trans-Himalayan Geopolitics P. Stobdan The epicenter of Asian Mandala was in the Himalayas, encompassing both the Indian and Chinese geographical space in its encirclement. The distortion began after Western science of cartography started representing reality on a flat surface that demolished the conceptual circle of unity and infinite relations in cosmic sense under the Mandala thought. Cartography takes the linear line and it still guides the current foreign affairs of states and their policy prescriptions. However, in the Asian context, tools of cartography that pierced through borderlands and frontiers tended to split nationalities, societies and ethnicities. The people having lived in the interlaced flow of culture, social and economic interdependency, the cartographic borders become often illogical. Therefore, the application of “linearity of divide” in cultural homogeneity sparked off conflicts in the Asian landscape. The paper argues that the Asian paradigm of political order for Trans-Himalayas ought to be implemented to thwart radicalization of the Himalayas in changing geopolitical landscape. India and China should give up seeking a geometrical linear boundary and instead opt for creating soft cultural frontier along the transHimalayan region. A gradual transformation of the long militarized boundary into a humanized frontier zone will serve the interests of India, China and the Himalayan people. Keywords: Asia, Buddha-Industry, cultural mobilization, Himalayas, Jihadi, Kashmir, Ladakh, linearity of divide, Padmasambhava, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), sof power, Xinjiang.

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Himalayas to Unite Dr. Akhilesh Suman The chapter discuss how Nepal and Bhutan have established unique bonds with India. People from both countries can come to India without visa and live and work happily as people of a single stock. . This is model case for any future effort of Asian Integration. China does not give this privilege to any Asian countries under its influence so far. Surrounded between two giant neighbours India and China, in one way or the other, Bhutan and Nepal have kept their loyalties to the cause of peace and harmony to the top and never pursued the politics of confrontation or strategic provocation. Both these countries, though earlier being monarchies, have adopted the ethos of democracy. These countries also provide new affordable ways that Himalayan nations can apply to resolve the Himalayan conflict emanating from civilizational egos of two giant neighbours. Nature has created the Himalayas as a territorial divide between India and China. The natural boundary of Himalayas should be accepted to resolve intractable boundary problems and not indulge into claiming and reclaiming of other sides of gigantic peaks. The neighbouring counties ought to preserve the Himalayas for good of the world and should desist from investing the vast economic resources on creating war machines for posturing in peace times and killing during war periods. Keywords: Nepal, Asianism, Bhutan, Asian integration, Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet, Kashmir, Happiness Index

Why Siachen Matters to India Nitin A.Gokhale In this chapter, the importance of Siachen glacier for Indian defence has been examined. It has been argued at length that the objective  of Pakistan’s 1999 Kargil misadventure was to cut of  Ladakh  from rest of India  and thereby force withdrawal of the Indian Army from the Saltoro ridge which sits astride the Siachen glacier. Te chapter also   provides a critique against the voices for demilitarization being espoused by a section of South Asian intelligentsia. Keywords: demilitarization, LoC, Operation Meghdoot, Siachen, Saltoro ridge.

Empowering the Kashmiris Ifikhar Gilani Issue of militancy in the state of J&K is ofen mentioned as Asia’s hottest fashpoint between two nuclear-armed neighbors. Te state appears as the crown in the relief map of Indian subcontinent and as the head of the Himalayan ranges that runs

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southeastwards, branching further down from Assam into the Bay of Bengal. Resolving crisis in Kashmir is akin to stabilizing the Himalayan arc. In this chapter, Ifikhar Gilani proposes the harmonious regional development through devolution of political power as panacea for the continuing imbroglio. Keywords: alienation, Amarnath, CBM insurgency, Ladakh, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), regional development.

Drug and Arms Flow in the Eastern Himalayan Region Namrata Goswami Te Eastern Himalayan landscape has a complex mosaic of nation-states: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China , Northeast part of India and Myanmar. It is dotted with a terrain and ethnic character that is distinctive, challenging, and picturesque. For Indian security perspective, the region is quite challenging with Chinese power breathing down hard from across the Eastern Himalayas and Myanmar, coupled with crossborder non-state armed groups impacting daily life in this multifaceted landscape. Northeast India can develop, prosper and eventually overcome its troubles by engaging eastern foreign neighbors. Especially with the recent agreement on the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor blueprint, India can access markets in China’s west and southwest, through the Northeastern borders. Yunnan, the neighboring province in China is the network hub for trade and connectivity with the rest of the country.  Equally important for Northeast India is the regional connectivity under the sub-regional and regional cooperations such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cooperation (GMS). But , one must factor into account the ugly behemoth of narcotics trafcking intertwined with ethnic insurgencies in the neighboring Golden Triangle to ensure that ethnic communities in the Northeast are protected and can optimally beneft from the new slew of opportunities opening up for them. Huge quantities of illicit narcotics can easily ride the new access routes of greater connectivity and can blow up already existing issues of secured human health and wellbeing of society. Tis chapter discusses the impact of the drug and illegal arms smuggling across India’s eastern neighbourhood into Northeast India. Te chapter identifes the sources of these illegal trade as well as the linking areas with the help of extensive mapping. Te chapter deliberates on China’s presence especially in Myanmar and the former’s engagement with some of the ethnic Myanmar armed groups, and its impact on Northeast India. It ends by ofering certain recommendations. Keywords: NEFA, Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM), wa ethnic group, Golden Triangle, Khun Sa, Tatmadaw, Shan, Pauk Phaw, Kachin, Special economic Zone(SEZ), String of Pearl, Mekong, Nor Kham

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Cultural Continuity and School Education in Bhutan: Current Initiatives, Challenges and Opportunities Dorji Tinley Globalization can promote cultural understanding and empathy among nations and spread the values of democracy and diversity. It also - and paradoxically so - homogenizes cultures and causes the loss and disappearance of lesser known languages and their cultures, especially those that exist in the oral form. Fortunately in Bhutan, cultural preservation and promotion is pursued as one of the four pillars of the country’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Government policy recognizes children and teachers as the custodians of culture and the catalysts of cultural transmission, respectively. Tey are therefore the key to addressing the cultural consequences of globalization and ensuring intergenerational continuity and infuence of the Bhutanese cultural heritage. Policy envisages that the “country’s rich traditions, values, ideals and beliefs must ideally live on in the minds of Bhutanese youths [youth]”, so that these traditions continue to inspire their thoughts and actions and enable them to make “ethical and moral choices” in their lives (GNHC, 2009a, p. 20). Since teachers’ infuence has a direct bearing on the students’ lives, their role is considered vital for instilling in young people an understanding and appreciation of Bhutanese culture and heritage through the curricula they study in school and university. Tese overarching policy visions infuence the approach to school and tertiary education in Bhutan. Te purpose of this paper is to highlight the interaction of culture and education in Bhutanese schools in light of current initiatives and to foster refection and future action. Keywords: children, culture, cultural preservation curriculum, diversity, education, globalization, Gross National Happiness (GNH), pedagogy, values.

Buddhists Identity Politics in Nepal Since 1990S Tsering Choldan Buddhist identity politics in Nepal came afer the establishment of multi-party democracy in 1990. Buddhists see themselves as those groups that do not fall under the traditional four-fold classifcation of Hindu Verna system. Buddhists are asserting their identity as part of the Janajati movement. Te movement spread as a response to the country’s Hinduisation process and attempt to build Nepali Nationalism initiated by Prithvinarayan Shah and to the complex set of discrimination and inequalities by the Hindu high caste. Buddhists under the umbrella of Janajati movement assert their identity and resist against wide ranges of issues such as, their exclusion from the mainstream politics. Teir demand for a Secular state has wide resonance among all the ethnic minorities in Nepal Keywords: Ethnic Groups, Hinduism, Identity Politics, Janajati Mahasangh, Monarchy, Nationalism, Secularism.

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Relevance of Te Nalanda Tradition for Contemporary Society: Wisdom, NonSectarianism and Secular Ethics Dorji Damdul Nalanda tradition is kept alive for centuries in the Himalayan belt. To understand Himalayas, it is imperative to learn about Nalanda tradition that fourished under the aegis of Nalanda University, which existed from 1st century. AD to 13th century AD . Te University has a glorious intellectual heritage in many felds of studies such as philosophy, logic, psychology, metaphysics, epistemology, cosmology and literature, marked by scholarly depth and rigour. Tese subjects developed to a great height of excellence through the contributions of intellectual giants such as Arya Nagarjuna, Arya Dev, Acharya Chandrakirti, Bodhisattva Shantideva, and many others. In Nalanda the great pundits, broadly speaking, followed four diferent philosophical thoughts, and yet lived together harmoniously. Te Buddha Shakyamuni, himself taught four seemingly contradictory philosophies. Te reason behind this is the Buddha’s appreciation of the varying mental dispositions of people. Te Nalanda masters lived harmoniously despite diferences in their philosophical views, with due recognition of the multiplicity of mental propensities. Today, this model of the mode of living and learning of the Nalanda pundits is ideal for followers of the various religious traditions to live harmoniously and work for the common cause to create peace on earth. Legacy of these great beings from Nalanda is marked by the cultivation of wisdom to see everything as dream-like in the context of the interdependency of all phenomenon and unconditional love that simply erases all ill thoughts by embracing all sentient beings, leaving none aside. Tis keeps one, the family of sentient beings and the environment in peace and calmness at all times. Keywords: Dalai lama, Seventeen Great Nalanda Scholars, Atisha Dipankara, Arya Nagarjuna, Acharya Shantideva Mahayana, shunyata, trishiksha, harmony, Freedom,

Footprints of Nalanda Master Naropa in Te Himalayas Gyalwang Drukpa Naropa(956 A.D.-1050 A.D.) is credited with introducing Sadanga Yoga in Buddhism. Many believe that he brought the Kalacakra Tantra, the synthesis of diferent worldviews prevalent among Hindu-Buddhist practitioners to Nalanda. Born in the small kingdom of Bengal, Naropa succeeded in obtaining the chancellorship of famed Nalanda University. Naropa’s accomplished disciple was Marpa, the translator, who succeeded Naropa in the lineage and brought the teachings and transmissions in their entirety to Tibet. Tere are innumerable holy pilgrimage sites in Kashmir and Zanskar, related to Naropa and his spiritual heirs. Te chapter describes many of these sites spread across the Himalayas from Ladakh, Lahul- Spiti, Kinnaur to Bhutan.

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Keyword: Gagankirti, Kashmir, Pullahari, Nalanda, Niguma, Mount Khunumoo, Zanskar, Six bone ornaments.

Sowa Rigpa: Traditional Medical System of Te Himalayas Pema Dorjee Sowa Rigpa refers to the science of healing with sowa meaning heal and rigpa meaning science or knowledge. Diseases can be classifed into four hundred and four types: one hundred and one diseases of this lifetime, one hundred and one minor transient diseases, one hundred and one diseases caused by evil spirit infuences, and one hundred and one diseases infuenced by negative imprints of past lives. Of these, the one hundred and one diseases caused by negative imprints of past lives can not be treated simply with medicines but one has to take up religious rituals as remedial measures. Since the other diseases have nothing to do with past life imprints, it is said that these can be treated with medicines. Tis chapter describes the Sowa Rigpa medical system in a nutshell. Keywords: Menpa or physician, Mind-body connection, long, tripa, baekan, diagnosis, external therapy

Himalayan Food Culture Jyoti Prakash Tamang The agro-climatic conditions of the Himalayas vary from hot sub-humid tropical in the southern low tracts to temperate, cold alpine and glacial in the northern high mountains, due to their various sub-ecological locations, elevation and topography. The Himalayan regions are genetic resources of many indigenous varieties of agricultural plants. Ethnic foods are generally categorised into fermented foods including alcoholic beverages and nonfermented foods. The Himalayan ethnic foods have evolved as a result of traditional wisdom and experiences of generations over a period of time, based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of edible sources, ethnic preference, customary beliefs, religion, socio-economy, regional politics, cultural practices, and taboo or social ban imposed by different rulers time to time. Invention of biopreservation methods by the ethnic people of the Himalayan regions through pit fermentation or lactic acid fermentation is significant. Food culture of the Himalayas is unique and is a fusion of soybean-alcohol consuming Chinese culture from the north, and milk-vegetables eating Hindu culture from the south. The chapter describes various fermented food culture of the Himalayas. The fermented food- items are also presented in tabular form for reader’s convenience.

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Keywords: Ethnic Food, taboo, fermented food, yak milk, dried vegetables, Shoton festival, alcohol, Losar, Newar, sweet rice.

Art Heritage and Law: Railroading Geographical Indications Act and Kangra Miniature Paintings Namrata Neog Pahari Paintings form a loose umbrella of various painting styles that fourished in diferent parts of the Kangra Valley, practised by numerous artists under the patronage of rulers in Guler, Kangra and Nurpur. Te evolution of Kangra Paintings in Kangra is attributed to the rise of power of the Katoch dynasty from the 18th century. Te most distinct features that marked the uniqueness of Kangra Art from other art form are the beautiful expression of human love, a teasing eroticism and romance in the fringes. Tis became a common theme in all the paintings. Te expression of love became the central theme with the beautiful Kangra valley providing a surreal background to the paintings. Tere is urgent need to grant Geographical Indication registration to certain responsible organization working to preserve and promote Kangra Miniature Paintings under Geographical Indication Act, 1999. Tis will give a certain amount of power to protect the Kangra Paintings produced by the Kangra artists from the fake imprints which are distributed at throwaway prices throughout the country and elsewhere. Te geographical indication can be used as a tool to contribute towards the broader vision of information dissemination about the cultural and historical legacy of Kangra Miniature Paintings Keywords: Geo-culture, Kangra Arts Promotion Society(KAPS), Geographical Indications Act,1999, Katoch Dynasty, Haripur-Guler , Vaishnavite cult, Gita Govinda, Hir- Ranjha, unfair competition.

Alchi Murals: Tracing Te Multiple Traditions Geetika Kaw Kher Te monuments found at Alchi (circa.10th-11th CE), a monastic complex in Central Ladakh come across as a melting pot in which various traditions and styles are seen amalgamating to produce a unique and vibrant art form. Being at the junction of various cultures Alchi combines artistic traditions from Indian plains, Kashmir valley and local Ladakhi culture. King Yeshe-Od (A.D.10th -11th ), the king of Guge state in Western Tibet residing at Toling seems to have been dissatisfed with the elementary Buddhism practiced in the area. He decided to send some twenty one students to Kashmir and other parts of India to learn new theories of Buddhism. Te most prominent among these students was Rinchen-bzang-po (958-1055A.D.) who got thoroughly educated in Sanskrit and philosophy. He then tirelessly translated them for the beneft of his people.

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Rinchen’s activity did not stop there. He is known to have returned back with thirty two Kashmiri artists and started an ambitious project of constructing some 108 temples. Interestingly of the temples which we know today most fall on the route between Guge to Srinagar. Te most notable ones are at Alchi, Sani in Zanskar,Tabo in Spiti,Toling, Mangnang, and Nythang .Te chapter focuses on the Alchi paintings. Te numerous and variegated infuences from various cultures deciphered at Alchi talks about a vibrant economic and artistic exchanges taking place in the region. Keywords: Cunnigham, Kanishka, Ladakh, King Songtsan Gampo, Padmasambhava, Toling monastery, Rinchen-bzang-po, Guge, Gilgit manuscripts, Sum-tsek.

Pre-Vaishnavite and Post- Vaishnavite Dance Forms of Manipur Sinam Basu Singh Manipuri dance is one of the major classical dance form in South Asia and occupies a place of pride along with dance forms like Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi and Odishi. Manipuri School of dance can be characterized into two forms: indigenous (folk) and classical. Both forms are devotional in nature and performed at appropriate time and place. Dances are not merely recreational activity, but a way to please the divine. Lai- Haraoba is a Pre-Vaishnavite traditional festival of Manipur. Te original source prescribing the procedure for the Lai- Haraoba ritual is found in an ancient Puya text “Lai Hoi Laoba” written in the archaic scripts. Te chapter describes in details all four type of LaiHaraoba. With the advent of Hinduism in Manipur, a new era for the dances and music of Manipur emerged. Vishnu temple at Bishnupur , Manipur was established in 1467A.D. Manipur adopted Vaishnavism as a state religion. King Bhagyachandra(1763-1798 A.D) designed the frst Ras Leela Dance and introduced it to the public at Langthabal palace in 1779 A.D. Te supreme fowering of the Vaishnavite culture commenced with Nata Sankirtana, Ras Leelas and others Leelas associated with the Bhagavata tradition during the reign of Rajarshi Bhagyachandra. Manipuri dance form, both pre- Vaishnavite and post-Vaishnavite, is variegated and weaves elegance with complexity, hand gestures with body movements and devotion with desire. Keywords: Lai-Haraoba, Moirang Haraoba, Maharas, Shri Bijoy Govindji temple, Ras Leela, Nityaras, Divyaras, Shrimad-Bhagavata, Gostha Leela Sansenba.

Rishikesh: Silent Hum of Mystery Ambika Talwar In this chapter, the author narrates experience of her journey to Rishikesh in the sacred Himalayas and pleads against reducing pristine places of the sacred landscape into tourist hubs. Keywords: Ganga, Haridwar, Himalayas, puja, Rishikesh, swastika, technological junk.

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Te Himalayas: A Mystic’s Viewpoint Swami Paranand Tirth In Hindu tradition and belief system, Himalayas are not only a magnifcent mountain range but also sacred abode of gods. In various texts, the range itself is considered as the manifestation of the divine and ofen referred to as devatma or God-souled. Te Himalayan range as a whole is sacred because it is in the north, which for Hindus is the direction of wisdom and spiritual rebirth. Te Himalayas are a diverse region encompassing many diverse practices and beliefs. From the perspective of Hindus from the plains, the Himalayan region symbolizes the ultimate ascetic experience of the renunciant Śiva, the quintessential yogin, residing in the Himalayas with his wife Pārvatī. Himalaya is considered as living and breathing entity in both Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. A deity in itself it is deemed capable of feeling and expressing the feeling of happiness and displeasure in multiple manners. Te Himalayan peaks are believed to be the manifestation of various deities. Te chapter describes mythological signifcance of a few Himalayan peaks on Indian side from esoteric and exoteric perspective. Te author also summarizes three unparalleled quality of the Himalaya. Firstly, there is solitude; the environment is pristine and spiritually vibrant. Secondly, there is eternal silence, eternal concentration and light of energy Shakti fowing here. Tirdly, there is the subtle astral realm superimposed on the gross physical dimension. Almost all avatars, siddhas, mahayogis who have actually achieved any height in spirituality have talked about it. Tere is this physical expanse of mountains in the Himalaya which can be seen through eyes and felt ordinarily, which is the visible Himalaya. But there is another invisible Himalaya, Maha-Himalaya, above this visible Himalaya. Keywords: Devatma, Mahabharata, Puranas, Ganges, Kailash, Shiva, Himavat, Shiva, esoteric, subtle realm, siddhas, immortality, mystic triangle, fve elements, Char-Dhams,

Preface Te title Himalayan Bridge at once conveys the Trans-Himalayan scope of the present volume. It is a great credit to Niraj Kumar and to Phunchok Stobdan to have put together an interdisciplinary anthology of contributions which provide a narrative that spans the Himalayan range at various levels. Te volume contains articles on the orogeny of the Himalayas, on the challenges of Himalayan watershed management, on the Himalayas as the ethnolinguistic cradle of major language families and linguistic phyla, on the warp and wef of material cultural, textiles and ethnic identity, on textual attestations of the Himalayas in ancient Indian texts, a contrastive study of Russian vs. Occidental Buddhology, an historical account of the administration of the North East Frontier Agency (nefa), on recent historical vicissitudes of Himalayan Buddhism, the geopolitics of the Himalayan region, the potential for transnational synergy across the Himalayan region, the crucial strategic and symbolic importance of Siachen glacier, the issue of drug and arms trafcking in the eastern Himalayas, empowerment in Kashmir, political aspects of Buddhism in Nepal, two studies on the Nālandā tradition in Buddhism, on indigenous Himalayan medical lore, as well as several contributions on Himalayan pictorial, choreographic and culinary art and fnally on spiritual culture in the Himalayas. Te vantage points presented in this book are heterogeneous, both in substance and in the perspective taken by the individual authors, but geographically the articles are unifed in their areal focus, ofering readers a rich and varied smörgåsbord of Himalayan perspectives. Prof. Dr. George van Driem University of Bern, Switzerland

Acknowledgements We acknowledge all the contributors to this book. Tey have all helped to make its evolution such a noble and pleasant experience. We would like to thank them for the efort that they took in writing within the time schedule and replying to our editorial queries. We are also grateful to Mr. C S Ravi Kumar of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore for granting permission to reproduce the paper “When did India and Asia collide and make the Himalaya?” by Professor A.K. Jain, from the Current Science, Vol. 106, No. 2, 25 January 2014, pp.254-266. Tis book is the fruit of labour of the team at KW Publishers and the constant chiselling by the Editors. Tis book could not have been produced without kind support and great eforts from the Publisher. Ms. Kalpana Shukla readily agreed to our proposal for such a multi-disciplinary work. Jose Mathew at KW Publishers was involved with this project since inception. He was prompt in suggesting amendments, ofered constant advice and support. All three of us are connected with the Himalaya in one way or anotherthrough birth, work or spiritual quest. Te Himalaya has been the ultimate lighthouse for this project that made us never ever to waver in creating this massive multi-disciplinary book. Te Himalaya is the fountain of wisdom and we bow in our admiration and salutation to the Devatma Himalaya

¼nsokRek fgeky;½! Our warm thanks go to our families for their support, encouragement and allowing us unhindered work at home and the work place.

Introduction NIRAJ KUMAR AND PHUNCHOK STOBDAN

On Google Earth, when one zooms over Asia, the beautiful pattern of interlaced white glaciers and dark green forests in the eastern edge of an arc of mountain chain invariably attracts our attention. Te kaleidoscope of brown, white and green patches creates a spectacular fractal geography (Barnsley Fern) towards the eastern knot. On the northwestern knot of this relief feature, there is a similar pattern that appears like a long fern leaf. Te central part of this relief is dotted with a mosaic of bluish polygrams indicating the water sources high up in the mountains. Tis majestic girdle hanging around the Taklamakan desert is vivid and radiates an aura of mystique. From the Pamir Knot in the northwest where the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun and the Hindu Kush mountain ranges meet, the Hindu Kush mountain range runs southwards into Afghanistan and separates Central Asia from South Asia. Te layer afer layer of mountain ranges inspired the Chinese to term the region as Cōng lǐng (葱岭; Onion Mountains). Te Indus and Amu Darya (Oxus) rivers move southwards and northwards, respectively, across these zigzag chains. A similar geography is refected towards the eastern edge of this relief feature. East of the Brahmaputra’s southward turn, there is a southward fanning of the mountain chains that spread out to Tripura and the coast of Chittagong in Bangladesh. Te Himalayan massif knots with the Southeast Asian Massif.1 Between these two knots, each fanning fractal geography of snow, forest and mountains lays this youngest and most dynamic mountain chain of the world.

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Figure 1: Himalayas between the Two Knots

Figure 2: Te Southeast Asian Massif and Part of the Himalayan Massif in Michaud, Jean (2010)2

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Figure 3: Dendritic Branching in the Eastern Himalayas–Southeast Asian Massif

Te heaving of the Himalayas was made possible by the confuence of two geological plates. Te Indian plate, a part of Gondwanaland, began to drif northwards some 80 million years ago. Simultaneously, the Indian plate underwent an anti-clockwise rotation. Zanskar was the frst region to impinge on the Asian plate at the Dras-Shykok arc of volcanic island at around 58 million years ago. Te Indian plate subducted under the Asian plate causing the folding and rising of the compressed limestone foor of the Tethyan Ocean. 45 million years ago, the metamorphosis of the oceanic surface caused the rise of the youngest mountain chain, Himalayas, in a sequence from north to the south. Te Himalayas appear as a folded curtain that has continued to suture the Indian and Asian plates for the last several millions of years. Many of the Himalayan rivers like the Indus, Ganga, Sutlej, Kali Gandaki, Arun and Brahmaputra fowed before the emergence of the Higher Himalayas.3 Te geological remnants from the Tethyan foor are still found on many of the Himalayan peaks. In May 1992, Indian paleontologists were startled to fnd a hippopotamus skull at the height of 14,000 f at Ladakh. In the Spiti valley, the rocks have imprints of sea waves. Fossil records of extinct molluscs and ammonites are frequently sighted. Shaligramas, worshipped by Hindus as symbolic of Lord Vishnu resting on the ocean surface, are basically such marine fossil ammonites from the pre-historic Tethys. Te cowry monetary system thrived in the Sino-Tibetan borderland and facilitated trade during the ancient times across the Horse-Tea Trade Route.4

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While historians try to juggle out how cowries with a source in Maldives came to dominate the Yunnan monetary landscape, they apparently ignore the geological history of the region in their singular linear quest. Cowries spring surprises in the eastern borderland, further indicating the marine past of these highlands. Te geological boundary of the Himalayas lies at the Indus–Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) in Ladakh. Te Ladakh range and the Karakoram Mountains demarcate the northern margins of the Himalayas. Te geographers put the eastern end at the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra river around the Namcha Barwa peak (7,756m). For geographers, the Himalayas stretch between 75°–95° E longitude and 27°–35 °N latitude between two structural bends in the Northwest (Indus Gorge around Nanga Parbat, 8,125m) and the Northeast (Tsangpo Gorge around Namcha Barwa). Te northern boundary can be safely assumed at the naturally delimited divide by the Indus and the Yarlung Tsangpo rivers fowing through the Tibetan plateau westwards and eastwards, respectively.5 Te ICIMOD considers the Hindu Kush–Himalayan (HKH) region as extending for about 3,500 km from the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the northwest, through the Himalayas of India, Nepal and Bhutan in the central part, to the Hengduan Mountains in Yunnan province in southwest China in the east. 6 Indigenous geography posits an altogether diferent conception. For believers, Mt Kailash is the jewel of the Himalayas; but, geologically, it lies in the Gandise Mountains north of ITSZ. Mt Kailash is part of the magmatic Trans-Himalayan batholithic belt (Ladakh batholith) that stretches for 600 km and is 30–80 km wide. Similarly, the Eastern Himalayas, for the scholars of humanities, have been extended and now encompass the Sino-Tibetan borderland covering the six southwest provinces in China— Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Guizhou. Te Himalayas, from this perspective, run over 3,600 km from the Hazarahjat Highlands in the west to the Liangshan in the east.7 When viewed from multidisciplinary perspectives, such disconformities become part of the Himalayan studies. . Tough the youngest mountain belt, the Himalayas have the highest peaks. All fourteen Eight-Tousanders (> 8000m) peaks are in the Himalayas. From the North-West to the East, the highest peaks run as follows: K2 (8611m; also known as Chhogori/Qogir);  Nanga Parbat (8047m); Broad Peak (8047m); Gasherbrum II (8035m); Gasherbrum I (8068m); Dhaulagiri (8167m); Annapurna I (8091m); Mansalu I (8163m);

INTRODUCTION • xxxvii

Shisha Pangma (8046m); Cho Oyu (8201 m); Mt Everest (8850m; also known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and J’omolongma in Tibet); Lhotse (8516m); Makalu I (8463m) and Kanchenjunga I (8586 m). Tere are 530 peaks which rise above 6,000 m and the Himalayan arc is bisected into two halves of roughly equal length by the Kali Gandaki (locally known as Andha Galchi). Te Kali Gandaki is the deepest gorge in the world which runs past the Dhaulagiri. On its east lies the majestic peak of Annapurna, which dominates the magnifcent Pokhra valley in Nepal. Te Eastern Himalayas is the half which runs eastwards from the Dhaulagiri across the Himalayas, sub-Himalayas, Meghalaya, lower Brahmaputra basin and associated hill tracts, the eastern Tibetan plateau and the Indo-Burmese borderlands into the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.8 But, the scientifc measurement of the peaks is not refected in the narratives and claims of the inhabitants and explorers with diferent sets of ontology and epistemological considerations. In fact, the Himalaya is the sacred landscape for much of Asia. It is the site of hybrid epistemologies, adulteration of facts and fables, geology and mythology, nature and culture. For the Himalayan Buddhists, three peaks are singled out for their sacredness —Mt Kailash, Lapchi and Tsari. Tese three sacred peaks are believed to be the manifestation of body (kaya), speech (vac) and mind (citta)—the aspects of Cakrasamvara and Vajravarahi. In traditional geography, these three holy peaks—Kailash, Lapchi and Tsari—are also known as the Himavata, Godavari and Devikota/Caritra, respectively. Himalayan Buddhists identify Tsari with the Pure Copper-Coloured Mountain.9 Tsari is situated on the border of Arunachal Pradesh, India, and southeastern Tibet in the region where the rivers Subansiri and the Tsari chu fow. Lapchi lies in the north of Kathmandu in eastern Nepal near the Gaurishankar Conservation Area. Te peak is famous for Tibet’s greatest yogi, Milarepa (1052–1135 AD) whose meditation cave, the Ze Phug, is still thronged by pilgrims. Te Lapchi landscape has triple triads of geography that make it sacred. From the Milarepa cave, one can visualise the triangular shape in the sky by connecting the summit of the three adjoining mountains. Similarly, the V-shaped confuence of the mountains creates a triangle of the earth. Tere is a confuence of streams that creates the triangle of water. Mt Kailash is in the Ngari region of Tibet. It (Gangrénboqí Feng (冈仁波齐峰) in Chinese) is sacred for the Hindus, Bons, Buddhists, Jainas and Sikhs. It is also known as Mount Meru, the axis mundi of the

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world. Mt Kailash is the abode of Shiva for Hindus, abode of Demchok (Cakrasamvara) for Buddhists and abode of Sipaimen (Sipe Gyalmo  or Sidpa Gyalm), the Sky Goddess in the Bon faith and Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche (the founder of Bon religion). Himalayan Buddhists call it Kang Rinpoche; Jains name it Mt Ashtapada, indicating the eight petal-shaped valleys formed by the six mountain ranges around Mt Kailash. For the Bons (Zhangzhung tradition), Mt Kailash is known as the Yungdrung Gu-tzeg (Pyramid of Nine Swastika) in the mythical land of Olmo Lung Ring—a narrative that might have its source based upon an observation of the fracture crack on the southern face of Mt Kailash that exposes the various layers of the mountain and appears as the staircase to the peak. Te peak is also known as Gangchen Tise (Water Peak) as the glacier-fed rivers originate in four directions from around Mt Kailash. Te triadic characteristics are refected in the east–west parallel Himalayan ranges. P.P. Karan identifes three zones as Greater Himalayas (Himadri), Middle Himalayas (Himanchal) and Sub-Himalayas (Shivalik). Te Greater Himalayas is the northern most range and the highest zone. Te Middle Himalayas are south of the Great Himalayas and various ranges stretch of in north–south directions like the Nag Tibba from Dhaulagiri, Dhauladhar from Badrinath, Pir Panjal and the North Kashmir range from the Zoji La, Mahabharat in middle Nepal, the Mussoorie range and the Ratanpir in southern Kashmir. Te Middle Himalayas have major valley centres such as Srinagar, Kangra and Kathmandu and a series of hill stations. Te Sub-Himalayas are the most recent part of the rising Himalayas. Tere are a number of fat- bottomed valleys (doons) flled with alluvium, and plains like Duars and Terais.10 But, it is the Greater Himalayas abundant with glaciers, which is the fountain of fresh water in Asia.

Glaciers, Lakes and Rivers W.T. Blandford (1832–1905) was the frst glaciologist to comprehensively document the Himalayan glaciers. His “Notes on Glaciers in Hindustan” (1871) and “Notes on the Age and Glaciers of the Himalayas” (1891) are classic works in Himalayan glaciology. Te glaciers of High Asia cover an area of about 50 per cent of all glaciers outside the polar region. Teir areal extent is 33 times the glacier area occupied by the European Alps.11 9.04% of the Himalayas is covered with glaciers, with a 30–40% of an additional area being covered with snow. 12 Te total volume of snow and ice in the Himalayas has been calculated to be 12,930 km³ with a surface area of 97,020 sq. km.13 Te Himalayan glaciers have a greater volume than the polar glaciers. While

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the volume of the Himalayan glaciers (Hindukush, Karakorum, Himalayas, Tibet) has been approximately calculated at~ 1000 x 10³ km³, that of the Arctic has been calculated at >30 x 10³ km³ and that of the Antarctic at around 10 x 10³ km³. Te glacier area of the Himalayas and the polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctica has been calculated at ~95 x 10² km², 134 x 10² km² and 50x 10² km², respectively. Terefore, the Himalaya has been named as the Tird Polar region by the Indian glaciologist, Jagdish Bahadur.14 Some important glaciers in the Himalayas are the Zemu and Kangchenjunga in the Eastern Himalayas; Milan, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Bandarpunch and Kosa in the Central Himalayas and the Biafo, Hispar, Baltoro, Gasherbrum, Siachin and Batura in the North Western Himalayas. At 48 miles (72 km) in length, the Siachen glacier is the largest glacier outside of the poles. Te National Centre for Arctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, estimates a total of 9,575 glaciers spread over an area of 37,466 square-km area in the Indian Himalayas.15 Te IPCC states that the Himalayan glacial snowfelds with 15,000 glaciers store about 12,000 km³  of freshwater.16 Tese glaciers provide a cooling efect over the surroundings. Tese are also the water reservoir for humankind. Major Asian rivers have their origins in the Himalayan glaciers. From these glacier ice melts, the high altitude (3,500m–5,000m) lakes are formed. Tese lakes are found from Ladakh to Yunnan. Tere are also mountain lakes. Most of the big lakes are located along the 30th Parallel. Te big lakes like Serling, Kering, Tashi Namtso, Mansarovar, Dangra and Yumtso spread from Lake Namtso in the east to Lake Rakshas Tal in the west in a long stretch of 1,000 km. Tere are smaller lakes like Pangong, Gangabal, Sheshnag, Harmukh Dal, Wular (J&K), Tso Morari, Tso Kar, Lam Dal, Mani Mahesh Dal ( Himachal Pradesh), Kana Tal, Deosia, Khadru Danda, Lama Tal, Naini Tal, Devi Kund, Nag Kund and Deo Tulea Tibba Tal (Uttrakhand). Mansarovar (Tib. Tso Mavang; Ch. Mapum Yumco) is also one of three famous sacred lakes in Tibet; the remaining two being the Yamdrok Lake and Namtso Lake in Naqqu. With a circumference of 86 km and a maximum depth of 90m, it is the world’s highest large body of fresh water situated at an altitude of 4557m. With a small natural canal, Ganga Chu, this lake is connected to another lake, Rakshas Tal (Tib. Langak Tso) in which refections of the fve nearby mountains—Gurla, Api, Nampa, Nanda Devi and Kailash—can be seen. Te two lakes are said to represent the sun and the moon in the pre-Buddhist tradition.

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Te Himalayas have rightly been termed Water Towers of Asia. Like a heart pumping blood around a body, the Himalayas are the source of water for many of Asia’s great river systems. Asia’s six great rivers, Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong and Yellow River originate in the Himalayas. Te Mount Kailash region is the source of four of Asia’s most signifcant rivers: the Brahmaputra fows to the east and eventually into the Bay of Bengal; the Indus fows to the north and west and then south into the Arabian Sea; the Sutlej fows to the west and south where it merges with the Indus and the Karnali (known as the Peacock River in Tibet and Ghaghra in India) fows to the south, and joins the Ganges. Traditional geography postulates the sources of these four rivers from the diferent shapes of the stream. Te Indus (Tib. Senge Khambab or Lion Spring) is believed to fow from the mouth of a lion; Karnali (Tib. Mapchu Khambab or the Peacock Spring) from the mouth of a peacock; Yarlung Tsangpo (Tib. Tamchok Khambab or the Horse Spring) from the mouth of a horse and Sutlej (Tib. Langchen Khambab or the Elephant Spring) from the mouth of an elephant. Te Indus has fve major tributaries—the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. Yarlung Tsangpo meanders in an S-shaped bend before entering into India at Korbo in Arunachal Pradesh. Te river is known as the Siang/Dihang. Te two tributaries Lohit and Debang join the Siang/Dihang near Sadiya and from this point forward it is known as the Brahmaputra which runs across the Assam plains. Tree other major tributaries that drain into the Brahmaputra before it enters Bangladesh are Subansiri, Manas and Teesta. In Bangladesh, the river is known as the Jamuna. Te Jamuna and the Ganga meet at Goalundo before the two major rivers fow into the Bay of Bengal. Te Ganga River originates in the Gangotri glacier. At Gangotri, it is known as the Bhagirathi. Alaknanda joins the stream at Deoprayag. From this point forward, the river is known as the Ganga. Te major tributaries of the Ganga are Yamuna, Kali, Ghaghra (Karnali), Gandak, Son, Bagmati and Kosi.

Rich Biodiversity Te high peaks of the Himalayas, particularly the Eastern Himalayas, act as a barrier to the periodic southwest monsoon winds. Tere is heavy rainfall in northeast India. Mawsynram in Meghalaya is the wettest place on earth

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with an annual average rainfall of 11,871mm.17 Te monsoon wind moves across the gradient. By the time the winds reach the Kali Gandaki bisector, the clouds get thinner and there is a decline in the precipitation. Terefore, there are many dry valleys like Mustang and Manang in the rain shadow area behind the Annapurna/Dhaulagiri massif in Nepal and the Punakha valley in Bhutan. East of the deep gorge of the Kali Gandaki lie the Eastern Himalaya and the Western Himalaya lie on its western side, respectively. Te deep invagination at Kali Gandaki acts as the dispersal barrier to various species. Te biotic characteristics of the Eastern and Western Himalayas are therefore not similar. Most of the highest mountain peaks are in the Eastern Himalayas. Te higher altitude is conducive to the diversity of the ecosystem since the climatic zones compress over a shorter distance. Tere is a general tendency of increase in the richness or biodiversity of the species when one moves from the poles  to the tropics—ofen referred to as the Latitudinal Biodiversity Gradient  (LBG). Biogeographers also observe that an altitudinal range retreat of 10 m is predicted to translate into a ~10-km latitudinal retreat based on the rate at which the temperatures decline with an increasing altitude and latitude. Te Himalayas being the highest and also in the tropics, become the site for an intense diversifcation of biodiversity.18   Tus, the Himalayas have a mosaic of ecosystems that can be found at a latitudinal range of more than 6,000 km. Tere are tropical forests, temperate broad-leaf forests and conifer forests. At higher altitudes, there are grasslands and alpine meadows above the tree line. Ten, the monsoon provides the proper rainfall for a richer biodiversity. Te wetter region of the Eastern Himalayas in particular is considered as a “biodiversity hotspot”. Topographical complexity also creates isolated “ecological niches” in which diferent species fourish. Particularly on the southern slope of the eastern Himalayas, with altitudinal variations, the temperature and precipitation vary thereby creating the “most complete vertical climatic spectrum”. 19 It has another biogeographical advantage— the region is a meeting ground for the Indo-Malayan, Palaearctic and SinoJapanese biogeographical realms with diverse ecological and altitudinal gradients and an associated diversity of fora and fauna.20 It contains parts of three global biodiversity hotspots (39% of the Himalayan hotspot; 8% of the Indo-Burma hotspot and 13% of the Mountains of Southwest China hotspot). Te altitudinal gradients from less than 300m (tropical lowlands)

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to more than 8,000m (high mountains) have led to a variety of vegetation patterns. 21 Te Eastern Himalaya is the centre of origin of cultivated plants. 22 Rice, tea, sugarcane, ginger, banana, mango, millets, pumpkin, cucumber, French bean, soybean, okra, lemon, large cardamom, arecanut and tamarind have their origin in the Eastern Himalayas. Vavilov considered this part of India as the “Hindustan Centre of Origin of Cultivated Plants.” 23   Phylogeographical and archaeological evidence suggest that rice was domesticated over 10,000 years ago from its wild ancestor Oryza rufpogon in the region south of the Himalayan mountain range, likely in the presentday Eastern and NE India, extending eastward to Nepal, Myanmar and Tailand to Southern China.24 Rice agriculture has been a major innovation in human civilisation that fuelled demographic growth and sedentary rural settlement. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICIMOD (2001), there are at least 7,500 fowering plants, 700 orchids, 58 bamboo species, 64 citrus species, 28 conifers, 500 mosses, 700 ferns and 728 lichens in the Eastern Himalayas.25 Tere are some 4,000 species of fowering plants. Te Eastern Himalayas are also the “cradle of fowering plants.”26 Tere are 1,748 species of medicinal plants from the Indian Himalayas alone, and a third is found in the meadows at high altitudes. Te region has nearly 300 mammals, 176 reptiles and 105 amphibians. Te Himalayan region is also known for avian biodiversity. 977 birds have been recorded in the region. Te region is home to Asia’s large birds like vultures and hornbills. Tere are more than 360 diferent songbird species unique to the Eastern Himalayas, most of which cannot be found anywhere in the world. 27 In more favourable climatic zone like the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Tsangpo, the species richness is bewildering. According to a Chinese survey, there are 3,600 types of vascular-bundle plants, 400 types of macrofungi, 2000 kinds of insects and 200 kinds of rust. Te biological productivity of plants is very high. Tis, in turn, provides sufcient food for the insects and herbivorous animals and this further stimulates the higher food chain. 28 Since the mountains are still very young, the speciation process will take time to bring forth many new endemic species. Most of the discoveries of new species of fora and fauna are now being reported from the Eastern Himalayas. In a way, the Eastern Himalaya is the last biological frontier

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of humankind. Te rich genetic resource enhances the importance of the region for the ongoing revolution in genetic engineering.

People and Languages Apart from the rich biodiversity, the Himalayan region is a paradise for ethnic and linguistic diversities. Te high mountain peaks act as the barrier to genetic fow. But, this region is believed to have played an important role as a corridor  for human migrations. Te Himalayan region played a pivotal role as a principal thoroughfare.29 Approximately, 25–50,000 years ago, when the Ice Age ended and the glaciers were retreating making the Himalayan mid-hills hospitable, the Second Wave of human groups spilled out of Africa through the Levant and passed through the mid-hills, the foothills and the Terai of the Himalayan corridor. Te topography channelled prehistoric population movements causing complex genetic and linguistic diferentiation. Te ethnic diversity in the Himalayan belt is bewildering. In the Yunnan region of Southwest China alone, there are 29 major ethnic groups following diferent religions and speaking diferent languages. While the Achang, Bai, Blang, Dai, De’ang, Hani, Jingpo, Lahu, Va, Pumi and Tibetans follow Buddhism, the Jino, Lisu, Yao, Yi, Miao and Nu are polytheists. Te Hui follow Islam. Tere are 135 diferent ethnic groups in Highland Burma alone. Teir ethnic distribution state-wise is as follows: 12 ethnic groups in Kachin; 9 in Kayah; 11 in Kayin; more than 50 in the Chin state; 9 in Bamar or Burma Proper; 7 in Mon and 33 in the Shan state. In the Indian Himalayan belt, there are more than 170 diferent ethnic groups which are recognised as the Scheduled Tribes by the Indian government. Te state-wise distribution of these ethnic minorities is as follows: Arunachal Pradesh (16), Assam (29), Manipur (34), Meghalaya (17), Mizoram (5), Nagaland (5), Sikkim (4), Tripura (19), Himachal Pradesh (10) and Jammu & Kashmir (12). In fact, the Government categorises separate ethnic groups under one umbrella sometimes. Te Kuki category includes Guite, Paite, Hmar and other such groups which do not consider themselves as Kuki. Tere are 37 diferent groups categorised as Kuki alone. Similarly, the Nagas claim that it is an umbrella term for the 66 diferent Naga tribes spread in India and Myanmar with 36 groups in each country. In the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, there are 54 diferent ethnic groups. Nepal has 63 indigenous groups as classifed in the 2011 Census. If we include the extended Eastern Himalayas that stretch to the highlands of Southeast Asia (Laos, northern Vietnam and northern Tailand), the number of ethnic groups will rise as high as 570.

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Tere is a partial correlation between language, gene and geography in the Himalayan region. A team of scholars from various felds has concluded on the basis of autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) in their multinational study the following: “Tere is clear congruence between language and genetics. Populations speaking a language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman language family are genetically more similar to each other than to populations speaking a language belonging to the Indo-European language family. On the basis of language diferences we can draw a linguistic boundary roughly running from east to west. Just south of the border between India and Bhutan, and running through Nepal. A genetic boundary can be reconstructed along nearly the same route.” 30

Te Himalayan region is home to nearly 600 languages. Mark Turin terms the Greater Himalayan region as a ‘Language Mega-centre”.31 Tere are 446 languages as listed under the Tibeto-Burman languages.32 George van Driem concludes the following in the classic work on Himalayan languages running into 1400 pages: “Te greater Himalayan region is ethnolinguistically the most complex area of the Eurasian continent. Tis region includes the highest land barrier on the face of this planet, and linguistic evidence unambiguously indicates that topography has shaped and channelled prehistoric population movements. Te intricate ethnolinguistic mosaic of this region holds many keys to the peopling of the Eurasian continent as a whole. Whereas most language communities in the Himalayan region belong either to the Tibeto-Burman or Indo-European family, there are also Austroasiatic, Dravidian, Daic and Altaic language communities settled in the mountains, foothills and periphery of the Himalayas. Moreover, there are two language isolates, Burushaski and Kusunda, in the region. Linguistically, the Himalayas are sometimes thought to form the border between the Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman language families, though in fact the real linguistic border roughly runs parallel to the range through the hills and lowlands to the south.” 33

Te density of the linguistic diversity can be gauged from some of the corridors of these prehistoric human migrations. About 50 languages

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are currently being spoken in the Assam plains and twice as much if one includes the surrounding mountain slopes.34 In the ethnic melting pot of Manipur, there is so much variation within even the common language speakers that communication becomes difcult. Te Tangkhul Naga group in the Ukhrul district of Manipur bordering Myanmar has more than a hundred dialects—each village has its own dialect like Khangoi, Khunggoi, Kupome, Phadang and Ukhrul. Such a communication barrier apart from the topographic barrier has preserved the cultural diversity in its pristine form.

Himalayan History in a Nutshell Te early political history of the Himalayas was inexorably intertwined with the fortunes of the major political power in the Gangetic plains. Shakyamuni Buddha himself came from Kapilavastu in the Himalayas to Magadha. From Kapilavastu, the majestic white snow-peak of the Dhaulagiri dominating the sky is visible. When the Licchavis (400–750 AD) were on the decline in neighbouring Nepal, a powerful kingdom was being established in Tibet by the 33rd King of the Yarlung Dynasty, Srong-btsan sGam-po (regnabat 629–649 AD). He concluded matrimonial alliances with Nepal and China. Both the Nepalese queen Bhrikuti and the Chinese Princess Wencheng were Buddhists. Bhrikuti Devi founded the famous Jokhang temple in Lhasa while Wencheng founded the Ramoche Temple.35 Srong-btsan sGam-po sent Tonmi Sambhota to India to develop an alphabet for the Tibetan language. With the introduction of a new written script based on the Gupta and Devanagari scripts, the chronicles were periodically written and preserved for posterity.  Much of the history of Tibet is still sourced from the works of the Tibetan historians, Buston (1290–1364) and Taranatha (1575–1634). Te Tibetan empire adopted thought-currents from every direction in its synthetic worldview. While the pre-existing Zhangzhung culture (spread over Guge in western Tibet, Lahaul, Spiti, Ladakh) had paramount infuence, new ideas were adopted from Indian, Greek, Persian, Chinese and Khotanese cultures. Te Ranjana (Lantsa) script used in the Kalacakra rituals was introduced from Nepal; the medical system from Greek and Persian sources; architectural design from India and China and the Buddhist thoughts from India. Srong-btsan sGam-po died in 649 AD. In 653 AD, the Zhangzhung dynasty was abolished by the new Tibetan king. Te expansion of the

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Tibetan empire gathered momentum. Such was the ferocity of the Tibetan aggression that the mighty Tangs of China were scared. Te Tibetans attacked and captured Kashghar in 659 AD. In 670 AD, China agreed to give away all the four military garrisons in the Tarim basin—Kashghar, Khotan, Kucha and Karashar.36 Te Chinese had to send Princess Jincheng in 707 AD to pacify the Tibetans through a marriage alliance. But, the Tibetans demanded—and received—as part of the dowry, the territory in the upper Yellow River valley, known as the ‘Nine Bends West of the Yellow River’.37 Te Tibetans continued their goal of expanding their frontiers. Tey fought with the Arabs (786 AD). Te Tibetans also captured Dunhuang and Khotan. On the eastern side, they eyed the Nanzhao kingdom in Yunnan. It was only in 822 AD that a lasting peace treaty could be concluded between Tibet and China. Tis treaty was inscribed on a stone pillar placed in front of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. It was termed as the ‘Treaty between the Nephew and the Uncle’ (dbon-zhang);the Chinese King Hwang Te, being the maternal uncle of the Tibetan King. In fact, the phrase, Uncle China (zhang po rgya) was ofen used in the later Tibetan narratives. In 762 AD, the Tibetan king, Trisong Detsen (regnabat 754–797 A.D.) established Buddhism as the state religion. But, the Yarlung dynasty which had established the powerful Tibetan empire fell afer the assassination of King Ralpacan (regnabat 815–38 AD). Tibet lost central authority for the years to come. During the same period, Nepal also witnessed a lack of any powerful centralising authority. Newari rule was established in 879 AD. Te Newaris cultivated a Hindu–Buddhist culture. Tere was a fusion of two diferent language groups—Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan—and a unique synthetic tradition took shape among the Newaris. Te fortunes of Nepal changed when the Khas Malla dynasty came to power. Te Mallas unifed the Garhwal–Kumaon region and western Nepal. Tey continued the synthetic tradition initiated by the Newaris and established three major politico-cultural centres at Lalitpur (Patan), Bhaktapur and Kathmandu. During this period of cultural efervescence in Nepal, northern India was facing the onslaught of Islamic invaders. To escape religious persecutions, high-caste Hindus migrated into the western foothills. 38 Many Rajput chiefains also escaped to the western foothills of the Himalayas and established small principalities encroaching upon the Khas Malla territory. When Bengal was conquered and ransacked

INTRODUCTION • xlvii

by the Khiljis, the rulers of the Sena dynasty escaped into this region. Tey established principalities at Junga (near Simla), Mandi, Ropar, Kishtawar, Suket and Keonthal. Stiller writes, “At the time of the Gorkhali conquest, late in the eighteenth century, there were about eighty separate principalities in this section of the Himalayas, sensu stricto, alone.”39 Chamba, Kullu, Mandi, Kangra, Bashahr, Kahlur and Sirmur were moderately powerful kingdoms. Like the Yarlung dynasty in Tibet, the Gurkha dynasty that captured the Kathmandu valley in 1769 by playing the three Malla centres one against the other, went on an expansion spree under the able leadership of Prithvi Narayan Shah. Te Gurkhas conquered the Himalayan region stretching from the river Sutlej in the west to Teesta in the east. In 1790, Kumaon was attacked by the Gurkhas. Since the local nobility were helpless against the might of the Gurkhas, the chiefains of the western Himalayas sought help from the Sikh rulers. In 1804, the Gurkhas sufered defeat in Kangra and their march was fnally halted. But, the Gurkhas continued to maintain control over Simla, Bilaspur, Solan, and Sirmur. In 1814, the British East India Company and the Gurkhas faced each other over the issue of Sikkim. Te company also wanted control over the Trans-Tibetan trade. Te valiant Gurkha General, Bhakti Tapa, was killed during the war. Te Gurkhas ceded much of the territory of Middle Himalayas, Sikkim, Kumaon and Garhwal under the Treaty of Sugauli (1816). Te British handed over the territories to the respective deposed chiefains. A British Resident was also stationed in Kathmandu. Britain started recruiting Gurkhas in its army. In 1846, the Gurkha dynasty ceased to be a force. Similarly, the Tibetans came under Mongol patronage in 1247 when the Sakya Pandita, the abbot of the Sakya monastery, submitted to the Mongols. Te patron–priest relationship (Cho–Yon) was established between Tibet and Mongolia. Under the scheme, the Buddhist Lama held the spiritual realm and the Mongol ruler, the secular realm. It was this idealised principle under which the Eastern Mongol ruler, Altan Khan (1543–1582) conferred the title of “Dalai Lama” to the third incarnation of the Gelugpa school, Sonam Gyatso, who was based in Drepung. Sonam Gyatso died in 1588. Te fourth incarnation was the great-grandson of Altan Khan himself. Tus, the Mongol–Gelugpa association was gradually strengthened and the Gelug sect came to dominate the complex fragmented landscape of Himalayan Buddhism with proliferating vying sects like Kadampa, Sakyapa, Kagyupa, Karmapa, Bringungpa.

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Te Fifh Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (b.1617–1682) unifed central Tibet. Te Mongol ruler Gushri Khan demolished the Karmapa’s stronghold at Shigatse and that of their supporters, the Bonpo rulers of Western Kham. Te Karmapa dominated the Tsang while the Gelugpa were now limited to the U province of Tibet afer the division of Tibet. Te Karmapa sect also banned the propagation of the Gelugpa sect. Gushri Khan vanquished the Karmapa challenge and arrived with his army in Lhasa in 1642. Te Fifh Dalai Lama was conferred the full temporal authority over Tibet. Tibet was now politically unifed. Te Great Fifh began the conversion of monasteries of the older sects into the Gelugpa sect. He also visited the Chinese capital, Peking, in 1653 and renewed the Cho–Yun relationship with the Manchu rulers of China. Tibet was turned into a theocratic state. Te politics of reincarnation took Himalayas by storm for the frst time afer the death of the Great Fifh. Te news of his death in 1682 AD was concealed by his regent (Desi), Sangye Gyatso. Desi anointed his own choice as the Sixth Dalai Lama. Some even suspect that the new incarnation was in fact Desi’s own son. Te grandson of Gushri Khan, Lhazang Khan, opposed the dubious selection by Desi. Te Sixth Dalai Lama also refused to take the vows as a monk. Desi resigned in 1703. Lhazong Khan deposed the Sixth Dalai Lama and installed his own selection as the Sixth Dalai Lama. Te Tibetans resented the Mongol infuence in their polity. Tibet was invaded by China in 1720 AD afer the killing of Lhazong Khan by the Dzungars who ruled the northwestern part of Tibet. Tibet became a Chinese protectorate supervised by an amban in Lhasa. Bhutan as another theocratic state thrived in the Eastern Himalayas. Shabdrung Ngaang Namgyal or Dugam Dorji (1594–1651 AD) established theocratic rule in Bhutan. Tibetan intervention in Bhutan’s afairs was halted. Another short-lived kingdom that thrived in the Eastern Himalayas was the Nanzhao kingdom. Six small principalities (zhao) of diferent tribes populating the region around Lake Erhai in Yunnan established the kingdom in 737 AD. Piluoge, the frst king, established the capital at Taihe (near present-day Dali) in 738 AD. Afer the death of the founder Piluoge, Nanzhao allied with the Tibetans against the Chinese. Tey defeated the Chinese army commanded by General Li Mi in 754 AD. Te Nanzhao kingdom consolidated its grip over the region. It expanded down into Laos and northern Tailand. Chengdu was captured in 829 AD. In 902 AD, the dynasty came to an end when the royal family was assassinated. In

INTRODUCTION • xlix

937 AD, another kingdom was established by Duam Siping. Te Kingdom of Dali consolidated the Bai people. But, the kingdom was absorbed by the Mongols in 1253 AD. Tis proved disastrous for the Mongol empire. Te Mongols encountered plague in the region. Te Black Death spread with swifness across the Silk Road and entered Europe. 40 Te germ from Eastern Himalayas—the cradle of biogenesis in Eurasia—devastated the Eurasian population. Tere were many other smaller kingdoms which fourished unhindered by the empire-building in Tibet and Nepal. Te Qiangs (Tib. Sumpa) of the Min mountains consolidated their kingdom in the Eastern Himalayas. It was destroyed in 1227 AD. Te smaller kingdoms of Nyangpo and Kongpo fourished in the same region. Te Mustang and Dolpo kingdoms fourished in the dry valleys of the Nepal Himalayas. Similarly, the history of Guge Kingdom in western Tibet is yet to be fully explored. Once the British entered the Himalayas afer the Anglo-Nepalese war, the transformation of the Himalayan landscape was rapid. Te British established Simla in 1819. It was strategically located and gave an advantage in keeping watch over the Gurkhas. Te Governor General of Bengal, Lord Amherst, visited Simla in 1827. By 1830, Simla was developed as a sanatorium town. It was later designated as the summer capital of the British India in 1902 and remained so till 1947. Mussoorie was established in 1829. Te Naini Lake was discovered by the British hunters in 1839 and Nainital was founded.41 Te British built heath resorts across the Himalayas afer the cholera epidemic of 1817–1821. Medical experts opined that the tropical climate in the “plains” was the cause for the British falling prey to the cholera outbreak. In the Himalayas, they discovered the alpine climate of Europe. Scottish houses cropped up across the Middle Himalayan stretch. Darjeeling was founded in 1828 by Captains G.A. Lloyd and J.W. Grant as a sanatorium town.42 Afer the failure of the First War of Independence in 1857, these hill towns were turned into recreation cities. Railway lines were laid to these hill stations. Railway arrived in Kathgodam near Nainital in 1889. Te Haridwar–Dehradun railway line was completed in 1902. Te Darjeeling–Himalayan Railway which is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was opened in 1881. Te Kalka–Simla railway was opened in 1903. Te Himalayas which were a refuge for the spiritual seekers for salvation and a pilgrimage centre for the various Indic faiths were desacralised by the pleasure-seeking Europeans.

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But, the opening of the Himalayas for the Westerners also brought forth pleasant surprises. Te frst great survey of India began in 1800. By 1850, the heights of the major Himalayan peaks like Nanda Devi, Makalu, Kangchenjunga, Everest had been measured. Afer the Treaty of Sinchula (1865) signed between the British and the Kingdom of Bhutan, Kalimpong on the banks of the river Teesta was ceded to the British. In the 1870s, it began to develop as a major education hub for the British children. Boarding schools were established in hill cities like Dehradun, Mussoorie, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Shillong and the nucleus of modern education was laid in the Himalayan region. Te opening of Nepal and Sikkim helped in the rediscovery of Buddhism in India. Brian Houghton Hodgson (1801–1894), while serving as the British Resident in Nepal, collected the Mahayana texts. He donated manuscripts to the Asiatic Society libraries in France, Britain and India. Te French orientalist Eugene Burnouf used these texts and published the frst introductory history of Indian Buddhism in 1844. Te focus of explorers now shifed to Tibet—the hidden treasure of wisdom in the Himalayas. Tibet was looked upon as the utopian land by the Transcendentalists and Teosophists in the West who felt that the modern civilisation had wrought havoc on positive human values. Te Russians were enamoured by the “Russian Idea”—the grand synthesis of the East and the West. Elena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891), the founder of the Teosophist movement and the Roerich family (George Roerich, Elena Roerich and Nicholas Roerich) forayed into the Himalayas. Te Roerich family fnally settled in Kullu and established the Himalayan Research Institute, Urusvati, in 1928. Roerichs were certain that the Shambhala existed somewhere in the Himalayas. Te Shambhala legend was popularised by Blavatsky in 1851 in London where she claimed to have met the “Himalayan Mahatmas”. Apart from these passionate individual explorers, there were merchants, colonial agents and state-sponsored explorers roaming in the Himalayas. Te Buryat Lama Agwan Dorjiev (1853–1938) became tutor to the Tirteenth Dalai Lama (1876–1933). He began to persuade and prevail over the Dalai Lama to get Tibet into the Russian fold for a wider unity of the Buddhists in Mongolia, Tibet and Russia. Tis alerted Great Britain. Te Younghusband expedition was dispatched to Lhasa in 1904. Accompanied by the Buryat Lama, the Tirteenth Dalai Lama fed Lhasa on July 30, 1904 before the arrival of the British expedition. Te Dalai Lama went

INTRODUCTION • li

to Mongolia and came back to China. He sent Dorjiev to Russia to seek an audience with the Czar. He also met William Woodville Rockhill, the American Consul in China, at Wu-tai-Shan in 1907. He went to Peking in 1908 and knelt before the Chinese Dowager Empress on October 14, 1908. On November 3, 1908, an imperial decree was issued and the Dalai Lama was appointed as the Chinese Emperor’s Representative in Tibet (Vice-Regent). Te Dalai Lama lef Peking afer the death of the Dowager Empress. He returned to Lhasa in November 1909 afer a self-imposed exile of fve years. In 1910, Chinese troops landed in Lhasa. Te Tirteenth Dalai Lama fed to India this time and arrived at Darjeeling on February 24, 1910. 43 Te Chinese government deposed him on February 25, 1910 and gave directions for fnding a new incarnation. Te Dalai Lama remained in Darjeeling till 1912. Te fortunes changed once again with the Qing Dynasty being overthrown by the October 1911 Republican Revolution in China. Te Chinese troops were withdrawn from Tibet via India at the end of 1912. Te Dalai Lama re-entered Tibet in July 1912. 44 In October 1912, the Republican government in China restored the title of Dalai Lama. But, the Dalai Lama issued a proclamation reiterating the Cho–Yon relationship with China. He also assumed full temporal authority and sought British support in repulsing China’s military advances. Britain doubted that if it did not support the Tibetans, the Russians might pitch in. Te Simla Conference was convened in October1913. Te Tibetans participated as equals and challenged China’s sovereignty over Tibet. Te Tibetan side reiterated the territorial settlement made in 822 AD that still lies unscathed, inscribed on the Stone Pillar of the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa. Pursuant to the Simla Conference, the McMahon line was drawn delineating British India and Tibet which is still under contention, even afer the lapse of a hundred years. Te rivalry between Russia and Great Britain in Central Asia and the Himalayas was described as the “Great Game” by Rudyard Kipling. Te Great Game didn’t cease with the overthrow of the Czarist rule in Russia. In 1926, Nicholas Roerich presented to N. K. Krupskaya, the widow of Lenin, his painting, Maitreya—Te Victorious One and a casket containing Himalayan soil “for the grave of our brother Mahatma Lenin.” Tere was also a letter for the Soviet government, ostensibly written by the Mahatma.45 Te Tirteenth Dalai Lama died on November 17, 1933. In 1937, the current Dalai Lama (XIVth), Tenzin Gyatso, was discovered in Amdo. China

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too underwent transition. Te Communist takeover was completed on October 1, 1949. On January 1, 1950, the Communist government declared its intent to “liberate Taiwan and Tibet.” Tibet was again invaded by PLA troops in October 1950. Te Dalai Lama signed a 17-Point Agreement in Peking in May 1951. By this time, the Cold War had started and the US plunged into the Himalayan geopolitics to embarrass China. While disturbances erupted in Tibet in 1959, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama escaped to India in March 1959. Te Dalai Lama has now been eulogising the Tibet–India relationship as that of a “Guru-Chela”; India being the Guru, and Tibet, the chela. When he came to India, he was accompanied by dedicated Buddhist monks. Tese monks transplanted Himalayan Buddhism across the world. In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Buoyed by international recognition, Himalayan monks are carrying on the syncretic message of peace, ecological balance and tolerance for other faiths. In the recent years, the Himalayan Buddhists have also been attempting a fusion of Buddhism with contemporary science so as to present their faith as rational and secular. Te Fourteenth Dalai Lama undertook the initiative in organising a Mind and Life Dialogue since 1987, inviting cuttingedge scientists in physics and biology for a dialogue with the Buddhist philosophers. Te Dalai Lama openly claims that like modern science, Himalayan Buddhism has its foundations in Dignaga’s secular ontology. Te Himalayan Masters are now responding to the urge for postmodern spiritualities in the advanced West. Tere are one billion avowed atheists and the number is growing each moment. Tey are the potential followers of the “rational” faith emanating from the Himalayas which can also play a supporting role in maintaining peace and balance in the fragile ecology and geopolitics of the Himalayas. Tibet was a bufer zone between India and China. India now shares a 4,000 km-long border with China and the border conficts led to a Himalayan War in 1962 when these two Asian giants clashed in the passes and the peaks. India and China both acknowledged heavy losses. Sikkim joined the Indian Union in 1975. Another Himalayan Kingdom, Bhutan, became a new democracy in 2008 when the Constitution was adopted and the frst general elections were held. In the subsequent general elections held in 2013, the control of the government changed hands from the ruling party Druk Phuensum Tshogpa Party (DPT or the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party) to the opposition party, People’s Democratic Party, thereby deepening democracy.

INTRODUCTION • liii

Nepal’s politics has been oscillating between democracy and monarchy. Tere was an uprising by the Nepali Congress under the leadership of B.P. Koirala, G.P. Koirala and Ganesh Man Singh, to overthrow the Rana family (the hereditary Prime Ministers who had wielded power since 1846). Te uprising was supported by King Tribhuvan. Parliamentary democracy was established in 1951. But in 1960, King Mahendra carried a royal coup and re-established monarchy in Nepal. Pro-democracy protests forced King Birendra to agree to new democratic constitution. In 1991, a democratic government was formed. During the 1990s, Nepal underwent political instability. On June 1, 2001, King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and other close relatives were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra. Tis fuelled further political instability in the country. Finally, a peace treaty was signed in 2008 and elections were held. In June 2008, the Nepalese Parliament voted to end the monarchy. Nepal became a functional multiparty democracy, which is still struggling with the promulgation of a new Constitution. Tus, one by one all the Himalayan kingdoms have been absorbed into the fold of democracy. Te strategic manoeuvres between India, US and China are still going on, thereby transforming the Himalayan politics.

Bio-Cultural Uniqueness of the Himalayas Deifcation of Time! Te Himalayas are still an active mountain system. Te seismic activity, glacial activity, torrential rains, erosion, landslide, cloudburst, lake burst are in continuous interplay that makes survival difcult and uncertain. Life, for the early settlers, was a game of dice in an ecosystem where the predator wildlife also waited for any human lapse. Te human communities deifed ‘Time’ (Kala, काल) itself to appease and pacify the natural dangers. One can visit the temples of Kali (‘Devourer of the World’) from Kashmir to Kamakhya in the Middle and sub-Himalayan stretch. Te city of Simla is named afer Shyamala (another name for Kali). Te Dogra rulers in Jammu & Kashmir worshipped the Goddess Kali at Bahu fort whose benefcence they invoked. Te famous Pashupati Nath temple in Kathmandu also has the famous temple of Kali in its premises. In Nepal, major river names have the “Kali’ term in their sufx/prefx like the rivers Kali Gandaki and Mahakali. Te Gurkha warriors worshipped Kali and the Gurkha Kali was invoked before launching an attack against the enemies. Te cult of the Sapta Matrikas in the western Himalayas still fourishes. Tese seven Shaktis

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are the benevolent forms of Kali. Further north, the Kalacakra tradition dominates the Himalayan belief system. Kalacakra is the iconographic representation of the devourer Time. Ten, there is a strong presence of the worship of Mahakala among the Himalayan Buddhists and even the Bon practitioners. Te crow represents Mahakala. One of the signs that went in favour of the selection of the current Dalai Lama was the roosting of a pair of crows at his roofop afer his birth. From Ladakh to Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, the masks of Mahakala are worn by the Cham performers for ritual purifcation. In the Nanzhao kingdom, Mahakala was propitiated. Both Hindus and Buddhists believe in the future incarnation, Kalki, who will deliver them from the vagaries of Time! Caterpillar fungus Te Himalayan chain is populated by a magical fungus—Caterpillar fungus (Codryceps sinensis). Popularly known as Yartsa Gunbu by the Tibetans, Keedi ghas by the Indians/Nepalese and Hia tsao tong tchang by the Chinese, the fungus is a parasite that dwells inside the underground larvae of moths. Te fungus uses the body of the moth as a substrate to form the mycelium and lives up to fve years underground. Te fruiting body of the fungus rises out of the forehead of the caterpillar and grows 5–15 cm above the soil, releasing spores. Te fungus is found in the high-altitude alpine grassland from Uttarakhand in the west to Gansu in the east. During the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Chinese women’s team invited global attention by their performance. Te investigation led to the discovery of a magical potion prepared with caterpillar mushroom. Researchers have found that the consumption of mushroom increases synthesis of cellular bioenergy (ATP) by 55%. Te mushroom caught the fancy of the world. Also termed as Buddha mushroom in Bhutan, it has been nicknamed as the Himalayan Viagra for its aphrodisiac property in the Western markets and sold at an exorbitant $30,000 per kg (dry) in the New York markets. Such is the demand that its harvest has started dwindling. In 1999, it has been listed in the list of the endangered species in China. Yarsha Gunbu is a unique mix of insect and fungus. Locals mention how it is a winter-worm summer-grass. Te confuence of the two biotic kingdoms is uniquely Himalayan.

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Sikkim rhubarb Another unique Himalayan species is the Sikkim rhubarb (Rheum noble). The plant grows at a very high altitude (>4500m) and dominates the landscape where trees do not grow. It is distributed from Nepal to Bhutan and Sikkim and known for medicinal properties. Locally, natives know it as khokim (Sikkim cabbage). The plant was observed by the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in Sikkim and hence the name Sikkim rhubarb got popular in the Western discourse. The plant features in the Treasures of the British Museum. This is a giant pyramid-shaped extraordinary white plant. It is a glasshouse plant as its outer translucent sheath allows the passing of visible light, but blocks the harmful ultraviolet rays. The shape of this edible plant is like a phallus. Mark Horrell, a mountaineer and writer of several books on the Himalayas, propose a new name: Drukpa Kunley’s rhubarb.46 Since the plant has antimicrobial, anti-tumour and anti-inflammatory activities due to the presence of chemical compounds like Emodin and Rutin, indiscriminate use by pharmaceutical companies has led to the endangering of the species. Dry Valleys of Mustang Te mountains around the Kali Gandaki gorge in Upper Mustang of Nepal are barren as they fall in the rain-shadow area and are protected from the cyclic rhythm of the monsoons. Tese barren valleys with a low availability of water or soil with nutrients is not conducive to plant life. On the rocky clifs of the Kali Gandaki gorge, there are thousands of humanexcavated caves that open towards the clif side. During the 1990s, Dr Mark Aldenderfer, an American archaeologist, discovered a cave in Mustang’s clifs containing bones of 42 humans. He believed that these caves were carved out by the ancient people for funerary purposes and might be the precursor to the current practice of sky burial of dead bodies where they cut the fesh and bones of the dead bodies and ofer them to birds. He decided to explore further. A team that included the Everest climber, Pete Athans, worked from 2008–2013. A human skull dating back to 2000 years has been discovered. Te burial caves  155f from the ground have been dubbed as one of the world’s greatest archaeological mysteries. Te Nepalese government has also declared the area as a restricted trekking area.

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Stone Towers In Basum Tso in Southern Tibet and western Sichuan, majestic Stone Towers (Qionlong Towers) can be seen scattered across several villages. Some are as high as 150 feet standing between the altitudes of 1,500– 4,000m. Te Stone Tower is an architectural marvel as there was not even a written culture there. Of the 58 towers which have been dated, the youngest is around 500 years old and the oldest is as old as 1,800 years. Tese towers were built by the Qiangs of the Min Mountains, the Jiarong and Minyang and the people of the Nyangpo much before the unifcation of Tibet was accomplished by the Yarlung dynasty. Frederique Darragon, a French explorer, has worked for years to document these star-shaped stone towers,47 whose architecture in a tectonic zone is considered as a marvel by the best of the human minds. Mosuo Walking Marriage Te Mosuo are an ethnic minority living in the Lugu lake region between Yunnan and Sichuan. Tey have a matrilineal and matrifocal society. Tere are six existing matrilineal societies all over the world and two of those (Khasi in Meghalaya, India and Mosuo in Southwest China) are in the Eastern Himalayas. But, the Mosuo culture is a riddle for anthropologists since there is no marriage system among them. A man can only be an azhu, a close friend. Tere are no terms in the Mosuo language for husband and wife. Tey practice zouhun or “the walking marriage”, in which a man may spend the night with a woman, but walks back to his mother’s home the next morning. Tis unique culture has grabbed headlines and the tradition is under threat due to a heavy infux of tourists which now numbers two million each year. Only a few places like Yongning, the Mosuo capital, still practice their culture in pure form. Bioluminescent Immortality Herbs In the Ramayana, there is a description of a medicinal herb, Sanjeevani Booti or life-giving herb, found in the Himalayas which is believed to give life to a dying person. Te Ramayana narrates how Lakshmana was on the death-bed, battling the injury inficted by the arrow of Meghanada, and Hanumana, the monkey-god was sent to the Himalayas to bring the Sanjeevani Booti which is said to shine during the night. When Hanumana reached the particular spot, he found the whole hill glowing at night. He couldn’t identify the particular bioluminescent herb. He lifed the hill and few down to (Sri) Lanka. Tis part of the Himalayas is believed to have

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remained stationed in Sri Lanka and the local Tamils consider the hill of Kataragama as the Kailash of the South. Indian botanists have identifed the Sanjeevani Booti as a heterosporous Indian Himalayan Pteridophyte (Selaginella bryopteris).48 It is a fern plant. But, it does not have the power of bioluminescence. Scientists are extracting a drought-resistance gene from the insides of the cells of this fern. Similarly, among the Himalayan Buddhists, particularly the Drukpas, there is strong tradition of short-circuiting death by transforming the body into the rainbow body of light. Te Drukpas claim that the same state can be realised by consuming a pill—Rainbow Pill (Jatsuk Rilbu)—prepared from a special bioluminescent grass called Tsa Lu du Dorje, found in Tsari, the sacred abode of Cakrasamvara. Te grass identifed as Klu bdud nag po (Black Naga Devil) is the Bonnet bell fower (Codonopsis). Tis is a creeper with grey-blue fowers. Drukpas believe that by consuming the properly prepared and consecrated magical pills, one can fy in air and walk on water. 49 Tough, these were rejected by rationalists as myth-making, the spurt in research over bioluminescence may lead the explorers to a trail in the Himalayas in search of such magical herbs. Bacterial bioluminescence is being used as bio-sensors. Tere are reports of bioluminescent ferns in the Indian Northeast. Recently, researchers from Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, and Nagoya led by Josef I. Gitelson and Ilia V. Yampolsky have unravelled the chemistry responsible for the glowing fungi. Te luminescence of many—if not all—fungi is based on the antioxidant hispidin. A hydroxylase enzyme converts the hispidin to a substance that glows when it is further oxidised by another enzyme.50 Te Eastern Himalayas being home to hundreds of varieties of large fungi may spring surprises with startling discoveries in this new frontier of exploration. Immortals, Hidden Valleys and Heavenly Ropes Te Himalayan territory is dotted with the legends of immortals. Te Siddhas reside along with their immortal chelas. For the Hindus, the Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal Siddha, roams in the Himalayas. His body is said to have not aged since at the age of sixteen he is believed to have transcended human death while being in the body. Sankaracarya (788–820 AD) mentioned his presence. Teosophist leaders like C.W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant described his presence. Paramhansa Yogananda, the author of the famous work, Autobiography of a Yogi, got him portrayed. Similarly,

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for the Himalayan Buddhists, Padmasambhava, known as the Second Buddha and Guru Rinpoche, is immortal and he protects the Himalayan people. Such legends and stories have brought up another legend—the Happy Valley of Immortals. Hindu saints describe the Siddhashram. Some mention the Gyanganj, the legendary land of spiritual enlightenment. Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj had given an account of the Gyanganj and how the entry to this supra-physical realm can be made only by an adept in the Surya Vigyan. For the Buddhists, it is the Shambhala—the place of happiness. Madam Blavatsky and the Roerichs explored the Himalayas and Trans-Himalayas to fnd this place. Tibetans believe that Padmasambhava has blessed 108 hidden valleys (beyul) across the Himalayas which are the earthly paradise to take shelter in during the time of refuge and crisis. Te Chinese poet Tao Qian (365–427 AD) wrote about such a hidden earthly paradise in his fable, Táohuā Yuán (Peach Blossom Spring). James Hilton’s book “Lost Horizon”51 popularised such a peaceful and prosperous hidden valley, Shangri-la. Shambhala is the ultimate beyul. Tere are many beyuls being explored and written about by scholars nowadays like Khembalung, Khumbu, Kutang, Helambu, Rongshar, Lapchi, Dolpo and Nubri in Nepal and Pemako on the IndoChina borders in Upper Siang. Sikkim and Bhutan are thought to contain several other beyuls. Whenever there was invasion in Tibet, people would fock to escape to such hidden lands. In fact, when the current Dalai Lama escaped in 1959, thousands followed him into exile and many went out to seek refuge in Pemako again afer the 1962 war between India and China. Many Tibetan families who set out in search of Pemako have now settled fnally in Tuting, India. A team of explorers—Ian Baker, Ken Storm Jr., Brian Harvey, Hamid Sardar—leading a National Geographic Society expedition claimed to have discovered the Shangri-la at the sharp bend of the Tsangpo River gorge on November 8, 1998. Since the mountain clif sides are only few yards apart and cast a shadow, the place has remained hidden from even satellite observation. Near this Hidden Falls of the Tsangpo, the team discovered a subtropical garden. Te Zhongdian County in China renamed itself as the Shangri-la in 1997 to promote tourism in the area and secularised the whole concept of Shangila and Shambhala. On May 2, 2002, the Zhongdian County

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was ofcially renamed Shangrila. In fact, China is working to establish a Greater Shangri-la Ecological Tourism Zone in the confuence zone of Sichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai and Tibet. Many commentators term it as the Shangrilisation of the Sino-Tibetan border landscape.52 Ten, there are the several fables about the heavenly ropeway among the Himalayan people. In the Tibetan belief system, rope (dmu thag) or stairs connect directly to heaven and gods can descend on mountain summits to become the Mountain God. Summits are where sky meets land and the mountain summits—particularly, of the dominant peak in the region— are all inhabited by the super-beings. Similar stories are prevalent among the Hindus and the Bons. Shiva lives on the summit of Mt Kailash. Te heavenly river, Ganga (the name of the river closely resembles the term for heaven in the Tibeto-Burman languages, Gung), descends on Shiva’s matted hair while he is sitting at the mountain summit. Te rainbows are the dmu-thag for the Himalayan population since the rainbow appears as a rope connecting the heaven with the earth. We fnd an obsession with the ‘rainbow’ among the Bons and the Tibetans and how they postulate the concept of a “rainbow body” through which a true dharma practitioner can directly reach the heavens. Te stair-shapes on the southern side of Mt Kailash have enhanced its sacredness and people believe these to be the ladder to reach heaven. Similarly, there is the Swargarohini peak in Uttarakhand through which, the epics describe, the eldest Pandava brother, Yudhishthira ascended heaven while being in the body. Te “connectivity” of the sacred places (neri) is a favourite theme in the local narrative. Te saints can enter the cave and come out at diferent sacred places thousands of miles away. Te caves and tunnels, peaks and valleys connect the holy places. Te Himalayas themselves are an embodiment of connectivity.

Confuence/Corridors/Bridge Te Himalayas connect two geological plates, three biogeographical realms, two ancient civilisations, two diferent language groups (IndoAryan and Tibeto-Burman) and six religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, Bon, Jainism). Te Himalaya has been the principal thoroughfare for prehistoric human migrations. Te Himalayan passes have connected Central Asia and South Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Te horses and yaks moved in caravans creating the ancient Horse-

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Tea Road. In the Himalayas, one can always fnd the corridors connecting an insurmountable topography. Te founder of modern anthropology in China, Fei Xiaotong (1910–2005), discovered an ethnic corridor in the diverse cultural regions of southern Gansu, western Sichuan, eastern Tibet, Guizhou and Yunnan. Tere are biological corridors  linking the regions of diferent biodiversities. Te region is dotted with sacred corridors for the believers through which Gupta Kashi in the Himalayas gets connected with Kashi (Varanasi). Tere are confuences scattered across the Himalayas—confuences of cave and stream, diferent streams, pilgrim places as confuence sites of diferent religions. Tere are dry valleys and wettest places of the earth. Highest peaks and deepest gorges coexist. Te Eastern half gets rain in summer; the western half in winter. Te Japanese food historian Naomichi Ishige shows  that East Asia is roughly divided into two large condiment regions, separated by a bean/fsh isogloss, with Southeast Asia mainly using fermented fsh and Northeast Asia mainly using fermented beans. Te Eastern Himalaya is the region of confuence of these two large condiment regions. In fact, the caterpillar fungus is emblematic of the Himalayan connection. It is a confuence of the plant and animal kingdoms. In the Eastern Himalayas, we fnd the highest density of singing birds and as if to complement these nature’s bards, we have the high density of ethnic cultures inhabiting the lands from the Lugu Lake to Loktak singing and dancing to celebrate everyday life. Tere is the nature’s tower of vegetation growing in the high altitude alpine meadows and the Himalayan people complementing these by erecting stone towers extending from the regions of Jokhang to Qiang. It is this power of confuence and synthesis that has attracted the explorers of diferent faiths like Kakuzo Okakura, Ekai Kawaguchi, Swami Vivekananda, Francis Younghusband, the Tagores, Angarika Lama Govinda, George Everest, Edmund Hillary and innumerable scholars, spiritual pilgrims and scholars. Te neighbouring governments have realised the importance of the Himalayas, not as a barrier but as an enhancer of transactions. A BCIM Economic corridor has been mooted to enhance the connectivity and trade between four nations—Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar. Te joint vision to harness the Himalayas is now dawning over the neighbouring countries. Trans-boundary management of the Kailash sacred area by China, India and Nepal is successfully being done under the aegis of the Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation Initiative

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(KSLCI) launched with the support of the ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). ICIMOD and its partners have identifed six more trans-boundary landscapes for programmatic cooperation; from west to east, these are: Wakhan, Karakoram–Pamir, Everest, Kangchenjunga, Landscape Initiative for Far Eastern Himalayas (HI-LIFE) in the Brahmaputra–Salween region and the Cherrapunjee– Chittagong. India and China can enhance this bridging opportunity by initiating a trans-boundary management of the Tsari pilgrimage. Since 1956, the tradition of circumambulating the sacred site of Cakrasamvara, Tsari, had been stopped.  Every 12 years, in the Year of the Monkey, the circumambulation of the lower level, known as the Tsari Rong Khor, was done. Te next Tsari Rong Khor will fall in 2016. Te restart of the pilgrimage will be signifcant in building mutual trust. Te two governments can start rebuilding a “Humane Corridor” through a heart-to-heart connectivity. Te Himalaya is a geological, biogeographical and communication bridge. Te bridge ought to be strengthened through exploration and collaboration and by understanding the design of the supporting pillars.

Structure of the Book Te Himalaya is to be seen in a multidisciplinary perspective before we develop a synthetic approach combining both the human and natural perspectives. Te book explores both of these approaches in an analytical framework. Part I of the book, “Himalayas: Geology, Genetics, Identity”, contains four papers. Te frst paper by Professor A.K. Jain, a pioneer in Himalayan Geology, delves upon the geological history of the Himalayas. Te three papers that follow discuss hydro-politics of the Himalayan water-wealth, population prehistory through the Himalayan corridor and the pan-Himalayan identity. Part II, “Prisms of the Past”, contains four chapters. Glenn Mullin writes meticulously about the history of the transplantation of Himalayan Buddhism in the West. Part III, “Mosaics of Politics”, contains seven chapters discussing the Siachen and Kashmir imbroglio, drug and arms fow in the Eastern Himalayas and cultural politics in Nepal and Bhutan. Ambassador P. Stobdan propounds the non-western model of geopolitics based upon the mandala paradigm to resolve the political diferences. Part IV has again seven chapters. Te Nalanda tradition of Buddhism survives among the Himalayan people. Geshe Dorji Damdul delves upon the relevance of the Nalanda tradition

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for the contemporary world. Tere are contributions on the Himalayan food culture, the traditional medical system of the Himalayas, on the art of Kangra and Alchi and on the classic dance tradition of Manipur in the Eastern Himalayas. Te last part, “Spiritual Odyssey”, has two contributions: one from a pilgrim and another from Swami Parananda Tirtha who has been an authority on the Himalayan peaks and valleys and on diferent Himalayan spiritual traditions. Swami Parananda Tirtha concludes his chapter and the book by stating, “And across all yugas, this invisible MahaHimalaya has sent its messengers, its representatives to the known world, carrying the message of Truth.” Tis book is an attempt to document some of those messages to redeem the fragile region from being reduced into a geopolitical arena of confict and rivalry. Te Himalayas can regenerate themselves only when we celebrate their characteristic of bridging the divides.

Notes 1. Te concept of such a geographical region has been propounded by Jean Michaud for the highlands above approximately 300 metres of Southeast Asia which span ten countries; Michaud, Jean (2010), “Zomia and Beyond”, Journal of Global History, 5(2): 205. 2. Ibid. 3. Rasoul Sorkhabi (2010). “Geological Formations of the Himalayas”, Te Himalayan Journal, vol. 66. 4. Yang, Bin (2004). “Horses, Silver and Cowries: Yunnan in Global Perspective”, Journal of World History, 15(3) (Sep., 2004): 281-322. 5. David Zurick and P.P. Karan who have worked on the Himalaya since 1960s with support from the United States National Science Foundation posit a conservative dimension by distinguishing the “Himalaya from the Karakorum range in the west and the Burmese highlands in the east by using the bends of the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers, respectively, to mark the western and eastern boundaries.” Tus, they estimate that the Himalayan mountain covers a distance of twenty-two degrees of longitude, or some 2,700 kilometres on the ground, and contains areas in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. See, Zurick David and Karan P.P. (1999). Himalaya, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, pp.21-22. 6. Te International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) was established in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1983. It is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge-sharing centre serving eight regional member-countries of the Hindukush-Himalaya (HKH)—Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, China and Myanmar. See, ICIMOD: http://www.icimod.org 7. van Driem, George (2014). “From the Dhaulagiri to Lappland, the Americas and Oceania”, Journal of Indian Research, 2(2): 2-19. 8. Ibid.

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9. Tony Huber has documented how Tsari has become the most important tantric site in the Himalayas. See, Huber, Tony (1999). Te Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet, New York: Oxford University Press, p.53. 10. Karan, P.P. (1966). ”Geographic Regions of the Himalayas”, Bulletin of Tibetology, III(2): 5-26, Gangtok, Sikkim: Namgyal Institute of Tibetology. 11. Bahadur, Jagdish (2004). Himalayan Snow and Glaciers: Associated Environmental Problems, Progress and Prospects, New Delhi: Concept Publishing, p. 38. 12. Shiva, Vandana and Bhat, Vinod Kumar (2009). Climate Change at the Tird Pole: Te Impact of Climate Instability on Himalayan Ecosystems and Himalayan Communities, Dehradun: Navdanya & Research foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology (RFST&E). 13. Upadhyaya, D.S. (1995). Cold Climate Hydrometeorology, New Delhi: New Age International Publishers, p.345. 14. Bahadur, Jagdish (1993). Te Himalayas: A Tird Polar Region, Snow and Glacier Hydrology (Proceedings of the Kathmandu Symposium, Nov. 16-22, 1992), IAHS Public, No. 218, pp.181-90. 15. National Centre for Arctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. Accessed online at http://www.ncaor.gov.in/pages/view/315/321-glaciologicalmonitoring-of-sutri-dhaka-and-batal-glaciers,-himalayas. 16. IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007: Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Accessed online at http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_ and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch10s10-6-2.html) 17. Cherrapunjee held the position for more than a century when the process of recording rainfall started. But, Cherrapunjee still holds the world record for the highest rainfall at 26,461 mm between August 1860 and July 1861. 18. The French biogeopgrapher Dobremez observed, “The Himalayan elevation gradient is the longest bioclimatic gradient in the world, and vascular plants in Nepal are found from 60 to 6,400 m from sea level. Within 150km, one moves from the tropical zone to the nival zone with permanent snow and frost.” Dobremez J.F. (1976), Le Nepal: ecologie et biogeographie. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. 19. Li Bosheng (2002). “Te Characteristics of Biodiversity in the Grand Canyon of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the Eastern Himalaya” in Guangwei, Chen (ed.) Biodiversity in the Eastern Himalaya: Conservation through Dialogue—Part I: Conservation of HKH Mountain Ecosystem and Sustainable Development, Kathmandu: ICIMOD. 20. CEPF (2005). Ecosystem Profle: Indo-Burman Hotspot, Eastern Himalayan Region”, Kathmandu: WWF, US-Asian Program/ Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). 21. Chettri, Nakul et al (2010). Biodiversity in the Eastern Himalayas: Status, Trends and Vulnerability to Climate Change, Kathmandu: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Also see, Chettri, Nakul; Sharma, E; Shakya, B; Tapa, R; Sharma, M; Bajracharya, B; Uddin, K; Oli, K.P.; Dasgupta, J; Chaudhury, D. (2008), Biodiversity in the Eastern Himalaya: Trends, Perception and Impacts of Climate Change, Study Report, Kathmandu: ICIMOD.

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22. Rao, R.R. and Murti, S.K. (1990). “North-East India: A Major Centre for Plant Diversity in India”, Indian Journal of Forest, 13(3): 214-222. 23. Vavilov, N.I. (1926). “Studies on the Origin of Cultivated Plants”, Bull. Appl. Bot. 26(2): 139- 248. 24. Londo J.P., Chiang Y.C., Hung K.H., Chiang T.Y., Schaal B.A. (2006). “Phylogeography of Asian Wild Rice, Oryza rufpogan, Reveals Multiple Independent Domestication of Cultivated Rice, Oryza sativa”, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 103: 9578-9583, USA. 25. WWF, ICIMOD (2001). “Ecoregion-Based conservation in the Eastern Himalaya: Identifying Important Areas for Biodiversity Conservation”, Kathmandu: WWF-Nepal. 26. Takhtajan, A. (1969). Flowering plants: origin and dispersal. Edinburgh: Oliver & Body. 27. Hooper, Daniel M., et al (May 8, 2014). “Niche Fillings Show the Diversifcation of Himalayan Songbirds”, Nature, 509: 222-225. Stallard, Brian (May 28, 2014), “Unique Songbirds Make the Eastern Himalayas ‘Exceptionally Important’”, Nature World News. 28. Li Boshang, op.cit. p.28. 29. George  van Driem writes, “Te greater Himalayan region, including the Tibetan plateau in the north and the Gangetic plain in the south, served as the principal prehistoric thoroughfare for the peopling of East and Southeast Asia. Te descendants of ancient migrants through this region ultimately settled in lands as far away as New Zealand, Madagascar and the Americas. Several of the keys to understanding the ethnogenesis of human diversity in Asia include the Father Tongue correlation, possible refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum and the hypothesis that language families may have arisen as the result of demographic bottlenecks in prehistory.” van Driem, George (2014), “A Prehistoric Toroughfare between the Ganges and the Himalayas”, in Jamir, Tiatoshi and Hazarika, Manjil (eds.) 50 Years afer Daojali-Hading: Emerging Perspectives in the Archaeology of Northeast India, New Delhi: Research India Press, pp. 60-98. 30. Kraaijenbrink, Tirsa et al (2009). “Genetic and Linguistic Borders in the Himalayan Region” in d’Errico, Francesco and Hombert, Jean-Marie (eds.) Becoming Eloquent: Advances in the Emergence of Language, Human Cognition and Modern Cultures, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.190. 31. Turin, Mark (2007). Linguistic Diversity and the Preservation of Endangered Languages: A Case Study from Nepal, Kathmandu: ICIMOD. 32. Lewis, M. Paul, Simons, Gary F. and Fening, Charles D. (eds.) (2015). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, (Eighteenth Edition), Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com 33. van Driem, George L. (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region Containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Teory of Language (2 vols.), Leiden: Brill. 34. Francois, Jacques (2009). “East meets West: Assam Corridor” in d’Errico, Francesco and Hombert, Jean-Marie (eds.) Becoming Eloquent: Advances in the Emergence of Language, Human Cognitions and Modern Cultures, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. 35. Smith Jr, Warren W. (1997). Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and SinoTibetan Relations, New Delhi: Harper Collins, p.62.

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36. Bushell, F.W. (1980). “Te Early History of Tibet from Chinese Sources”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series, 12, p.448. 37. Warren Smith Jr, op.cit., p.68. 38. Stiller, Ludwig F. (1975). Te Rise of the House of the Gorkha: a Study in the Unifcation of Nepal 1768-1816, Patna: Jesuit Society. Also see, Stiller, Ludwig F. (1993), Nepal: Growth of a Nation, Kathmandu: Human Resource Development Research Centre. 39. Stiller, Te Rise of the House of the Gorkha. 40. McNeill, William (1976). Plagues and People, New York: Anchor Press, pp.160-164. Also see, Bin Yang (2008). Between Winds and Clouds: Te Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE-Twentieth Century BCE), New York: Columbia University Press. A memoir by the Italian, Gabride de Mussi (1280–1356 AD), mentions that the Mongol army hurled plague-infested cadavers into the besieged Crimean city of Cafa, thereby transmitting the disease to the inhabitants. (Wheelis, M. (2002), Biological Warfare at the 1346 Siege of Cafa”, Emerging Infect Dis, (Seria; Online),   Volume 8, Number 9—September 2002, available at  http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/9/01-0536,DOI: 10.3201/eid0809.010536) 41. Gazetteer of the Simla District (1904). Punjab District Gazetteers (1998). Simla: Indus Publishing Co. 42. Dozey, E.C. (1922). A Concise History of the Darjeeling District with a Complete Itinerary of Towns in Sikkim and the District, Calcutta, pp.2-3. 43. Swami Brahmananda (ed.) (2003). Across the Himalayas: Men, Mountains and Myths, New Delhi: Dominant Publishers & Distributors, pp.270-271. 44. Warren W. Smith Jr., op.cit., p.181. 45. Dmitrieva, Victoria (1997). Te Legend of Shambhala in Eastern and Western Interpretations, McGill University, MA Tesis, November. 46. Horrell, Mark (July 26, 2011). “Drukpa Kunley’s Rhubarb: An Extraordinary Himalayan Vegetable”, available at http://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2011/drukpa-kunleysrhubarb/ 47. Darragon, Frederique (June 2009). “Te Star-Shaped Towers of the Tribal Corridor of Southwest China”, Journal of Cambridge Studies, 4(2): 67-83. 48. Sah, Pankaj (2008). “Does the Magical Himalayan Herb “Sanjeevani Booti” Really Exist in Nature?” Te Journal of American Science, 4(3): 65-67, accessed online at http://www. sciencepub.net/american/0403/09_0403_SANJEEVANI_am.pdf. 49. Źabs-dkar Tshogs-drug-raṅ-grol (1994). Te Life of Shabkar: Te Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin, (trans. Matthieu Ricard), Albany: State University of New York Press, pp.268-269. 50. Norris, Anna (June 19, 2015). “Fungi get the Green Light: Chemical Basis for Bioluminescence in Glowing Fungi Uncovered”, http://phys.org/news/2015-06-fungigreen-chemical-basis-bioluminescence.html). 51. Hilton, James (1933). Lost Horizon, New York: Macmillan. 52. Li-hua Ying (2014). “Vital Margins: Frontier Poetics and Landscape of Ethnic Identity” in Yeh, Emily T. and Coggins, Chris (eds.) Mapping Shangrila: Contested Landscapes in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands, Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.

PART - I Himalayas: Geology, Genetics, Identity

1. India-Asia Collision and the Making of Himalayas A. K. JAIN

A critical evaluation and comparison of the available geological and geochronological data from the northern parts of the Himalaya and TransHimalaya mountains highlight that these mountains did not initially evolve by the collision of continents of the Indian and Asian plates. Instead, the subducted Tethyan oceanic lithosphere in front of the Indian continent melted to produce the calc-alkaline suite of the Shyok–Dras volcanic arc and the Ladakh batholith. Hence, the Indian plate initially subducted beneath and started building up the then existing intra-oceanic island arc. Te timing of the frst impingement of the Indian and Asia plates has been better constrained at around 57.5 Ma by comparing (i) the bulk ages from the Ladakh batholith (product of partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere) with (ii) the subducted continental lithospheric and UHPmetamorphosed Indian crust in the Tso Morari, and (iii) biostratigraphy of the youngest marine sedimentation in Zanskar. Tus, the Himalayas witnessed their frst rise and emergence from a deeply exhumed terrain in the Tso Morari afer around 53 Ma, followed by a sequential imbrication of the Indian continental lithosphere and associated exhumation during the rise of the Himalayan mountains from the north to the south since 45 Ma. Various palaeogeographic reconstructions of India and Asia since the Palaeozoic era have postulated that the vast Palaeo- and Neo-Tethys ocean spanned and separated the southern Asian plate and the northern Indian plate margins—this region now constitutes parts of the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan mountain ranges like Ladakh, the Karakoram Mountains and the vast Tibetan plateau [1-3] (Figure 1 a). In a relatively stationary Asian plate reference frame, the Indian plate converged northwards at about 180 ± 50 mm per year during 80 and 55 Ma and subsequently slowed down to 134 ± 33 mm per year at the collision which was not later than 55 Ma (Figure 1 b) [4]. Tis movement coincided with the anti-clockwise rotation of the Indian plate, thereby impinging the

4 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

Asian plate earlier in the northwest in contrast to its hit in the east [4]. Te impingement of the Indian plate even persisted during the whole of the Cenozoic era and is still an ongoing process. Hence, estimating India–Asia impingement/collision is one of the most controversial topics in the Himalayan tectonics, as it is estimated anywhere between 65 and 35 Ma (refs 1, 5–18). Evidences for the India–Asia collision and its timing are given below. (i) Palaeomagnetism: Convergence in the northward movement of the Indian plate and its slowdown took place at around 55± 1 Ma from the palaeomagnetic anomalies in the Indian Ocean [4, 7, 11]. (ii)Palaeolatitude Evidences: Te India–Asia suturing of the Tethyan succession in the Himalaya with the Lhasa terrane to the north took place at 46 ± Ma when these terranes started to overlap at 22.8 ± 4.20 N palaeolatitude [19, 20]. (iii)Stratigraphy: (a) 56.5–54.9 Ma as the maximum age of initiation of the India–Asia collision was deciphered from a termination of the continuous marine sedimentation within the Indus Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) in Ladakh and 50.5 Ma was deciphered as the minimum age of closure of the Tethys along the ITSZ [17] or ~ 51 Ma (ref. 21). In this scenario, the Indian continental lithosphere travelled to the ITSZ trench at 58 Ma (ref. 5). (b) Te fnal marine deposition in south Tibet at ≤ 52 Ma was a consequence of the initiation of collision and the onset of fuvial sedimentation ca. 51 Ma (refs 8, 9); this date was subsequently modifed to 50.6 Ma (ref. 15). (iv)Sedimentology: Closure of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean during the earliest India–Asia collisional stage at ~ 56 Ma (ref. 18) is indicated from a renewed clastic supply to the Tethys Himalayan margin in Zanskar, fore bulge related uplif, evaporite nodules in the Upper Palaeocene and later red beds having caliche palaeosols [18]. Te timing of the frst arrival of the Asian-derived detritus in the uppermost Tethyan sediments provides another indication of the collision at ~ 50 Ma (ref. 22). (v) Magmatism: Te Trans-Himalayan Ladakh batholith (LB) grew episodically and interruptedly with the very frst small pulse at 105–100 Ma and subsequently between 70 and 50 Ma due to the melting of the subducting Tethyan oceanic lithosphere till 49.8±0.8 Ma to indicate the timing of the India–Asia continental collision [23–26]. Tis age is now constrained to 50.2±1.5 Ma as the initial

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 5

collision age of the Kohistan–Ladakh Island Arc (KLA) with India along ITSZ and the fnal collision between the assembled India/Arc and Asia ~ 10 Ma later at 40.47±1.3 Ma along the Shyok Suture Zone (SSZ) by integrating U–Pb zircon ages with their Hf , whole-rock Nd and Sr isotopic characters [27].

Figure 1.1: a, Palaeogeographic reconstruction of the Neo-Tethys domain afer the fragmentation of Gondwanaland and the movement of the Indian plate. Of interest is the Mesozoic passive platform on the northern Indian margin, the spread of the Neo-Tethys and development of the intra-oceanic Dras volcanic arc within the subduction zone. Redrawn afer Stampfi and Borel [3]. b, Movement of the Indian plate with reference to Asia since 80 Ma and two points in the Himalayan syntaxes. Redrawn afer Copley et al. [4].

(vi) Metamorphism: Te Indian continental crust was eclogitised in the vicinity of the ITSZ trench, when the ultrahigh pressure (UHP) coesite-bearing eclogite in Tso Morari was produced at 55± 7 Ma (ref. 10) or 53.3 ± 0.7, to be more precise [13, 14], while these are dated at 46 ± 0.1 Ma at Kaghan in Pakistan [16, 28]. (vii) Integrated Geological Data: Two-stage events have been recorded in southern Tibet and elsewhere indicating a ~ 55 Ma collision of an island arc system with India (Event 1) and a younger Oligocene age of the India–Asia continental collision (Event 2) [29]. Te twostage Cenozoic collision has also been postulated from estimating the amount of convergence: 50 Ma collision of an extended microcontinent fragment and continental Asia, and 25 Ma hard continent–continent collision [30].

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In the whole gamut of evidence for the India–Asia collision, the best possible age appears to be ~ 56 Ma—by correlating the geochronological constraints on the deep-seated metamorphism of lithosphere with the near-surface sedimentological facies and biostratigraphic age [11, 12]. It is, therefore, evident that the data on stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeontology, geochronology, palaeomagnetism and palaeogeographic reconstruction provide diferent timings for the India–Asia collision. Tis chapter adopts a diferent approach to this intricate and difcult problem and evaluates the detailed geological and geochronological data from two tectonic units which were immediately juxtaposed across the ITSZ—the plate boundary along which the two plates converged and sutured in the NW Himalayas. It compares the ages of the two critical units as the products of changeover from the oceanic lithospheric subduction to the continental lithospheric subduction of the Trans-Himalayan LB on the southern edge of the Asian plate and the Himalayan Tso Morari Crystallines on the northern edge of the Indian plate respectively. An attempt is made to critically answer: (i) diferent tectonic units that were involved in the initial India–Asia convergence (ii) the timing of India–Asia impingement/ collision and (iii) initial shaping of the Himalaya/Trans Himalaya. Geological Framework In the northwest, the Trans-Himalayan Mountains, the Ladakh Range and the Karakoram Mountains demarcate the northern margin of the Himalayas. Drained largely by the river Indus and its tributaries, the Shyok and Nubra rivers, these mountains constitute the most inaccessible and difcult terrain in the northwest. As the Indian plate started subducting under the Asian plate, its Neo-Tethyan oceanic foor north of the plate melted at depth to produce the intra-oceanic Shyok–Dras Volcanic arc [31–37] (Figure 1). Between this arc and the Asian plate, a thick PalaeoMesozoic Karakoram sedimentary sequence was deposited on the southern Asian margin [31–37]. Tis ocean closed along two suture zones: SSZ in the north and ITSZ towards the south. Tese sutures demarcate the contact between the two plates and preserve the tectonic signatures of the following geological events from the north to south respectively [31–33, 35–41] (Figures 2 and 3). 1. Initial Late Mesozoic subduction of the Neo-Tethys oceanic lithosphere along the SSZ during the Early Cretaceous–Lower Eocene with the intervening intra-oceanic Dras–Shyok volcanic island arc.

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 7

2. Emplacement of the younger calc-alkaline Trans-Himalayan plutons to the south of SSZ (Figure 3). 3. Final closure of the Neo-Tethys along ITSZ during the India–Asia collision. Further south of ITSZ, the Himalayan Metamorphic Belt (HMB) forms the leading edge of the remobilised continental India. It was covered by the vast Tethyan Palaeo-Mesozoic Sedimentary Zone (called as the Tethyan Himalaya), deposited on the northern passive margin of the Indian plate. Te deepest parts of the leading edge of the Indian plate underwent UHP metamorphism in the Tso Morari area around 55 ± 7 Ma (ref. 10) or 53.3 ± 0.7 Ma (ref. 13) at a depth of more than 100 km beneath the Trans-Himalaya. Further crustal shortening within the Himalaya witnessed the large-scale deformation, metamorphism, crustal anataxis during 45–25 Ma (see later in the chapter for details) and thrusting along the Main Central Trust (MCT). Tis thrust brought the HMB over the Proterozoic–Palaeozoic Lesser Himalayan sedimentary belt around 25 Ma which, in turn, overrode the Cenozoic Sub-Himalayan belt along the Main Boundary Trust (MBT) about 10 Ma (Figure 4) [40–43]. Te youngest phase of the southward propagating thrusting was along the Main Frontal Trust (MFT), which juxtaposed this sedimentary belt against the alluvium of the Indo-Gangetic plains during the Himalayan collision tectonics. A brief geological description is given below for the tectonic units which have been used in constraining the timing of the India–Asia collision. Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith A linear Trans-Himalayan batholithic belt has been almost continuously developed from the Astor-Deosai-Skardu region in Pakistan (Kohistan– Deosai batholith) to the Kargil-Leh-Demchuk region in India (LB) [32, 39]. It extends further southeast as the Kailash tonalite and the Gangdese pluton in southern Tibet [44] and LB in the Himalaya in Arunachal Pradesh (Figure 2). Regionally, the ITSZ demarcates its southern margin, while the Main Karakoram Trust (MKT) and SSZ delimit its northern boundary in Pakistan and India [33, 35, 36]. Tis Andean-type LB is a WNW–ESE-trending 600 km long and 30–80 km wide magmatic belt of the Late Cretaceous–Early Eocene age, having an exposed thickness of ~ 3 km (Figure 3) [39]. Petrographically and geochemically, this I-type calc-alkaline igneous complex consists of gabbro, diorite, granodiorite, tonalite and granite, though it is predominantly

8 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

biotite- and hornblende granodiorite and quartz diorite [24, 26, 39, 45]. Relatively low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr initial ratio (0.704± 0.0001) and high ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratio (0.5126) indicate its magma derivation from a partial melting of the north-subducting Tethyan oceanic lithospheric slab [39, 46]. Smaller plutons disruptively intrude the batholith and result in distinct phases of magma mixing [23, 47].

Figure 1.2: Geological map of the Himalayas and Trans-Himalayas showing major tectonic units of the Indian plate, its contact with the Asian plate (ITSZ and SSZ) and location of the TransHimalayan batholith belt with a reference to the suture zones.

Te LB contains numerous mafc volcanic enclaves and leaves large apophyses—and thus is characterised by intrusive contacts with the Dras– Shyok volcanic island arc—when it was emplaced between 100 and 40 Ma with the dominant phase ~ 60 Ma [24, 33, 39, 46, 48, 49]. Along the Indus river, a north-dipping forearc and continental molassic sedimentary rocks partly cover its southern margin and are eroded material from this uplifed magmatic arc with subordinate components from the passive Indian margin sedimentary succession [21, 50–53]. Locally, andesitic-to-rhyolite volcanics along with volcaniclastic sediments non-conformably overlie LB around Khardung near its northern margin with SSZ [23]. Although LB is largely undeformed, an intensely penetrative SW-dipping ductile shear fabric characterises its southern

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 9

margin within the NW–SE trending dextral Tanglasgo Shear Zone [23]. It exhibits a distinct top-to-southwest overthrust S–C ductile shear fabric and brittle–ductile to brittle faults in the lower parts due to the efects of ITSZ [42]. Deformation has caused a northward tilting and a simultaneous tectonic removal afer its crystallisation [24].

Figure 1.3: Geological map of the northernmost Himalayas, Trans-Himalayas and Karakoram Mountains with lithounits of the southern Asian margin, extension of the Karakoram batholith, SSZ and KSZ. Two sutures, ITSZ and SSZ, contain fragmented oceanic crust pieces as ophiolites and are separated by the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh batholith. Te UHP terrane in Tso Morari is juxtaposed against the southern suture. Compiled afer the author’s work in Ladakh and Karakoram, published literature, and Jain and Singh [36].

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Indus Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) Along the southern margin of LB, the ITSZ belt incorporates a complex association of tectonically imbricated volcanic arc, ophiolite belts and sediments. In the western parts around Dras and Kargil, two ophiolite belts separate an imbricated segment of the Dras volcanic association of pyroclastic and volcaniclastic sediments, and calc-alkaline tholeiitic volcanics, which developed on the Tethyan oceanic crust as an intraoceanic island arc [33, 39, 54–57]. A Callovian to Cenomanian (164–95 Ma) age has been assigned to the Dras volcanics. A volcano-sedimentary Nindam Formation sequence developed in an accretionary prism/forearc setting to the southeast of this arc [58]. Juxtaposed against the Tethyan sedimentary sequence of Zanskar in the south are the graded sandstone, siltstone and shale with large limestone exotic blocks, belonging to the Lamayuru Formation. Tis formation represents the north-facing continental slope deposits of the Triassic to Upper Cretaceous along the Indian passive margin [59]. Further southeast, the Nidar ophiolitic complex of ultramafcs, gabbro of 139.6 ±32.2 Ma (Sm–Nd age), basalt, shale and chert is developed on the ~ 170 to 125- Ma-old oceanic lithosphere [31, 60–62] and represents an intraoceanic volcanic arc. During the closure of the Neo-Tethys, the Indus group sediments were deposited in an intermontane basin by the westerly fowing palaeo-Indus river system within the ITSZ and the rest unconformably over LB [21, 32, 50, 52, 53]. Te overall geometry of ITSZ is of southward-propagating thrusts with reverse vergence towards the NE along its northern margin because of thrusting over the LB. An eroded, folded and much wider Spontang ophiolitic nappe, rooted within ITSZ, obducts southwards over the Tethyan Sedimentary Zone (TSZ) in the earliest Eocene [5, 18]. Tso Morari Crystallines–Subducted Continental Lithosphere Juxtaposed against the site of the closure of the Neo-Tethyan ocean along ITSZ, coesite-bearing UHP eclogites from the Tso Morari Complex (TMC) and Kaghan valley of Pakistan provide convincing evidence that the leading edge of the northwestern part of the Indian continental lithosphere subducted to a depth of more than 100 km (Figure 4) [12–14, 28, 63, 64]. Te TMC is a ~ 100x 50 km dome of NW–SE trending eclogite–gneiss complex in eastern Ladakh between TSZ and ITSZ (Figure 3). It contains: (i) highly sheared quartzo-feldspathic gneiss (Puga Formation) of probable

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 11

Late Proterozoic–Cambrian age in the deepest levels, (ii) metasedimentary cover of alternating quartzite–schist, carbonaceous schist and marble (Tanglang La Formation) and (iii) the Palaeozoic intrusive granitoids (Polokongka La and Rupshu Granite) [32, 65]. Numerous dark-coloured, blackish-looking, small bodies of dense and heavy eclogite and retrogressed garnet amphibolite lenses are interspersed in these formations and can be spotted from a distance [42, 64]. Jain and Singh [36] have provided an extensive review of the TMC.

Figure 1.4: Geological cross-section through the NW Himalayas, Trans-Himalayas and Karakoram. Himalayan collision tectonic zone: 1, Indo- Gangetic Plains (IGP); 2, SubHimalayan Cenozoic foreland basin (SH); 3, Lesser Himalayan Sedimentary Zone (LHSZ); 4, Himalayan Metamorphic Belt (HMB), including Lesser Himalayan Jutogh Nappe (JN), Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) Belt and Tso Morari Crystallines (TMC); 5, Tethyan Sedimentary Zone (TSZ) Trans-Himalayan tectonic units: 6, Indus Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ) and Spontang Klippe ophiolite (SK); 7, Ladakh batholith (LB); 8, Shyok Suture Zone (SSZ), Asian plate margin: 9, Karakoram Shear Zone; 10, Karakoram Batholith Complex (KBC); 11, Palaeo–Mesozoic Karakoram Tethyan sequence; 12, Partially Molten Crust (PMC); IC, Subducting Indian crust, MFT (Main Frontal Trust), MBT (Main Boundary Trust), MCT (Main Central Trust) ZSZ (Zanskar Shear Zone) and MHT (Main Himalayan Trust). Note the vertical exaggerate above 0 km to show topography. Partial molten mid-crust and extension of the Indian plate beneath Karakoram and further northeast are constrained from magnetotelluric and teleseismic receiver function analysis [80–82]. Data are integrated with geology—collected during the HIMPROBE programme of DST.

Tere have been various attempts to calculate the pressure and temperature of the TMC on the basis of diferent mineral assemblages. Temperature has been estimated to range from 580± 60°C to 750–850° C, while pressure has been estimated from 11 to 30 kbar [42, 66, 67]. Moreover, the presence of coesites in the Tso Morari eclogites confrms their formation at a minimum pressure of ~ 27 kbar, corresponding to a depth of

12 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

nearly 90 km (refs 37 and 64). Retrograde HP eclogite-facies (20 kbar, 600° C) and amphibolite–facies (13 kbar, 600°C) were followed by greenschistfacies metamorphism (4 kbar, 350°C) and fnal exhumation to the surface [10, 66, 68]. Te P–T paths for the Tso Morari metapelites and eclogites are similar indicating that they followed the same tectonometamorphic history during their journey in the continental crust [66]. Northern Tectonic Units Tree tectonic units developed in the immediate vicinity of the TransHimalayan LB: (i) SSZ as the northern suture to the Indian–Asian plates, (ii) the Karakoram Shear Zone (KSZ) and (iii) Karakoram Batholith and metamorphic complex of the southern margin of the Asian plate. Shyok Suture Zone (SSZ): An association of dismembered ultramafcs, gabbro, basalt and sediments having chert, shale and Orbitolinabearing limestone defne the long, linear SSZ as the northern suture during the Cretaceous [69] from the NW beyond the Nanga Parbat spur to the northern part of the Kohistan–Ladakh arc as the Main Karakoram Trust (MKT; Rolland et al [33] and references therein). Early-toMiddle Albian foraminifers were recorded from the central part of the SSZ [70]. It is exposed along the Nubra–Shyok valleys and Saltoro Range and is thrust over the northern slopes of LB or the Shyok volcanics. It represents an initial subduction phase of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic lithosphere beneath the Asian Palaeo-Mesozoic Platform [33, 36, 55], and possibly extends into the Shiquanhe Suture Zone of western Tibet (Figure 3) [71]. Karakoram Shear Zone (KSZ): A very narrow zone of highly mylonitised granite-gneiss, volcanics, sediments and serpentinite intervenes in the SSZ and the southern Asian Plate margin along KSZ for nearly 200 km with dextral transpressional characters (Figure 3) [35]. U–Th–Pb zircon age of 68± 1 Ma from an undeformed calcalkaline granodiorite and ⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar hornblende age of 73.6± 1 Ma (ref. 72), and SHRIMP U–Pb zircon age of 75.7±1 from the sheared mylonite [35] constrain the initial emplacement of the southern Asian margin along SSZ during 75 and 68 Ma. Younger leucogranite veins intrude KSZ and are dated 20.8± 0.4 Ma (ref. 35) as well as between15.68± 0.52 and 13.73 ± 0.28 Ma (ref. 73), thus dextral movement along KSZ was restrained during this period.

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 13

Tectonic Units of the Southern Asian Plate (Karakoram Tectonic Units) Te Palaeo-Mesozoic marine sedimentary succession of the southern edge of the Asian Plate passive margin is extensively deformed and has metamorphosed into the Karakoram Metamorphic Complex (KMC) and is divisible in two belts (Figures 3 and 4). Te southern outer Tangste group occupies a vast expanse of the Pangong mountains between the Tangste gorge and Chusul in the immediate vicinity of KSZ and is characterised by high-grade sillimanite–K-feldspar-bearing garnetiferous gneiss and schist, amphibolite, hornblende granite-gneiss and leucogranite as well as localised granulite facies metamorphics in the Pangong range [42]. Partial melting and prolifc migmatisation have produced the Pangong Injection Complex along the Tangste gorge with numerous dome-shaped and elongated bodies [74, 75]. Te inner KMC belt of the Pangong group is comprised mainly of slate, mica schist, greenschist/amphibolite and marble, calc-silicate and a band of mylonitised granite gneiss of biotite grade of middle greenschist to sillimanite–muscovite subfacies of the middle amphibolite facies [35]. Both the metamorphic belts are extensively and pervasively intruded by two distinct I- and S-type granite suites of the Karakoram Batholith Complex (KBC) [36, 76, 77]. Tese make monotonous vertical clifs of biotite–muscovite granite in upper parts of the Nubra valley as constituting the main body of the KBC and have intruded the Permo-Carboniferous Tethyan Karakoram sequence between 130 and 50 Ma and then by a younger phase between 25 and 12 Ma (refs 75, 78, 79). A geological review of the various Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan tectonic units in contact with each other clearly demonstrates that the leading northernmost continental Indian lithosphere underwent UHP metamorphism in the Tso Morari region and was in contact with the Trans-Himalayan Shyok–Dras volcanic arc and LB throughout its geological history—and not with any Asian continental lithosphere. Timing of the India–Asia Collision In view of the prevailing controversies regarding the timing of the India–Asia collision, this work adopts a somewhat diferent approach for determining the initial convergence/collision timing between the Indian and the Asian plates, which are sutured and juxtaposed across the ITSZ. It compares the geochronological data across ITSZ from two tectonic units,

14 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

characterising the most important geodynamic processes: (i) oceanic lithospheric subduction producing the Trans-Himalayan LB to the north (ii) continental lithospheric subduction causing the UHP metamorphism of the TMC to the south. Geochronology of the Trans-Himalayan LB Pulsative crystallisation and emplacement within LB occur in multiple stages at ~ 100, 72, 67, 58, 51, 41 Ma and at younger times, possibly by the melting of the earlier phases [23, 24, 26, 39, 48] (Figure 5).

Figure 1.5: Published geochronological data from the Ladakh batholith. N = 65 till 2013. U–Pb zircon ages (n = 62), U–Pb allanite and monazite (n = 1) and Rb–Sr whole-rockisochron ages (n = 2). a, All ages from the Ladakh batholith. b, Better resolution of peaks between 35 and 75 Ma. Note peak emplacement of the Ladakh batholith at 57.9 ±0.3 Ma with minor pulses at 72.3 ± 0.5, 67.6 ± 1.0, 50.9 ± 0.7 and 40.8 ± 0.5 Ma. Data source: (n = 4)[23], (n = 2)[24], (n = 5)[26], (n = 22)[27], (n = 2)[39], (n = 5)[46], (n = 2)[48], (n = 16)[49], (n = 4)72, (n = 3)[77]. n = Number of samples analysed.

Weinberg and Dunlap [23] obtained SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages of 58.1± 1.6 Ma from the core and a relatively younger age of 49.8 ± 0.8 Ma from its rim near Leh and interpreted these as ages of crystallisation of the source igneous rock and a later magmatic phase respectively. Tis was followed by rapid generalised cooling and dyke intrusion at 46 ± 1.0 Ma. Zircon crystallisation ages are 58.4± 1.0 Ma. and 60.1 ± 0.9Ma from the southern and northern margins of this batholith respectively [24], while these are ~ 66 Ma in the extreme north at Hunder along the Shyok valley [26, 27, 49] and 68.5± 0.8 Ma still west [27]. Some younger components within LB date between 53.4 ± 1.8 Ma and 45.27 ± 0.56 Ma along the southern margin [26]. Relatively low initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.704± 0.001) and high ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios (0.5126) support the derivation of its magma from the partial melting of the subducting oceanic slab [39].

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 15

A detailed SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of central segment of LB revealed that the axis of the batholith has multiple zircon growth during 58± 0.8, 56.6 ± 0.9 and, 54.8± 1.9 Ma between Khardung La and Chang La [ 49], followed by multiple rim growth during 62.2 and 48.8 Ma, and another phase at around 15.6±1.0 Ma. Te microgranite enclaves at Chang La date almost the same as the main body. Further east, the batholith at Chumathang has zircon of 59.2± 0.7 Ma with rim growth at 50.4 ± 2.7, while younger intrusions date around 48.2 ± 0.8 Ma (ref. 49); the results almost match with those from an earlier study [48]. Te southernmost part of the Kohistan–Ladakh Palaeo-Island Arc (KLA) in immediate contact with the ITSZ between Deosai and Ladakh has yielded in situ U–Pb zircon ages between 102.1±1.2 Ma and 50.3 ± 1.2 Ma(1σ) with a homogeneous zircon age population and average 9.4 ±0.7 Hf(i) and a weighted mean εNd(i) of 2.6± 0.7 and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶ Sr(i) from 0.703744 ε to 0.704719 (ref. 27). In contrast, post-50 Ma samples from the south are younger to 50.4± 1.6 Ma (youngest being 29.6 ±0.8 in Ladakh) and yield Hf(i) as low as -15, εNd(i) between –9.7 and –3.6 and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶ Sr(i) ranging ε between 0.705862 and 0.713170 (ref. 27). Tese ages along with a change in isotopic characters have been interpreted as a consequence of the presence of a pre-50.0 Ma intra-Tethyan oceanic arc, where a mixture of components was derived from enriched–depleted MORB mantle (E–DMM) and subducted oceanic lithosphere. Te post-50 Ma samples exhibit strong isotopic variability and involvement of additional enriched components, e.g. an isotopically evolved crust. A shif in isotopic composition of the KLA rocks at 50.2 ± 1.5 Ma refects the India–KLA collision [27]. Te central section of LB has samples dated between 66.0±1.1; and 41.5±0.5 Ma (1σ; six samples, including three from the Deosai segment). Tese fall within the same isotopic range for similar ages and hence exhibit the intra-oceanic character of the arc. Tree samples from the northernmost segment of the arc of the LB date 68.5± 0.8, 25.1 ± 0.7 and 21.5 ± 0.6 Ma (1 σ ) [27]; the youngest ones have the most evolved isotopic composition like the Miocene granites of Karakoram due to a reworking of the Asian crust. Tese along with many other granitoids from the northern region refect an isotopic shif at 40 ±1.3 Ma due to the involvement of the Mesozoic rocks of Karakoram and not of the northern Indian margin [27]. Sixty-fve published dates are available till 2013 from the TransHimalayan LB, including the Deosai segment—consisting of 62 U–Pb multi-grain and individual robust U–Pb zircon ages—one U–Pb allanite

16 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

and monazite age and two Rb–Sr whole-rock isochron ages. Te westernmost Kohistan segment across the western Himalayan syntaxis has not been incorporated here due its own geological history. Tese ages were determined by Termal Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TIMS), SHRIMP and ICP-MS with laser ablation or multi-collector attachments (Figure 5 a). Te relative probability curve of all the 65 ages reveals a peak of 57.9± 0.3 Ma from LB with minor peaks at 50.8 and 41.3 Ma (Figure 5 a). When extreme ages of some samples (~ 101, 15.6 to 30 Ma) are excluded and attempts are made to resolve age peaks between 35 and 75 Ma better, one obtains the oldest peak value at 72.3± 0.5 Ma, followed by other peaks at 67.6 ± 1.0, 50.9 ± 0.7 and 40.8 ±0.5 Ma, besides the main peak value of 57.9± 0.3 Ma (Figure 5 b). Geochronology of the Tso Morari Crystallines Multi-isotopic geochronological data constrain the age of ecologite in TMC around 55 ± 17 Ma (ref. 10). Tis date of the UHP eclogite facies is obtained by conventional U–Pb allanite at 55 ± 17Ma, Sm–Nd Grt–Gl– WR isochron at 55± 12 Ma and Lu–Hf Grt–Omp–WR at 55 ±7 Ma. It is evident that these have large and signifcant errors and do not permit a precise analysis of the geologic evolution of such a young mountain belt. Subsequent exhumation has revealed a thermal relaxation leading to partial recrystallisation under amphibolite facies at 47± 11 Ma (Sm– Nd Grt–Amp–WR) and 45.5± 4.4 Ma (Rb–Sr Ap–Ph–WR), followed by greenschist metamorphism ca. 30 Ma (⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar muscovite and biotite). Te last stage of exhumation has been recorded from 21± 3 to 26 ± 3 Ma by fssion-track apatite ages [10]. U–Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of the TMC pinpoints the ages of three distinct metamorphic events: (i) peak UHP metamorphism precisely at 53.1 ± 0.7 Ma, (ii)intermediate peak at 49.9 ± 0.5 Ma possibly records the HP eclogitefacies and (iii)47.5 ± 0.5 Ma for the amphibolite-facies retrograde event (Figure 6) [13, 14]. This helps us in postulating that the Indian continental lithosphere underwent the UHP metamorphism and subduction to a depth at ~ 100 km in the northwestern Himalayas. Te TMC was rapidly exhumed from ~ 100 km at 53.1 Ma to palaeo-depths ≤ 66 km by 49.9 Ma and ≤ 43 km

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 17

by 47.5 Ma, as is documented by the SHRIMP ages, thermobarometry and isotopic closure temperatures (Figure 8) [10, 42]. Te exhumed UHP slices probably returned to the surface along with the buoyant continental crust broadly along the subduction zone. Initial Shaping of the Himalayas/Trans-Himalayas Te various stages of the India–Asia convergence can be visualised by unfolding the present-day geological units and imaging their confguration before the closure of the Tethyan ocean. It is, therefore, pertinent to visualise the original profle of the subducting Indian lithosphere and any variation in its confguration with time. Recently procured magnetotelluric [80, 81] and seismic tomography [82] profles across the Himalayan, Trans-Himalayan and Karakoram units in the northwest clearly demonstrate that at present, the Indian plate subducts beneath Tibet at about 5–10° or less. With the current subduction angles as low as 10° at around 53 Ma, rocks must travel over 500 km along the subduction thrust to reach the depths of ca. 100 km, corresponding to the UHP metamorphism. Considering the onset of the India–Asia collision approximately at 55 ± 1 Ma (ref. 11), it would have taken at least 30 Ma for the rocks to attain the UHP metamorphism with a speed of 15 km/Ma. It is, therefore, inferred that early continental and oceanic subduction in the Himalayas was at a steep angle, followed by oceanic-slab break-of [83], rapid exhumation of the UHP rocks into the crust and resumption of continental subduction at the modern low angle [13]. Keeping this model in mind, steep oceanic and continental subduction has been proposed for the early evolution of the Himalayan and TransHimalayan units through the following stages. Stage 1: Initial Confguration As mentioned earlier, Palaeo-Mesozoic sedimentary successions were deposited on the passive margins of both the Asian and Indian plates, which were separated by the Tethyan ocean where an intra-oceanic Shyok– Dras volcanic island arc evolved during 170–180 Ma (Figure 7 a). It is likely that the calc-alkaline Karakoram batholith (~ 110– 102 Ma) evolved due to partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere during initial subduction along the SSZ beneath the southern Asian plate continental margin, followed by repeated pulses till about 75–70 Ma [35, 72, 77]. Te Tethyan Ocean partially closed, initially by ~ 65 Ma along the SSZ.

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Stage 2: Partial Melting of the Tethyan Oceanic Lithosphere Almost concomitantly with the suturing of the Asian plate along the SSZ and its fnal juxtaposition along the northern margin of the Shyok–Dras volcanic arc, the moderately inclined Tethyan oceanic lithosphere now started subducting along the ITSZ trench mainly between 70 and 65 Ma. Partial melting of this lithosphere produced pulses of the calc-alkaline Trans-Himalayan LB between 67–62 Ma in small amounts and their intrusion into the volcanic arc rocks— possibly more along its Figure 1.6: SHRIMP U–Pb zircon data from the Puga Group gneisses of TMC. Tree distinct northern margin (Figure 7 zircon populations grew at 53.3 ±0.7, 50 ± 0.6 b). and 47.5 ± 0.5 Ma during UHP-, HP- and amphibolite facies metamorphism respectively. Redrawn from data source [13, 14].

Figure 1.7: Initial confguration of the India–Asia convergence and southern margin of Asia. a, Evolution of the intra-oceanic Shyok–Dras volcanic island arc within the Neo-Tethyan Ocean during 170–80 Ma. Development of calc-alkaline Karakoram batholith (~ 110–102 Ma) and its repeated pulses due to initial subduction of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere along the SSZ beneath the southern Asian plate continental margin. Te Tethyan Ocean closed initially along the SSZ by ~ 65 Ma. b, Subduction and partial melting of moderately-inclined Tethyan oceanic lithosphere along the ITSZ trench between 70 and 65 Ma produced the oldest calcalkaline Trans-Himalayan Ladakh batholith between 67 and 62 Ma. Deposition of forearc pyroclastic-rich Nindam Formation during Late Cretaceous and continental slope Lamayuru Formation deposits.

It is also likely that such melting within this domain was initiated at 105–100 Ma to explain the oldest available gabbroic–diorite rocks of

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 19

Kargil [27, 39, 44] and nearby regions. As there was no involvement of the continental crustal component in the batholith at least in the beginning and till ~ 50 Ma (ref. 27), one can visualise the partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere only in the evolution of the LB. On the other hand, within ITSZ the forearc sequences over the southern edge of the Dras island arc produced a large amount of pyroclastic material in the Nindam Formation during the Late Cretaceous period [58]. Graded sandstone, siltstone and shale of the Lamayuru Formation refected distal turbidites on the continental slope during Triassic–Jurassic with PermoCarboniferous carbonate exotic blocks, which were possibly derived from the unstable India passive margin. Stage 3: Emplacement of the Trans-Himalayan LB (~ 56 Ma) Further subduction and partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere produced bulk of the calc-alkaline Trans-Himalayan LB around 58 Ma (Figure 8 a). Continental crustal contamination is still not refected within the batholith in view of its εHf(i), εNd(i) and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶ Sr(i) ratio, thereby indicating that the continental Indian plate was not subducting beneath the Trans-Himalayan ranges during this period. Tese isotopic characters were only possible when the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere continuously subducted and partially melted at steeper angles; at least up to this time. Almost instantly with the peaking of the plutonic activity and the growth of the LB, the Indian continental lithosphere touched the ITSZ trench ~ 57 Ma in the south and underwent continental lithospheric subduction so as to reach the upper mantle at about 100 km and was subjected to the UHP metamorphism ~ 53 Ma (refs 13, 14). As the steep Indian continental lithosphere took some time to reach this depth for it to sufer the UHP metamorphism from near surface, a diference of ~ 4–5 Ma in the two values is accounted for the fast speed by which the plate underwent subduction. Broad sedimentary facies and stratigraphic correlations postulate that minimum closure time for the Tethyan Ocean within Ladakh– Zanskar was 50.5 Ma along ITSZ and the northern part of the Indian plate margin, while maximum age for the India–Asia collision was 56.5– 54.9 Ma (ref. 17). The northern Indian passive margin in Zanskar was an open shelf in the newly formed foreland basin and abruptly received the volcaniclastic sandstones with serpentinite and chrome-spinel grains, suggesting the onset of orogeny [5]. The Indian

20 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

continental crust reached the Trans-Himalayan trench, now marked by ITSZ, around the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary at 55.8± 0.2 Ma (ref. 18). Thus, the metamorphic and geochronological evidence from great lithospheric depths coincides with the near-surface sedimentary facies and biostratigraphic ages to constrain the onset of the India–Asia collision quite accurately at ~ 56 Ma (refs 11, 18).

Figure 1.8: Partial melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere, subduction of the continental Indian plate lithosphere, UHP metamorphism and exhumation. a, Bulk emplacement of the calc-alkaline Trans-Himalayan Ladakh batholith (LB) around 58 Ma due to partial melting of the moderately inclined Tethyan oceanic lithosphere. Arrival of the Indian continental lithosphere at the ITSZ trench ~ 57 Ma and initiation of continental lithospheric subduction to reach ~ 100 km depth for UHP metamorphism. Gradual shrinkage in the Tethyan Ocean and its minimum closure date within Ladakh–Zanskar at 50.5 Ma. b, Continental lithospheric subduction of the Indian plate and development of gneiss-hosting UHP eclogites at 53.1 ± 0.7 Ma. Subsequent exhumation and cooling through various facies constrained by eclogite facies metamorphism at 49.9 ± 0.5 Ma, amphibolite facies at 47.5 ± 0.5 Ma and greenschist facies during 45 ± 2 to 34 ± 2 Ma. Exhumation rates from 1.7 to 1.2 cm/year and ca. 0.3 cm/year during this period. Only during the HP facies, the continental lithosphere melted so that the LB has εHf(i) as low as –15, Nd between –9.7 and –3.6, and ⁸⁷⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶ Sr(i) ranging between 0.705862 and 0.713170 (ref. 27). ε (i)

Wu et al [52] combined Lu–Hf isotopic characteristics and U–Pb detrital zircon ages from the oldest sediments deposited within ITSZ with the U–Pb zircon age data from the UHP metamorphic rocks of the Indian plate to conclude that the initial India–Asia collision took place at ~ 50.0 Ma. In support of the steep subduction model, nothing conficts with the younger episodes of the emplacement of LB between 50 and 40/25 Ma along its southern margin [27 , as the remaining oceanic lithosphere may be continuously partially melting even afer the docking of India with Asia along the ITSZ. Partial continental crustal contamination can also be visualised during its exhumation (see Stage 4 below), as these processes refect the steepness of the zone of subduction.

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 21

Stage 4: UHP Metamorphism and Exhumation of the Indian Plate Petrological and thermobarometric studies of TMC have revealed HP mineral assemblages both in the mafc and pelitic rocks [66] as well as carbonate-bearing coesite in eclogites and coesite-bearing UHP assemblages [67], thus indicating a pressure of > 39 kbar and a temperature at 750°C (ref. 67) 55± 12 Ma. Te peak metamorphism was dated 55± 17 Ma (U-Pb allanite), by Sm–Nd (Grt–Gl–WR isochron) and 55± 7 Ma by Lu–Hf (Grt– Omp–WR) methods [10], thus leaving large and signifcant errors and not allowing the precise geological evolution of the young mountain belts. SHRIMP U–Pb zircon dating of gneiss-hosting UHP eclogites pinpoints the age of peak UHP metamorphism precisely in resolving the timing of continental lithospheric subduction at 53.1± 0.7 Ma (Figure 8 b) [13, 14]. Subsequent exhumation and cooling paths through various metamorphic facies are constrained by dating several minerals: (i) eclogite facies metamorphism at 49.9± 0.5 Ma by U–Pb zircon age [14] (ii) amphibolites facies (11 kbar and 630± 50°C) at 47.5 ± 0.5 Ma by U-Pb zircon age [13] and 47.0± 0.5 Ma by Sm–Nd (Gr–Amp–WR) and 45.5± 4.4 Ma by Rb–Sr (Ap– Ph–WR) ages, [10] (iii) late-stage exhumation and stabilisation in shallower crustal depths during 45± 2–34± 2 Ma by⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar muscovite and biotite and zircon fssion track ages [68, 83]. P–T path of the TMC reveals fast exhumation ca. 1.7 cm/year between 53 and 50 Ma, 1.2 cm/year between 50 and 47 Ma and subsequent decrease to ca. 0.3 cm/year (ref. 12). Exhumation patterns of TMC clearly demonstrate that the frst signatures of the Himalayas emerged from this terrain when it was exhumed from a roughly 100 km depth since 53 Ma. Te slab exhumed steeply along the same path as it was subducted; possibly as a consequence of a combination of (i) emplacement of ophiolites within ITSZ and lubrication caused due to serpentinisation of hydrated mantle wedges along the contacts with the ITSZ [84] (ii) slab break-of [85] and (iii) extension and doming [86]. It did not melt to cause the crustal contamination of the overlying LB till it underwent exhumation during the HP metamorphism at around 50 Ma along the steep southern margin along the ITSZ. Tus, sharp changes in isotopic characters within the LB are explained due to a steep continental subduction of the Indian lithosphere along the ITSZ rather than making the India–Asia collision younger [27]. Whatever was overlying this slab also exhumed near the surface at a fast rate and was uplifed to shed detritus not only to the Sub-Himalayan Cenozoic foreland Subathu basin in the south,but also to the ITSZ basin [62, 87].

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Stage 5: Metamorphism, Anatexis, Exhumation and Erosion of HHC Te peak stage in the evolution is the core in the Great Himalayas, where the Himalayan Metamorphic Belt (HMB) was covered by the vast Palaeo-Mesozoic Tethyan sedimentary cover, which escaped the Cenozoic metamorphism and remained largely either unmetamorphosed or was subjected to greenschist metamorphism. However, the underlying Proterozoic Indian continental lithosphere—the HMB as a northerlydipping slab—underwent peak Late Eocene, pre-MCT and Eo-Himalayan metamorphism in the upper amphibolite facies in the core of the Great Himalayas around 45 Ma (Figure 9; Hodges [40] and references therein). Regional Barrovian metamorphism was widespread at 650–700°C and 8–11 kbar and is documented by 45–35 Ma Sm–Nd syntectonic garnet and U–Pb–T monazite from Zanskar, Garhwal and eastern Nepal [88–90]. As a part of HMB, it is likely that the Indian plate has undergone a shallower and younger continental subduction to a maximum depth of 25–35 km, following a similar process associated with the TMC (Jain et al [91] and references therein). It was followed by cooling through 550-500°C, as has been deciphered from the⁴⁰Ar/ ³⁹Ar or K–Ar hornblende and muscovite ages between 40 and 30 Ma (Sorkhabi et al [92] and references therein). Ar mica cooling ages > 30 Ma from Zanskar [93], Langtang in Nepal [94], U–Pb monazite age of 36.3± 0.4 Ma from Annapurna [95] and 36–34 Ma T–Pb monazite from Bhutan [96] appear to be controlled by this very Eo-Himalayan metamorphism and exhumation and are also manifested in the early erosion of the Himalayan orogen and deposition in the Cenozoic foreland basin [87]. Within this belt, younger phases of Neo-Himalayan Miocene ~ 25 Ma metamorphism, anatexis and partial melting led to a two-stage leucogranite generation between 25 and 15 Ma, though leucosome melt production sometimes also took place during the Oligocene (33–23 Ma) [97]. Tese melts appear to have evolved in a southward-extruding Himalayan channel, bounded by the coeval MCT at its base and the STDZ at the top (Grujic [98] and references therein). Subsequent MiocenePliocene-Pleistocene exhumation is widespread in the diferent sectors of HHC, followed by its extensively erosion to produce detritus for the Siwalik group molasse within the Cenozoic foreland basin and Bengal basin [40, 41, 99]. Tectonically, these exhumation patterns are controlled by concomitant erosion associated with either thrusts (MCT), extensional faults (STDZ) or windows/domes (Kishtwar Window) [99].

INDIA-ASIA COLLISION AND THE MAKING OF HIMALAYAS • 23

Figure 1.9: Metamorphism, anatexis, exhumation and thrusting. Shallower and younger continental subduction and peak Late Eocene, pre-MCT and Eo-Himalayan metamorphism in the upper amphibolite facies in the core of the Great Himalayas around 45 Ma, and its subsequent exhumation, cooling and erosion. Younger Neo-Himalayan Miocene ~ 25 Ma metamorphism, anataxis, partial melting and leucogranite generation between 25 and 15 Ma in a southward extruding Himalayan channel along the MCT and STDZ. Trusting and imbrication along the MBT and MFT during late Miocene-Pliocene-Pleistocene.

Conclusion A critical evaluation of the detailed geological and geochronological data from tectonic units across the suture zone between the India and Asia plates in the NW Himalayas—the ITSZ—highlights the following aspects of the ‘what, when and where’ of how the Indian plate subducted/collided with the Asian plate. (i) Te oceanic lithosphere of the Neo–Tethys Ocean frst started subducting beneath the intra-oceanic Dras–Shyok island arc and episodically melted to generate the Trans-Himalayan batholiths since 105 Ma in the NW Himalayas. However, the bulk of the TransHimalayan magmatism had peaked around 58 Ma. (ii) Initially, the continental lithosphere of the Indian plate did not directly accrete with any Asian continent to make the Himalayas. Hence, there was no direct continent-to-continent collision/fusion in the Himalayas in the beginning. (iii) Te continental lithosphere of the Indian plate frst subducted with what then existed as a volcanic/plutonic magmatic arc to close the Tethyan Ocean—the intraoceanic Shyok–Dras volcanic island arc, intruded by the Trans-Himalayan LB—now mainly making the Ladakh range.

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(iv)

Timing of the frst India–Asia impingement has been better constrained at ~ 58 Ma by comparing the ages and products of deep-seated and surface processes: (a) the subduction and melting of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere—the Trans-Himalayan LB; (b) the subducted continental lithospheric and UHP metamorphosed Indian crust—the TMC and (c) biostratigraphy of the youngest marine sedimentation in Zanskar. (v) Bulk intrusion of the Trans-Himalayan LB took place at 57.9± 0.3 Ma, while the UHP meatmorphism in Tso Morari was at 53.3± 0.7Ma. Both the units signify the drastic geodynamic changes within ~ 4–5 Ma. (vi) As the steep Indian continental lithosphere took some time to reach the depth of about ~ 100 km for it to have sufered UHP metamorphism from the near surface, a diference of ~ 4–5 Ma in the two values is accounted for the fast speed by which the plate underwent subduction. Tis steep subduction also accounts for younger pulses within the LB till 45 Ma without modifying the fundamental age of the India–Asia collision. (vii) It is likely that the Himalayas frst witnessed their rise and emergence from the deeply exhumed terrain in the Tso Morari, afer a part of the continental lithosphere had subducted and undergone UHP metamorphism at ~ 53 Ma and HP metamorphism at 50 Ma. (viii) Sequential imbrication of the Indian continental lithosphere and associated exhumation caused the rise of the Himalayan mountains in a sequence from north to south since 45 Ma. Acknowledgements (Reproduced with permission from Current Science, Vol.106, No.2, January 2014, pp. 254-266.) Tis chapter is based on a lecture delivered at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), Bangalore for which I am grateful to Prof. N. Mukunda, former President of IAS for the invitation, to Prof. Anil Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehra Dun and Prof. S. K. Bhattacharyya, Director, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee. I thank the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi for the award of the Senior Scientist Scheme. Most of the ideas in this paper have emerged over the prolonged periods of feld expeditions in Karakoram and Ladakh, for which I thank Prof. Sandeep Singh (my former student) and other students from IIT

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Roorkee. Lawrence Kanyal (IIT Roorkee) helped in resolving the ages from the Ladakh batholith. Many research projects were funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to make the feld work possible. Discussions with Dr O. N. Bhargava (Chandigarh), Dr V. C. Takur and Dr P. K. Mukherjee (Dehra Dun) on the tectonics of the Ladakh region were useful. Comments by two reviewers helped improve the manuscript and in expressing the thoughts more explicitly. References 1. Patriat, P. and Achache, J. (1984). “India–Eurasia Collision Chronology has Implications for Crustal Shortening and Driving Mechanism of Plates”, Nature, 311, 615–621; doi: 10.1038/311615a0. 2. Dèzes, P. (1999). “Tectonic and Metamorphic Evolution of the Central Himalayan Domain in Southeast Zanskar (Kashmir, India)”, Mémoires de Géologie, Doctoral thesis (Universite de Lausanne), 32, 149; ISSN: 1015-3578. 3.

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Zone, Ladakh Himalaya”, in P. J. Treloar and M. P. Searle (eds.) Himalayan Tectonics, London: Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ., vol. 74, pp. 299–321. 60. Satoru, K. et al (2001). “Early Cretaceous Radiolarians from the Indus Suture Zone, Ladakh, Northern India”, News Osaka Micropaleontol. (Spec. Vol.), 12, 257–270. 61. Maheo, G., Bertrand, H., Guillot, S., Villa, I. M., Keller, F. and Capiez, P. (2004). “Te South Ladakh Ophiolites (NW Himalaya, India): An Intra-oceanic Toleiitic Origin with Implication for the Closure of the Neo-Tethys”, Chem. Geol., 203, 273–303. 62. Ahmad, T., Tanaka, T., Sachan, H. K., Asahara, Y., Islam, R. and Khanna, P. P. (2008). “Geochemical and Isotopic Constraints on the Age and Origin of the Nidar Ophiolitic Complex, Ladakh, India: Implication for the Neo-Tethyan Subduction along the Indus Suture Zone”, Tectonophysics, 451, 206–224. 63. Sachan, H. K. et al (2001). “Discovery of Coesite from the Indian Himalaya: Consequences on Himalayan Tectonics”, in Ultrahigh Pressure Metamorphism Workshop, Waseda University Press, Tokyo, 4A04, pp. 124–128. 64. Epard, J.-L. and Steck, A. (2008). “Structural Development of the Tso Morari UltraHigh Pressure Nappe of the Ladakh Himalaya”, Tectonophysics, 451, 242–264. 65. Fuchs, G. and Linner, M. (1995). “Geological Traverse across the Western Himalaya: A Contribution to the Geology of Eastern Ladakh, Lahul, and Chamba”, Jahrb. Geol. Bundesanst. (Austria), 138(4), 655–685. 66. Guillot, S., de Sigoyer, J., Lardeaux, J. M. and Mascle, G. (1997). “Eclogitic Metasediments from the Tso Morari Area (Ladakh, Himalaya): Evidence for Continental Subduction during India–Asia Convergence”, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 128, 197–212. 67. Mukherjee, B. K. and Sachan, H. K. (2003). “Carbonate-bearing UHPM Rocks from the Tso–Morari region, Ladakh, India: Petrological Implications”, Int. Geol. Rev., 45, 49–69. 68. Schlup, M., Carter, A., Cosca, M. and Steck, A. (2003). “Exhumation History of Eastern Ladakh Revealed by 40Ar/39Ar and Fission Track Ages: Te Indus River–Tso Morari Transect, NW Himalaya”, London: J. Geol.Soc., 160, 385–399. 69. Matte, P., Mattauer, M., Olivet, J. M. and Griot, D. A. (1997). “Continental Subduction beneath Tibet and the Himalayan Orogeny: A Review”, Terra Nova, 9, 264–270. 70. Ehiro, M., Kojima, S., Sato, T., Ahmad, T. and Ohtani, T. (2007). “Discovery of Jurassic Ammonoids from the Shyok Suture Zone to the Northeast of Chang La Pass, Ladakh, Northwest India and its Tectonic Signifcance”, Island Arc, 16, 124–132. 71. Lacassin, R. et al (2004). “Large-Scale Geometry, Ofset and Kinematic Evolution of the Karakorum Fault, Tibet”, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,, 219, 255–269. 72. Weinberg, R. F., Dunlap, W. J. and Whitehouse, M. (2001). “New Field, Structural and Geochronological Data from the Shyok and Nubra Valleys, Northern Ladakh: Linking Kohistan to Tibet”, in M. A. Khan et al (eds.) Tectonics of the Nanga Parbat Syntaxis and the Western Himalaya London: Geol. Soc. Spec. Pub., vol. 170, pp. 253–275. 73. Phillips, R. J., Parrish, R. R. and Searle, M. P. (2004). “Age Constraints on Ductile Deformation and Long-Term Slip Rates along the Karakoram Fault Zone, Ladakh”, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 226, 305–319; doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2004.07.037. 74. Weinberg, R. F. and Searle, M. P. (1998). “Te Pangong Injection Complex, Indian Karakoram: A Case of Pervasive Granite Flow through Hot Viscous Crust”, J. Geol. Soc. London, 155, 883–891; doi: 10.1144/gsjgs.155.5.0883.

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75. Reichardt, H. and Weinberg, R. H. (2012). “Te Dike Swarm of the Karakoram Shear Zone, Ladakh, NW India: Linking Granite Source to Batholith”, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 124, 89–103; doi: 10.1130/B30394.1. 76. Ravikant, V. (2006). “Utility of Rb–Sr Geochronology in Constraining Miocene and Cretaceous Events in the Eastern Karakoram, Ladakh, India”, J. Asian Earth Sci., 27, 534–543; doi: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2005.05.007. 77. Ravikant, V., Wu, F.-Y. and Ji, W.-Q. (2009). “Zircon U–Pb and Hf Isotopic Constraints on Petrogenesis of the Cretaceous–Tertiary Granites in Eastern Karakoram and Ladakh, India”, Lithos, 110, 153–166. 78. Debon, F. and Khan, N. A. (1996). “Alkaline Orogenic Plutonism in the Karakoram Batholith: Te Upper Cretaceous Koz Sar Complex (Karamber Valley, N. Pakistan)”, Geodyn. Acta, 9, 145–160. 79. Searle, M. P. (1991). Geology and Tectonics of the Karakoram Mountains, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, p. 358. 80. Gokarn, S. G., Gupta, G., Rao, C. K. and Selvaraj, C. (2002). “Electrical Structure across the Indus Tsangpo Suture and Shyok Suture Zone in NW Himalaya using Magnetotelluric Studies”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1251–1254. 81. Arora, B. R., Unsworth, M. J. and Rawat, G. (2007). “Deep Resistivity Structure of the Northwest Indian Himalaya and its Tectonic Implications”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L04307, doi: 10.1029/2006- L029165. 82. Rai, S. S., Priestley, K., Gaur, V. K., Mitra, S., Singh, M. P. and Searle, M. P. (2006). “Confguration of the Indian Moho beneath the NW Himalaya”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L15308; doi: 10.1029/2006GL026076. 83. Kohn, M. J. and Parkinson, C. D. (2002). “Petrological Case for Eocene Slab Breakof during the Indo-Asian Collision”, Geology, 30(7), 591–594. 84. Schlup, M., Steck, A., Carter, A., Cosca, M., Epard, J.-L. and Hunziker, J. (2011). “Exhumation History of the NW Indian Himalaya Revealed by Fission Track and 40Ar/39Ar Ages”, J. Asian Earth Sci., 40, 334–350. 85. Guillot, S., Hattori, K. H. and de Sigoyer, J. (2000). “Mantle Wedge Serpentinization and Exhumation of Eclogites: Insights from Eastern Ladakh, Northwest Himalaya”, 28(3), 199–202. 86. de Sigoyer, J., Guillot, S. and Dick, P. (2004). “Exhumation of the Ultrahigh-Pressure Tso Morari Unit in Eastern Ladakh (NW Himalaya): A Case Study”, Tectonics, 23, doi: 10.1029/2002TC001492. 87. Jain, A. K., Lal, N., Sulemani, B., Awasthi, A. K., Singh, S., Kumar, R. and Kumar, D. (2009). “Detrital-Zircon Fission Track Geochronology of the Lower Cenozoic Sediments, NW Himalayan Foreland Basin: Clues for Exhumation and Denudation of the Himalaya during India–Asia Collision”, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 121, 519–535. 88. Vance, D. and Harris, N. (1999). “Timing of Prograde Metamorphism in the Zanskar Himalaya”, Geology, 27, 395–398. 89. Foster, G., Kinny, P., Vance, D., Prince, C. and Harris, N. (2000). “Te Signifcance of Monazite U–T–Pb Age Data in Metamorphic Assemblage: A Combined Study of Monazite and Garnet Chronometry”, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 181, 327–340.

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90. Prince, C., Foster, G., Vance, D., Harris, N. and Baker, J. (1999). “Te Termochronology of the High Himalayan Crystalline in the Garhwal Himalaya: Prograde History of a Polymetamorphic Slab”, Terra Nostra, 99/2, 119–120. 91. Jain, A. K., Singh, S. and Manickavasagam (2002). R. M., Himalayan Collision Tectonics, Gondwana Research Group Memoir, 7, p. 114. 92. Sorkhabi, R. B., Valdiya, K. S. and Arita, K. (1999). “Cenozoic Uplif of the Himalayan Orogen: Chronologic and Kinematic Patterns”, in A. K. Jain and R. M. Manickavasagam (eds.) Geodynamics of the NW Himalaya, Gondwana Research Group Memoir, 6, 189– 206. 93. Searle, M. P., Waters, D. J., Rex, D. C. and Wilson, R. N. (1992). “Pressure, Temperature and Time Constraints on the Himalayan Metamorphism from Eastern Kashmir and Western Zanskar”, J. Geol.Soc. London, 1992, 149, 753–773. 94. Inger, S. and Harris, N. (1993). “Geochemical Constraints on Leucogranite Magmatism in the Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalaya”, J. Petrol., 34, 345–368. 95. Hodges, K. V., Parrish, R. R. and Searle, M. P. (1996). “Tectonic Evolution of the Central Annapurna Range, Nepalese Himalayas”, Tectonics, 15, 1264–1291. 96. Edwards, M. A. and Harrison, T. M. (1997). “When did the Roof Collapse? Late Miocene North–South Extension in the High Himalaya Revealed by T–Pb Monazite Dating of the Khula Kangri Granite”, Geology, 25, 543–546. 97. Searle, M. P., Cottle, J. M., Streule, M. J. and Waters, D. J. (2010). “Crustal Melt Granites and Migmatites along the Himalaya: Melt Source, Segregation, Transport and Granite Emplacement Mechanisms”, Earth Environ. Sci. Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh , 100, 219–233. 98. Grujic, D. (2006). “Channel Flow and Continental Collision Tectonics”, in R. D. Law, M. P. Searle and L. Godin (eds.) Channel Flow, Ductile Extrusion and Exhumation in Continental Collision Zones, Geol. Soc. Spec. Pub., Vol. 268, pp. 25–37.99. 99. Jain, A. K., Kumar, D., Singh, S. Kumar, A. and Lal, N. (2000). “Timing, Quantifcation and Tectonic Modeling of Pliocene Quaternary Movements in the NW Himalaya: Evidences from Fission Track Dating”, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 179, 437–451.

2. Challenges to the Himalayan Watershed UTTAM KUMAR SINHA

Te Anthropocene Informally, we are in a geological epoch described as the Anthropocene. Tere is now no greater challenge to the wellbeing of the global commons than human-induced climate change. Since the industrial era began to trigger large-scale releases of fossil fuels, global average surface temperatures have risen by 0.8˚C; already resulting in signifcant changes in physical, hydrological and ecological systems. A worldwide warming of 2–3˚C above pre-industrial temperatures is very likely to herald major changes in terrestrial, marine and mountain ecosystems. Tese developments are all interconnected and there is a risk of an irreversible cascade of changes leading us into a future that is profoundly diferent from anything that we have ever faced before. Gradually, we are creating a hotter and less diverse world. 2014 may well be remembered as the year when climate change became understood as a current reality instead of a distant projection.

Te Context Security has a broader meaning than confict more so for an essential resource such as water. Tere are a range of assessments of the scope and scale of the problem of use, distribution and scarcity of water in Asia; as ofen the perspectives adopted refect political rather than scientifc or legal considerations. A consensus is emerging that a broader understanding of demand-side management is needed rather than a focus on only scarcity seeking to ‘securitise’ water. Tis view questions approaches that look at resource scarcity solely in environmental terms leading to the conclusion that managing changing water relations in Asia will be difcult. Te need for trans-boundary cooperation will become even more important in order to build trust through mechanisms for sharing information, exchanging experiences and using water and climate change as a basis for wider cooperation.

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Profle of the Himalayan Mountain System Te Himalaya separates the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan plateau. Te mountain system, as the Himalaya is referred to, includes the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the Pamir Knot. Tough geologically the Tibetan plateau is distinct from the Himalaya mountains, geologists ofen regard all the rivers, including those originating from Tibet, collectively as the “circum-Himalayan rivers”.1 Te Himalayan glaciers, regarded as the ‘Tird Pole’, contain one of the largest reservoirs of snow and ice outside the Polar regions. Major Asian river systems—the Amu Darya, Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Salween, Mekong, Yangtse, Yellow and Tarim—have their sources in the Himalayan glaciers contributing to almost 70 per cent of the water resources. Almost two billion people stretching from Afghanistan to the Ganga-MeghnaBrahmaputra basin in South Asia to the Mekong Delta in Southeast Asia are dependent on the fows of the rivers from the glaciers of the Himalaya that includes Tibet. Te efects of global warming will be felt through the changes in the hydrological cycle. An efective adaptation policy cannot be delinked from the way water resources are managed and used. In the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, November 2010, a new thrust towards understanding the water–climate link was visible. Te Green Group of six countries—Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Iceland, Singapore, Slovenia and UAE—encouraged greater emphasis on water management and climate adaptation. Unchecked climate variation can cause unprecedented challenges to the waterways of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and the countries in the Mekong basin. Rivers originating from the Himalaya system will directly impact riparian relations. Tis can be analysed from three perspectives: First, the majority of the rivers are transboundary in nature originating from, fowing through and draining into territorially defned boundaries. Second, there is no clear defnitional demarcation as to whether such a resource is exclusively a ‘public good’ (defned as non-rival and non-excludable) or a ‘private good’ (defned as rival and excludable)2. Tird, planning any water resource utilisation policy will have to take into account the assessment of the impact of climate change in terms of seasonal fow and extreme events. River uses are deeply subjective in terms of where, what and how they are being used. New modalities of a water-sharing agreement will have to factor the shifing hydrograph.

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Tis chapter observes the driving forces behind the water demand, on the political obstacles that stand in the way of river cooperation and the behaviour of riparians in the backdrop of the changing Himalayan hydrology. Te hydrology and the hydropolitics in a realpolitik framework suggest that the preciousness of water ofen translates into ‘possessiveness’ and at times ‘resource aggressiveness’. ‘Water insecurity’ can be expressed in terms of availability, reliability and quality while ‘water security’ can be described as an insecurity arising from the control of headwaters. Te insecurity–security dynamics can be explained through upper–lower riparian relations and further examined through the claims of ‘absolute territorial sovereignty’ versus ‘absolute territorial integrity’. With no binding watercourse treaty, the Himalayan hydrology assumes great signifcance.

Himalayan Glacier Profle Many studies using remotely sensed images have identifed and analysed specifc glacierised regions.3 Te mid-latitude, high-altitude Himalayan glaciers contain one of the largest reservoirs of snow and ice outside the Polar regions but with varied characteristics. Studies have confrmed that there is no “stereotypical” Himalayan glacier.4 While the glaciers in the Karakoram region of the northwestern Himalaya are mostly stagnating, those in the western, central and eastern Himalaya are mostly retreating. Of these, the western glaciers have shown the highest rate of retreat.5 Scientifc observations point out that 90 per cent of the melting of the Himalayan glaciers is directly caused by black carbon soot and other industrial processes. Other studies point to the presence of debris such as pebbles and rocks as an additional factor. Te impact will gradually shrink glaciers resulting in the decrease of water runof in the long term. In the short term, earlier water runof from glaciers when combined with seasonal rains can result in food conditions. Many recent studies on the overall glacier retreat and additional melt focus on dammed water or ‘glacier lakes’ that have the potential of generating a dangerous outburst of fooding. In the coming years, rising concerns about the efects of climate change will take greater precedence over any physical changes associated with climate change. First, as population grows, competition for food, energy and water will correspondingly increase. Increasing demands for food grains will claim larger areas of cropland and greater volumes of irrigation water. Second, with the risks that are attached to climate change, foodenergy-water will be subject to various stresses and strains.6 Perceptions of a rapidly changing ecosystem may prompt nations to take several actions,

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many of them unilateral, to secure resources and territorial sovereignty. Any willingness to engage in greater river basin cooperation will depend on a number of factors such as the behaviour of other competing countries, the economic viability and other interests that states are reluctant to either compromise on or concede to. Since disputes over water are inevitable because of the changes, as described above, understanding the processes of resolution and framing new mechanisms and approaches becomes a necessity.

Asia’s Himalayan Hydrology For almost half the world’s population, water-related dreams and fears intersect in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau. Other regions have their share of conficting claims over water issues but none combine the same scale of population, scarcity of rainfall, dependence on agriculture, scope for mega-dam projects and vulnerability to climate change as those at stake within the greater Himalayan region. Here, glaciers and annual snowmelts feed rivers serving just under half of the world’s population while the unequalled heights from which their waters descend could provide vast amounts of hydropower. At the same time, both India and China face the grim reality that their economic and social achievements since the late 1940s—both ‘planned’ and ‘market-based’—have depended on unsustainable rates of groundwater extraction—hundreds of millions of people now face devastating shortages. It is being fast established that the Himalayan hydrology will be one of the critical frontlines in the global battle against climate change and water issues. Te Himalayan mountain system is of crucial importance to the river system of Asia not only in terms of infuencing the monsoon but also of the glaciers which are the source of many of the great rivers. Te impact of global warming and climate change, as studies indicate, will gradually shrink glaciers resulting in the decrease of water runof in the long term. Of all the evidence showing the impact of global warming, perhaps none is more visible than or as acutely dangerous as that of outburst fooding in the Himalayas. According to the assessment of the Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, there are about 200 glacial lakes in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region that are “potentially dangerous”: 25 in Bhutan, 77 in China, 30 in India, 20 in Nepal and 52 in Pakistan. Te ICIMOD keeps an inventory of 8,700 glacial lakes in the region. Glacial lakes are recognised as a threat to mountain areas

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worldwide. Te lakes form as glacial melt-water collects behind ridges of loose rock debris called moraines that were deposited by the glaciers themselves. Over the next 20 years, perceptions of a rapidly changing ecosystem in all likelihood will prompt nations to take unilateral actions to secure resources and territorial sovereignty. In the last two decades, the impact of climate change on water resources cannot be discounted. In fact as a precautionary approach, the awareness to the dangers of climate change on water resources should frame future water policies in the region. Some of the studies/fndings indicate increased precipitation in some areas, increased drought in some others and increased variability of precipitation. Long-term trends for Himalayan glaciers under conditions of continued warming clearly point to melting though some reports have tended to exaggerate the situation. Te melting in the short term will help liberate melt-water which can be used for agriculture and industry. However, de-glaciation will also lead to rapid destabilisation of mountain slopes causing landslides, rock-falls and mudslides. Tis would directly impact the livelihood of the people who live on the foodplains of the major rivers spread across Nepal, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Te risks and uncertainties over the impact of climate change on water resources are potentially high in many South Asian countries. For example, Bangladesh, given its location and geography, is extremely vulnerable to any variations in water fow. Being the lowest of the riparian states it shares 54 rivers with India. Bangladesh, geographically speaking, is in a double trap. While on the one hand rivers fow in making it increasingly water dependent; on the other it is witnessing a sea-level rise. According to a modelling study, the mean global temperatures for Bangladesh may rise by 1.5 to 1.8 degree centigrade by 2050 and correspondingly sea levels may rise by about 30 cm accompanied by an increase in annual rainfall.7 For India, the middle riparian, decreased snow cover will afect the fows in the Indus, the Sutlej, the Ganges and the Brahamaputra—all originating from Tibet. 70 per cent of the summer fow of the Ganges comes from the melt-water and thus can potentially impact the agriculture sector. India’s National Communications (NATCOM) in 2004 has projected a decline in wheat production by 4–5 million tonnes with even 1 degree centigrade rise in temperature. Pakistan, like Bangladesh a lower riparian, is vulnerable to the access of clean water. Te western Himalayan glaciers act as reservoirs that release water into the rivers that feed the plains in Pakistan. Te glacial

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retreat is increasing the fow and the recent devastating food in Pakistan in July–August 2010 is a stark reminder of the perils of climate change. In the next decade erratic rainfall combined with glacial melt will exacerbate the already serious problems of fooding and draining. Afer the glacier has receded it is projected that there will be a 30–40 per cent reduction of fow in the Indus basin critically impacting food production.8

Climate Change and Water Resources Another factor that needs to be incorporated into the water policy is the climate change connects. It is now being increasingly understood that the efects of global warming will be felt through changes in the hydrological cycle. An efective adaptation policy cannot be delinked from the way water resources are being managed and utilised. Te impact of global warming on water resources is particularly important for the Himalayan states that are highly dependent on glacial sources of rivers in the Hindu Kush. Initial fndings of the ongoing research indicate increased precipitation in some areas and increased variability of precipitation in others. Changes in precipitation and evapo-transpiration will greatly infuence groundwater recharge. Te expected decline in glaciers and snowfelds will afect the fow of rivers and increase the likelihood of foods due to an overall increase in the intensity of rainy days. A policy that awaits clear evidence may not be prudent. A precautionary approach and alertness to possible changes is a wiser option. Te role of enforcement and monitoring agencies like the EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) needs to be efectively enforced in respective countries. Te purposeful participation of the civil society will be equally crucial for greater awareness and balance of development and water resources. In the Himalayan region the GLOF problem, as explained earlier, is compounded by the fact that there is a lack of long-term data. Research on the impact of climate change on glacial issues needs to be intensifed at a regional level and cooperation should entail sharing of data. Te present state of knowledge is inadequate in identifying and assessing the magnitude of potential outbreaks of glacial lakes. GLOF risks have to be soberly assessed and not heightened; therefore leading to misperception. Countries in the region with a trust defcit, particularly the downstream countries, can easily misinterpret the overstated risks particularly the downstream countries. Regional cooperation will need to factor in enhanced and updated forms of an automated early warning system. Also,

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upgraded remote sensing projects are important for food-warning systems because they can detect small changes in lake levels and send immediate signals to alarm systems near villages. Research and risk evaluation will also require ground-level surveys. Another important feature which each individual state has to consider is to integrate and harmonise external water policies with internal water resource management. Such an approach would require treating river systems, particularly the Ganges-Brahamaputra-Meghna (GBM) and the Indus in a holistic way and reorienting hydro-diplomacy on a multilateral basis than just a bilateral format. Tis would entail a shif from ‘sharing waters’ to ‘sharing benefts’. Ecological considerations should be the overarching perspective. Tis would easily allow a far greater understanding on the nature and impact of climate change on water resources. In the past, the dominant perspective was engineering and economics—now the emphasis should be on ecology and climate change. Keeping the principle of just and wise-use of water, sensible riparian policies can be framed both internally and externally. Te combination of rising population, increased urbanisation and rapid economic growth compounds the challenges of securing water in the future. Asia, the most populous continent, has also the lowest per capita water in the world. Figures indicate that one in fve people in the region do not have access to clean water. With an additional 500 million people expected in the next ten years in the Himalayan watershed states, the stress on food, energy and water resources will only increase. It is thus important to understand the Himalayan region in terms of ‘exponential function’— increasing population leading to greater food demand that increases dependence on water for irrigation and energy. Te interconnection of food-energy-water is crucial and if not framed sensibly into state polices the cascading efect on food production, livelihood and migration, will impact political stability in the region. What becomes worrisome is the likelihood of competition over water resources. Tough the possibility of water being a direct cause of confict is unlikely, however, given that the Himalayan watershed is fraught with tensions, water can act as a dangerous trigger and destabilise the region.

Importance of China’s Hydrological Position From a hydrological perspective China cannot be ignored from the South Asian regional confguration. While China is not member of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) it gained observer

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status along with Japan, South Korea and the US in 2009. Increasingly, and as India’s neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal would like, China is making its presence felt in South Asia and in the process competing directly with India which considers the region to be its sphere of infuence. From a hydrological position, India is a lower riparian vis-à-vis China and an upper riparian vis-à-vis Pakistan and Bangladesh. An emphasis that has not been correctly articulated is the fact that India is a middle riparian and has concerns over water uses with China and the responsibility of sharing waters with its lower riparian neighbours. China’s hydrological position, on the other hand, is one of complete riparian supremacy. India’s middle riparian position increases its dependence on the headwaters of the river sources such as Indus, Sutlej and Brahmaputra which originate in the Tibetan plateau. Of the nine major tributaries of the Ganges that fow in from Nepal, the three principal tributaries Karnali, Gandaki and Kosi rise from Tibet. China is equally water insecure but its insecurity relates to the disproportionate availability or uneven distribution of waters within its territory, the majority of which is in the south (Tibet Autonomous Region) with the north and west excessively water-stressed. China sufers from an annual shortage of 40 billion cubic metres of water and is expected to face a 25 per cent supply gap for the projected water demand by 2030.9 More than anything else, the water shortage becomes an impediment to China’s goal of meeting food production and challenges the leadership claims to self-sufciency in food grains. Electricity is equally crucial in China’s economic development. With a GDP growing at the rate of 8–10 per cent a year, China’s energy requirement is projected to increase by 150 per cent by 2020. While resource rich in coal and a net importer of oil, both climateunfriendly, China is compelled to develop its hydroelectricity as a clean and renewable source of energy. China has already half of the world’s large dams including the Tree Gorges. China’s dams and water diversions are an important component of its rise. Its ‘hydroegoism’ or ‘hydroaggression’ is intended to secure its massive water requirements in its northern and western regions. But importantly, the control over such a valuable natural resource gives Beijing enormous strategic latitude with its neighbours.10

Himalayan Hydropolitics China and India, given the distances that the Himalayan rivers traverse the respective territories, are critical players in the hydropolitics of the region. In terms of per capita water availability, China ranks among

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the lowest in the world. Water pollution is also a big worry with a vast majority of lakes and many of its largest rivers unsuitable for human use. Te territorial source of the Himalayan rivers makes China far more water secure than India. It would be probably fair to say that China is the world’s most independent riparian country.11 Tis hydrological position gives it enormous latitude in shaping larger political equations with its riparian neighbours. India, on the other hand, given its middle riparian position and its longstanding commitment to bilateral river treaties has to assiduously balance the anxiety and concerns of its lower riparians (Pakistan and Bangladesh) without compromising its own water requirements. China, in contrast, has no bilateral riparian treaties12 and therefore is not bound by any water utilisation agreement with its neighbours. In fact, China was one of the three countries13 that did not approve of the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Waterways. On the Mekong river basin, China is only a dialogue partner in the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which was formed by the concerns of four lower-riparian countries—Combodia, Laos, Vietnam and Tailand—in 1995. Tough China’s non-binding participation in the Mekong basin has increased, it is unthinkable that it will join MRC as an active member. For the Himalayan basin-states other than China, being waterdependent on external sources is a hydrological reality. Te water dependence and the prevailing politics shape fears and perceptions. For example, the Mekong lower riparian countries will remain suspicious of China’s upstream hydroelectricity projects.14 In the case of Pakistan (which is heavily dependent on the sources of rivers outside its boundary), India and not China is seen as an upper riparian aggressor. Tis of course greatly relates to the grievances that Pakistan has over the Indus Water Treaty with India. Similarly with Bangladesh, the lowest riparian in the GangaBrahmaputra-Meghna basin, water becomes a political and emotional driver. China as the upper riparian player would like the water debate in Pakistan and Bangladesh to be directed and contested with India without highlighting its own hydroelectricity plans either on the Indus or the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra in India). While China has no formal water sharing arrangements with its neighbouring countries, India has several treaties for addressing water issues with its neighbours like the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan and the 1996 Ganga Treaty with Bangladesh. With Nepal and Bhutan, treaties have been signed to share the benefts of water. Water treaties commit India to a dialogue-based water sharing approach and diplomatically become an

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important part of its nighbourhood policy. China, in contrast, would tend to take a strategic view of the water it commands and given its hydrological position factor water as a tool, leverage and a bargaining instrument in framing its regional policies. A snapshot of the riparian dynamics in the Himalayan watershed suggests that while there is considerable lack of trust on water issues between states, there is a greater possibility of drawing India into the regional water debate and breaking political deadlocks through sensible water-sharing arrangements and resource development than is the case with China.

Question of Tibet Tibet’s water resources raise contesting questions—should China alone be the stakeholder to the fate of the waters in Tibet? China has rampantly exploited all the rivers from the Tibetan Plateau. With historical disagreement over territory, Tibet’s unresolved political status will be of direct consequence to the ways for sustainably managing water resources. Lower riparian pressure and international attention to defining vital resource as ‘commons’ would be significant to preserving and sharing the waters of Tibet. While such redefinition is politically sensitive, as it clashes with national jurisdiction, it nonetheless merits attention keeping in mind the future water requirement of the two billion people in South and Southeast Asia. International laws on allocating water within river basins are difficult to implement and often contradictory. The UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses approved in 1997 by a vote of 104–3 and ratified (2014) requires watercourse nations (Article 5) to participate in the use, development and protection of an international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner. Te rapidly changing Himalayan hydrology will require genuine willingness of states to engage in a greater river-basin cooperation. It is of existential importance to draw China into a water dialogue and evolve new mechanisms and approaches to solve water problems. Te stability of the region will greatly depend upon the stable fow of waters. Conclusion: A Comprehensive Understanding of Water Water requirement has undoubtedly emerged as an issue of great concern and urgency. With demands multiplying on water, the availability of which remains constant, a water crisis is impending. Tis holds particularly for developing countries, where the requirement of water will rise by 50 per cent by 2030. A comprehensive water policy for these states would need

CHALLENGES TO THE HIMALAYAN WATERSHED • 43

to take into account the rapidly changing water conditions, in terms of quality, quantity, and the uneven distribution of water. Much of the policy understanding on water has been narrowly framed on the principle of ‘water management’ that entails manipulation of water for specifc uses through water-based projects. Clearly, a more comprehensive policy for protection, development, and utilisation of water resources—including both surface and underground water—needs to be developed. Tis would mean a shif to a more rational and integrated ‘water resource management’ that treats water bodies as one hydrological unit and, in the process, embraces the ‘conjunctive use’ of both surface and underground water resources and their sustainable development. While the developmental focus will remain essentially on the socio-economic uses, it must be noted that water is equally necessary for sustaining the ecosystem. Te challenge lies in maintaining the balance. Regional cooperation will need to factor in an enhanced and updated automated early warning system. Te cooperative framework would also require upgrading remote-sensing projects, which are critical for improving food warning systems. Such enhancement will help in detecting small changes in lake levels, and thereby send immediate signals to alarm systems near villages. While building such capacity is important, what is of greater relevance: is it repeated risk-evaluation at the ground level, leading to thorough risk assessment? Local knowledge and indigenous understanding are immensely important to the overall assessment. Tus a lot of fresh thinking based on evolving hydrological knowledge and understanding is required—thinking that is sincere, evidential, and scientifc; and not alarmist, rhetorical, and misrepresented. Climate variation and its impact on water resources bind the Himalayan region together. Some of the impacts of climate change are already being observed with glacial melt, seismic activity and unpredictable weather patterns. States would need to reorient their riparian polices on a multilateral basis. While, on the one hand, a shif from merely ‘sharing waters’ to ‘sharing benefts’ is necessary, on the other, it is imperative not to lose sight of the ecological considerations.

Notes 1. “Geochemistry of the Suspended Sediments of Circum-Himalayan Rivers and Weathering Budgets over the Last 50 Years”. See abstract http://adsabs.harvard.edu/ abs/2003EAEJA....13617G

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2. Jaroslav Tir and John T. Ackerman, “Politics of Formalised River Cooperation”, Journal of Peace Research, vol.46, no.5, September 2009, p.623. Tere is, however, a general view for perceiving water resources as ‘collective goods’ or ‘common pool resources’. 3. http://www.treehugger.com/fles/2010/08/usgs-confrms-himalayan-glaciers-meltingclimate-change-to-blame.php# 4. Study carried out by the Department of Geography, UC Santa Barbara. See Hindustan Times report, January 27, 2011. Also see, http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2011/01/110124162708.htm 5. Ibid 6. As noted by John Beddington, UK’s Chief Scientist, on March 18, 2009. See http://www. guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/18/perfect-storm-john-beddington-energy-foodclimate 7. NJ Ericksen, Q.K. Ahmad and A.R. Chowdhury, Socio-Economic Implications of Climate Change for Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad, 1997. 8. J.Briscoe and U. Qamar, “Pakistan’s Water Economy Running Dry”, Te World Bank Report, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008, p.27, http://www.hec.gov.pk/InsideHEC/ Divisions/FPD/cwf/Documents/Pakistan’s%20Water%20Economy%20Running%20 Dry%20Oxford%20University%20Press%202006.pdf 9. Mckinsey Report, “Charting our Water Future”, November 2009. 10. Uttam Kumar Sinha, “Tibet’s Watershed Challenges”, Te Washington Post, June 12, 2010. 11. ‘Independent’ in terms of rivers originating in its territory and not being ‘dependent’ on the headwaters from other countries. 12. Except for being a dialogue partner in the Mekong River Commission (MRC). Te Lancang river begins in the northeastern side of Tanggula mountains in the Qinhai province, fows through Tibet into the Yunnan province and is called Mekong when it fows out in the Mengla county in the Yunnan province. Mekong runs all the way through Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Tailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and empties into the South China Sea near Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. Lancang-Mekong River is 4,880.3 kilometers long; the section of the Lancang River in China is 2,161.1 km long. So far, 25 major projects have been listed: 14 projects inside China, 4 inside Laos, 4 along the borders of Laos and Tailand and Laos and Cambodia and 3 projects inside Cambodia. Tese dams are estimated to produce 70 per cent of China’s current electricity needs. 13. Te other two were Turkey and Burundi. 14. Likewise, Kazakhstan and Russia will be concerned over China’s diversion of the Irtysh and Ili rivers.

3. From the Dhaulagiri to Lappland, the Americas and Oceania GEORGE VAN DRIEM

Introduction Te Indian subcontinent was the central staging area for our ancestors when anatomically modern humans emerged from Africa and entered Eurasia. Molecular genetic fndings tell us that our ancestors emerged in waves (Rasmussen et al., 2011). 75,000–62,000 years ago, the First Wave spilled out of Africa and followed a littoral route eastward across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Te colonisation of Australia took place some 50,000 years ago and involved a major sea crossing from Asia. Tere is genomic evidence for some secondary gene fow between New Guinea and Australia some 8,000 years ago at the time of the Sahul land bridge, but this exchange pertains to a much later epoch. How the Australians reached the great continent down under remains a mystery. Were the initial groups of settlers marooned afer having been haplessly swept out to sea, or were the frst Australians intrepid mariners who essentially abandoned seafaring afer having made landfall? Similarly, how did the ancestral Andamanese reach the Andaman Islands? For a great many ancestral groups of modern peoples, however, not the littoral route but the Himalayan region played a pivotal role as a principal thoroughfare. Te mid hills, the foothills and the Terai of the Himalayan corridor served as a conduit for not just one, but for various chronological layers of prehistory. 38,000 to 25,000 years ago, the Second Wave spilled out of Africa through the Levant. A small group branched of in Asia Minor and ventured into Europe but the main body of the wave swept across South Asia and headed to East Asia. Other than those headed for Europe, these migrating peoples interbred with populations of the First Wave whom they met on their way. It is an inescapable consequence of geography that when our anatomically modern ancestors emerged from

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Africa and took this inland route on their way to East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Siberia, the Americas and even Lappland, many of these ancestors must at one point have passed through the Himalayan region and, on their way east, must have crossed the Brahmaputra. In this long stretch of prehistory, the focus of this paper lies on just a subset of early Holocene episodes which led to the ethnolinguistic phylogeography which we observe in eastern Eurasia and Oceania today. Te Eastern Himalaya can be identifed as a cradle of ethnogenesis and a principal thoroughfare in the course of population prehistory. Geographically, the Eastern Himalaya can be demarcated as a welldefned area. Te Himalaya runs over 3600 kilometres from the Hazarahjat Highlands in the west to the Liangshan in the east. Te Himalaya forms no natural watershed and many of the rivers are of greater antiquity than the mountains themselves. In fact, the Kali Gandaki, which runs right past the Dhaulagiri (8167m), is the deepest river valley on the face of the planet. Tis grand invagination at the very centre of the range bisects the Himalaya into two halves of roughly equal length. Te Eastern Himalaya is the half which runs eastward from the Dhaulagiri across the Himalaya, sub-Himalaya, Meghalaya, lower Brahmaputra basin and associated hills tracts, the eastern Tibetan plateau and Indo-Burmese borderlands into the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. New linguistics and genetic fndings enable us to reconstruct the founding dispersals of major language families in Asia and Oceania. Te Eastern Himalaya appears to have served as a cradle of ethnogenesis not just once, but at diferent time depths in the past. Tis new understanding helps further to dispel two antiquated scholarly ideas: one which still lives on in the popular imagination and another which survives in laggardly quarters of the linguistic community. Te myths of a Mongoloid race and a Sino-Tibetan language family tree still survive in modern discourse. Both paradigms are false and historically rooted in “scientifc” racism. Te two myths must be abandoned. At the same time, in studying languages and genes, correlations must not be confused with identity and a number of other caveats must be heeded. Te remarkable fnding that peoples and nations are observed more ofen to speak Father Tongues than Mother Tongues is explained. Te evidence is presented which tells the tale of how the Eastern Himalaya served as the ultimate homeland to all the East Asian language families.

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Te Mongoloid Myth As a species, we have always been obsessed with how we look and appear to be similar or diferent from one another. Te ancient Hindu caste system and apartheid in South Africa were just two of the many systems based on our perceptions of caste, tribe and race. Even before the Portuguese made landfall in Japan in 1542, Europeans were trying to come to grips with the human phenotypical diversity which they observed in people whom they met on their voyages. Today we understand that in scientifc terms, there is actually no such thing as race. We are all members of one large human family. Te relationship between genes, their phenotypical expression and pleiotropic interplay is inordinately complex. Our individual diferences tend ofen to be larger than the diferences between groups. Long before the discovery of the molecular mechanisms underlying genetics, scholars resorted to superfcial classifcations in their attempts to understand human diversity. Classifcation was conducted on the basis of somatology, which involved crude observations about external appearance. On the basis of the descriptions in Dutch and Russian accounts of peoples in other parts of the world, the German scholar Christoph Meiners (1747–1810) set up a classifcation of races based on what he imagined about the racial prototypes of mankind. His cogitations were published posthumously in three volumes. Te “Mongoloid race” was designated by Meiners as one of the main races of mankind: In physiognomy and physique the Mongol diverges as much from the usual form as does the Negro. If any nation merits being recognised as a racial prototype, then it should rightfully be the Mongol, who difers so markedly from all other Asian peoples in his physical and moral nature.1

Meiners described the cruelty of the invading hordes led by Genghis Khan as inherent to the “moral nature” of the Mongoloids, conveniently overlooking the historically well documented cruelties of Western people. His classifcation gave rise to the Mongoloid myth. If the Mongols were the primordial tribe from which all peoples of the Mongoloid race descended, then it was logical to think that the homeland of all Mongoloids lay in Mongolia. I have ofen been told by people in Nepal and northeastern India that their ancestors came from Mongolia. Some adorn their lorries, vans and motorcycles with captions like “Mongol” or “Mongolian”. When I ask

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them why, they tell me that they are members of the Mongoloid race or Mangol jāti ¼eaxksy tkfr½] whose ancestors, as the name tells us, originated in Mongolia. I do not have the heart to tell them that the idea was dreamt up by a German scholar at the beginning of the nineteenth century, who was imaginatively trying to make sense of human diversity, although he had no specialist knowledge to do so. People in the West sufer from the same obsolete ideas. A friend of mine from Abkhazia, who happens to be a renowned linguist, was travelling in the United States of America with a colleague of his from the Republic of Georgia. Whilst driving a rented car, they were pulled over by a police ofcer. Te obese and heavily armed man in uniform demanded to see my friend’s driving licence and then asked them, “Are you folks Arabs?” Te policeman spoke with a heavy American accent and pronounced the word Arabs as [‘eIræ:bz]. Since Abkhazia and Georgia both lie in the Caucasus, my friend responded, “No, Sir, we are both Caucasians”. Tis response somehow displeased the police ofcer, who asserted, “I am a Caucasian!” My friend coolly responded, “No, Sir, you are not a Caucasian, and you do not look particularly like a Caucasian. We are Caucasians’. Te exasperated policeman spluttered, “…but …but I am White!” In the afermath, my friend had to explain to the American policeman where the Caucasus Mountains lay and who the Caucasians were. However, he did not go as far as to explain that the idea that Europeans are purportedly Caucasian originated with Meiners in 1813. Like the Mongoloid, the Caucasoid was another one of his racial prototypes. Americans who apply for a driving licence, take a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or fll in any number of other ofcial forms are ofen asked to specify their race. A person of European ancestry ofen checks a box saying that he or she is a ‘Caucasian’. Some people from Asia and Africa are bafed by these racial questions and by the choices of race on ofer, which difer from one form to another, and then end up having to decide whether they are ‘coloured’ or belong to some other ‘race’. Although the topic of race is taboo in America, American society is both riddled with antique modes of thinking about race and very much in denial about widely held racist assumptions. America has no monopoly on such thinking, however.

Te Sino-Tibetan Myth Te Sino-Tibetan or Indo-Chinese myth likewise has its roots in the now defunct scholarly fashion of “scientifc” racism. Sino-Tibetan also

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owes its longevity to the fact that every age sees many less knowledgeable scholars whose ignorance does not make them less prolifc writers than their more knowledgeable colleagues. Te Sino-Tibetan episode is all the more shameful because the Tibeto-Burman or Trans-Himalayan language family had already been recognised in 1823. Julius von Klaproth identified the language family comprising Tibetan, Burmese, Chinese and all languages demonstrably relatable to these three. The Tibeto-Burman family which he had demonstrated was accepted not just on the Continent, but also in the British Isles (e.g. Hodgson 1857; Cust 1878; Forbes 1878; Houghton 1896). Like Julius von Klaproth, Jean Jacques Huot in Paris and Max Müller in Oxford stressed that language and biological ancestry were two diferent things. Yet there were those who confused language and race. In 1850, Heymann Steinthal wrote that language typology was a measure of the “instinctive self-awareness” of a language community. He claimed that “Language diferences refect diferences in the level of consciousness between diferent peoples”. He qualifed typological diferences in language structure as “physiological”. Steinthal set up an evolutionary hierarchy of successive stages of language types, refecting “the level of development of linguistic consciousness”. He distinguished twelve levels from the most complex, represented by Sanskrit, to the most simple. He relegated Chinese and Tai to the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder based on their “monosyllabicity” and lack of infection. Steinthal’s language typology inspired scholars to argue that Chinese and Tai must be close relatives and that neither was close to Tibeto-Burman. Ostensibly, Chinese and Siamese mediated a rudimentary, less evolved way of thinking. In reality, Chinese was a defning member of Klaproth’s Tibeto-Burman family, and Klaproth had already recognised that Tai belonged to another language family than Chinese. In 1854, the French count Arthur de Gobineau published a fourvolume Essay on the Inequality of Human Races, in which he argued for the inferiority or superiority of particular races based on the structure of their languages. To reconcile the technological advancement of Chinese civilisation with its low rung on the ladder of language evolution, Gobineau invented a distinction between so-called male and female races. As one might expect, the count imagined that “male races” possessed a richer and more precise vocabulary than “female races”, whose languages

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were full of vague notions. To the Count’s mind, the Chinese “race” was in some sense “male” despite the inferior status which he imputed to its language. In 1858, Ernest Renan, who would later become President of the Linguistic Society of Paris, wrote: Is the Chinese language, with its inorganic and incomplete structure not the very image of the dryness of spirit and callousness of heart that characterises the Chinese race? …Sufcient for the needs of daily life, for describing manual skills, for a light literature of no sophistication, for a philosophy that is nothing more than the pretty but never elevated expression of mere common sense, the Chinese language excludes all philosophy, all science and all religion in the sense in which we understand these terms.

Steinthal’s racist language typology caught on in Britain too. John Beames, who wrote the frst grammar of Magar in 1870, was an adherent. For Beames, Chinese represented the most primitive stage of language development, but he promoted English and French to the highest rung of the evolutionary ladder, placing them even above Sanskrit. Beames introduced the term “analytic”—still in use amongst language typologists today—to describe English and French. His enhancements were approved by James Byrne, who in 1885 argued that “the causes which have determined the structure of language” lay in the varying “degrees of quickness of mental excitability possessed by diferent races of men”. Steinthal was German, but his ideas were popular in France and Britain. His thinking was strongly opposed by German linguists, since scholars following the tradition of Wilhelm von Humboldt rejected the racist paradigm. August Pott and Max Müller argued that the relationship between language structure and thought was subtle, intricate and not simplistic. Pott wrote a hefty point-by-point refutation of Gobineau’s work, and the writings of the French count were largely forgotten in Germany. Yet, after the First World War, Gobineau’s writings were rediscovered by Ludwig Schemann and Franz Hahne. Tragically, this time the Count’s cogitations were given a warm reception, and his theories were incorporated into the official ideology of Germany’s National Socialist party. In the nineteenth century, racist linguistics took Chinese out of Klaproth’s original Tibeto-Burman family and put Chinese into a separate branch together with Tai. Te favoured family tree of the racist language

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typologists was Indo-Chinese and in 1924 this phylogenetic model was renamed Sino-Tibetan. In 1938, Berkeley anthropologist Alfred Kroeber started a “Sino-Tibetan Philology Project”. His use of the new name Sino-Tibetan helped to defect criticism against the Indo-Chinese model. Ironically, afer the Cultural Revolution, Chinese scholars imported Sino-Tibetan from America and enshrined this family tree as linguistic orthodoxy in China. Today an increasing number of Chinese linguists have begun to feel uncomfortable with Sino-Tibetan, as they begin to discover the model’s Sinophobic legacy as well as the fact that no evidence exists for this tree. Since the 1970s, the Sino-Tibetan model has been defended from Berkeley by Jim Matisof, who inherited the family tree from his mentor in the 1960s and never questioned it. Sino-Tibetan was challenged and refuted by various scholars, but Matisof continued to act as the Fidei Defensor, assailing any scholar who questioned the tree. Afer years of resistance, Matisof came to realise that the Sino-Tibetan model was wrong. Since his retirement he publicly recanted on three occasions, acknowledging SinoTibetan to be a false tree.2 Today Matisof goes in and out of denial, and in an attempt to save face several of his former students continue to defend Sino-Tibetan despite an inability to adduce evidence. Te history of linguistics is strewn with false “Sino” theories that were founded upon methodologically fawed comparisons, bewilderment about the historical grammar of Chinese and inadequate knowledge of TransHimalayan languages: Sino-Tibetan (Przyluski 1924), Sino-Yenisseian (Schmidt 1926), Sino-Caucasian (Bouda 1950), Sino-Burman (Ramstedt 1957), Sino-Indo-European (Pulleyblank 1966), Sino-Himalayan (Bodman 1973), Sino-Austronesian (Sagart 1993), Sino-Kiranti (Starostin 1994), Sino-Mayan (Jones 1995) and Sino-Uralic (Gao 2008). None of these models are supported by sound evidence and they all represent false language family trees. Te legacy of racist language typology misled many linguists for decades even though an informed view was readily available to any linguist who carefully read the history of the feld and scrutinised the available evidence dispassionately. In 2004, the neutral geographical term Trans-Himalayan was introduced for Klaproth’s Tibeto-Burman, which afer 181 years still turned out to be the most well-informed model of the language family. Te name Trans-Himalayan refects the fact that the world’s second most populous language family straddles the Himalayan range. Most

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speakers of Trans-Himalayan languages today live to the north and east of the Himalaya (Figure 1), but most of the over 300 diferent languages and three fourths of Trans-Himalayan subgroups are located to the south of the Himalayan divide (Figures 2, 3).

Figure 3.1: Geographical Distribution of Trans-Himalayan Languages

Figure 3.2: Geographical distribution of the major Trans-Himalayan subgroups

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(Each dot represents not just one language but the putative historical geographical centre of each of the 42 major linguistic subgroups)

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Figure 3.3: Tirty out of forty-two Trans-Himalayan subgroups lie south of the Himalayan divide, seven to the north and east, and fve (Tshangla, Bodish, Nungish, Lolo-Burmese and Kachinic) straddle both fanks of the Himalaya

Words of Caution on Language and Genes Numerous scholars since the early nineteenth century have stressed that language and biological ancestry were two diferent things. Tere were always others too, like Sir William Jones, who persisted in confusing language and race. Troughout time, people have been inclined to speak the language spoken by their parents but the language which we happen to speak today may very well not be our parents’ language. Since genes are invariably inherited by ofspring from their biological parents, a probabilistic correlation may exist between language and genes in human populations, although this need not necessarily be so. Te past took a very long time and there are many slices of the past. So a chronologically layered view of ethnolinguistic prehistory is essential. Te famous EPAS1 gene which enables Tibetans to live healthy lives at high altitudes without having to fabricate excessive amounts of haemoglobin is known to be shared exclusively with the extinct Denisovans, a Palaeolithic

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people who lived in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Like the Neanderthals, this extinct variety of humans is not really entirely extinct because the Denisovans interbred with the ancestors of many existing populations and not just with the ancestors of the Tibetans. A small percentage of DNA is shared between Denisovans and other Asian populations and native Australians as well. When an ancestral highland Asian population interbred with the Denisovans, these people did not yet speak a language related to Tibetan and ethnolinguistically they were not yet Tibetan. Tat was long ago, and linguistically reconstructible prehistory by comparison relates to more recent slices of prehistory. Not only is the time depth accessible to historical linguistics shallower than the time depth accessible to human genetics but the spread of language families also happens to be a more recent phenomenon than the spread of our anatomically modern ancestors outside of Africa. Language families represent the maximal time depth accessible to historical linguistics because the relatedness of languages belonging to a recognised language family represents the limit of what linguists can empirically demonstrate. Historical linguistics and human population genetics present two distinct windows on the past. Molecular genetic fndings can shed light on ethnolinguistic prehistory and its unrecorded sociolinguistic dimensions. Correlations exist between chromosomal markers and language but these relationships should not be confused with identity. Te correlation of a particular genetic marker with the distribution of a certain language family must not be simplistically equated with populations speaking particular languages. Moreover, other factors that must be taken into account include, inter alia, the potential skewing efects of natural selection, gene surfng, recurrent bottlenecks during range expansion and the sexually asymmetrical introgression of resident genes into incursive populations. Factors such as ancient population structure and possible ancient Y-chromosomal introgression also afect inferences and interpretations based on any single Y-chromosomal locus when attempting to reconstruct migrations and elucidate the geographical origins of populations. Even with all these caveats in place, we must remain aware of all provisos built into our inferences and working hypotheses. Only then may we undertake to interpret ethnolinguistic phylogeography from a linguistically informed perspective.

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Father Tongues In the 1990s, population geneticists found that it was easier to fnd correlations between the language of a particular community and paternally inherited markers on the Y chromosome than between language and maternally inherited markers in the mitochondrial DNA of a speech community. Tis Father Tongue correlation was described by a Swiss–Italian team in 1997 (Poloni et al. 1997, 2000), even before the appearance of the frst Y-chromosomal tree in 2000 (Underhill et al. 2000, 2001). Today we have an even higher resolution picture of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup tree and the world’s paternal lineages, e.g. Karafet et al. (2008). Paternally inherited polymorphisms were inferred to be markers for linguistic dispersals and correlations between Y-chromosomal markers and language could point towards male-biased linguistic intrusions. Te Father Tongue correlation is ubiquitous but not universal. Its preponderance allows us to deduce that a mother teaching her children their father’s tongue must have been a prevalent and recurrent pattern. It is reasonable to infer that some mechanisms of language change may be inherent to this pathway of transmission. Tere are a number of reasons why we might expect this outcome. Initial human colonisation of any part of the planet must have involved both sexes in order for a population of progeny to establish itself. Once a population is in place, however, subsequent migrations could have been gender-biased. Male intruders could impose their language whilst availing themselves of the womenfolk already in place. Sometimes male intruders slaughtered resident males and their ofspring but sometimes intruders formed an élite and consequently enjoyed preferential access to spouses, reared more ofspring and propagated their genes. By contrast, correlations between maternal lineages and linguistic phylogeography have proved underwhelming. Populations exist which form local exceptions to the Father Tongue correlation, such as the Hungarians and the Balti in northern Pakistan but the aetiology of these cases is readily explicable. Te correlations observed do not always make a precise ft, and correlation must not be confused with identity. Te Father Tongue correlation suggests that linguistic dispersals were, in most parts of the world, posterior to initial human colonisation and that many linguistic dispersals were predominantly male-biased intrusions. Our paternal ancestry only represents a very small segment of our ancestry

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but emerging autosomal fndings appear to corroborate the reconstructions presented here. Tese patterns are observed worldwide. Te spread of Niger-Congo languages closely patterns with Y-chromosomal haplogroups. Te martial, male-biased historical spread of Hàn Chinese during the sinifcation of southern China, recounted in detail in the Chinese chronicles, is just as faithfully refected in the genetic evidence. A common ancestry between Native Americans and indigenous Altaians is based preponderantly on shared Y-chromosomal heritage and is not as well refected in mitochondrial lineages. Te saliency of Y-chromosomal haplogroups in tribal and caste populations in India contrasts with the comparatively featureless antiquity of the mitochondrial landscape. In Europe, the language-isolate Basque is the sole surviving linguistic vestige of Palaeolithic European hunter–gatherers, whose predominant paternal lineage was haplogroup I. Even Basques have seen their original paternal heritage being diluted by more recent Y-chromosomal lineages subsequently introduced into Europe; perhaps ultimately originating from the Western Himalaya. Te spread of various Y-chromosomal R subclades may be linked to the dispersal of Indo-European from an original homeland in the PonticCaspian steppe but the unfolding story of these R lineages is complex. In an epoch anterior to the expansion of Indo-European from the Pontic Caspian, an older pre-Indo-European homeland could have lain in the Western Himalaya, as suggested by the presence of the ancestral clade R* in Indian populations. Te Y-chromosomal lineage L shows a diversity of subclades on the Iranian plateau and perhaps preserves a vestige of a tracer for a patrilingual dispersal of Elamo-Dravidian from Bactria and Margiana. One of these haplogroup L subclades is likely to be correlated with the patrilingual spread of Dravidian from the Indus Valley into southern India. Haplogroup Q traces the paternal spread of the Greater Yenisseian linguistic phylum. Yet this exciting tale about the Western Himalaya will have to wait for another occasion to be told.

From the Eastern Himalaya to Lappland Te Eastern Himalaya served as the cradle of ethnogenesis for a number of major language families, the molecular tracers of which survive today as the paternal lineages N (M231) and O (M175).3 Tese two linguistic phyla are Uralo-Siberian and East Asian. Te geographical locus of the ancestral haplogroup NO (M214) lay in the Eastern Himalaya. Afer the two

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Y-chromosomal lineages N and O split up between 30,000 and 20,000 years ago, the spatial dynamics of the two haplogroups diverged greatly (Figure 4). Te ancient populations bearing haplogroups N and O underwent expansions 18,000–12,000 years ago.

Figure 3.4: Te split-up of paternal lineage NO (M214) into the haplogroups N (M231) and O (M175)

Te bearers of haplogroup N set out for East Asia just afer the Last Glacial Maximum and then moved north in a grand counterclockwise sweep, braving ice and tundra and gradually migrating across northern Eurasia as far west as Lappland (Figure 5). Y-chromosomal haplogroup N marks the paternal spread of Uralo-Siberian, comprising communities speaking Uralic, Yukagir, Eskimo-Aleut, Nivkh and Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. Te absence of haplogroup N in the Americas and its prevalence throughout Siberia allow us to infer that the paternal lineage N spread northwards afer the paternal founder lineages had already established themselves in the Americas. Te Greater Yenisseian haplogroup Q must have expanded across Siberia and colonised the Americas by way of Beringia, where it became the predominant paternal lineage, before Y-chromosomal N lineages replaced it in the sparsely populated north.

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Figure 3.5: Te counterclockwise spread of the paternal lineage N (M231), based on Rootsi et al. (2007)

Te N lineages diferentiated into N* (M231), N1 (M128), N2 (P43) and N3 (Tat). Te most prevalent haplogroup N3 is widespread throughout the Uralo-Siberian area, spreading as far west as Scandinavia. Yet the ancestral haplogroup N* is still found in the highest frequency at the eastern end of the Eastern Himalaya, i.e. northern Burma, Yunnan and Sichuan. Haplogroup N1 is particularly frequent in the Altai region and to a lesser extent in Manchuria, and N2 shows an especially high frequency on both the Yamal and Tamyr peninsulas in northern Siberia.

Te East Asian Linguistic Phylum Julius von Klaproth (1783–1835) was able to distinguish the contours of many of the known Asian language families. Five families form part of the East Asian linguistic phylum: Trans-Himalayan, Hmong-Mien, Kradai, Austronesian and Austroasiatic (Figures 1, 6, 7, 8, 9). Later generations of linguists began to discern possible long-distance relationships between the recognised families. In 1901, Gustave Schlegel argued that Kradai was related to Austronesian. Schlegel’s theory was taken up by Paul Benedict in 1975 but Benedict’s “Austro-Tai” was no more than an ingredient in his misconceived “Japanese-Austro-Tai” theory.

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Figure 3.6: Geographical Distribution of Hmong-Mien

In 2005, Weera Ostapirat became the frst to present a methodologically sound linguistic evidence that Kradai and Austronesian formed coordinate branches of a single Austro-Tai family. Ostapirat envisages an ancient migration from what today is southern China across the Taiwan Strait to Formosa, where the Austronesian language family established itself. Te Kradai proto-language remained behind on the mainland. Much later, the Formosan exodus set in motion the spread of Malayo-Polynesian throughout the Philippines, the Malay peninsula, the Indonesian archipelago, Madagascar and Oceania. By uniting Austronesian and Kradai in an Austro-Tai family, Ostapirat has efectively reduced the number of East Asian language families from fve to four.

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Figure 3.7: Geographical Distribution of Kradai

Figure 3.8: Geographical Distribution of Austronesian

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Since the beginning of the twentieth century, historical linguists have been attempting to unite the East Asian language families on purely linguistic grounds. In 1906, Wilhelm Schmidt proposed an “Austric” macrofamily, uniting Austroasiatic and Austronesian. In 2005, Lawrence Reid envisaged an even larger macrofamily, proposing that Austric “may eventually need to be abandoned in favour of a wider language family which can be shown to include both Austronesian and Austroasiatic languages but not necessarily as sisters of a common ancestor”.

Figure 3.9: Geographical Distribution of Austroasiatic

August Conrady in 1916 and Kurt Wulf in 1934 each proposed a superfamily consisting of Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Kradai and TibetoBurman. Subsequently, Robert Blust in 1996 and Ilia Peiros in 1998 proposed an “Austric” superfamily comprising Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Kradai and Hmong-Mien. In 2001, a year before he died of congestive heart failure, Stanley Starosta had proposed the East Asian linguistic phylum encompassing Kradai, Austronesian, Tibeto-Burman, Hmong-Mien and Austroasiatic. Starosta’s evidence was meagre; yet compelling in being primarily morphological in

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nature. Te ancient morphological processes shared by the families of this phylum were an agentive prefx *, a patient sufx *, an instrumental prefx and a perfective prefx *. Te East Asian word was ostensibly disyllablic and exhibited the canonical structure cvcvc. As a theory of linguistic relationship, Starosta’s East Asian theory lies on the horizon of what might be empirically demonstrable in historical linguistics. Tis hypothesis will remain our best linguistically informed conjecture until better linguistic evidence can be accrued to support or overturn the model. At Benares in 2012, I presented the tweaked East Asian family tree depicted in Figure 10.

Figure 3.10: Te 2012 Benares Recension: Revised East Asian Phylogeny

Eastern Himalayan Homeland Te East Asian linguistic phylum consists of the four language families: Trans-Himalayan, Hmong-Mien, Austroasiatic and Austro-Tai. Te populations speaking these languages today are not characterised by just a preponderance of the Y-chromosomal lineage O (M175). Language communities of the four families are each characterised by a particular subclade of haplogroup O, suggesting a paternal spread of these language families and a probable time depth for the East Asian linguistic phylum that is coeval with the antiquity of haplogroup O itself. As temperature and humidity increased afer the Last Glacial Maximum, haplogroup O split up into the subclades O1 (MSY2.2), O2 (M268) and O3 (M122).

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Te three subclades can be putatively assigned to three geographical loci along an east–west axis without any claim to geographical precision. Whereas haplogroup O1 moved to the drainage of the Pearl River and its tributaries, the bearers of haplogroup O2 moved to southern Yunnan whilst bearers of haplogroup O3 remained in the Eastern Himalaya (Figure 11). Te O2 clade split into O2a (M95) and O2b (M176). Asian rice may have frst been domesticated roughly in the area hypothetically imputed to O2 south of the central Yangtze (Figure 12).

Figure 3.11: Afer the Last Glacial Maximum, the Y-chromosomal haplogroup O (M175) split into the subclades O1 (M119), O2 (M268) and O3 (M122). Bearers of the O2 (M268) paternal lineage domesticated Asian rice.

Te bearers of the subclade O2a became the ancestors of the Austroasiatics who spread initially to the Salween drainage in northeastern Burma, to northern Tailand and to western Laos. In time, the Austroasiatics would spread as far as the Mekong delta, the Malay peninsula and the Nicobars. Later, early Austroasiatics would introduce both their language and their paternal lineage to indigenous peoples of eastern India whose descendants are today’s Munda language communities.

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Figure 3.12: Paternal lineages branching into new subclades. Each event involved a linguistic bottleneck leading to language families that today are reconstructible as distinct linguistic phyla. Te O1 (MSY2.2) lineage gave rise to the O1a (M119) subclade, which moved eastward to the Fujian hill tracts and across the straits to Formosa, which therefore became the homeland of the Austronesians. Bearers of O3a3b (M7) became the Proto-Hmong-Mien. In the Eastern Himalaya, the bearers of haplogroup O3a3c (M134) expanded and became the Trans-Himalayans. Haplogroup O2a (M95) is the Proto-Austroasiatic paternal lineage. Te para-Austroasiatic fraternal clade O2b (M176) spread eastwards, sowing seeds along the way.

Meanwhile, the bearers of the fraternal subclade O2b spread eastwards, where they introduced rice agriculture to areas downstream south of the Yangtze. Te bearers of the O2b haplogroup continued to sow seeds as they moved ever further eastwards but lef no linguistic traces. Tis paternal lineage moved as far as the Korean peninsula and represents the second major wave of peopling attested to in the Japanese genome. Yet, the Japanese speak a language of the Altaic linguistic phylum. We can identify the O2b (M176) lineage with the Yayoi people, who introduced rice agriculture to Japan, perhaps as early as the second millennium BC, during the fnal phase of the Jōmon period (Tanaka et al. 2004; Hammer et al. 2006). Te Yayoi appear to have introduced other crops of continental inspiration to the Japanese archipelago such as millet, wheat and melons. Te gracile Yayoi immigrants soon outnumbered the more robust and less populous Jōmon, who had been the frst anatomically modern humans to populate Japan. Te Y-chromosomal haplogroup O2b and other O haplogroups in Japan are later arrivals but account for more

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than half of all Japanese paternal lineages, with their highest frequencies in Kyūshū. A Father Tongue theory for Altaic which assumes no close afnity between Altaic and Uralo-Siberian entails that an antique C haplogroup, perhaps C3, represents an early trace of a paternally disseminated linguistic phylum at a great time depth. Factors such as changes in the ambient material world, social upheaval and cultural transformation, which are known to accelerate the pace of language change, have played an ever more salient role in human life since the Neolithic revolution. It is conceivable, therefore, that language may have changed at a slower tempo in Paleolithic times. Scholars of the Altaic language family have reconstructed a very ancient linguistic relationship. No doubt, much of this old linguistic stratum was lost long ago. Te remnants of this Father Tongue survive in Japan as Japanese and elsewhere in Asia as the other languages of the Altaic language family, i.e. Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic. Another ancient Father Tongue, entirely distinct from Altaic and anciently introduced to Japan by the bearers of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup D2 (M55), also survives today in the Japanese archipelago as Ainu. At the dawn of the Holocene in the Eastern Himalaya, haplogroup O3 gave rise to the ancestral Trans-Himalayan paternal lineage O3a3c (M134) and the original Hmong-Mien paternal lineage O3a3b (M7). Te bearers of haplogroup O3a3c stayed behind in the Eastern Himalaya whilst bearers of the O3a3b lineage migrated east to settle in areas south of the Yangtze. On their way, the early Hmong-Mien encountered the ancient Austroasiatics, from whom they adopted rice agriculture. Te interaction between ancient Austroasiatics and the early HmongMien not only involved the sharing of rice agriculture technology but also lef high frequencies of haplogroup O2a in today’s Hmong-Mien and haplogroup O3a3b in today’s Austroasiatic populations. Te Austroasiatic paternal contribution to Hmong-Mien populations was modest but the Hmong-Mien paternal contribution to Austroasiatic populations in Southeast Asia was signifcant. However, the incidence of haplogroup O3a3b in Austroasiatic communities of the subcontinent is undetectably low. Subsequently, the Hmong-Mien continued to move eastwards, as did bearers of haplogroup O2b. Even further east, the O1 (MSY2.2) paternal lineage gave rise to the O1a (M119) subclade, which moved from the Pearl river to the Min

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river drainage in the Fujian hill tracts and then across the Taiwan Strait. Formosa consequently became the homeland of the Austronesians. Te Malayo-Polynesian expansion via the Philippines into insular Southeast Asia must have entailed the introduction of Austronesian languages by bearers of haplogroup O1a to resident communities whose original Austroasiatic paternal haplogroup O2a alongside other older paternal lineages would remain dominant even afer linguistic assimilation. Similarly, Malagasy is an Austronesian language but the Malagasy people trace their biological ancestries equally to Borneo and the African mainland. Back in the Eastern Himalaya, the paternal spread of Trans-Himalayan is preserved in the distribution of Y-chromosomal haplogroup O3a3c (M134). Te centre of phylogenetic diversity of the Trans-Himalayan language family is rooted squarely in the Eastern Himalaya with outliers trailing of towards the loess plains of the Yellow River basin in the northeast (Figure 2). Initially Trans-Himalayans expanded through Sichuan and Yunnan, north and northwest across the Tibetan plateau, westwards across the Himalaya and southwards into the Indo-Burmese borderlands. On the Brahmaputran plain, the early Tibeto-Burmans encountered the Austroasiatics who had preceded them. Te ancestral TransHimalayan paternal lineage O3a3c also spread from the Eastern Himalaya in a northeasterly direction across East Asia to the North China plains. Subsequently, at a shallower time depth, the Tibeto-Burman paternal lineage O3a3c spread from the Yellow River basin south into southern China, beginning with the Hàn expansion during the Qín dynasty in the third century BC. Te Trans-Himalayan paternal lineage O3a3c is intrusively present in the Korean peninsula and beyond, although the Evenki and other Uralo-Siberian populations predominantly retain the paternal lineage N. Te Eastern Himalaya furnished the ultimate cradle for the ethnogenesis of the various Uralo-Siberian and East Asian language families. Language and genes tell us what we might also have deduced from basic facts of geography. In the hoary past, when our ancestors emerged from Africa on their way to East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Siberia, the Americas and even Lappland, many of these ancestors frst passed through the Eastern Himalaya and crossed the Brahmaputra.

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Notes 1. Die Gesichts- und Körperbildung der Mongolen steht von der gewöhnlichen Form eben so sehr ab, als die der Neger. Und wenn irgend eine Nation verdient, als uraltes Stammvolk betrachtet zu werden; so kommt dieser Nahme mit recht den von allen anderen Asiatischen Völkern, der körperlichen und moralischen Beschafenheit nach so sehr verschiedenen Mongolen zu. 2. October 29, 2009 at the 4th International Conference on Austroasiatic Linguistics at Mahidol University in Bangkok, February 24, 2012 in a talk entitled “Te Present State of Sino-Tibetan Studies: Progress and Outstanding Issues” at a special seminar for the Hakubi Project and Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyōto University, and and October 26, 2012 at the Conference for Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. 3. Haplogroup labels (O2a, O2b, etc.) are updated regularly by the Y-Chromosome Consortium. Mutation numbers (M95, M176, etc.) remain unchanged.

References 1. Beames, John (1868). Outlines of Indian Philology. London: Trübner and Company. 2. Benedict, Paul King (1975). Austro-Tai: Language and Culture, with a Glossary of Roots. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files. 3. Blust, Robert (1996). ‘Beyond the Austronesian Homeland: Te Austric Hypothesis and its Implications for Archaeology’, pp. 117-160 in Ward H. Goodenough (ed), Prehistoric Settlement of the Pacifc. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. 4. Bodman, Nicholas Cleaveland (1973). ‘Some Chinese Refexes of Sino-Tibetan sClusters’, Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 1(3): 383-396. 5. Bouda, Karl (1950). ‘Die Sprache der Buruscho’, Eusko-Jakintza, Revue d’Études Basques, IV: 37-50. 6. Byrne, James (1885). General Principles of the Structure of Language (2 volumes). London: Trübner and Company. 7. Conrady, August (1916). ‘Eine merkwurdige Beziehung zwischen den austrischen und den indochinesischen Sprachen’, pp. 475-504 in Aufsätze zur Kultur- und Sprachgeschichte vornehmlich des Orients: Ernst Kuhn zum 70. Geburtstage am 7. Februar 1916 gewidmet von Freunden und Schulern. München: Verlag von M. & H. Marcus. 8. Cust, Robert N. (1878). A Sketch of the Modern Languages of East India. London: Trübner and Company. 9. Driem, George van (2013). East Asian Ethnolinguistic Phylogeography, Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, 7(1):1-55. 10. Forbes, Charles James F.S. (1878). ‘On Tibeto-Burman Languages’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, X: 210-227. 11. Gāo Jīngyī (2008). Hányǔ yú Běi’oū Yŭyán: Hányǔ yú Wūlā’ěr Yŭyán jí Yìn’ōu Yŭyán Tóngyuán Tànjiū [‘Chinese and Nordic Languages: Investigating Correspondences between Chinese and Indo-European and Uralic’]. Peking: Zhōngguó Shèhuì Kēxué Chūbǎnshè.

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12. de Gobineau, Joseph Arthur (1854, 1855). Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines (4 volumes). Paris: Firmin-Didiot et Compagnie. 13. Hammer, Michael F., Tatiana M. Karafet, Hwayong Park, Keiichi Omoto, Shinji Harihara, Mark Stoneking and Satoshi Horai (2006). ‘Dual Origins of the Japanese: Common Ground for Hunter-Gatherer and Farmer Y Chromosomes’, Journal of Human Genetics, 51: 47-58. 14. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1857). ‘Comparative Vocabulary of the Languages of the Broken Tribes of Népál’, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, XXVI: 317-371. 15. Houghton, Bernard (1896). ‘Outlines of Tibeto-Burman Linguistic Palæontology’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 23-55. 16. Jones, Robert Reese (1995). ‘Two-Hundred CALMSEA [‘Culturally Appropriate Lexicostatistical Model for Southeast Asia’] Comparisons in Sino-Tibeto-Mayan’, paper presented at the XXVIII International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, University of Virginia at Charlottesville, October 1995. 17. Karafet, Tatiana M., Fernando L. Mendez, Monica B. Meilerman, Peter A. Underhill, Stephen L. Zegura and Michael F. Hammer (2008). ‘New Binary Polymorphisms Reshape and Increase Resolution of the Human Y-Chromosomal Haplogroup Tree’, Genome Research, 18: 830-838. 18. von Klaproth, Julius Heinrich (1823). Asia Polyglotta. Paris: A. Schubart. 19. Meiners, Christoph (1813). [posthumous]. Untersuchungen uber die Verschiedenheiten der Menschennaturen (die verschiedenen Menschenarten) in Asien und in den Südländern, in den Ostindischen und Südseeinseln, nebst einer historischen Vergleichung der vormahligen und gegenwärtigen Bewohner dieser Continente und Eylande. Tübingen: in der J.G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung. 20. Ostapirat, Weera (2005). ‘Kra-Dai and Austronesian: Notes on Phonological Correspondences and Vocabulary Distribution’, pp. 107-131 in Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas (eds.), Te Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. London: Routledge Curzon. 21. Ostapirat, Weera (2013). ‘Austro-Tai Revisited’, 23rd Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society, Chulalongkorn University, 29 May 2013. 22. Peiros, Ilia (1998). Comparative Linguistics in Southeast Asia, Vol.142. Canberra: Pacifc Linguistics. 23. Poloni, Estella Simone, Ornella Semino, Giuseppe Passarino, A.S. SantachiaraBenerecetti, I. Dupanloup, André Langaney and Laurent Excofer (1997). ‘Human Genetic Afnities for Y chromosome P49a,f/TaqI Haploptypes Show Strong Correspondence with Linguistics’, American Journal of Human Genetics, 61: 1015- 1035 (cf. the erratum published in 1998 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, 62: 1267). 24. Poloni, Estella Simone, Nicolas Ray, Stefan Schneider and André Langaney. (2000). ‘Languages and Genes: Modes of Transmission Observed through the Analysis of MaleSpecifc and Female-Specifc Genes’, pp. 185-186 in Jean-Louis Dessalles and Laleh Ghadakpour (eds.), Proceedings: Evolution of Language, 3rd International Conference 3-6 April 2000. Paris: École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications.

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25. Przyluski, Jean (1924). ‘Le sino-tibétain’, pp. 361-384 in Antoine Meillet and Marcel Cohen, (eds.), Les Langues du Monde. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Édouard Champion. 26. Pulleyblank, Edwin George (1966). ‘Chinese and Indo-Europeans’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), 98 (1): 9-39. 27. Ramstedt, Gustaf John (1957). [posthumous]. Einfuhrung in die altaische Sprachwissenschaf: Lautlehre (Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia, Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 104, 1). Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seura. 28. Rasmussen, Morten, and Xiaosen Guo, Yong Wang, Kirk E. Lohmueller, Simon Rasmussen, Anders Albrechtsen, Line Skotte, Stinus Lindgreen, Mait Metspalu, Tibaut Jombart, Toomas Kivisild, Weiwei Zhai, Anders Eriksson, Andrea Manica, Ludovic Orlando, Francisco de la Vega, Silvano Tridico, Ene Metspalu, Kasper Nielsen, María C. Ávila-Arcos, J. Víctor Moreno-Mayar, Craig Muller, Joe Dortch, M. Tomas P. Gilbert, Ole Lund, Agata Wesolowska, Monika Karmin, Lucy A. Weinert, Bo Wang, Jun Li, Shuaishuai Tai, Fei Xiao, Tsunehiko Hanihara, George van Driem, Aashish R. Jha, François-Xavier Ricaut, Peter de Knijf, Andrea B. Migliano, Irene GallegoRomero, Karsten Kristiansen, David Lambert, Søren Brunak, Peter Forster, Bernd Brinkmann, Olaf Nehlich, Michael Bunce, Michael Richards, Ramneek Gupta, Carlos Bustamante, Anders Krogh, Robert A. Foley, Marta Mirazón Lahr, François Balloux, Tomas Sicheritz-Pontén, Richard Villems, Rasmus Nielsen, Wang Jun, Eske Willerslev (2011). ‘An Aboriginal Australian Genome Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia’, Science, 334 (6052): 94-98. 29. Reid, Lawrence A. (2005). ‘Te Current Status of Austric: A Review Footnote numbers 37, 38, 39 are in a diferent font and Evaluation of the Lexical and Morphosyntactic Evidence’, pp. 132-160 in Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas (eds.), Te Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. London: Routledge Curzon. 30. Renan, Ernest (1858). De l’origine du langage (deuxième édition, revue et considérablement augmentée). Paris: Michel Lévy, Frères, Librairies-Éditeurs. 31. Sagart, Laurent (1993). ‘Chinese and Austronesian: Evidence for a Genetic Relationship’, Journal of Chinese Linguistics 21 (1): 1-62. 32. Schlegel, Gustave (1901). Review: ‘Elements of Siamese Grammar’ by O. Frankfurter, Ph.D., Bangkok: Printed at the American Presbyterian Mission Press, Leipzig, Karl W. Hiersemann, (1900), T‘oung Pao (Série II), II: 76-87. 33. Schmidt, Wilhelm (1926). Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde (2 vols., the second of which is an atlas). Heidelberg: Carl Winter. 34. Starostin, Sergej Anatol’evič (1994). ‘Te Reconstruction of Proto-Kiranti’, paper presented at the 27ème Congrès International sur les Langues et la Linguistique SinoTibétaines, Centre International d’Études Pédagogiques à Sèvres, 14 October 1994. 35. Steinthal, Heymann (1850). Die Classifcation der Sprachen dargestellt als die Entwickelung der Sprachidee. Berlin: Ferdinand Dümmler’s Buchhandlung. 36. Steinthal, Heymann (1860). Charakteristik der hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues. Berlin: Ferdinand Dümmler’s Verlagsbuchhandlung. 37. Tanaka, Masashi, Vicente M. Cabrera, Ana M. González, José M. Larruga, Takeshi Takeyasu, Noriyuki Fuku, Li-Jun Guo, Raita Hirose, Yasunori Fujita, Miyuki Kurata,

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Ken-ichi Shinoda, Kazuo Umetso, Yoshiji Yamada, Yoshiharu, Oshida, Yuzo Sato, Nobutaka Hattori, Yoshikuni Mizuno, Yasumichi Arai, Nobuyoshi Hirose, Shigeo Ohta, Osamu Ogawa, Yasushi Tanaka, Ryuzo Kawamori, Masayo Shamoto-Nagai, Wakako Maruyama, Hiroshi Shimokata, Ryota Suzuki and Hidetoshi Shimodaira (2004). ‘Mitochondrial Genome Variation in Eastern Asia and the Peopling of Japan’, Genome Research, 10A: 1832-1850. 38. Underhill, Peter A., Peidong Shen, Alice A. Lin, Jīn Lì, Giuseppe Passarino, Wei H. Yang, Erin Kaufman, Batsheva Bonné-Tamir, Jaume Bertranpetit, Paolo Francalacci, Muntaser Ibrahim, Trefor Jenkins, Judith R. Kidd, S. Qasim Mehdi, Mark T. Seielstad, R. Spencer Wells, Alberto Piazza, Ronald W. Davis, Marcus W. Feldman, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Peter J. Oefner (2000). ‘Y Chromosome Sequence Variation and the History of Human Populations’, Nature Genetics, 26: 358-361. 39. Underhill, Peter A., G. Passarino, A.A. Lin, P. Shen, Marta Mirazón-Lahr, Robert A. Foley, P.J. Oefner and Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2001). ‘Te Phylogeography of Y Chromosome Binary Haplotypes and the Origins of Modern Human Populations’, Annals of Human Genetics, 65: 4-62. 40. Wulf, Kurt (1934). Chinesisch und Tai: Sprachvergleichende Untersuchungen. Copenhagen: Levin & Munksgaard.

4. Textile, Text, Terracing, Territoriality: Weaving a Pan-Himalayan Identity NIRAJ KUMAR AND CHINGNGAIH BIAK

Introduction Zomia has emerged as a powerful metaphor for anarchist stateless societies. Te ideologues of Occupy Protest Movement like David Graeber and Saul Newman are concerned with the concentration of power in the hands of the state.1 Te leading contemporary Marxist philosophers, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri who authored a path-breaking book, Empire (2004)2, have come out with a new manifesto, Declarations (2012)3 postulating how the state has created a securitised subject and that there is a need to counter the monopolising surveillance power of the state. Zomia has become emblematic of the oppositional end of governance by a state. It is how even the concept like cyberzomia4 is being deployed to understand the behaviour of the netizen (wangmin) in China. Te cyberspace is being described as “virtual highland” where ‘spaces of autonomy’ are recreated, where the “new” is imagined and where resistance against the “old” is forming.5 Like zomia, the cyberzomia is being characterised as ofering “a reprieve from restrictive patterns and boundaries and adequate spaces of autonomy where people can breathe, think, imagine and make space for something new”. 6 Te concept of zomia was formulated by a Dutch historian, William van Schendel, in 2002. He derived this moniker from the term zomi, a term for highlander, in a number of Chin-Mizo-Kuki languages spoken in Myanmar, India and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. ‘Zo’ carries the meaning of ‘highland” and the ‘mi’ of people. Schendel argues that zomia ought to be a new academic area studies since the contiguous region has manifold “shared ideas, related lifeways, and long-standing cultural ties.”7 Schendel included under the umbrella of the zomia metaphor, a vast expanse of territories which were only politically ‘marginal regions of states”.8 Tese are Kashmir, North India, Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan,

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Northeast India, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh), Burma, Yunnan and Sichuan (China), Tailand, Laos and Vietnam. 9 But Schendel has misconstrued the Chin-Kuki-Naga groups. Zo is a polysemic term and its linkages can be seen as far as Yunnan. Naxi people who live near the city of Zhongdian (Shangri-La) in the Deqin Prefecture still till their land with their ‘zo’. Zo is a half-cow and half-yak breed. In fact, it also indicates a geo-climatic state. Tese communities divide a mountainous region into two climatic zones. Te higher part of the region is characterised by cold, wet and damp climatic conditions, which have geographical natures of evergreen forests where potatoes, maize, and sulphur hear may be grown. Tese areas are covered with rain clouds in the monsoonal rainy season. Te sun is rarely to be seen. Such a place or area is denoted by the term ‘Zo’.10 Te lower altitude where bamboo grows is drier and known as chim or chhim. We have argued in the next section how these communities, in fact, belong to similar mountain-worshipping common cultural tradition which can be characterised by the term Kang. Yale historian James C. Scott elaborated upon the concept in a pathbreaking book, Te Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast India.11 Scott writes in the preface of his book, “Zomia is a new name for virtually all the lands at altitudes above roughly three hundred meters all the way from the Central Highlands of Vietnam to northeastern India and traversing fve Southeastern Asian nations (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Tailand and Burma) and four provinces of China (Yunnan, Guizhou, Guanxi and parts of Sichuan). It is an expanse of 2.5 million square kilometers containing about one hundred million minority people of truly bewildering ethnic and linguistic variety.”12

Scott argues that zomia is “the largest remaining region of the world whose people have not been fully incorporated into nation-states.”13 (See Figure 1) While Western historians are looking towards the region to search for the ways in which the citizen can develop “state-evading or state-resisting practices”14, they miss another important dimension of the people of this Asian massif. Communities are always on the move. If the serf moved to urban centres when the capitalist production processes started, herein people move from one hill to another, one ridge to the next paving way for the following bands of migrations. Teir history is the history of migration.

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Teir life can be best captured as that of nomads of the hill. Even their mode of production that still persists in pockets was jhum or the slashand-burn method of cultivation. Permanent settlement and subsequent formation of larger political units was not in their vein. Te uninhabited mountains provided them the ever-shifing frontier.

Nomadia Te work of French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felixe Guattri on nomads has revived a keen interest among political scientists the world over. For Deleuze and Guattri, life, as immanence, is a state of pure becoming as opposed to static being. Any supposition of transcendental concept/ Being stops the movement of “becoming”. Tus, they plead for the end of transcendental signifers to reassert life’s movement. Te authors elaborate the philosophical theme in “1227: Te Treatise of Nomadology” in the masterpiece work, “A Tousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia” (1980)15 by pitting State against War-Machine. State is the sedentary formation and the War-Machine is nomadic and directed against the State System. Tough the nomad has territory but every point is a relay and exists only as a relay in the path of a nomad. Deleuze and Guattri explain that “the life of the nomad is the intermezzo”.16  Nomadic trajectory distributes people and animals in an open space unlike the sedentary roads which regulate communication and create a closed space for people. Deleuze and Guattri further describe the characteristics of the nomad and the state space: “Sedentary space is striated by walls, enclosures, and roads between enclosures, while nomad space is smooth, marked only by traits that are efaced and displaced with the trajectory.”17 Te two philosophers deploy the analogy of “chess” against the game “go” to describe two diferent kinds of space and organisational thought. Chess is a game of state but the game of go is fuid, implying perpetual movement like a nomad’s movement. In chess there is a grid and the space of chess is “striated”. Each piece possesses intrinsic properties and limited powers. Tese pieces move according to a fxed set of principles and the movement is not unexpected.  Tis is the Order of State within which Deleuze and Guattri subsume religion as this also presupposes some transcendental signifer thereby putting a break on the perpetual movement of the Being. In contrast, they stress the War-Machine is moulded as in the game go. 

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Te War-Machine follows a guerrilla logic and ‘it is a question of arraying oneself in an open space, of holding space, of maintaining the point of springing up at any point: the movement is not from one point to another, but becomes perpetual, without aim or destination, without departure or arrival.’ We would like to coin the neologism, Nomadia, to explain such a Nomadic space which resists the state formation and striation. Te idea of zomia does not capture the essence of a nomadic movement.

Figure 4.1: Zomia in Scott’s formulation (Image Credit: http://rachelwagley.blogspot.fr/2013/02/zomia-ethnic-groups-of-south-and.html)

Scott describes zomia as the “one of the largest remaining nonstate spaces in the world”18. Scott puts Zomia “as marginal in almost every

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respect. It lies at a great distance from the main centers of economic activity; it bestrides a contact zone between eight nation-states and several religious traditions and cosmologies.”19   Scott argues that for the past two thousand years, this vast region has resisted the attempts of state formation and has maintained an autonomous space spanning across many nation-states. He discusses in the book that inhabitants of zomia have used numerous tactics to escape capture by state-makers, from geographical dispersal, living with an oral culture, agricultural practices that encourage mobility and oppose sedentary life which makes predation by tax-authority possible, becoming sea gypsies (orang laut) and resisting co-option into expanding state machines.  James Scott’s Zomia is the War-Machine of the Nomadia, the ultimate social machine of resistance against the powerful process of state formation. It is interesting to fnd how the state authorities have faced the Nomadia War-Machine in their fght for territorialisation. Te state is constrained with the deployment of paramilitary or military forces on stationary duty while the groups which resist the appropriation by the state engage in guerilla warfare. Te frst relies on static manpower; the resistance fghters are always on perpetual mobility. Another similarity of zomia and Nomadia can be traced to the perpetual movement of various ethnic groups of zomia from time immemorial.  Teir oral history is the history of dispersion and of resistance to the formation of permanent kingdoms or structures. One can see a similar pattern among the Nagas, Zomis, Kukis, Mizo, Hmar, Naxi, Bei, Mosuo, the highlanders of Burma, Laos and Vietnam. Teir history is merely the history of movement and war. Tere is no monument, no historic date, no grand text, nothing to commemorate the history. It is the ultimate Deleuze and Guattri War-Machine. Tey resist the codifcation of life itself by others, in particular a modern State-System, as is evident from the geopolitical arch of instability spanning this belt where the guerillas are engaged in struggle and co-option against all the neighbouring states. Tey innovate new forms of mobility and resistance in opposition to the apparatus of state capture. One can see the increased recourse to digital networking as a way to increase the mobility and as extension of the “smooth space” they intend to maintain and expand what Peter Marlot terms as ‘cyberzomia’. Mankind aspires to attain a harmonious balance between two paramount goals—joy and freedom. While joy can be maximised only in a collectivity, the collectivity restricts the realisation of autonomy. But what

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if a collectivity is let loose? Te psychology of medieval invaders, jihadi marauders in Iraq and Syria or the rowdy bikers in the heart of capital cities represent the human urge to balance the two aims. Urban dwellers’ regular foray towards beaches and hills in groups with least care for the societal norms or law of the land is refection of this inherent human propensity. People in the Nomadia have happily balanced the two goals without disturbing the peace of others. Teir incessant move in collectivity for thousands of years now stands at a crossroad.

Is Yunnan Te Region of Common Origin of Te Tibeto-Burman People? Te Tibeto-Burman speaking people might have originated from China.S.K. Chatterji identifes the area of “NorthWest China, between the head waters of the Hwang Ho and the Yangtze Kiang Rivers” as the origin of Sino-Tibetan migration into India and Myanmar.20 Grierson had postulated the same region as the original home of Figure 4.2: Regions in which Tibeto-Burman Languages were Spoken, Early Twentieth Century Tibeto-Burman races.21 (Source: Grierson, G. A. 1903 (reprint 1963). (See Figure 2) Tere were Linguistic Survey of India. Delhi: Motilal many phases of migration Banarsidass.) which drifed along with the Himalayas curve. Like the major rivers of South Asia which have origins in the Himalayas, the Himalayas themselves drive down towards the Bay of Bengal. From northern Assam, many a mountain ranges arise that run southwards. Tese ranges divide the region between the Brahmaputra and the Irrawaddy. Te history of migration of the Tibeto-Burman people can be traced through these river valleys and the mountain ranges. Captain Yule, who went as Secretary to the Envoy to the Court of Ava in 1855, described this chain and its inhabitants:

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“Still further westward in the Naga country, between longitude 93° and 95°, a great multiple mass of mountains starts southwards from the Assam chain. Enclosing frst the level alluvial valley of Manipur, at a height of 2,500 feet above the sea, it then spreads out westward of Tipperah and the coast of Chittagong and Northern Arakan, a broad succession of unexplored and forest-covered spurs, inhabited by a vast variety of wild tribes of Indo-Chinese kindred known as Kukis, Nagas, Khynes, and by many more specifc names...”22

In all probability, the area between the great bend of the Brahmaputra and the gorges in Yunnan/Sichuan where three great rivers of Asia, namely the Yangtze (Jinsha), Mekong (Nu) and Salween (Lancang) run parallel to each other for over 300 km, is a place of interest for seeking out the common origin of the Tibeto-Burman speaking people. Afer this confuence the rivers diverge and empty in diferent directions. Salween empties in the Indian Ocean through Burma; Mekong into South China Sea through Vietnam and Yangtze into the East China Sea at Shanghai. Te region is a biodiversity paradise and much of it is inaccessible to the world outside. Tere are almost 56000 species of plants and 173 kinds of only mammals, 417 kinds of birds—many of which are specifc to this area alone. Tere are dozens of ethnic minorities in Yunnan like Nu, Lisu, Bai, Pumi, Naxi and Derun. George van Driem in chapter in this book, From the Dhaulagiri to Lappland, the Americas and Oceania, states: “It is an inescapable consequence of geography that when our anatomically modern ancestors emerged from Africa and took this inland route on their way to East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Siberia, the Americas and even Lappland, many of these ancestors must at one point have passed through the Himalayan region and, on their way east, have crossed the Brahmaputra. Te Eastern Himalaya can be identifed as a cradle of ethnogenesis and a principal thoroughfare in the course of population prehistory.”23

George van Driem points out that the 3,600 km long Himalayas is bifurcated into two equal halves by Dhaulagiri in Nepal and the Eastern Himalaya is the half which runs “eastwards from Dhaulagiri across the Himalaya, sub-Himalaya, Meghalaya, lower Brahmaputra basin and associated hills tracts, the eastern Tibetan plateau and Indo-Burmese borderlands into the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan”. 24 In fact, this is the belt of maximum ethnic diversity in the world and appears to be the navel of ethnogenesis, as argued by van Driem. Te most likely place,

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from where the migration route took a southward turn, is the region around Sino-Tibet borderland since the three rivers and the glacier-covered peaks and the dense ecological pool provide a fertile ground for the diversifcation of the human genetic pool. Tibetans believe that in this area, the Pemako beyul is located which is the hidden paradise. It is believed that the Dalai Lama lef Lhasa for safety to this place in 1959 but he could not reach the place and had to turn southwards to the Indian border. In this region lies the highest peak in Yunnan Province rising about 6,740 metres—the Kang Karpo Peak (also known as Kawagebo). It is still a “virgin peak” for no one has ever climbed till the top. Te Tibetans revere it as the easternmost abode of Shri Chakrasamvara (Khorlo Demchok). Tis can be viewed as the easternmost sacred peak of the Himalayan ranges. When one moves to the nearby mountains of Yading, one gets amazed at the view of the three sacred peaks—Chenrezi, Jampayang and Chenadorje. Probably, the presence of three sacred peaks had pre-Buddhist signifcance, particularly for indigenous groups like the Chin-Kuki-Naga, whose identity itself is intertwined with the “mountains”. Tis memory is refected in the widely accepted belief that all the people who cook rice on three stone pillars, “Lungthu”, are all Zomi/Mizo. Naga ancestors erected three stone monoliths in the village of Makhrai-Rab, called Linotu, signifying the three pillars of human life. Kang Karpo (“The White Pillar Snow Mountain”) lies in the Hengduan Shan Mountains running north–south covering the region of convergence of Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and Myanmar. Therefore, the migration of the Tibeto-Burman people, particularly the Chin-KukiNaga groups through any pass, would not have missed this important geographical landmark. We will see in next section how this mountain peak weaves a common narrative among various communities of the eastern Himalayas. Te migration stories of various ethnic communities in India’s Northeast indicates the same region for their origin—now lying in China. Vumson has tried to reconstruct the Zo migration route and their history in his acclaimed book, Zo History. 25 Zo people believe that they settled in the Chindwin Valley in early times. Te Paite community remembers Chindwin as Tuikang, meaning white water. Burmans called the Zo people Chin from their very early contacts in the eleventh or twelfh century AD. When the Burmans moved down

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the Irrawaddy River and came to the Chindwin they discovered a basketcarrying people occupying the river valley. Hence they called the river “Chindwin”, meaning “the valley of the baskets” as “chin” means basket in Burmese. Te general Burmese population accepts “chin” to be a word for basket, and they explain that the Zo people were so called because of their habit of carrying baskets. 26 But, they never settled in the same territory for long. One group moves on and the other group succeeds them. Tey moved downwards towards the Bay of Bengal across the river Chindwin. Groups undertook diferent directions. While some groups reached the Bay of Bengal through the Chittagong Hills, others moved northwards towards the plain of Assam. Farthest they could reach was the present Nagaland and the North Cachar hills in Assam. Tey were confronted with the stratifed civilisation of the South Asian plains. But the movement which seemed to have been halted has resumed again in diferent garbs. Tese ethnic minorities are fast migrating to the various metropoles the world over. Teir own history of migration has fnally converged with the process of globalisation. From the mountain nomads, they have become the postmodern nomads—but making sure that their communitarian identities and common cultural idioms are kept intact.

Ladakh’s Kangla to Imphal’s Kangla: Postulating a Kang Culture Grid in Asia’s Underbelly There are certain strange coincidences in the Himalayan belt. The Himalayas extend from the Karakoram mountains in India’s north to the Liangshan in the east. Dhaulagiri bisects Himalayas into two equal halves. If on the north-western extremity of this chain lies the cultural sub-region of Kashmir and Ladakh, on the south-eastern extremity of Eastern Himalayas exist the culture of Zomis/Mizos. At both ends of the belt, there are common stories about origin, movement and ecology, though the geo-climatic characteristics change drastically. Kashmir valley derives its name from Prakrit roots. The component kas means a water channel and mir is the mountain. Thus, Kashmir is the land fed on water from the mountain, indicating the various water streams and lakes. Similarly, Zomi people claim that they had settled in the valley of Tuikang or Chindwin valley, where they lived with the Shans. Tui is water and Kang is a homonym with multiple meanings like mountain, white, best, highest, pure, supreme. Tuikang will therefore mean same as Kashmir—water from mountains.

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But, a particular word that pervades the languages of the whole Himalayan range is Kang. Tis is to be found among the Ladakhis in the north and among the Mizos in the south-west end of the zone. Stok Kangri (6,116 m) and Kang Yatse (6,200 m) are the well-known mountain peaks in Zanskar region in Ladakh. One crosses Ladakh and enters eastwards into the Miyar valley of Lahaul-Spiti by crossing the Kang-la Pass. It is one of the most remote passes in the Himalayan belt and located at 5,468 m above sea level. As soon as one crosses into Himachal, he reaches the sacred land of the Kang-ra district where temples of many of the Saptamatrikas like Chamunda, Kangra, Jwalamukhi Devi, Naina Devi, Chintpurni are situated. Further north, the most sacred mountain, the Kailash is known as the Kang Rinpoche by Tibetans. Kailash is also the home to major river systems of Asia. Further eastwards, the highest mountain of the world, Mt. Everest (8,848 m) is known as the Lepchi Kang by the Tibetan worshippers. Further east, Kangchendzonga (8,598 m), the third highest mountain peak in the world is important for the people of Sikkim. At the far eastern extremity, the highest mountain peak of Yunnan is the Kang Karpo (6,840 m). All these high mountain peaks are permanently snowcapped and hence also ‘Kang’ in another meaning (white). Tese are the highest summits where earth and sky meet providing the word Kang with another meaning. Such is the popularity of the term, Kang, from Ladakh to Manipur, that this word might become the key to unlock hidden linkages. In Manipur, the Meiteis term their land as ‘Kangleipak’. Many revivalist groups are indulged in militancy for restoring their Kangleipak. In the Kuki dominated-Senapati district, one comes across the highest peak, Kala Pahar, in the Kangpokpi sub-region. This area is full of Kangnomenclatures. There is Kokang town, Kangta and Kanggui village. In fact, Kokang is a large town in Northern Myanmar and it appears that the memory of landscape has been transposed by the Kuki communities in the Kangpokpi sub-region. We have discussed how the migration stories of these communities mention their origin from the region of Kangtui, which most of the modern scholars identify with the Chindwin river valley in Myanmar. But, Kangtui carries the meaning of ‘stream from white snow mountains” and there are no snow mountains in the middle part of Myanmar. Terefore, this may be indicative of the region around Mt. Kang Karpo which is snow-laden and like Kala Pahar peak in the Kangpokpi district in Manipur, always covered

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with clouds. We have discussed in the previous section this region as the likely place of origin of these ethnic groups. For the Meitei Manipuri, who also belong to the same stock as that of the Chin-Kuki-Naga, Kangla Fort in Imphal is the symbol of identity. Manipuris, who are credited with discovering the game of polo, locally call the game as Sagol Kangjei. Te royal household plays another game of Kang in which the male and female members participate wearing traditional attires. In such usage, Kang carries the meaning of the majestic and precious. Te identifcation of kang with the white colour of snow is so strong that when the British administrators started visiting the area afer conquering these territories, villagers treated them with obsequious respect. Because they were white they were called mikang topa meaning White Master or Lord27. Mi is people, kang is white and topa is the lord, so British enjoying the privileges of Mikang Topa. But, Kang is used as a highly reverential word more among the Tibetans. For the Himalayan Buddhists, the words of the Buddha are compiled in the Kang-gyur. Kang in this context is the term for “the most precious, pure as white” and gyur is the transmission. Te stone pillar in Lhasa which is the symbol of Tibetan nation is Jo-khang, and clearly derived from this word. Te highest peak near Lhasa is Mt. Noijin Kangsang (7,206 m). But the term is exclusively used by all Tibetans for the most revered mountain peak on the planet, Mt. Kailash. Tis is the Kang Rinpoche, the most precious mountain peak. Te Kailash Purana of Tibetans is known as the KangriKarchok. Afer surveying the usage of the term among diferent sub-families of the Tibeto-Burman language, it can be postulated that a Kang culture pervades the Himalayas from Ladakh to Manipur–Nagaland covering Yunnan, Sichuan in China and Northern Myanmar. Tis Kang culture is based upon the worship of mountain peaks and celebrating the lives sustaining on the water streams gushing from those hills. Kang culture also spread to Mongolia and the Buddhist region of Russia’s east along with the infuence of Himalayan Buddhism. Once the Kang culture belt is properly studied, Asia can be viewed as packed with slices of contiguous culture stripes. In East Asia, there is a Kanji culture covering China, Japan and the Koreas and many parts of South-East Asia based upon common script. Tence, is the Kang culture

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zone in the underbelly of the Himalayas. Tere is the Karma-culture zone in India that believes in karma, rebirth and cyclicity of phenomena. Further west, it is the Koran-culture zone in the Middle East and Central Asia. (Figure 3)

Figure 4.3: Asia’s Cultural Stripes

But, the Kang culture that centred upon reverence towards the snowcapped inaccessible high mountain peaks, believed to be the abode of the gods, has been also deeply infuenced by Buddhism. Buddhism in its two forms acted as a pincer movement. While Vajrayana Buddhism grew from northwards down, Hinayana Buddhism grew southwards north. Te two forms of Buddhism meet in the Yunnan province of China, which is a distinct region with the presence of more than 20 ethnic groups. Te Kang

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culture is facing further pressure from Catholic Christianity. But, it is still only a century of invaginations. Te Naga Hills retain the remnants of the ancient Kang culture to a large extent because of many peculiarities. Te Naga Hills were the least annexed by British authorities. Moreover, the fear of the head-hunting tradition of Nagas made them less touched by the outside people. Te Nagas themselves evolved distinct characteristics of dialectical variation to preserve ethnic-cum-spatial identity. In Ukhrul district of Manipur dominated by Tangkhul Nagas, there are more than 200 dialects. Each village has a distinct dialect and makes interaction mutually unintelligible. Nagas constitute the cockpit of Kang culture now. Flanked by the northern stream of a yak-based society and a southern stream of a bufalo-stream society, Nagas have their own distinct animal, Mithun (Bos frontalis). Mithun is a cross breed of gaur and domestic cattle and known as Sial or Kikang (another instance of importance of the term Kang). Te Nagas divide two diferent world views, two diferent domesticated-animal landscapes. (Figure 4)

Figure 4.4: Sandwiched Nagas

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Tis situation allows getting a peep into the pristine Kang culture by reading Naga history. But, they do not have written history, nor have they built memorials to their civilisation. How can social scientists peep into Naga worldview and Naga history? Increasingly, the realisation has come that the history of written history is very short. When population geneticists are trying to explore human prehistory by examining mitochondrial landscape, a furry of methods have been discovered by anthropologists to read history through more permanent objects—materials of ritual and everyday use.

Non-Verbal Communiations: Understanding Materiality Te role of material objects in social communication is being deciphered by anthropologists and social scientists the world over. Fieldwork reports properly illustrate how human beings and material objects are deeply entangled in manifold ways. Te French school of post-Levi-Straussian structural anthropologists like Philippe Descola of Collège de France, Bruno Latour and Pierre Lemonnier of Aix Marseille University and many others have enriched our understanding about the role of material objects in social life. Te infuence has rightly been dubbed as new ‘ontological turn’. An executive session of the AAA Annual Meeting, “Te Ontological Turn in French Philosophical Anthropology,” was held in Chicago on November 23, 2013. Te debates are raging on Pierre Lemonnier’s book, Mundane Objects: Materiality and Non-Verbal Communication (2012)28 and the implications for the social sciences. Lemonnier found that mundane objects physically intervene and shape human lives. He exhorts scholars to investigate the ‘blending power of things’. Lemonnier presents fve case studies using a single type of object and its particular relationship with the humans who make and use it.29 Te frst case study is the building of fences by the Baruyas in Papua New Guinea. Te fences are meant to protect the gardens from pigs. But, the fences have a far larger role than the protection of gardens. Lemonnier discovered how fencing, in fact, is a physical manifestation of the values imbibed by the community and involves co-operative communal labour, which is organised through structured kinship relations.30 Similarly, he takes up the case study of the Ankave eel trap, Ankave drums, Angka ritual pouch and model cars in France as sites of memory and mythology for male collectors in France. All these objects are imbued with layers of meaning and as such convey non-verbal statements. Lemonnier posits for the primacy of materiality and the role of positioning objects as “fundamental to the stability of the sociocultural

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confguration”.31 Objects are plastic in meaning and these are the sites of condensation of meaning. “People do not merely look at such objects. Tey produce them, manipulate them, and perform material actions with them, such as piercing the nose, rubbing bodies, transplanting cordylines, making noise, shaking a tapa etc.”32 Lemonnier coined a new phrase, “perissological resonances” for such material objects.33 “Perissology,” he states, “is a useful pleonasm for things that in various domains or registers reinforce a message… Te same goal is achieved through diferent systems like slowing a truck with distinct brakes (hydraulic, electric, mechanical).”34 As resonators, Lemonnier argues, objects form hubs of countless variation of memories, mythologies and meanings, which they then express outwards to impact upon those who encounter them. Perissological resonators are such type of objects which act as “cognitive blending devices based on perissologies and allowing the emergence of a nonverbal message”.35 Perissological resonators can reveal relationships extant in various domains like kinship, exchange, death, marriage etc. Tese facilitate condensing of relationships and social values. Chris Ballard terms Perissology as a productive repetition which acts to extend the reach of the resonator and reinforces the intended message.36

Textile as Perissological Resonator Textile functions as the material interface between us and the external world. As soon as we are born, we are wrapped in clothes. Troughout our lives, our bodies have diferent textile enclosures which express non-verbal meanings. Te colour of clothes reveals the identity of religious priests in modern societies. Te textile communicates the profession, gender, status, age, region in modern societies and group identities in the nonurban peripheral communities. Richard Martin describes textile as the convergence of the tangible and intangible. 37 Can textile as material objects be deciphered for its role as a perissological resonator? In his feld study among the communities of Papua New Guinea, Lemonnier found how Anga sacred bundles are the condensation or integration of multiple avenues of sensory perception as a way to express, build, and recall key aspects of the local social organisation, cultural values and system of thoughts as well as their interrelations.38 Each bundle is unique in composition and historical association with the descendants of a particular ancestral fgure; it is the quintessence of the group’s culture and identity”.39 If sacred bundles as material objects can be classifed as perissological resonators, there are stronger arguments to treat

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textile as such a material which is the site of condensation of multi-sensorial experiences like touch, sight, smell, memory, geometry, auspiciousness etc. Cloth is a universal material in human societies. Tis is connected with the human body and still external to it. Such is the density of meaning and values attached to it that in many primordial communities even the thin strap tied around the waist is considered essential for normative behaviours. Every culture has a special clothing to mark special events, places or relationships. Te clothes like the Anga sacred bundles also transmit and preserve the group’s culture and identity. Various studies among South American tribes show that the dress designs have specifc characteristics that always identify the wearer with a specifc town. In Guatemala, diferent city dwellers can be recognised immediately; may it be the people from Santa Catarina Palopó, Nebaj, Santiago Atitlán or the Salcajá. In Guatemala, the women’s blouse, locally known as a  huipil, and a wraparound skirt (corte) are woven with complex patterns. Each community or language-group made its own specifc huipil and corte designs. When a woman puts on corte and huipil, she in fact encloses herself at the centre of a symbolic universe of her culture. In fact, ethnic communities in highland Himalayas can be recognised through their particular wraparound skirts for women. Tese skirts are not only everyday objects for consumption but also perissological resonators in the sense that the weaving process itself involves a structured kinship relationship. Tese wraparound skirts (puanten in the Paite language) are also a gif to be given to sediment kinship relationship on the occasion of marriage and sending-of ceremonies. Tere are colour codes for the skirts to be worn during funerals. Tus, the ethnographic study of textiles in the eastern end of the Himalayas where ethnic diversity is highest can reveal their history, memories and connections. Since, these cultures like true nomads did not build “memorials to civilisation”, their history can be fathomed only through reading the patterns on their textiles.

Textile and Textuality In primordial societies where proper scripts did not emerge, the memories are transferred orally from generation to generation like a continuous thread.  Ethnographers are conclusive now that it is the intricate weaving pattern on the textile that is the repository of a group’s custom, tradition, legends and identities. Textile emerged much earlier than text

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and the weaving pattern can be decoded as cultural DNA to establish the migration history among contiguous ethnic communities. Tough, the earliest known woven fragments were excavated in  southern Turkey  at Catal Huyuk and dated to over 9000 years ago, the earliest known basketweaving dates around 13,000 years ago. A New York Times report stated that the oldest known twisted fbres, which could have been woven into basketry or textiles, were found in Israel and date to about 19,300 years ago. But, paleo-anthropologists have to push back the date of weaving to 25000 years ago afer the discovery of clay fragments embossed with textile patterns discovered in 1995 in the Pavlov Hills in the southeastern Czech Republic by a team led by Dr. Olga Sofer of the University of Illinois and Dr. James M. Adovasio. A group of archeologists have arrayed to establish the origin of textile technology before the Neolithic period (8000 BC) when human species learnt to domesticate plants and animals.40 Tere have been recent criticisms against earlier-generation archaeologists for over emphasising stone tools and implements used by the male members in interpreting human history  and ignoring technology of signifcation like textiles which are perpetual from the very early times where women had dominance. Tey charge them with a patriarchal gaze in telescoping present prejudices over the recollection of the past. It is being debated that textile predates text and there is a connection between textile (weaving) and text (language). Roland Barthes, the French philosopher whose work on the discipline of writing is immense, sums up the relationship beautifully, “etymologicaaly the text is a cloth: textus, meaning “woven””.41 Textile expert and cultural historian Jasleen Dhamija equates textiles with non-verbal language. Dhamija states that “textile can be a language but a non-verbal language.”42 She views a traditional textile like a ‘book” that can be read and the meaning deciphered. She further states, “The material used to fabricate and dye the cloth imparts geoclimatic knowledge about the area of origin. Woven motifs and colour impart information concerning cultural meaning, belief systems and history. Textile also contains information about the socio-economic status of the wearer in the case of ritual and burial garments. Fine fabrics signify wealth and status and in some cultures, certain woven motifs and colours were the prerogative of the aristocracy as in the case of royal purple.”43 After her study of the spinning community in U.P, she boldly asserted how textile was a way of life for the weaving-specialist community. She wrote,

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“Textiles are a way of life and the non-verbal language of a people. Fabrics speak to us at multiple levels. Its raw materials speak of the geo-climatic conditions and trade links. Te techniques speak of the level of civilization as well as links with others. Te motifs tell us of its legends, its myth, its beliefs, the way of life and also the trade links.”44

Textile is the textual tradition for indigenous peoples. Te Western tradition of alphabetic writing is deeply rooted in logocentrism, exposed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, in his magnum opus, Of Grammatology.45 British linguist Geofrey Sampson describes two basic kinds of writings: glottographic writing which represents speech and semasiographic writing which is independent of speech.46 In fact, textile patterns can be characterised as semasiographic writing as these are independent of speech. Road signs are examples of semasiographic writing. Tis is iconic writing. Similarly, the patterns on woven textile convey a meaning independent of speech. Indigenous people have developed diverse, complex theories of textuality in which cosmology is inscribed within the body, the social and the surrounding ecological world. 47 Te interconnectivity of textile and text can be seen from their common etymological root. Both words are derived from the Latin textere to weave, and textus a fabric. Similarly, in Sanskrit, the term sutra for fabric is also the term for the textual treatise. Textile historian, Kathryn Sullivan Kruger goes one step further and claims that “Because weaving constitutes one of the frst signifying practices that recorded the world’s ancient myths and symbols, I propose that a reference made within a written text or to the weaving process recalls this history. Towards this view, the written text is a recent form of textile, ancillary to those primary texts “told” or “tooled” in cloth.”48

Uzendoski defnes “text as ‘making’ a narrative that involves images/ designs of more specifcally ‘weaving” a narrative that is inscribed and patterned. Textuality involves various and multimodal practices that leave traces: storytelling, dance, song/music, ritual, production, and a host of other human activities that are recursive of inscribed truths and which involve experience.”49 Textile, in that sense, is both a multimodal sensorial experience and leaves a relatively permanent trace. Textiles emerged as  an important activity of primordial society as weaving was a laborious activity. Te

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priests, village heads, tribal chiefs carried the authority signifed through diferent drapings. In fact, diferent weaving patterns became a hallmark of clan identity in egalitarian societies. Not only human bodies, but even deities and totems were decorated with various drapings. Weaving became an exercise in the sacred ritual activity of propitiation. Textiles and sacredness got so much intermingled from the earliest times that Buddhists all across Asia engaged in weaving the Buddha robe as a path for liberation.  Te Buddha image was woven with precious silk. Te evidence is still extant in the Dunhuang cave discoveries in China. Textile is ofered as part of the sacrifcial act to deities among Hindus and Buddhists. Among the followers of Tibetan Buddhism, the High Lamas ofer kata (white scarf woven in silk) which is considered as one of the eight auspicious symbols. Among the highland societies of  Asia, traditional shawls carrying the thread of continuity of the weaving pattern are ofered as a mark of respect. Elizabeth Wayland Barber, an anthropologist, mentions “Cloth, from our frst direct evidence twenty thousand years ago, has been the handiest solution to conveying social messages visually, silently, continuously.”50 Tis is so true for contemporary times also with diferent dress codes for nurses, lawyers, military and police. Te cloth as a text speaks about the identity bypassing the medium of spoken word. Kruger in her meticulously researched book establishes that the ancient production of text frst occurred in the form of textile. In fact, every  culture, primordial or postmodern, records the symbols of its own heritage on the body of a textile. Dr. Angela Sheng, an art historian from  McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada has documented costumes from the Miao, Yi, Dong, Tujia, Shui, Zhuang, Dai, Buyi, Yao, Wa and Zang in South West China and explored variations in “myths of origin and heroic combats, communal memories, and wish fulfllment” among these communities. In the book, Writing with Tread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities51 Angela Sheng discusses in her essay, “Reading  Costumes as ‘Texts’ and Decoding Ethnic Visual Culture of Southwest China”, how to decode the myth and narratives of the community in the weaving patterns. We have tried to  read the connection between various communities of Nomadia through discovering commonalities in the weaving pattern over the puanten—women’s tubular long skirt. It is not surprising that the frst documented texts in  India  belonged to the sutra tradition. Sutra is not only the compressed verse, but also the thread. Sutra is a formula, a code cultural as well as material, a tangible thread used in rituals. Te frst evidence of written script in India dates back

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to Ashoka’s time (third century BC). Written texts emerged much later than the massive production of texts transmitted orally in  India  either in the Vedic or Buddhist or Jaina tradition. Weaving was the most sophisticated technology for ancient Indians and weaving became a metaphor for Creation—from creating new disciplines or postulating the origin of the universe. Everything owes an analogy to weaving. Possibly, weaving itself emerged as an imitation of the act of a spider in weaving intricate webs. Tus, the primordial act of the creation of the Universe was imagined to be woven by Brahma. Te whole terminology of weaving sneaked into the Vedic Sutras.  Frits Staal has rightly observed that the terminologies like grantha (knot), tantra (loom), nibandha (tying), prabandha (band) have their origin in textile technology.52 But, we fnd a role-reversal with the substitution of textile as text to the text of alphabetic writing. While, it was the women who dominated the craf of weaving, knitting, embroidery—it is the men who write the texts. For women, it was the needle that wrote on fabric; for men it is the pen that writes on paper. Embroidery created by the women was replaced by paintings created by men. Jeferies states, “Textiles are always ethnic, class and gender indexed.”53 Textile in a sense is the opposition to phonetic imperialism. Te rule by book—may it be constitution, acts, statutes, religious books—are resisted by the act of weaving. Tis is how the region of Nomadia, where traditional textile tradition is still extant and dynamic, is the hotbed of resistance against the rule by modern governments. But, textile weaving in these indigenous communities is the autonomous domain of women. Te male in these societies does indulge in weaving but it is the basket weaving with bamboo straps. A leading thinker on ethno-geometry, Paulus Gerdes, discovered how basket weaving and textile weaving have diferent mathematical basics.54 We are taking up the case of textile weaving since textile has also been the site for women’s resistance against the patriarchal order. By focusing on the wraparound skirt in the region, we can decipher the text of resistance of doubly-repressed women; by patriarchal as well as the written culture’s order. In fact, many studies do point out this tool of resistance popular among women across the cultural spectrum. Sarah Ann O’Mahony writes, “Troughout history, textile has acted as a vehicle for women’s never-ending complaint against a misogynistic order and its power structures, and, as the thesis will show, the textile/text axis is deeply implicated in similar agendas of contemporary women artists.”55

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Ethnic Textiles in Himalaya’s Eastern Stretch Ethnic costumes of indigenous minorities are a non-verbal way of cultural exchange. In fact, these are the perissological resonators, as emphasised in the earlier section. Just like in towns of Guatemala, clothing is the distinct marker of diverse ethnicities in this zone. Even though great religions like Buddhism and Christianity have made inroads, traditional ethnic costumes are necessary on the eve of rituals, festivals, birth and funerals and other symbolic times. Among the Chin women in Burma, it is customary for a woman to weave a large blanket in which she and her husband will be wrapped upon their deaths. When one partner dies, the blanket is cut in two, with one half used to cover the body and the other half stored away till the second partner passes—as they believe the blanket would unite the two spirits.56 Pwint writes, “Diferent motifs over dresses represent the wearer’s status, signifying whether someone is married or what position they have in the village hierarchy.” Deng Qiyao, Professor of Anthropology in Sun Yat-sen University, China, rightly asserts about ethnic dresses, “It establishes societal norms, ethnic identity and the functions of historical narrative.”57 He refers to a Jingpo (Kachin) proverb, which sums up the whole debate: Our history is woven on a tubular skirt; Tose are the characters lef behind by our ancestors. Qiyao conducted feldwork on the Miao people in Yunnan and he concludes, “living a migratory life, the Miao used the most convenient

Picture 4.1: Ao (PhotoCredit: http://www.tribuneindia. com/2002/20020503/nation.htm)

Picture 4.2: Chang (PhotoCredit: http://www.neipeople. com/2013/11/chang.html)

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Picture 4.3: Lotha (Photo Credit: http://www.neipeople. com/2013/11/lotha.html)

Picture 4.4: Liangmei (Photo Credit: http://www.neipeople. com/2014/05/liangmai.html)

Picture 4.5: ZeliAng (Photo Credit: Sadanand Kamath, www.sadanandsafar.blogspot.com)

Picture 4.6: Kachari (Photo Credit: www.sadanandsafar.blogspot. com)

Picture 4.7: Phom (Photo Credit: www.sadanandsafar.blogspot. com)

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Picture 4.8: Konyak (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.11: Sangtam (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.9: Khiamniugan (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.10: Yimchunger (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.12: Sumi (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.13: Pochury (Photo Credit: www. sadanandsafar. blogspot.com

Picture 4.14: Sema (Photo Credit: http://www.neipeople. com/2013/12/sumi.html)

Picture 4.15: Angami (Photo Credit: http://www.neipeople. com/2013/11/angami.html)

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Picture 4.16: Rongmei (Photo Credit: http://www.neipeople. com/2013/11/rongmei.html)

Picture 4.17: Chakhesang (Photo Credit: http://www.thephora.net/ forum/showthread.php?t=39151)

method to encode their own culture into a cipher that they could carry with them wherever they went. Consequently, their ancient songs, passed on orally, and the colourful hand-embroidery clothing became their tools for recording history and the fundamental method for passing on their culture.”58 In fact, Professor Deng-Qiyao deciphered Miao embroidery and found that though history books describe their men as ‘rioters’, the sleeve patch on Miao clothing depict a legendary Miao heroine, Wu Moxi from Shidong, Guizhou, and another embroidered fgure is that of Zhang Xiumei (1823–1872), who led a rebellion against the Qing Empire. To decode and write history by a study of ethnic dresses where no written records of events exist is a tough exercise. Ethnic dresses, like perissological resonators, are resistant to change the pattern, colour, motif, embroidery; pass on from generation to generation for hundreds of years unlike the short cycle of changing fashion in contemporary modern societies. Professor Deng realises afer his study of Miao clothing that for “Miao clothing, ‘time’ is not measured in a year’s season; rather by hundred or thousands of years! Tat could cause the Miao never to change their clothing style, over hundreds and thousands of years.”59 He succinctly remarks, “Many ethnic minorities without a written language have a special narrative tradition. Tey use oral history, mythology, epics, folk songs, and visual arts and crafs to transmit and pass on their culture. Tey write with thread. Tread is their ink to write the myths, history and all they wish to record, projecting it on the clothes that accompany them, forming a cultural code. Te myths and legends of each ethnic group can be seen in the styles, colour, dyeing, and embroidered patterns on their ethnic clothing. Teir clothing is a pictographic account of ‘Historical Records’ of the other.”60

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Measuring Timelessness through Naga Skirts Tere are 16 major Naga ethnic groups in Nagaland. Tese include the Angami, Ao, Sema, Lotha, Rengma, Chakhesang, Khiamniungan, Chang, Konyak, Phom, Sangtam, Liangmei, Yimchungrü, Pochury, Rongmei and Zeme. Tere are various Naga ethnic groups in adjoining Manipur and Assam. Tangkhuls reside in the Ukhrul district of Manipur and Cachari in the North Cachar district of Assam. Each ethnic group has own distinct shawl, both for men and women, and narrative stories are woven just as in the case of ethnic minorities like Miao in Yunnan-Sichuan. By looking at a traditional Naga shawl, the ethnic group as well as the geographical region can easily be ascertained. But, as discussed above, we are focusing on patterns of only women’s skirts which are wraparound clothes with woven motifs which indicate identity, marital status and family relationships. Picture 1 to Picture 17 show the diversity of Indian Naga women’s wraparound skirts. It is evident that Naga skirts have gridded squares and stripes. Circles are rare. Te motifs used on male shawls are that of mithun or deer or spear, all things that pertain to hunting and warfare. But, why are circles missing from the weaving patterns?

Re-Reading Handicraf: Smooth Political Space vs Striated Mental  It is evident that this region is a non-state political space which is struggling on its last leg against Statifcation. As per Deleuze and Guattri, the state system creates striated space while the nomadic system creates a “smooth space” without a permanent signifer. Tis Nomadia is a War-Machine par excellence from this aspect as it resists the ‘striation” by the state. Here comes the problem.  If one observes the traditional textiles woven with the decorative pattern, one will be surprised to fnd the “striation”. Picture 18 and Picture 19 are from diferent regions in China and India, but the colour and striation are common. Across Nomadia, the same pattern of striation is visible in the weaving of textiles, baskets or carpets. Whereever the ‘handicraf” is Picture 4.18: Ethnic Costumes in SW China required, the “terrace” pattern is (PhotoCredit: http://www.pacross.net/Photo_ visible. galleries.htm)

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We have seen among the ZomisChin-Kuki-Naga, the continuity of weaving patterns for generations. Every girl child is required to learn the art of weaving textiles that maintains the transfer of the community narrative embedded in the weaving pattern. Te weaving is not merely an oral narrative. Te Nomadia lacks history. But, Picture 4.19: Ethnic Costumes of Paiteapart from the oral tradition, it is the Mizo (Photo Credit: http://www.paite.org/ handicraf that gives permanence to nampuan-design/item/724-nampuan-lehbawmta-khut-khai.html) the collective memory. Te handicraf is in wider sense of the word, “handicraf”.  It pervades the art of farming, the art of bamboo-making, the art of bamboo-roofng the house, the art of leg-movement in dances and the art of playing music on traditional instruments. Tus, it is seen that people in Nomadia are jovial. Tey love to sing and dance. Tey love to play musical instruments. Tey love to engage in “handicrafs” that give them the sense of perpetual motion. Famous Moon and Peacock dancer, Yang Liping comes from the Bai minority in the Yunnan province of China.  But, the most permanent among all handicrafs is the textile, as it can be preserved safely from generation to generation. Te textile-pattern is the cultural text. Just like genes, that inherit biological properties, it is the weaving-patterns that carry the communitarian identity. More than language, more than cosmological beliefs, more than clan and kinship, it is the diference in the striation over the traditional costumes that defne identity in Nomadia.  What surprises us is the absence of circular motifs. Tere is total absence of circles in the design of women’s skirts, from Nagaland to Manipur to Mizoram to Sichuan. While one can see the rich imagery in the weaving designs of Central Asians or other communities being part of the Empires or the State, the absence of human fgures or divine fgures or the circles signifying sun and the moon in the weaving design is surprising. Tis reiterates the Nomadian characteristics of the Nomadia. Tough handicraf is impersonal, it still does not signify transcendental things. 

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But, why do the non-state societies which are resisting the attempt of “striation’ by external actors transfer their collective memory through a “striated pattern”? Is this a paradox? Or is this incomprehensible from the point of view of a Static thinking? Can nomadic thinking capture the collective imagination of the Nomadia? 

Back To Deleuze and Guattri: Geophilosophy of Terracing Te paradox can again be explained by taking into account Deleuze and Guattri’s concept of Geophilosophy. We have seen how terrace farming is a characteristic of Nomadia, from India to Vietnam and China. Terracing technology enters the cosmological world-view through analogous transfer.  Te terracing of hills to produce rice (Picture 20) has its equivalence in the terracing pattern on the handicraf that produces identity. For Nomadia, two aspects are the most essential—food and identity. Tere is less concern with eschatological belief as among many other societies across the world. Another peculiar characteristic that can be found is the reverence for the hornbill in Nomadia. Hornbills are found across Nomadia (Picture 21, 22 and 23) and used as an emblem by various communities. Hornbills are integral part of their culture. Teir feathers, beaks, behaviour, sound etc. are used as a cultural marker. Te Hornbill Festival is a great time for coming together of diferent communities in Nagaland and elsewhere.  One can observe the decorative pattern on the hornbill’s body (Picture 24). It is again a refection of terracing.

Picture 4.20: Longi Rice Terraces, SW China (Photo Credit: blog.chinatraveldepot.com)

Picture 4.21: Khiamniungan Naga with Hornbill Feathers (PhotoCredit: http://www.thephora.net/ forum/showthread.php?t=39151)

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Te hornbill from tip to toe has a band of colours neatly refecting the striation. Similarly, even the body parts like beak and tail separately possess similar characteristics.  Another important feature about the hornbill is the terracing of their habitat itself. Hornbills require large trees for nesting and a sufcient supply of food. Tis determines the size of the habitat area for supporting a hornbill population. Hornbill species have a particular set of requirements.  Tis makes several species to simultaneously occupy the same habitat. Tey do it by occupying Picture 4.22: Tangkhul Naga diferent heights in the canopy of the tree. In the of Manipur with Hornbill Feathers forests of Tailand, ornithologists have found nine hornbill species living together in the same habitat. Tey partition their habitat by feeding at diferent heights in the canopy.  Inhabitants indulge in a mental act to bring coherence to their existence in the ecolo-gical niche. Te same pattern of simultaneous existence of diferent communities is found in the Nomadia. Te diferent communities occupy diferent heights in the mountains to settle. Tis reduces the chances of confict.  Hornbills are found in abundance in the Nabang sanctuary near Ruili on the Myanmar–Yunnan border. What is interesting is that in this area, slashand-burn cultivation is still followed. Possibly,  during the great migration, these communities crossed through this “hornbill valley’ of Xima  and got fascinated with the characteristics of hornbills, moving in focks, ferce and Picture 4.23: Yi of South West China with Hornbill Feathers and Beak free.  Like hornbills, Chin-Kuki-Naga (Photo Credit: Hui-e Liang and Hongpeople learnt to  partition their habitat yu Chang, Study on the Substantiation Expression of Totemic Worship in by feeding/living at diferent heights in Ethnic Costumes, http:/www.ifi.com/ the hills/canopy. downloads/past_conferences/HKPU,%20 2002/A/329-333.pdf)

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Tis is why whenever towns like Churachandpur in Manipur have cropped up afer the building of various infrastructure projects by the modern State-System, these have become polyglot and poly-ethnic as the communities at diferent heights maintaining separate language and culture descend down to settle. Picture 4.24: Hornbill Churachandpur in Manipur and Dequen in Yunnan (China), Ruili in Myanmar are facing the complex dynamics of myriad identities fusing and colliding.  In fact, terracing is ubiquitous. Tere is altitudinal axis of settlement for everything—Homo sapiens, fora and fauna. In many sub-regions, yaks, mithuns and cows/bufaloes co-exist at diferent altitudes. Te higher and colder belt is inhabited by yaks, middle belt by mithuns and lower belt by domestic cattle. Similarly, highest altitudes have evergreen forests where slash-and-burn cultivation is practiced; middle heights are congenial for growth of bamboos and lower heights for rice cultivation. We fnd it interesting that though Nomadia resists striation, Nomadia is characterised by the striation in habitat, culture and agriculture. Is this the landscape that has determined this unique thought-pattern in Nomadia? Is this the art of terracing that led to the proliferation of terracing/ striation in Nomadian thought-pattern or is this the other way round?  Is this the engagement with the dominating fgure of the Hornbill in the Nomadian sky that led to the terracing of own habitat, culture and agriculture? One thing is sure. It is the complex interaction of nature, landscape and culture which gives unique characteristics to Nomadia. Tough, politically resistant to striation/hierarchy and gridding, people in Nomadia have mastered the art of striation as well as their most inspiring biological fgure, the Hornbill!  Anthropologists have worked out the interconnectedness of landscape and textuality in Amazonia. Deliberating over the issue of ontology among people with an oral culture Uzendoski (2012) writes, “In Ecuador….Amazonian Kichwa-speaking people view life in ways not reducible to Western modes of perception. For Example, Kichwa speakers see life (and death) as a continual process of communication, interaction, and regeneration within surrounding territorial presence. Tis communicative

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world implies a social and symbolic “mutuality of being” among plants, animals, people, and other living and nonliving entities, as well as a shared relatedness among all the subjectivities present within a territory. In these lifeworlds, textuality is a lived practice of analogical fow (Wagner 1977), of creating and experiencing lines (Ingold 2007; Mentore 2005; Schuler Zea 2010; Colloredo-Mansfeld 2011) that move through the body, plants, animals and the landscape. Tese lines are not just metaphors but relations of interaction and communication.”61

We fnd similar interconnectedness between landscape, plants, birds and humans in Nomadia. Te grids and bands, the stripes and the squares that are woven in women’s skirts are the narrative of their history. Tey do not encircle other people. Tey do not create mandalas, neither do they create tree-hierarchy for dominance. Te grids share the neighbourhood in a ‘mutuality of being’. One band moves on when another band follows it. Tere was never a major war for territory among these people before the outsiders with the book began to impose order over them. Studying these patterns of colour bands and striation over tubular women’s skirts, one can connect communities. In Picture 25 and Picture 26 given below, one can fnd similar colour bands in the skirts of the Mosuo women of the Lugu Picture 4.25: Mosuo Women in Lake region and the Paite women of Lijang, China the Khuga lake region. Since, language- (PhotoCredit: http://www. fotolibra.com/ families have become redundant it gallery/1043109/mosuo-woman-weavingcolourful-clothing-in-her-shop-lijiangis time to prepare the textile trees yunnan-province-china/) among the communities of Nomadia. Tis efort can be augmented with a comparative study of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. Geographical landscape and mitochondrial landscape might resonate with similar patterns and properties. What is required is Ethnocostumology, rather than Picture 4.26: Paite Ethnolinguistics, for writing the (PhotoCredit: http://www. paite.org/ missing history of the Asian massif, viz. nampuan/item/161-paite-nampuan/161Nomadia! paite-nampuan.html)

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Circle Vs. Strata  Nomadia is a non-state political space manifesting the coherence of the world-view in stratifcation. Te inhabitants of Nomadia resist hierarchy in social status, domination by external actors and the attempt by the state to “striate” their space. Te society is egalitarian and staunchly freedomloving. Nomadia has peculiar characteristics of avoiding circles. Te circle is a recurrence with fxed properties. In Nomadia, the movement is always perpetual and non-recursive. We have on the other hand Eastern and Western societies, where circles and spheres held the power of perfect knowledge.  For Parmenides or Plato, the world had a perfect shape in spheres and a perfect motion in circles. Similarly, for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, circle is the essence of existence. Te cycle of karma operates at every layer. It was not a mere coincidence that the concept of this circularity as getting back to non-movement was embodied in the symbol of ‘zero’— another circle. Similarly, the Arab society had signifcant engagements with cipher.  In Chinese culture, the operation of yin–yang is depicted by a circle. It is interesting to fnd parallels between these circle-cultures. All of these societies developed empires, great religions and now powerful modern state systems.  Tough, the circle and the fower does appear in both extremes of the Asian massif due to infuences of Buddhism (sunyata/ sunya philosophy and the chakra as the perissological resonator); its near absence in Buddhism-sandwiched zone of Chin-Kuki-Naga communities ofer peculiar characteristic. It is possible that being a heavy–rainfall area due to the monsoon winds, the sky is ofen clouded and imagination could not be deployed towards the sun and the moon and hence it lacked visualisation about circles and spheres which in primordial societies generally symbolise these two heavenly bodies. In fact, the whole zone, from Ladakh to Nagaland via Yunnan and northern Myanmar, is obsessed with the rainbows, which Tibetans consider as the ladder (dmu-thag in Tibetan) to heaven. Te frequent sight-seeing of rainbows determine their world view and imagination more than the sun and the moon. Te whole Kang culture is obsessed with the idea of rainbow bodies. Rainbows have colour bands which can be seen replicated in the tubular skirts. To add weight to their banding perspective, one must take into account how the most precious mountain of the Kang culture area, Kailash (Kang Rinpoche) has 12 ladders on its southern face. Since, theirs is

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a perpetual non-recurrent forward movement, “ontology of circularity” could not pervade their being.

Coda In Nomadia, migration follows the pattern of the game of ‘go’, but the ‘chess’ striation is ubiquitous. Why is Nomadia fascinated with striation patterns which is the strategy of the chess game, and not engaged with the fuid-like game of go? Can an anti-Deleuzian Nomadology of Nomadia be written without pen? Is there a dichotomy between mental landscape and socio-political landscape? Do societies which are adept in the art of striation, prone to resistance against the state system? Do the societies with circular thought-patterns fall easy prey to the appropriation by the state system? Will Nomadia escape the encirclement by the state-system through innovative methods of striation? Or will the costumicide which is under way, due to the easy and cheap availability of American secondhand clothes, prove a permanent bane to an ontology of “mutuality of beings” exemplifed by habitat-sharing of plants, animals, humans and colours through altitudinal division? Neither the mandalas nor a ‘linearity of divide’ (Stobdan 2014)62 can be heuristic tools to understand the TransHimalayas. Only through a study of the dynamic mobility of spectrum and strata, can the Pan-Himalayan culture be deciphered.

References 1. Saul Newman, Professor of Political Science at the University of London, is the central fgure of post-anarchist thought and also editor for a book series for Rowman & Littlefeld International on the theme of ‘New Politics of Autonomy’. He has conceptualised stateless societies in Te Politics of Post Anarchism (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2010). His book, From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power (Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2001) received international recognition. David Rolfe Graeber, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics (2001), is involved with the Occupy Protest Movement in the US. In an interview to Al Jazeera on November 30, 2011, Graeber has argued that the Occupy Wall Street movement’s lack of recognition of the legitimacy of either existing political institutions or the legal structure, its embracing of a non-hierarchical  consensual decision-making  and of  prefgurative politics make it a fundamentally anarchist project. He studied the society of Tsimihety in Madagascar where state was almost non-existent and came up with the book, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2011). Graeber follows the line of enquiry pioneered by Pierre Clastres, who in his path-breaking work, Society Against the State: Essays in Political Anthropology (MIT Press, 1990) put forward the argument that Amazonian chiefs were stripped of any real power by the modern state, since their respective societies were set up systematically to undermine anything that could potentially give rise to a state. Te state formation, in fact, is not inevitable or associated with more ‘advanced’ forms of civilisation; rather

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these societies did not want one. It was this line of enquiry which James Scott later popularised through his book Te Art of Not Being Governed (2009). 2. Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri (2001). Empire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 3. Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri (2012). Declaration, available online at http:// antonionegriinenglish.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/93152857-hardt-negrideclaration-2012.pdf 4. Marlot, Peter (2014). Cyberzomia, Asia Research Institute, Working Paper Series No. 214, National University of Singapore, February, 2014. 5. Ibid., p.14. 6. Ibid., p.16. 7. van Schendel, W. (2002). “Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Volume 20, pp.647-668. 8. Ibid., p.655. 9. Ibid., p.653. 10. Vumson (1987). Zo History with an Introduction to Zo Culture, Economy, Religion and their Status as an Ethnic Minority in India, Burma and Bangladesh. Published by the Author C/o N. T. Tawnga, Venghlui, Aizawl, Mizoram, India. 11. Scott, James C. (2009). Te Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast India, New Haven & London: Yale University Press. 12. Ibid., p.ix. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid., p.128. 15. Deleuze, Gilles and Felixe Guattri (1987). A Tousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Translation and Foreword by Brian Massumi, New York: Continuum. 16. Ibid., p.419. 17. Ibid., p.421. 18. Scott, James, n.11, p.13. 19. Ibid., p.14. 20. Chatterjee, S.K. (1950). Linguistics of Tibeto-Burman Area, cited in Austin Hale (ed.) (1982). Research on Tibeto-Burman Languages, Berlin: Mouton, p.3. 21. Grierson, G. A. (ed.) (1903). Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. I, Part 1, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, p.41. 22. Carey, B. S and Tuck, H. N (1896). Te Chin Hills: A History of the People, Our Dealings with Tem, their Customs and Manners, and a Gazetteer of their Country; Volumes I & II , Published by Firma KLM Private Ltd., Calcutta-700012; On behalf of the Tribal Research Institute, Aizawl, Mizoram; First Edition: 1896; Reprinted: 1976/(iv). Betram S. Carey was Assistant Commissioner, Burma, and Political Ofcer, Chin Hills, & H.N. Tuck was Extra Assistant Commissioner, Burma, and Assistant Political Ofcer, Chin Hills, during the early British occupation of Chin Hills. 23. van Driem, George (2014). “From Te Dhaulagiri To Lappland, Te Americas And Oceania”, Journal of Indian Research, Vol.2, No.2, p. 3. See chapter 3, pp.45-46.

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24. Ibid. 25. Vumson, n.10. 26. Ibid., pp.3-4. 27. Ibid., p.140. 28. Lemonnier, Pierre (2012). Mundane Objects: Materiality and Non-Verbal Communication. Volume 10 of Critical Cultural Heritage Series, Institute of Archaeology, University College London: Lef Coast Press. 29. Shipley, Lucy (2013). Review: “Mundane Objects: Materiality and Non-Verbal Communication”, Archaeological Review from Cambridge, Vol.38 (2), p.221. 30. Ibid., p.222. 31. Lemonnier, n. 28, p.129. 32. Ibid., p.98. 33. Ibid., p.133. 34. Lemonnier, Pierre (2014). “Te Blending Power of Tings”, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Teory, 4(1): 537-548, p.538. 35. Ibid., p.539. 36. Ballard, Chris (2014). “Technologies of Transmission”, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Teory, 4(1): 511-515, p.512. 37. Richard, Martin (1998). Review of Yeohlee: Energentics: Clothes and Enclosures. (Ades Gallery, Berlin, Germany) in Fashion Teory, 2(3): 287-293, p. 292. 38. Lemonnier, n.28, p.37. 39. Ibid.,p.79. 40. Fowler, Brenda (1995). “Find Suggests Weaving Preceded Settled Life”, New York Times, May 9, 1995. 41. Barthes, Roland (1971). “From Work to Text”, reproduced in Josue V. Harari (ed.) (1979). Textual Strategies: Perspectives in Poststructuralist Criticism, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, pp. 73-81. 42. Dhamija, Jasleen (2003). “Textile: A Non-Verbal Language”, in Sharrard, P. and Collett, A. (eds.) Reinventing Textiles Vol. 3, Postcolonialism and Creativity, Telos Art Publishing, p.51. 43. Ibid. 44. Dhamija, Jasleen (2004). “Embroidery: An Expression of Women’s Creativity”, pp1724, in Jasleen Dhamija (ed.) (2004). Asian Embroidery, Craf Council of India, New Delhi: Abhinav Publication, p.17. 45. Derrida, Jacques (1974). Of Grammatology, Translated by Gayatri Spivak Chakravorty. Te John Hopkins University Press. 46. Sampsons, Geofrey (1985). Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 47. Arnold, Denise Y. and Juan de Dios Yapita (2006). Te Metamorphosis of Heads: Textual Struggles, Education and Land in the Andes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press; Viveiro-s de Castro, E. (1998). “Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 4: 469-488. Cited in Michael A. Uzendoski

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(2012). “Beyond Orality: Textuality, Territory and Ontology among Amazonian Peoples”, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Teory, 2 (1): 55-80, p.55. 48. Kruger, Kathryn Sullivan (2001). Weaving the Word: Te Metaphorics of Weaving and Female Textual Production, Susquehanna University Press, p.33. 49. Uzendoski, Michael A. (2012). “Beyond Orality: Textuality, Territory and Ontology among Amazonian Peoples”, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Teory, 2 (1): 55-80, p. 56. 50. Barber, Elizabeth Wayland (1994). Women’s Work—First 20,000 years: Women Cloth, Society in Earlier Times, New York: WW Northan & Co. 51. Sheng, Angela (ed.), (2009). Writing with Tread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities, Hondulu: University of Hawaii Art Gallery. 52. Staal, Frits (2008). Discovering the Vedas, Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, New Delhi: Penguin, p.262.   53. Jeferies, J. (1995). “Text and Textiles: Weaving Across the Borderlines”, in Deepwell, K. (ed.) New Feminist Art Criticism, pp.164-173. 54. Gerdes, Paulus (1990). Ethnogeomtrie. Bad Salzdetfurth: Verlag Barbara Franzbecker. 55. O’Mahony, Sarah Ann (2011). In Search of a Language, Textile and Text in Contemporary Women’s Art, Department of Art History and Critical Teory, Cluain Mhuire Campus, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, p.21. 56. Pwint, Zon Pann (2010). “In Ethnic Textiles, History is Woven”, Te Myanmar Times, August 16-22, 2010. 57. Qiyao, Deng (2009). Te Other Wring of People without a Written Language, trans. Mark Hammons. Deng Qiyao is Professor and Dean, School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. Tis paper was written for the University of Hawaii Art Gallery’s exhibition catalogue, Angela Sheng (ed.), Writing with Tread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities, Hondulu: University of Hawaii Art Gallery, pp.43-57. Te article is available online at the homepage of the Institute of Ethnic Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Science at http://iel.cass.cn/english/ Detail.asp?newsid=8026. 58. Ibid. 59. Ibid. 60. Ibid. 61. Michael A. Uzendoski, n.49, p.56. 62. Stobdan, P. (2014). “Te Trans-Himalayan Geopolitics”, Journal of Indian Research, Vol. 2, Number 2, p. 76. Also chapter 9 in this book, pp. 183-184.

PART - II Prism of the Past

5. Reflection of the Himalayas in the Ancient Indian Texts: A Note K. K. MANDAL

India is bounded by the Himalayas on the north and by the sea on the other three sides. Te Himalayas protect the country against the cold Arctic winds blowing from Siberia through Central Asia. Tis keeps the climate of northern India fairly warm throughout the year. As the cold is not very severe in the plains, the people do not need heavy clothing and can live in the open for longer periods. Secondly, the Himalayas are sufciently high to shield India against invasions from the north. Tis was especially true in pre-industrial times when communications were very difcult. However, in the northwest, the Sulaiman mountain ranges which are a southward continuation of the Himalayas, could be crossed through the Khyber, Bolan and Gomal passes. Te Sulaiman ranges are joined southwards in Baluchistan by the Kirthar ranges which could be crossed through the Bolan Pass. Trough these passes, a two-way trafc between India and Central Asia has continued from prehistoric times onwards. Various peoples from Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia came to India both as invaders and immigrants and vice versa. Even the Hindu Kush, the westward extension of the Himalayan system, did not form a barrier between the Indus and the Oxus system. Te passes facilitated trade and cultural contacts between India on the one hand and Central Asia and West Asia on the other. Te physiographic map and terrain profles of the Himalayas reveal the general physiographic characteristics of the region. On the basis of the physiographic attributes such as absolute and relative relief, the region may be grouped into the following major physiographic regions: (1) Himadri (Greater Himalayas) (i) Himadri Ranges (ii) Himadri Valleys; (2) Himanchal (Lower Himalayas) (i) Himanchal Ranges and Hills, (ii) Himanchal Valleys and Lake Basins; (3) Shivaliks (Sub-Himalayan Tract) (i) Duns, (ii) Shivalik Ranges. Keeping all these things in mind the present

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paper attempts to delineate the manifestation of the Himalayas in the ancient Indian literature.1 References to giri (‘mountain’ or ‘height’) occur repeatedly in the Rig Veda. Te reference is made to the treason the hills, hence called ‘treehaired’ (vrksha-keshah) and to the streams proceeding from hills to the sea (samudra). Te term is frequently coupled with the adjectival parvata. Te Rig Veda mentions the waters from the hills and the Atharva Veda refers to the snowy mountains. Actual names of mountains as Mujavant, Trikakud, Himavant are very rare. References to Kraunca, Mahameru and Mainaga are confned to the Taittiriya Aranyaka.2 Te parvata in the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda is conjoined with giri in the sense of ‘hill’ or ‘mountain’. From the Rig Veda onwards it is used commonly in the sense of being connected with the waters of the rivers which fow in the hills. Te legend of the mountains having wings is already found in the Samhitas. In the Kausitaki Upanisad are mentioned the southern (dakshina) and the northern (uttara) mountains—evidently in allusion to the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges. Te plants (osadhi) and aromatic products (anjana) of the mountains are referred to in the Atharva Veda and their mineral treasures in the Rig Veda.3 Himavant (‘snowy’) appears as an epithet of a mountain in the Atharva Veda. It is used later as a noun both in that Veda and in the Rig Veda. Tere seems no reason to deny that in all the passages the word refers vaguely to the mountains now called Himalayas, though it is possible that the name may include mountains not strictly in that system like the Sulaiman hills.4 Mujavant is the name of a people who along with the Mahavrsas, the Gandharas and the Balhikas are mentioned in the Atharva Veda as dwelling far away and to whom fever is to be banished. Similarly, in the Yajur Veda Samhita the Mujavants are chosen as a type of distant folk, beyond which Rudra with his bow is entreated to depart. In the Rig Veda Soma is described as Maujavata, ‘coming from the Mujavants’ or as Yaska takes it, ‘from Mount Mujavant’. Te Indian commentators agree with Yaska in taking Mujavant as the name of a mountain, and though Hillebrandt is justifed in saying that the identifcation of Mujavant by Zimmer with one of the lower hills in southwest of Kashmir lacks evidence, it is not reasonable to deny that Mujavant was the hill from which the people took their name. Yaska suggests that Mujavant is equivalent to Munjavant, which actually occurs later in the epic, as the name of a mountain of the Himalaya.5 Mainaka (‘descendent of Menaka’), is the name of a mountain among the Himalayas in the Taittiriya Aranyaka.6 Again Maha-meru (‘great Meru’), is the name of a mountain in the Taittiriya Aranyaka.7

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Te upper Ganga plain has since ancient times held a unique position in the march of Indian history from before and afer the Kuru-Panchala days. It is the land east of the Sapta Sindhu of the early Aryans settlers and the Kurukshetra or Sirhind or the Sutlej–Yamuna Divide. It covers the ancient Panchala country in the Yamuna–Ganga Doab and Rohilkhand and Awadh plains of more recent times. It is the nuclear area of India to the immediate west of which lies the Delhi–Agra flter zone. Delhi is the gateway situated strategically between the Himalaya in the north and the Aravalis and the Tar to the south, and the Agra towards the south holding the approaches to the great Malwa passageway serving as the forward base for the powers in the flter and fulcrum zone. It has been the fate of this region to keep control over this axis to keep itself free or else undergo subjugation and defeat if the Delhi gateway is forced open or the axis run over. Invasion thrusts have been made into the Ganga valley through this axis. As such, the axis area has been the cockpit of warring forces. In fact, it has been a part of the Madhyadesha or the Middle Country (the pivot of the Aryavarta). Every power with the ambition to rule India gravitated to grab it—for only the securely held Madhyadesha could lead to Indian rulership—and hence all the invasions thrust into this part. Tus, the upper Ganga plain came under the nuclear area for the Aryan expansion to the north, south and east; it was here that the epics were written and also the Brahmanas and Puranas contemplated.8 In this context, we fnd several mentions of the Himalayas in the narrative. Te Madhyadesha, the ‘Middle Country’, is according to the Manava Dharmasastra, the land between the Himalaya in the north, the Vindhya in the south, Vinasana in the west and Prayaga (now Allahabad) in the east, i.e. between the place where the Sarasvati disappears in the desert and the point of confuence of the Yamuna and the Ganga. Te same authority defnes the Brahmarshidesha as denoting the land of Kurukshetra, the Matsyas, Panchalas and Surasenakas, and Brahmavarta as meaning particularly the holy land between the Sarasvati and the Drshadvati. Te Baudhayana Dharmasutra defnes Aryavarta as the land east of Vinasana; west of Kalaka-vana (‘Black Forest’) or rather Kanakhala, near Haridwar; south of the Himalaya and north of the Pariyatra or the Paripatra mountains adding that, in the opinion of others, it was confned to the country between the Yamuna and Ganga, while Bhallavins took it as the country between the boundaryriver (or perhaps the Sarasvati) and the region where the sun rises. Te Manava Dharmasutra in accord with the Vashishtha Dharmasutra defnes the Aryavarta as a region between the Vindhyas and the Himalayas—the

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two ranges which seem to be the boundaries of the Aryan world in the Kausitaki Upanisad also.9 Te territory of the Kuru-Panchalas is declared in the Aitareya Brahmana to be the middle country (Madhyadesha). A group of Kuru people still remained in the north—the Uttara Kurus beyond the Himalayas. It appears from a passage of the Shatapatha Brahmana that the speech of the Northerners—that is, presumably, the Northern Kurus—and of the Kuru-Panchalas was similar, and regarded as especially pure. Tere seems little doubt that the Brahminical culture was developed in the country of the Kuru-Panchalas and that it spread thence east, south and west. Traces of this are seen in the vratya stomas (sacrifces for the admission of nonBrahminical Aryans) of the Panchavimsa Brahmana and in the fact that in the Sankhayana Aranyaka it is unusual for a Brahmin to dwell in the territory of Magadha.10 Manor Avasarpana, in the Shatapatha Brahmana is being interpreted as the northern mountain on which Manu’s ship settled afer the subsidence of the deluge. Te Aitareya Brahmana refers to some ancient nations as lying beyond the Trans-Himalaya boundaries. As an illustration, the name of Uttara Kuru and Uttara Madra are given.11 Te vast areas across the Himalayas and Hindu Kush from the Pamir up to the Arctic (Somagiri) are stated by some as forming the ancient Uttara Kuru. Tere is a picturesque mention of this region in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Tere are also numerous references to the people of this vast region. Te Ramayana portrays the detailed topography of the whole land of Central Asia which is very picturesque in some cases. It gives vivid accounts of the Uttarapatha and several countries located in that direction. It mentions the lands and towns of the Kambojas, Shakas, Yavanas, Varadas along with Himavanta.12 Te Mahabharata mentions that Arjuna had brought tributes from Daradas, Kambojas, Lohas, Rishikas, Parama Kambojas and the Uttara Kurus of the Trans-Himalayan region. Te Mahabharata attests that the northern Rishikas and the Lohas were close neighbours and allied to the Parama-Kambojas i.e. the Trans-Hindu Kush Kambojas of the Trans-Himalayan territories.13 Tese references are suggestive of their close geographical neighbourhood and that they were all located in Central Asia. General Sudakshina of the Kambojas had joined the Mahabharata war on the Kurus’ side leading one akshauhini army of the ferocious Central Asian warriors which included Shakas and Yavanas besides the Kambojas.14 He was one of the ten distinguished military generals appointed by Duryodhana for efciently managing his vast armies.15 Te “Bhishma Parva” and the “Shanti Parva” of the Mahabharata

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repeatedly assert that beyond the uttara (north) are located the Mlechha janas (tribes) like those of the Yavanas, Kambojas, Darunas, Kiratas and other barbarians.16 Tese refer to people of the Central Asian fringe located to the north of the Aryavarta and that there was an intensive political and military intercourse between the regions. Afer the period of the epics, we come on frmer historical ground. It is highly probable that both Gautama Buddha and Mahavira belonged to the Himalayan tribes. Te Jatakas describe the Himalayas as a vast region, fve hundred yojanas high and three thousand in breadth16, while the Buddha called them Pabbataraja —‘the lord of mountains’.17 Te Himalayas are ofen mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures and were familiar to the Buddha himself. He would have seen these great ice and rock ramparts long before he renounced the world and began his quest for truth. Te spectacular 8,167 m high sentinel of Dhaulagiri can be clearly seen from his hometown Kapilavastu. Perhaps, he had this particular mountain in mind when he compared the virtuous person to the dazzling sunlit snow peaks: ‘Te good shine from afar like the Himalayas, Te bad are obscure like an arrow shot into the night.’18 Shortly afer his enlightenment, the Buddha is said to have used his supernormal powers to visit lake Anotatta which is now identifed as the lake Manasarovar at the foot of Mount Kailash.19 Later in life, he occasionally ‘sojourned in a forest hut in the Himalayan region’—probably the thickly wooded hills of the lower Kumaon or the Mahabarata Hills of Nepal.20 It is hard to know how far into the mountains the Buddha may have gone but he mentioned “the rugged uneven places in the Himalayas where hunters and their prey could go and beyond it—the regions where neither man nor beast can penetrate”.21 Some of his direct disciples, following the horary tradition of Indian ascetics, would have gone up into the mountains to fnd peace and solitude. In the Jatakas, the Buddha is mentioned asking his monks, “Do you wish to go wandering in the Himalayas?”22 Te Himalayas feature prominently in the early Buddhist geography. India was known to the ancient Buddhists as Jambudipa and was one of the world’s four great continents. Te northern border of this land was defned by the Usiraddhaja Mountains23 and beyond that were the Himalayas—the region called Himava or Himavata. Te Jatakas name numerous caves, plateaus, valleys, hermitages and rivers of the Himalayas but almost none of these can be identifed today. Te most famous cave was at the foot of Mount Nanda and was thus known

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as Nandamula cave. Pacceka Buddhas are mentioned as living in this cave and fying from there to Benaras or elsewhere in India and back again.24 In one place, they describe one of these mysterious saintly beings thus: “He ‘wore rag robes red as lac, dark as a rain cloud; his belt was yellow like a fash of lightening and the clay bowl hanging over his shoulder was as brown as a bumblebee. He rose into the air and afer having given a talk on Dhamma he few to the Nandamula cave in the north of the Himalayas”.25 Seven of the biggest lakes were Kannamundaka, Rathakara, Sihapapata, Chaddanta, Tiyaggala, Anotatta and Kunala and some of the more prominent peaks were Manipabbata, Hingulapabbata, Ajanapabbata, Sanupabbata and Phalikapabbata.26 Two peaks that can be identifed are Kelasa, now known as Kailash,27 and Nanda which is of course the 7,817 m-high Nandadevi, the second highest peak in India.28 Amongst the frst range of the hills or perhaps beyond them was Uttarakuru (Northern Kuru) from which the modern district of Kullu derives its name. It was seen as a sort of garden of earthly delights—a paradise of eternal sunshine and free love where healing herbs and fragrant fowers grew in abundance and all sorts of fantastic creatures lived without care or toil. According to the Atanatiya Sutta, the rice that grew in the Uttarakuru was self-sown, fragrant and without husks, the people travelled on the backs of beautiful maidens or comely youths, the trees always hung heavy with fruit and ‘peacocks screech, herons call and cuckoos gently warble’.29 Somewhere in the Uttarakuru, Kubera, the king of the north and the god of good fortune, had his jewel-encrusted palace.30 If the modern visitor travels through Garhwal or Kumaon, at least during the spring time, he or she can easily understand how such legends developed. Tese regions ofer some of the most beautiful prospects to be seen anywhere on earth. Beyond the Himalayas was a huge mountain called Kelasa, Seneru, Neru or more commonly Meru which was thought to be the axis of the world— the point at which the four great continents meet.31 Meru corresponds with Mount Kailash near the southern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Although by no means the lofiest mountain in the region, all the peaks around Kailash are much lower than it, giving it the impression of immense height and grandeur. Kailash’s nearly pyramid-shaped snowy summit marked with several black horizontal gashes gives it a distinct hub-like appearance. Although fanciful in parts and completely wrong in others, the ancient Buddhist conception of India and the region to its north was relatively correct.

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Te Himalayas are the setting for numerous Jataka stories. In many of his previous lives, the Buddha renounced the world and went to live as an ascetic in the mountains or retired there towards the end of life.32 He and other ascetics lived of wild fruits and grains and ofen made friends with the wild animals. As the winter approached, they would come down to the plains to escape the cold, collect salt, vinegar and other supplies and then return four months later. Te Jataka explains, “Now in the Himalayas, during the rainy season, when the rains are incessant, as it is impossible to dig up any bulb or root, or to get any wild fruits and the leaves begin to fall, the ascetics for the most part come down from the Himalayas, and take up their above amidst the haunts of men”.33 It was probably the Bodhisattva and other ascetics before and afer him who frst explored the more remote mountain valleys of the Himalayas and brought back to India proper descriptions of this natural and spiritual wonderland. In the beautiful Soma Jataka, the Bodhisattva is described as following the Ganges into the mountains to where the Magasammata river fows into it and then following this second river until he came to a suitable place to build himself a hermitage.34 Te Magasammata probably corresponds to the Alakananda river which joins the Ganges near Devaprayag. Various rulers may have also played a part in this exploration as well. Te Jataka tells of a king who sent an expedition in the Himalayas guided by foresters. Tey tied several rafs together and sailed up the Ganges.35 Buddhism came to the Himalayas very early. Afer the Tird Council convened by Emperor Ashoka, fve monks led by the arhat Majjhima were sent to the Himalayan region to spread the Dhamma.36 Unfortunately, the records do not tell us as to which part of the region Majjhima and his companions went although it was probably either Kashmir or the Kathmandu Valley. When the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited Kullu and its surrounding valley in the seventh century the area still had a signifcant Buddhist population: “Te land is rich and fertile and the crops are duly sown and gathered. Flowers and fruits are abundant and the plants and trees rich in vegetation. Being nestled in the midst of the snowy mountains there are found here many medical herbs of much value. Gold, silver, and copper are found as well as crystal and native copper. Te climate is usually cold and hail and snow ofen fall.” Te more radical Tantric teachings survived and fourished in the Land of Snows. Te esoteric texts such as the Yoginitantras and Mahayoga-tantras remained at the forefront of contemplation, ritual, and interpretation throughout the Himalayan Buddhist sphere.37

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Te Jaina scriptures also suggest the location of the Himalayas. Ashtapada Maha Tirtha is one of the fve major tirthas in Jainism. Believed to have been lost, it is situated in the snow-clad Himalayas. Tere are many stories related to Ashtapada Maha Tirtha but as per Jaina scriptures, the frst Tirthankara, Bhagwan Rishabhadeva, had attained nirvana on the Ashtapada Mountain. Te son of Bhagwan Rishabhdeva, Chakravarti Bharata, had built a palace adorned with gems on the Ashtapada Mountain in the seven Himalayas. Several written materials and articles were collected on the Ashtapada from the scriptures and compiled in diferent volumes. Trishashthi Shalaka Purusha Charitra written by Acharya Hemchandra describes the Ashtapada in detail. Chapter 10, para 9, says one staying there overnight and ofering prayers to all jina idols, attains salvation. Aacharanga Niryoukti was the frst to mention about the Ashtapada Tirtha. Aavshyaka Niryoukti also has a description about it. Uttaradhyana Sutra Niryoukti says that anyone who can scale that Tirtha attains salvation. Vividha Kalpa has a chapter dedicated to the Ashtapada Kalpa. Te Arthashastra underlines the importance of the Himalayas from diferent perspectives. Te Arthashastra (IX.1) mentions that the land extending over thousands of yojanas from the east to the west and stretching northwards from the sea to the Himalayas was the chakravartin kshetra.38 Diferent political schools were outlining a doctrine for defning the frontiers of the state and the relations of the state with near and distant neighbours. Te science of state policy included questions of diplomatic relations and many aspects of foreign policy.39 Ashoka built up a state which stretched from Kashmir and the Himalayas in the northwest to the Bay of Bengal in the east. Te empire established diplomatic relations with the Hellenistic states of the West and countries of the East.40 Ashoka sent his missionaries there, founded monasteries and built stupas. Missions were sent to Burma, Nepal, the Himalayas, Kashmir and further west to the Hellenistic states. It is signifcant that the accounts of these missions as mentioned in the Ceylonese chronicles are justifed by the data of Indian epigraphy (for example, the Sanchi inscriptions).41 Under his rule, Gandhara reached such prosperity and its fame spread so far that Asoka decided to divide his empire into two parts. Te land from the Himalayas to the sea he retained under his rule and the rest of the land was given over to Kunala.42 As is well known, Buddhism overflowed the boundaries of India. The southern tradition is attributed for the wide spread of the Buddhist doctrine as the missions were sent out to various countries

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after the Third Buddhist Council in Pataliputra. The chronicles speak of missions sent to Kashmir and Gandhara, to the country of the Yonas, to the Himalayas, Suvarnabhumi and Ceylon. This evidence is confirmed by epigraphic data: inscription have been found in which names of Buddhist monks are identical with those of the heads of the missions. This activity resulted in the appearance of various Buddhist schools and sects in different parts of India and the adjacent regions.43 The Arthashastra tells in the case of a land route: “Better than the southern route is the Himalayan route, with merchandise of greater value consisting of elephants, horses, perfumes, ivory, antelope skins, silver, and gold”, say the teachers”.44 We find mentions of the Himalayan cedar,45 the Himalayan ibex,46 Dvadashagrama located in the Himalayas,47 Kailasa, the mythical mountain in the Himalayas,48 Uttaraparvata, probably the Himalayan region49 (Kangle identities Uttaraparvata with the Himalayas),50 Himavata, the same as the Himalaya,51 Mahakacca, perhaps the Himalaya and source of pearls as pearls came from Tamraparni, Pandyakavata, Petika, Kula, Curni, Mahendra, Kardama, Srotasi, Hrada and Himavata.52 The Mudraraksasa, a drama by Visakhadatta, refers to Chandragupta’s alliance with the Himalayan King Parvataka. The Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a formidable composite army as attested to by the Mudraraksasa.53 With the help of these frontier martial tribes from Central Asia, Chandragupta was able to defeat the Greek successors of Alexander the Great and the Nanda rulers of Magadha so as to lay the foundations of the powerful Maurya Empire in northern India. The Laws of Manu delineates that the country between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains, to the east of the Disappearance and to the west of Prayaga is known as the Middle Country.54 From the eastern sea to the western sea, the area in between the two mountains is what wise men call the Land of the Aryans55—“Where the black antelope ranges by nature, that should be known as the country fit for sacrifices; and beyond it is the country of the barbarians.56 The twice-born should make every effort to settle in these countries; but a servant may live in any country at all if he is starved for livelihood”.57 Greek writers have also mentioned the Himalayas. Te frst century BC Greek historian Apollodorus quoted by Strabo, afrms that Bactrian Greeks, led by Demetrius I and Menander, conquered India and occupied a larger territory than the Greeks under Alexander the Great, going beyond the Hypanis towards the Himalayas: “Te Greeks

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became masters of India and more tribes were subdued by them than by Alexander—by Menander in particular, for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus, the King of the Bactrians”.58 Accounts of battles between the Greeks and the Sungas in Central India are also found in the Malvikagnimitram, a play of Kalidasa, which describes an encounter between the Greek forces and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra during the latter’s reign.59 By the period of Huvishka, the process of the Kushana conquest of TransOxiana—Tokharistan or the land of the Tokhans—which has been referred to as Tu-huo-lo in Chinese sources, was complete. According to Hsuan-Tsang, it was bounded on the east by the Ts’ung-ling mountains, to the west by Po-li-sse (i.e. the Persian empire of the Sassanids), to the south by the great snowy mountains (i.e. the Hindu Kush) and to the north by the Iron Gates (which was perhaps located at Buzghala Khana near Derbent and not very far to the southwest of Karshi in Uzbekistan), and had the river Pochu (Oxus) fowing through the middle of it.60 Kanishka was a Buddhist and Buddhist texts as well as a large number of Kushana documents have been found in numerous places in Central Asia where the Indian culture had fourished. During the times of the Kushana Empire which straddled the mountains which now form India’s northern boundary, India’s political and cultural infuence swept into China. Te Guptas ruled the greater part of India. Samudragupta thoroughly subdued the princes of the northern plains and those along the boundary of his empire with the Himalayas. On his coins appears the fgure of the goddess Haimavati; Kamarupa (Assam), Nepal and Kartripura (Kumaon and Garhwal) are said to have been tributary kingdoms situated on the frontiers of his dominions. Te literature of the period shows that the Himalayas were a part of India and the places there were very much familiar. Kalidasa in the Raghuvamsham says that Raghu conquered areas to the north of the Himalayas—from Hemakuta (Kailash) to Kamarupa—thereby suggesting that Indian kingdom (which is now Assam) stretched even beyond the Himalayas.61 His Kumarasambhavam opens with a verse in which the Himalayas are referred to as a measuring rod spanning the wide land from the east to the western sea—a metaphor suggesting that the culture as developed in the Himalayan regions could serve as the measuring rod of the culture of the world. As we know, this work describes the marriage of Lord Shiva with Parvati. It begins with a fne description of the giant among mountains; the Himalaya. Kalidasa writes,

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“Himalaya is rich in life. Living there are Siddhas, Kinnaras and Vidyadhara beauties. Clouds in front of the caves look like curtains; you can trace the track of lions by looking at the precious stones spilled from the heads of elephants and not by bloodstains. You have to know the paths they tread by recognizing ‘sala’ trees against whose stem the elephants rub themselves attracted by sweet milk exuded by the trees. All the things needed for a sacrifce (yajna) are available here. Brahma (the God of Creation) himself has made the king of mountains.”62

Te Himalayas are said by him to be the source of precious gems and medicines. His graphic descriptions of the Himalayan scenes read like those of one who has had a frsthand knowledge of this region. Te Meghadutam refects that a Yaksha, or attendant of Kubera, has been sent by his lord into a year-long exile in the mountains of central India, far away from his beloved wife on Mount Kailash in the Himalaya. At the opening of the poem, particularly distraught and hapless at the onset of the rains when the sky is dark and gloomy with clouds, the Yaksha opens his heart to a cloud hugging closely the mountain tops. He requests it—a mere aggregation of smoke, lighting, water and wind that it is—to convey a message of consolation to his beloved while on its northward course. Te Yaksha then describes the many captivating sights that are in store for the cloud on its way to the fabulous city of Alaka, where his wife languishes amid her memories of him.63 Kalhana’s Rajatarangini sheds light on the Himalayas stating: “Formerly, since the beginning of the Kalpa, the land in the womb of the Himalaya was flled with water during the periods of the (frst) six Manus (and formed) the lake of Sati”.64 Introducing Kashmir, it tells: “In the three worlds, the jewel-producing (earth) is to be extolled; on that region of Kuber (the North) there (next) the mountain range,65 the father of Gauri; and (lastly) the country that is enclosed by that mountain range”. It further tells: “Te monkeys which lived on the Himalaya mountain, stupid as beasts are, afer satisfying their curiosity, dropped the (images of the) two gods in the Uttaramanasa (lake)”.66 Again, it further states: “Alakhana’s support, the illustrious Lalliya S’ahi—who (placed) between the rulers of the Daradas and Turuskas as between a lion and a boar, resembled Aryavarta (as it lies) between the Himalaya and Vindhya (mountains); in whose town of Udabhanda (other kings) found safety, just as the mountains in the ocean when threatened by the danger of having their wings cut (by Indra); whose mighty glory (outshore) the kings in the North, just as the sun-disc (outshines) the stars in heaven—he was

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received into service by (Samkaravarman), who desired to remove him from his sovereign position”.67 Bhoja’s Sukaspatali records: “Trivikrama told Haradatta of the parrot Gunasagara on the Malaya Mountain and the mynah Malayavati on a peak of the Himalaya”.68 Nayanamdi (Nayanandin) in Sudamsanacariu says: “A dragon catches him in his coils and takes him safely to the Himalaya”.69 Te Kavyamimamsa of Rajashekhara furnishes an exhaustive list of the extant tribes of his time and places them all as the tribes from Uttarapatha or north division.70 Te Puranas also locate the position of the Himalayas. Te Kalkipurana71 deals in detail with the descent of the tenth incarnation, his life on earth, the various battles fought by him, his marriage and his fnal return to the Vaishnava paradise (Vaikuntha) via the Himalayas. His most ferce enemy for whose destruction he will become incarnated is Kali or Kaliyuga—the personifcation of the last of the four yugas, symbolising all its evils. But, Kalki will also have to fght against human enemies—mainly represented by Buddhists and Jainas. Afer his victory, he will marry two Kshatriya princesses and his mission on earth being accomplished will retire to the Himalayas to spend his days in meditation. It is very clear from the study of the various Puranic and historical literature that the Khaptad of the Khecharadi Parvata area was the cultural and religious centre of the lower part of ‘Manasa Khanda’. Te upper part included Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar. ‘Manasa Khanda’ of the Skanda Purana72 suggests that it exists in far western Nepal. Another important source for the Puranic people and places of central Himalayas is the Vayu Purana.73 According to this Purana, and several other Puranas, the ancient tribes who lived in those mountainous parts were the Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Yakshas, Nagas, Vidhyadharas, Siddhas, Guihyakas and Rakshyasas. Te Markandeya Purana74 states that the Khasa people lived in the central part of ‘Svarna Bhumi’. Te Bhagavata Purana75 indicates that Lord Shiva was born in the Naga tribe. Te Khasas, Kiratas, Nagas and Hunas were tribes of ‘Mountains’ (Himalayas). Many scholars believe that the Puranic term Naga does not mean a snake but denotes the meaning ‘people of Naga or Mountains’. Te Himalaya is mentioned as the Nagadhiraja or kingemperor of mountains. Te Nagas were worshippers of snake gods and their tribal totem could have been the snake. References indicate that the Nagas and Kinnaras were successful in pushing the Munda and Kola tribal people into the dense forests of the Himalayan foothills, but when the Khasas invaded Kumaon, Garhwal central-western Nepal they pushed the Kinnaras and Nagas into the wilderness. Tere are several famous Naga

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temples in the vicinity e.g., Beeni Naga, Shesh Naga and one on the banks of the Mohakali named as the Naga-Kirateswar temple. Te temples of the Naga deities are spread in Garhwal, Kumaon and Kashmir in the west and throughout Nepal in the central and eastern Himalayas. India is a land of numerous languages. According to Grierson, the editor and compiler of the Linguistic Survey of India, nearly 180 languages and about 550 dialects are spoken by the Indians. These languages belong to four important groups: The Austro-Asiatic, TibetoBurman, Dravidian and Indo-Aryan. The Austro-Asiatic languages in India seem to be the earliest and are generally known because of the Munda speech. In the Himalaya, Munda survivals are the more apparent. The second group of languages, Tibeto-Burman, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan family (In chapter 3 of this book, though, George Van Driem has conclusively demolished this language family). In the Indian subcontinent, the Tibeto-Burman speech extends along the Himalayas from northeastern Assam to northeastern Punjab. These forms are found in the northeastern states of India, and a large number of people in this area speak various forms of the Tibeto-Burman tongue. The northeastern states, where they are spoken, include Tripura, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur. The Tibeto-Burman languages also prevail in the Darjeeling area of West Bengal. The fourth language group, Indo-Aryan, belongs to the IndoEuropean family. According to scientists, genetic signals found in the steppe people throughout Central Asia appear in a good degree in the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages in India and very little in the Dravidian speakers—the third family of languages spoken in India. This suggests that speakers of the language of the Indo-European family migrated to India. Indo-Aryan languages are spoken by a large number of people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Nearly 500 Indo-Aryan languages are spoken in northern and central India. Te mountains to the east of modern Afghanistan and to the north of modern Pakistan were settled by Dards. Tey were known to the ancient Greek authors who used several distorted names for them: Derbioi, Durbaioi, Daidala, Dadikai and Derdaios. In their descriptions of India, the Puranas speak of the Darada in the same breath as inhabitants of Kashmir and Gandhara. Tey are repeatedly mentioned in the Ramayana. In Tibetan sources, the Darada are known as the Darta. Tere are two groups of languages that are now generally known as Dardic. Te frst are the languages of Nuristan (a region of Afghanistan) which form “an individual

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branch of the Indo-Iranian family belonging neither to the Indo-Aryan nor to the Iranian group”. Te two groups, however, have much in common in their structural and material features. Te Eastern Dardic group is divided into three sub-groups containing the Bhashkarik, Torwali, Maiyan, Shina, Phalura and Kashmiri languages. In the early 1980s, Dardic languages were spoken by 3.5 million people in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, of whom 2.8 million spoke Kashmiri, some 1,65,000 spoke Khowar and some 1,20,000 spoke Pashai.76 Burushaski is a completely distinct language: it stands at the confuence of three great families—the Indo-European, the Sino-Tibetan and the Altaic—but belongs to none. Its speakers live in northern Pakistan, in the region of the Hunza and Vershikum rivers, and number around 40,000. Te language’s morphological structure is very rich and the verb has a particularly extensive system of accidence. Burushaski is one of the oldest tongues, but its place in the system of ancient and modern languages remains obscure. Tere have been repeated attempts to trace its afliations—and links with the Caucasian, Dravidian, Munda, Basque and other languages have been suggested—but from the standpoint of contemporary linguistics the case is not conclusive. Burushaski was unquestionably more current in ancient times and occupied a number of regions where Dardic languages are now spoken and where Burushaski acted as a substratal or adstratal foundation. Grierson has even postulated that speakers of Burushaski or related languages inhabited all or almost-all the lands now held by the Dardic-speaking tribes.77 We can convincingly state that the Himalayas have straddled Indian imagination for millennia. Each peak and each valley was sanctifed by sages and seers. Te local tradition and the Great tradition mirror each other in these valleys and the peaks. Te constant transaction between multiple local traditions mediated through thousands of languages and carried across generations through the little linguistic communities on the one hand and the Great Tradition mediated through the major languages like Sanskrit, Nepalese, Tibetan or Hindi on the other which focused their imagination towards the Himalayas. From the womb of the Himalayas, the sacred rivers in India emerged which are believed to perennially sanctify this part of the subcontinent. Te Himalayas are once again spurring fresh imagination about development models and our lifestyles and will never cease to be the inspiration for an alternative world-view that resists governance structures.

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Notes 1. Singh, R.L. (1971). India: A Regional Geography, Varanasi: National Geographical Society, pp. 445-449. 2. MacDonell, A.A. and Keith, A.B. (2007). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Vol. I, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, p. 227. 3. Ibid., pp. 502-203. 4. Ibid., p. 503. 5. Ibid., pp. 169-170. 6. Ibid., p. 180. 7. Ibid., p. 141. 8. Singh, R.L. op.cit., n.1, pp. 126-127. 9. Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Vol. II, p. 126. 10. Ibid., Vol. I, p. 168; Roy, Kumkum (2011). ‘In Which Part of South Asia did the Early Brahmanical Tradition (1st Millennium BC) take its Form?” in Nandini Sinha Kapur (ed) Environmental History of Early India: A Reader, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 107-108. 11. Te Aitareya Brahmana, VIII.14. 12. Te Valmiki Ramayana, “Kishkindha Kanda”, 4.43. 13. Te Mahabharata, II.27.25. 14. Ibid., 5.19.21-22. 15. Ibid., 5.155.30-33. 16. Jataka, Vol. V. p. 415 (Te Jataka, E.B. Cowell (ed), (1990). Vol. I-VI, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. 17. Te Samyuttanikaya, II, p. 137 (M.L. Feer (ed), 5 vols, London: Pali Text Society, 18841898). 18. Te Dhammapada, p. 304 (trans. K.R. Norman (1997). Te Word of the Doctrine (Dhammapada), Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1997). 19. Te Vinaya Pitaka, I, p. 27 (trans. I.B. Horner, Te Book of the Discipline, 6 vols., London: Pali Text Society, 1938-1966). 20. Te Samyuttanikaya, I, p. 116. 21. Te Sumangala-Vilasini, p. 148. 22. Jataka, V, p. 415. 23. Vinaya Pitaka, IV, p. 197. 24. Jataka, Vol. III, p. 157, 190, 230, 259. 25. Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 114. 26. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 415. 27. Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 490. 28. Ibid., Vol. IV, pp. 216, 230, 233. 29. Te Dighanikaya, Vol. III, p. 199 (ed., T.W. Rhys Davids and J.E. Carpenter, 3 vols.,

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London: Pali Text Society, 1890-1911). 30. Ibid., p. 201. 31. Te Samyuttanikaya, Vol. II, p. 139; Jataka, Vol. I, p. 25; Vol. III, p. 247. 32. Jataka, Vol. I, pp. 140, 362, 371, 406, 440. 33. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 37. 34. Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 72. 35. Ibid., Vol. III, p. 371. 36. Te Mahavamsa, XII.6 (trans., W. Geiger and M.H. Bode (1912). Te Mahavamsa or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon, London: Pali Text Society, 1912). 37. Shaw, Miranda E. (1988). Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, pp. 14-15. 38. Arthashastra, IX.I (King, Governance and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthashastra, (trans.) by Patrick Olivella, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2013); Sirkar D.C., Studies in the Geography, p. 5; Bongard-Lewin B.G. (1985). Mauryan India, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited, p. 239. 39. Bongard-Lewin, G.M. op.cit., p. 239. 40. Ibid., p. 81. 41. Ibid., p. 87. 42. Ibid., p. 97. 43. Ibid., pp. 361-362. 44. Arthashastra, 7.12.22. 45. Ibid., 13.4.18. 46. Ibid., 2.23.8. 47. Ibid., 2.11.77—this is a region producing two valuable kinds of animal skins. Te commentators place it in the Himalayas or in the northern trade route (uttarapatha). 48. Ibid., 14.3.24. 49. Ibid., 2.11.70, 73. 50. Kangle, R.P. (1997). Te Kautilya Arthashastra, Part II, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, p. 102. 51. Patrick Olivella op.cit., p. 528; Arthashastra, 2.11.2. 52. Ibid., pp. 527-528. 53. Te Mudrarakshasa, 2. 54. Doniger, Wendy and Smith, Brian K. (2014). Te Laws of Manu, 2.21, Gurgaon: Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd. 55. Ibid., 2.22. 56. Ibid., 2.23. 57. Ibid., 2.24. 58. Strabo, 11.11.1. 59. Te Malavikagnimitram, 5.15.14-24 (Devadhar, C.R. (ed) (1996). Works of Kalidasa, Vol. I (Dramas), Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass).

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60. Mukherjee, B.N. (1988). Te Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire, Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd., p. 145-146. 61. Te Raghuvamsam in Devadhar, C.R. (ed) (2010). Works of Kalidasa, Vol. II, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, pp. 1-372. 62. Te Kumarasambhavam, Works of Kalidasa, Vol. II op.cit., pp. 1-265. 63. Ibid., pp. 1-43. 64. Kalhana’s Rajatarangini, Vol. I.25 (trans., M.A. Stein, Vol. I-II, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 2009). 65. Ibid., Vol. I, 1.43. 66. Ibid., III.448. 67. Ibid., V.152-155. 68. Warder, A.K., (1992). Indian Kavya Literature, Vol. VI, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, pp. 180-181. 69. Ibid., p. 310. 70. Te Kavyamimansa (ed) (1916). Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, I, Chapter 17. 71. Kalkipurana, Bombay, Venkatesvara Press. 72. Skandapurana, Calcutta: Vangavarsi Press. 73. Vayupurana (1905). Hari Narayan Apta (ed), Poona 74. Markandeyapurana, Pancanana Tarkaratna (ed), Calcutta: Vangavasi Press. 75. Bhagavatapurana (1950). Bombay: Nirnaya Sagar Press. 76. Litvinsky, B.A. (1999). “Languages, Literature, Coinage, Architecture and Art” in B.A. Litvinsky et al (eds.) History of Civilization of Central Asia, Vol. III, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, pp. 305-386. 77. Grierson, G.A. (1919). “Specimen of Dardic or Pischacha Languages”, Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. 8/2, Calcutta.

6. Encounter and Engagement: Vignettes of the Trans-Himalayan Region SUCHANDANA CHATTERJEE

Introduction Te region north of the Himalayas and the Karakoram Range that overlaps with the borderlands of Asiatic Russia and Chinese Turkestan has been commonly viewed as a strategic space that was explored by British and Russian colonial administrators and their envoys, agents and surveyors en route to their sacred destinations and frontier garrisons in Tibet or trading centres in the ‘new dominions’ of Chinese Turkestan. Te spotlight was on the imperial extravaganza in these regions, narrated by the men on mission; some of whom were aggressive military strategists like Sir Francis Younghusband and others who as diplomatic envoys were, extremely cautious and perceptive in their dealings with local authorities in Tibet and Chinese Turkestan. A completely diferent perspective of the region was by a section of visitors who came to the region under the generic category of ‘explorers’ of various hues and backgrounds—who merged their geographical expertise with treasure-hunting skills (as in the case of Marc Aurel Stein) and those from the Indian side with artistic zeal or trading ambition (Rahul Sankrityayana, Nicholas Roerich and Sarat Chandra Das). Such accounts have received attention in contemporary writings where authors talk about a trans-Himalayan space featured by Buddhist art and tradition.1 Such impressions are very diferent from colonial literature that focus on men and their imperial missions and also their envoys who have been deputed by their imperial masters to navigate the terrain for exploring trade routes and befriending local communities in order to outsmart other regional competitors. Quite inevitably, the attention was on Tibet and its protégé Nepal—which was the access route for all Tibetrelated missions.

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Tibetan Encounters: Diferent Strokes We get an idea of the imperial extravaganza which was fagged of by grand diplomatic missions like that of George Bogle in the eighteenth century2 and was revived by military expeditions like that of Sir Francis Younghusband in 1904. On the other hand, there is a tendency to redeem the image of explorers like Sir Marc Aurel Stein who tracked the desert terrain of Eastern Turkestan and discovered some of the remarkable Silk Road sites of Buddhist art in Hami, Dunhuang and Kara Khoto—and who has faded into historical memory as a relic hunter.3 Less talked about are pursuits of private traders like Robert Shaw who befriended the ambans and begs of Chinese Turkestan in order to push British Indian tea into Chinese markets. Similarly, much less noticed are the survey missions of Bengal’s interlocutors like Sarat Chandra Das who created a world of their own as men trained in Sanskrit and Tibetan language and easily mingled with Tibetan communities along the Nepal–Sikkim border. Te purpose here is to weave together such a wide array of accounts in order to portray an image of the Eurasian ecumene centred on Tibetan engagements. Tese engagements refected the monastic establishments as a storehouse of Buddhist manuscripts that were recovered by men of wisdom from India in general. It is these men’s unusual journeys (ofen through the eastern sector), their ability to make an impression on the Tibetan mindset not due to diplomatic overtures but because of their charisma as scholarly travellers and their visions of a pan-Buddhist Asia based on the Buddhist connections dating back to almost 2000 years. Within the framework of Tibetology or Tibetan Studies, various facets about an Indo-Tibetan relationship have been explored. An interesting feature of this relationship is the Tibetans’ fxation on India. Tibetan travellers’ understanding of India as a vast corpus of Indo-centric Buddhist literature revolves round the wisdom and compassion of Buddha Sakyamuni as well as the philosophy of his disciples Nagarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. What the Indians have looked for in Tibet is something similar—i.e. nerve centres of Indian-inspired Buddhist schools and lineages. Tese units have been transformed into knowledge bases disseminating Buddhist knowledge through Indian Buddhist missionaries and their Tibetan converts. So, India as an object of Tibetan knowledge is as important as the centrality of Tibet in Tibetan engagements with India and the rest of Asia—be it Russia, Buryatia, Kalmykia or Mongolia. Research has yielded ideas about the sacred geography of Buddhism, referring to

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sites in India that are associated with the Buddha and Buddhism. In the evolving discourses about Te Holy Land, attention moves to the shifing terrain of the Buddha.4 Tere are clichés as well as realities about India’s Tibetan engagements and vice versa. Taking into consideration the overall appeal of site-mapping, this paper tries to show how Indians as well as their counterparts in the rest of Asia became involved in pursuit and exchange of that knowledge in Himalayan territory—something which is very diferent from the colonial paradigms of contestation and control.

South Asian Journeys Diplomacy and Trade Missions Diplomacy was the forte of Indian intermediaries who were employed in the Company’s service. With the intention of ‘using Asiatics to conciliate Asiatics’,5 the Company’s Government in India was keen to depute Bengali Pundits who not only had the ‘qualities of a European explorer’ but also had the ability of befriending local Rajas and Tibetan teachers as well as spiritual masters (Rinpoches) of Tashilhunpo Monastery to get access to Lhasa through the Sikkim route. Te main purpose was to chart the Sikkim overland route for trade purposes and the method was interaction at a personal level with the Tibetan communities. Te advantage of knowing the local language and the ability to befriend lama scholars who guided them through uncharted tracks in the Himalayan region have been the principal selling points of these indigenous brokers on Tibetan soil. Te account of one such intermediary, Sarat Chandra Das, an Indian Pundit who travelled through Sikkim into Tibet during 1879–1891 with the expertise of a scientifc geographer, is extremely engrossing. Born in Chittagong to a Hindu family in 1849, Sarat Chandra Das frst studied engineering in Calcutta. As headmaster of the Tibetan Boarding School in Darjeeling, he developed a passionate interest in Tibet, its language, Buddhist religion, cities and places of pilgrimage. With his knowledge of Sanskrit and Tibetan and his expertise in Tibetan medicine, Das was acknowledged as Tibet’s special visitor. His name was enrolled as a student of theology in the Grand Monastery that ensured his safe existence in the suspicious environment. Te British were clearly on the receiving end when it came to exploration of new trade routes. Personal equations mattered and knowledge of a Buddhist space made the real diference and

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it is quite evident that people like Sarat Chandra Das succeeded where their colonial masters failed. Das’s searching mind was focussed on the little known ancient monasteries (some more than 800 years old) where classical subjects like metaphysics, medicine etc. were taught. Tese lamaseries and monasteries were a storehouse of documents on Buddhism and lay on the entire stretch of the road to Lhasa, along the trading joints Shigatse and Gyantse where trade competition was intense. It is also apparent that there was a strong bond between Sikkim and Tibet (ofen strengthened by marital ties among the royal families).6 Sarat Das was a reporter who drew a balance sheet, making a correct assessment of the situation as it were. Tis exposed the odds about which the British were mostly unaware of. His unique method was to pacify his adversaries through personal interaction rather than antagonise them through military action or trade competition.

Cultural Missions South Asian scholar-explorers like Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) and Rahula Sankrityayana (1893–1963) came from diferent backgrounds. In the course of their Himalayan journeys, both of them depicted Asiatic Russia as a domain that was characterised by features as Mongol resilience, Buddhist lineage and shamanist traditions. Nicholas Roerich was an ardent proponent of the East’s messianic tradition. He spent 24 years in the East, settling down in India in the North, and travelling to Central Asia, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan. He undertook two expeditions to Asia on foot, not directly from Russia, but from the west to Asia, through Northern India. His idealised geographical landscape was somewhere in the landlocked mountainous region in the Himalayas and the Altai. His mountain art was inspired by a multitude of images about the Buddhist spiritual space that was articulated through his art. Te region he chose to paint this time was essentially Asia—and not Russia. His main purpose was an attempt to trace the origins of all Eurasian religious traditions which had a common source—in the mythical lands such as Shambhala and Belovodye which were the scenes of esoteric Buddhism. Nicholas Roerich’s goodwill Central Asiatic Expedition of 1923–28 began with the artistic aim ‘to create a pictorial record of lands and peoples of Inner Asia.’ Te trip was the outcome of a combination of diverse but related interests—artistic ambitions and spiritual quest in the TransHimalayan mountain territory. Roerich’s sojourn to Tibet, Mongolia as well as Buryatia in the Altai was linked to his contacts with spiritual

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masters of Inner Asia who wanted to create a spiritual community of the Buddhist faith. Roerich led two expeditions: the frst one in 1923–28 and the second one in 1930–31. Te frst expedition, directed along the Srinagar-LehLadakh route to the Altai via Chinese Turkestan (Khotan-KarashahrAksu-Urumchi-Kashgar), immortalised in his travel diary Altai-Himalaya (1929),7 gives us a glimpse of various images of spirituality, authority and defance in Chinese Turkestan. Beyond Urumqi and Dzhungaria, the alternative route of entry was through Mongolia. Siberia was to be the frst port of entry along this new route. From the viewpoint of a Tibetan mission, Roerich’s Himalayan expedition was a wasted trip. But his only solace was his belief about the land of the Shambhala which lay not in Tibet, but in the Altai. Greater prospects of the revival of Buddhism, in his view, lay in India’s Himalayan borders, i.e. Sikkim and Bhutan. The stresses and strains and transformative aspects of the Himalayan region were not clear to many Indians though some of them did feel the need to revive the region’s spiritual and linguistic traditions. To this generation belonged Rahul Sankrityayana, an Azamgarh-born scholar whose varied interests in lexicography, Sanskrit, Hindi and Pali texts and Buddhist philosophy brought him into close contact with the community of orientalists and historians in Europe and Asia. Rahulji documented his journeys to Tibet, Ladakh, Sri Lanka, Europe, Japan, Korea, Iran and finally the Soviet Union during the 1920s, 1930s and the 1940s in a series of travelogues.8 During his travels as a Buddhist bhikku, he described the cosmopolitan environment of the Himalayan region. In Sankrityayana’s worldview, the region, despite its remoteness from the metropolitan core, was dynamic and vibrant. According to Rahulji, the inter-connectedness of a vast region was due to literary and linguistic links despite the dispersal of communities over a large Himalayan space. This was evident in his interaction with the Drukpa community in the Himalayan plains whose villages were Buddhist hamlets in which Buddhist affiliations thrived. This community gave Rahulji shelter and assisted him on his journey to Tibet that was under the strict surveillance of the Nepali government (under Chinese supervision) that was still wary of casual travellers from British India. The members of the Drukpa community became his fellow-travellers to Lhasa. He convinced them of his interest in Buddhist classical learning

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and his desire to make India a storehouse of Buddhist texts and also popularise Buddhist practices in India. Rahulji’s journey on foot across the Himalayas gave him a first-hand experience of the prosperous Nepali tribal communities like Gorkhas, Newars, Tamangs, Gurungs, Elmos, Sharbas—each of them pursuing trade activities under the Ranas of Nepal. Trekking through villages like Thongla, Longkor, Tingri, Domba, Chakaur, Lahurch and Northong perched at an altitude of 14,000 feet, Sankrityayana experienced the cosmopolitan environment of a Himalayan highland with several gateways—some of which were very different from the far easier Phari-Kalimpong route that was a commercial–military route. The Nepali–Tibetan borderlands had many Buddhist communities who mingled with commoners and strangers of every hue. Rahulji entered Tibet via Nepal. In the late 1920s, he reconnoitred Tibetan monasteries that were the rich archives of Buddhist literature. His assistants took him to the heart of the monastic establishments in Lhasa where he was able to interact with students who came from Mongolia and Buryatia and were living in the Drepung and Sera monasteries to study Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddhist texts were jealously guarded by the Tibetan guards. Rahulji’s Tibet retrospective is a full-length account of the richness of Tibetan archives and the strong Indian–Tibetan scholarly links dating back to the age of Atisha Dipankar Shrijnana (980–1054 AD) and others—the link that was broken due to imperial ambitions. As the rare Buddhist scholar from India, he was gradually involved in top-level discussions about a liberationist model that swept through the intellectual circles and academia of St. Petersburg and southern Siberia in the early years of Bolshevism. He came into closer contact with prominent intellectuals like Feodor Scherbatsky in the Oriental Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow that nurtured intellectuals with nationalist ambitions as in Russia and Mongolia. The potentiality of an Asiatic revival with Tibet as the pinhead became evident to Rahulji.

Tibetologists From Russia Such revival came about at the turn of the twentieth century when the surroundings of Lake Baikal became the nestling ground of Buryat autonomists. Tey responded to the new ideological approach about the study of ancient Buddhist texts that was emphasised by Russian orientalists S.F. Oldenburg and Scherbatsky in St. Petersburg. Teir conviction about

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the knowledge of the Buddhist lamas led them to support the cause of lama ideology. Since the 1890s, the interpretations of eastern educators about the Buddhist knowledge domain were adopted wholeheartedly. Gombozhab Tsybikov (1873–1930), Bazar Baradin (1878–1937) and Tsyben Zhamtsarano (1880–1942) became the future leaders of the Buryat autonomy movement afer the 1905 uprising in Russia and participated in the ‘nationalist reconstruction’ project in Buryatia in the 1920s. Tese Buryats were admitted to the Oriental Faculty at St. Petersburg and attained access to the imperial diplomatic service. As students they were ofered special training for their research trips to Tibet. Gombozhob Tsybikov and Bazar Baradin reported to their Tsarist mentors about the state of Tibetan afairs. During his research trip to Tibet from 1899 to 1902, Tsybikov played a double or even triple role—as a fellow traveller and travel companion of the Buryat pilgrims, a dedicated feldworker of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society taking unusual risks and as Russian secret agent whose goal was to gather as much geographical information about the political and socio-economic situation in Tibet as was possible. His trip went unnoticed in the West until the Younghusband military expedition (1903–04) that opened up a Pandora’s Box about clandestine links among interventionists centering Tibet and the role of secret agents in this imperial ‘game’ for gaining access to the borderlands. Te needle of suspicion was automatically turned to men on the spot like Tsybikov and Sarat Chandra Das. Tsybikov’s reports9 say that afer a year-long stay in Lhasa during which he collected valuable books by lama scholars on philology, astronomy, medicine, history and hu-rums (incantations), he turned up at the high passes of Central Tibet where he waited for the Kozlov expedition. In this report, there is a sketchy description of a fertile highland dotted with monasteries like Sera, Amdo, Daibun and Galdan; the communication among populous trade centres like Shigatse, Gyantse and Lhasa and the settlements of foreigners and traders of Indian origin that Tsybikov saw. During his journeys, the mystery of old Tibet unravelled as he passed through the Buddhist pilgrimage route from China via the Mongolian grasslands, the Gobi, Tsaidam and onto Lhasa. Tese intellectuals gradually drifed to the alternative political model of a Tibeto-Mongolian theocratic state with the Dalai Lama as the leader and Agvan Dorjiev as his advisor. With their eastern mindset and their eastern pathways, their agendas came to be associated with the broader

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transnational Buddhist space that India and her Himalayan neighbours represent. Te widest coverage has been given to Agvan Dorjiev (1853– 1938), the 13th Dalai Lama’s Buryat emissary to Tibet who is rumoured to be actively involved in a parallel diplomatic engagement—Russian military preparations in Tibet. Te interplay of local factors with imperial motivations is not a new subject of study. Somewhat refreshing is the Buryat connection and the intriguing regional politics in the Himalayan region centring Tibet. What has also assumed focus is the wide gamut of transnational networks based on the lamas’ contacts. Dorjiev’s activities in Tibet and Russia, from the late nineteenth century until 1904 when he fed from Lhasa in the Dalai Lama’s retinue, have been well recorded in his own memoirs. Glimpses of his career are available in his Mongolian and Tibetan autobiographical accounts and his Russian memoir (Zapiska o moei zhizni v Tibete) which ends rather abruptly.10 His political career began in the Lhasan court and he was able to convince Lhasa about British geopolitical interests and possibilities of British India’s encroachments in the Trans-Himalayan sector. Dorjiev’s secret contacts with Buryat and Indian scholars and intermediaries—some of them being Indian Sanskritologists like Sankrityayana—also indicate the range of his ideas and his reach that few could comprehend at that time. Dorjiev alerted the Dalai Lama about British secret activities on Tibet’s Sikkim border. Te Dalai Lama and his associates lef the Tibetan capital for a safer refuge in Mongolia. Such a dramatic sojourn happened just before the Younghusband Mission—so it was pretty clear that spiritual envoys like Agvan Dorjiev had a signifcant role to play as arbiters in the Tibetan afairs.

Conclusions Perceptions of a Trans-Himalayan space varied because the contexts and content of the missions were diferent. Te accounts are sombre refections of local and regional geopolitics. Roerich’s preference for alternative spiritual sects and leaders in the Chinese Altai struck a discordant note. Sankrityayana’s perception of humanism and socialist order set the tone for political alternatives in resurgent India—an intellectual trend which can be compared to the ideas of Buryat autonomists who were trained as intelligence gatherers just like their counterpart in British India, Sarat Chandra Das. Te variety of Eastern missions refected the the TransHimalayan region (and Tibet in particular) not only as a space that gained

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notoriety for colonial encounters but also as an interactive cultural space that was visited by scholars from South Asia and Asiatic Russia—who also turned out to be great disseminators of Buddhist learning.

Notes 1. Articles by Jeta Sankrityayana, Rashmi Doraiswamy, Benoy Behl, Manju Kak, Somraj Basu, Tsymzhit Vanchykova in MAKAIAS seminar and symposium volumes, Kolkata, 2009-2013. See a special Roerich volume: Manju Kak (ed.) Nicholas Roerich: A Quest and a Legacy, New Delhi: Niyogi Books, 2013. Also see Benoy K. Behl, Northern Frontiers of Buddhism: Buddhist Heritage of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kalmykia, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Siberia, Delhi: MAKAIAS and Motilal Banarasidass Publishers Private Limited, 2014. 2. Kate Teltscher, Te High Road to China: George Bogle, Te Panchen Lama and the British Expedition to Tibet, London: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2006. 3. Arup Banerji, “Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862–1943): Te Expeditions and the Collections, in Rashmi Doraiswamy (ed.), Cultural Histories of Central Asia, New Delhi: Aakar Books, 2009; Haas Harrison, “Who Stole China’s China? Te Legacy of Sir Aurel Stein”, B.A. Tesis in Haverford College, 2010; http://triceratops.brynmawr.edu/dspace/ handle/10066/5107 4. Toni Huber, Te Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India, 2008. 5. Correspondent of London Times, quoted in Preface by Sian Pritchard Jones in Sarat Chandra Das: A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet, Kolkata: Rupa and Company, 1997, p. x. 6. Sarat Chandra Das, pp. 98-107. 7. Nicholas Roerich, Altai-Himalaya: A Travel Diary, [First published in 1929]. Reprint, Delhi: Book Faith India, 1996. 8. Rahul Sankrityayana, Amar Jibon Jatra, Vol II, Rahula Sankrityayana Birth Centenary Committee Publication, Kolkata, 1993. About seven chapters (“Exile in Nepal”, “One and A Half Years in Tibet”, “Second Ladakh Trip”, “Second Tibet Trip”, “Te Tird Visit to Tibet”, “In Soviet Land’ and “Second Visit to Soviet Land”) are extremely relevant for this section on South Asian cultural missions to the Himalayan region. 9. Tsybikof, “Journey to Lhasa”, Te Geographical Journal, Vol 23, No 1, January 1904. 10. Alexandre Andreyev, Soviet Russia and Tibet: Te Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918– 1930’s, Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 4, Leiden: Brill, 2003.

References Books

1. Andreyev, Alexandre (2003). Soviet Russia and Tibet: Te Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918–1930’s, Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 4, Leiden: Brill. 2. Behl, Benoy K. (2014). Northern Frontiers of Buddhism: Buddhist Heritage of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kalmykia, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Siberia, Delhi: MAKAIAS and Motilal Banarsi Dass Publishers Private Limited.

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3. Chatterjee, Suchandana (ed.) (2013). Trans-Himalayan Buddhism: Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns, Delhi: Knowledge World. 4. Chatterjee, Suchandana, Anita Sengupta, Susmita Bhattacharya (eds.) (2012). Buddhism in Asia: Traditions and Imageries, Delhi: Shipra Publishers. 5. Das, Sarat Chandra (1997). A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet, Kolkata: Rupa and Company. 6. Doraiswamy, Rashmi (ed.) (2009). Cultural Histories of Central Asia, New Delhi: Aakar Books. 7. Huber, Toni (2008). Te Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India, University of Chicago Press. 8. Kak, Manju (ed.) (2013). Nicholas Roerich: A Quest and a Legacy, New Delhi: Niyogi Books. 9. Roerich, Nicholas (1929; 1996). Altai-Himalaya: A Travel Diary, Delhi: Book Faith India. 10. Sankrityayana, Rahul (1993). Amar Jibon Jatra, Vol II, Rahula Sankrityayana Birth Centenary Committee Publication, Kolkata.

Articles 11. Banerji, Arup (2009). “Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862–1943): Te Expeditions and the Collections”, in Rashmi Doraiswamy (ed.), Cultural Histories of Central Asia, New Delhi: Aakar Books, pp. 164-203. 12. Chatterjee, Suchandana (2013). “Glimpses of Inner Asia”, Nicholas Roerich: A Quest and a Legacy, New Delhi: Niyogi Books, pp. 43-56. 13. Doraiswamy, Rashmi (2012). “Nikolai Roerich and the Myth of Shambhala”, in Suchandana Chatterjee et al (eds.), Buddhism in Asia: Traditions and Imageries, Delhi: Shipra Publishers, pp. 29-56. 14. Sankrityayana, Jeta (2010). “A Passage from India: Rahul Sankrityayana’s Intercultural Quests”, in Anita Sengupta and Suchandana Chatterjee (eds.), Eurasian Perspectives: In Search of Alternatives, New Delhi: Shipra Publications, pp. 122-154. 15. Tsybikof (January 1904). ‘Journey to Lhasa’, Te Geographical Journal, Vol. 23, No 1. 16. Vanchikova, Tsymzhit P. (2012). Tibten Buddhist Monks and Monasteries in Contemporary Buryatiya, in Suchandana Chatterjee et al (eds), Buddhism in Asia: Traditions and Imageries,uests.

Web Articles 17. Harrison, Haas (2010). “Who Stole China’s China? Te Legacy of Sir Aurel Stein”, B.A. Tesis in Haverford College, available at http://triceratops.brynmawr.edu/dspace/ handle/10066/5107.

7. The Indian Frontier Administrative Service: Romanticism and Hostile Borders CLAUDE ARPI

Rousseau’s Romanticism: Te Philosophy of NEFA “I am not at all sure which is the better way of living, the tribal or our own. In some respects I am quite certain theirs is better. Terefore, it is grossly presumptuous on our part to approach them with an air of superiority, to tell them how to behave or what to do and what not to do. Tere is no point in trying to make of them a second-rate copy of ourselves”,1 wrote Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India. He was speaking of the tribal population of what was known as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA); today’s Arunachal Pradesh. Tough constitutionally a part of Assam, the Agency was directly administered by the Centre,2 with the Governor of Assam acting as agent to the President of India. Te latter was seconded by a senior ofcer,3 designated as Advisor to the Governor of Assam. Later an Adviser for Tribal Afairs was appointed. Dr. Verrier Elwin, the famous British anthropologist,4 occupied the post for several years and helped the Government to defne its policies for the ‘tribal’ borders. In 1957, Verrier’s concept of the development of these areas was expounded in his celebrated book, Te Philosophy of NEFA. Nehru wrote the Foreword of the book which became the Bible for the ofcers serving in the NEFA. Nehru explained: “My liking for them [the tribals] grew and with it came respect. I had no sensation of superiority over them”.5 Nehru’s objective was to avoid two extreme courses: “one was to treat them as anthropological specimens for study and the other was to allow them to be engulfed by the masses of Indian humanity.”6

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He further elucidated his own philosophy: “Tese reactions were instinctive and not based on any knowledge or experience. [Later] I began to doubt how far the normal idea of progress was benefcial for these people and, indeed, whether this was progress at all in any real sense of the word. It was true that they could not be lef cut of from the world as they were. Political and economic forces impinged upon them and it was not possible or desirable to isolate them. Equally undesirable, it seemed to me, was to allow these forces to function freely and upset their whole life and culture.”7

Tat was a very romantic view of the border population; sixty years later, one realises that it amounted to a segregation of a large chunk of the Indian population. It is only now, that slowly, very slowly, India is discovering that it has a border population residing in the Himalayan borderlands. Te North-East, particularly Arunachal Pradesh, has recently been in the news, though for the wrong reasons. Hopefully, a new awareness of the importance of the border population is coming to the fore; it is indeed a vital issue for the future of the nation. During an interview, Kiren Rijiju, the Minister of State for Home Afairs, himself a native of West Kameng district in Arunachal, told us: “Te yardstick is that the security of north-eastern states must be taken as a priority and then catapult the whole region into a developmental stage, which will be at par with the rest of the country; especially at par with the western part of India.”8 It may take some time, but the process seems to have fnally started.

Tibet Invaded: October 1950 It is unfortunate that at the end of 1950, soon afer China invaded Tibet, the relations between India, the Himalaya and Tibet came to a standstill. With the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa in March 1959 and the consequent fight of the Dalai Lama to India, these relations, which for centuries had been vital to the Himalayans, were shattered; Delhi’s romantic policies had a consequence in the neglect of India’s frontiers. Following the arrival of the Tibetan refugees in India in April 1959, the Chinese tightened their grip on the Tibetan plateau; it ended in a real tragedy for the Himalayan economy, cultural life and India’s security as well. Because Verrier Elwin and Nehru only saw the anthropological side of the problem, forgetting or ignoring the strategic as well the economic aspects of the border development, it resulted in a huge gap between the frontier areas and the rest of India.

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Te Indian Frontier Administrative Service As the outcome of his NEFA philosophy, the frst Indian Prime Minister decided to create a separate cadre for India’s frontiers—namely NEFA, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan. His ideas remained however rather vague for a few years and it was only in 1953–54 that the project started to take a concrete shape. On April 4, 1952, Nehru wrote to Jairamdas Doulatram, the Governor of Assam, mentioning a ‘special’ cadre for the border areas: “I have indicated previously that ofcers dealing with the tribal people have to be chosen with extreme care; just as the average Assamese ofcer might not be suitable, the average ICS ofcer is usually equally unsuitable. In efect, we have to build up some kind of a special cadre. Apart from the general policies involved, the approach has to be most sympathetic and friendly. Te test of an ofcer is, how far he gains popularity among the tribes.”9

Apparently, in the early years, Nehru was just thinking of NEFA, which included at that time, large tracts inhabited by rebellious Nagas10. Te service was later extended to Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan. Tree weeks afer having written to the Governor of Assam, Nehru sent a note to Subimal Dutt, the Foreign Secretary. Te Prime Minister again mentioned the service which two years later would become the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (IFSA): “Te real question is of building up a cadre, specially selected and specially trained. Also of giving some measure of training to the local people locally for subordinate types of work. …I think that Mr Verrier Elwin could be of great help to us because of his wide knowledge and experience and his human sympathy for these tribal folk.”11 Ten, in 1953, in a letter to Bisnuram Medhi, the Chief Minister of Assam, Nehru began to diferentiate the tribals of Assam and those from the NEFA: “We have highly developed and progressive tribal groups in Assam, chiefy in your autonomous areas, and we have very primitive people in some parts of the NEFA.”12 It is there that Nehru wanted to implement his philosophy of NEFA: “Tese primitive people especially have to be dealt with care and friendliness and require expert knowledge which our average administrator does not possess. Hence the necessity for a specially trained cadre.”13 Te idea of a separate cadre was not appreciated by all.

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Te Assamese were the frst to realise that the move to create a special cadre would further separate the NEFA from Assam. On March 24, 1954, Debeswar Sarmah, a Congress member from Jorhat in Assam objected to the setting up of a separate cadre. He argued that it virtually meant “segregation of the people of this region from plains people and this would be a grievous error as it would prevent Assam from playing her rightful and proper part in development of the region.”14 Te dual role of the Governor of Assam, as an agent of the Centre for NEFA and the constitutional head of the Assam State, has for years created friction between the elected Assam government, particularly the successive Chief Ministers and the Centre.15 Te next day in the Parliament, Nehru answered the Assam MP: “My friend Sarmahji has raised an objection in connection with the border question, that the new step taken by the North East Frontier Agency and the separate cadre created by the ofcers is not to his liking. I regret that he does not like it. But we have done this afer much deliberation and I am convinced that we must follow this path and if necessary, extend it further.”16 Nehru added: “Te most important part of it is to make them feel that they are part of India and that their future lies in marching forward hand in hand with the rest of the country. Once they are convinced about this, then we can cement relations further. If they feel at the beginning that we are trying to force a relationship down their throats, then it will be counterproductive.” Lt. Col. P.N. (Pran) Luthra, who belonged to the frst batch of IFAS ofcers and who like many of his colleagues came from the Indian Army,17 explained the legal aspects of the cadre in his book Constitutional and Administrative Growth of the Arunachal Pradesh.18 He writes: “Te cadres of Administration in NEFA generally fall under two heads. Firstly, the NEFA Civil Service which encompasses the posts of Circle Ofcers and Extra Assistant Commissioners and secondly, the Indian Frontier Administrative Service which was created in 1953 by the Government of India through special recruitment by inviting applications from ofcers from all walks of life as also the existing All India Services. In the course of the years, the ofcers of the two cadres with the support of those in the departmental services have played a signal role in extending and consolidating the administration in the entire territory of the Agency.

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Of late, however, the avenues of advancement in the Indian Frontier Administrative Service being extremely limited or practically non-existent, a portion of these ofcers were appointed to the Indian Administrative Service.” Luthra wrote this in 1968.

On September 18, 1955, the Prime Minister sent a note to the Foreign Secretary in order to formalise the loose arrangement already in place; he told Subimal Dutt: “I think that the NEFA does require special selection and, therefore, a special cadre is desirable.”19 He mentioned the objection of Govind Ballabh Pant, the Home Minister who proposed that the new Service should be amalgamated with the IAS, “as otherwise it might not give ‘enough room for promotion’ for the IFAS ofcers.” R.K. Nehru, the Foreign Secretary wanted the service to be linked to the Foreign Service by creating deputation posts for ofcers to the new NEFA cadre. Nehru did not agree: “I do not see why the special cadre should be a rigid enclosure. People can be taken from it for the Foreign Service or, indeed, for the IAS. Tese will be generally special cases. Te necessity for the special cadre remains subject to this fexibility.” Luthra further explains the administration of the NEFA before 1953: “While dealing with the services, it might be worthwhile to dwell briefy on the system prior to the origin of the Indian Frontier Administrative Service in 1953. In the former years, there was no special cadre or administrative service for the Agency. Te Ofcers were drawn from the All-India or other service cadres of Assam. It was the Indian Civil Service, the Indian Police and the Indian Army which, in the main, provided ofcers for appointment as Political Ofcers and Assistant Political Ofcers. In a few cases, selected Extra Assistant Commissioners from the Assam State were also appointed as Political Ofcers and Assistant Political Ofcers. Tis was, however, an adhoc arrangement which has now been replaced by the constitution of a Union Territory cadre of the Indian Administrative Service.”

Te Indian Frontier Administrative Service was itself adhoc and during the mid-1960s, IFAS ofcers were ‘merged’ into the IAS or the IPS. A note in the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru explains: “Te initial recruitment to the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (IFAS), established in 1956, was made by the Central Government through

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a Special Selection Board (SSB) consisting of representatives from the MEA (as Chairman), and from the Ministries of Home Afairs and Defence, along with an expert in tribal afairs. Rule 10.2 (I) of the IFAS Rules, however, provided that even promotions from Grade II to Grade I of the Service should be made on the advice of the SSB. B.N. Chakravarty [Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Afairs] in a note of 10 September [1958] pointed to the inconvenience of summoning members from Shillong for Board meetings and proposed revising rules accordingly, and dropping tribal experts altogether.”20

Nehru did not agree to scrap the SSB. He wrote: ‘I agree that the old Special Selection Board is not necessary for the promotion of ofcers within the Service. It is not worthwhile to summon the Adviser to the Governor of Assam to Delhi for this purpose. But the Board you suggest appears to me in efect two senior ofcials of the External Afairs Ministry. Te representatives of Home Afairs and Defence will probably have a watching brief. I should have liked to have some outside help. Tis need not mean adding to the Board, but I think that we should have the defnite recommendations of the Adviser as well as some expert in Tribal afairs such as Verrier Elwin. On occasions the Governor’s advice might be taken.”21

It has to be mentioned that several ofcers of the cadre served in Tibet: P.N. Kaul as Consul General of India in Lhasa, Maj. S.L. Chhiber as Indian Trade Agent (ITA) in Gyantse; later Consul General of India in Lhasa, KC. Johorey as ITA in Yatung and RS Kapur, ITA in Gyantse. Others served in the Political Ofcer’s ofce in Gangtok.

Johorey, One of the Pioneers K.C. Johorey who later became Chief Secretary in Goa was one of the frst pioneers who joined the IFAS. He remembers that Nehru told the ofcers who had been selected to administer India’s frontiers: “Te staf must go along with the fag and the typewriters can follow later on. Tat is it, physically and literally,” says Johorey.22 Johorey gives some details: “We had all met in Delhi [the frst batch of 14 ofcers] and received some training there.” Ten, the batch proceeded to Shillong where they were briefed by the Governor, the Chief Minister of Assam and various Heads of the Department: “We learnt the law and the local trait of each tribe; not that we learnt their languages in 14 days.”

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And that was it. Tey were then ordered to join duty in their respective posts. Johorey and his colleagues, Captain U. Chakma23 and Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali (the senior-most of the three) had no alternative, but to take their assignment by air: “We landed at Rowria airfeld in Jorhat [Assam] and we waited. We could not walk to Along [today Aalo]; there were no roads. Te Brahmaputra River had eroded the banks and damaged all the approaches. Tere was no bridge on the Brahmaputra at that time and you could not even go by ferry boat to Pasighat,” he still remembers. He concludes: “Along had a very small hastily levelled air-strip. So, we waited in Jorhat for 14 days. Every day we used to go to the airfeld, wait for the dense clouds to disappear and come back [because of the bad weather]. Tis happened for 14 days. One fne morning, the dashing pilot of the Indian Air Force told us: “Let us board and take of quickly for Along”. So, [we] boarded the aircraf and reached Along. Each of us carried a small bag of some essential clothes. Captain Chakma was a very colourful person. I was surprised to learn that he was from one of the tribes on the Chittagong Hills, near Burma border, and knew Burmese and Bengali.”

Yusuf Ali, U. Chakma and Johorey had been given the charge to ‘administrate’ the Siang Frontier Division with Along as a base. Later, a doctor was appointed and joined the 3 ofcers. Johorey evokes the frst days: there were two houses, one for the burra sahib,24 and behind another smaller hut: “Te houses were really huts made of bamboos, palm leaves and canes. Even the tables and the beds were of bamboos. Tere were no mattresses, no electricity and no furniture. Te houses were very clean and airy. Tat was all,” says Johorey. As for the food, they depended on the airdrop; the small airfeld was used as a Dropping Zone. It is how the IFAS started. All the IFAS ofcers interviewed, like Johorey or Brigadier (Justice) D.M. Sen, the frst Judge Advocate General of India, who is now 100 years old, have still fond memories of their days in NEFA; they all have similar stories to tell. Earlier, ofcers had been headquartered in Dibrugarh or Pasighat and they only occasionally visited Along (not to speak of the more remote parts of the Siang Frontier Division today under Upper Siang and West Siang districts of Arunachal).

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Pasighat was then a fve-day journey by mule track: “Usually we arrived on the ffh or sixth day”, says Johorey, who adds: “we kept on meeting the people to know their problems, aspirations and expectations.” Afer a couple of weeks, having ‘comfortably’ settled at the ‘headquarters’, they started travelling to remote villages: “Some of the villages were very new and no administration had ever gone there. Tey had never seen a coin. Tey had no medicines.” Te new administrators had a small protective escort of the Assam Rifes; in each NEFA district headquarters, the paramilitary force, then under the Ministry of External Afairs, had the responsibility to guard the government treasuries. Johorey goes on with his fascinating narration: “We continued travelling and meeting people. Tey used to come with their personal problems and legal cases including land disputes. [For example] somebody had violated the tribal code which had the sanctity of law or violated the rules; and there were simple cases. Ten, there was the distribution of salt.” Earlier the tribal population had to walk for weeks to reach Tibet to get salt; sometimes, tribals visited plains of Assam to barter goods. Such were the early days of the IFAS.

Te Illustrious Maj. Bob Khathing One of the most famous members of the IFAS is Maj. Ranenglao ‘Bob’ Khathing who single-handedly brought Tawang under Indian administration in February 1951. His biographer, Lt. Col. H. Bhuban Singh25 describes thus the times, when the service was not even ofcial: “Bob was picked up for this service. Te service came to be known as IFAS (Indian Frontier Administrative Service). Many military ofcers and some civil service ofcers of adjoining States joined this service. In October 1950, Bob Khathing bade farewell to Colonel Freyer, IGAR (Inspector General of Assam Rifes) [in] Shillong. On joining IFAS26, Bob was appointed A.P.O. in Tirap Agency and was posted to Pasighat in November 1950. As stated earlier, the atmosphere in Tibet was tense with the Red Chinese invasion looming large.”

Tis is one of the most fascinating and less-known episodes of the history of modern India. Singh continues: “In January 1951, he was shifed to Kameng [Frontier Division]. Major Geofrey Allen was the Political Ofcer. Te Headquarters of Kameng Agency were located at Charduar

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at the foot hills in Assam. Bob was posted as A.P.O. of Sela Sub-Agency.” It was Jairamdas Daulatram, the Governor of Assam, who ordered the young Naga ofcer to go and set up the Government of India’s administration in the Tawang area. Only once the job was done, Daulatram did mention the ‘military’ operation to Nehru. A couple of years ago, an Indian journalist Sidharth Mishra, wrote an article entitled, Forgotten: Te Man who Won Us Tawang, about Bob Khathing. It provided a fascinating and detailed profle of the Naga ofcer. Mishra explains: “In 1951, Major Bob Khathing commanded a force of 200 soldiers and re-established India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh, much to the annoyance of Jawaharlal Nehru.” Lt. Col. H. Bhuban Singh, Khathing’s biographer gives more details: “From Bob’s side too, wireless messages afer wireless messages were sent to Charduar27, Shillong28 and onward to New Delhi29 giving details of what he was doing. At the same time, he sought approval of the Government of India for the actions he had taken and intended to take. Shillong and New Delhi were aghast with what Bob did. Tey must have preferred a peaceful, non-violent and Panchsheel type of approach. While Shillong was reduced to a mere post-ofce forwarding information only, lots of consultations and conferences took place in New Delhi and lots of tea was drunk without any decision. In the meanwhile, Bob was told by Shillong to be patient and understanding and above all, sympathetic [with the local population], as if he had terrorized the local people. He was further instructed not to precipitate a crisis.”

Khathing’s direct interlocutor was N. K. (Nari) Rustomji, the Advisor to the Governor of Assam for the Tribal Areas and through Rustomji, S.N. Haksar, another I.C.S. ofcer serving as joint secretary in the Ministry of External Afairs in New Delhi. It was indeed the legal prerogative of the Governor of Assam to occupy any Indian territory under his responsibility and Tawang was defnitely part of Indian since 1914. Tere was nothing wrong to bring Indian administration to a part of India’s territory, and if it had not been done at that time, it would be Chinese territory today. Another point which is rarely mentioned is that the local Monpas were delighted with the arrival of the Khathing expedition. Te Tibetan ‘administration’ only consisted of forcefully collecting taxes, which

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the local people ofen could not aford to pay; the corvee tax (ula) was particularly unpopular. Te frst thing Khathing did was to do away with these unreasonable taxes. Interestingly, for years the Chinese government did not react to the Khathing expedition though the frst PLA troops had arrived in Lhasa only in September 1951.

Maj. S.M. Krishnatry in Subansiri Frontier Division One extraordinary account of the life of an IFAS ofcer is the ‘tour’ report of Maj. S.M. Krishnatri in what is today the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal. Krishnatry and his wife Geeta have lef us a detailed description of their adventure. Krishnatry, who had earlier been posted in Tibet for seven years, writes: “Most exploratory expeditions in the tribal frontiers have been armed or armoured with heavy escorts much to the cost and suppression of human rights, occupation of their lands, burning of villages, molestation of women, looting of livestock, crops and banning of trade. Tis was the trend in Abor, Mishmi and Miri expeditions led by the British armed forces during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Te tribes of Arunachal Pradesh thus fought back with stockades and their native resources. Peace was elusive due to revengeful bloodshed. Non-violence was not for the British. MarabaiTsari expedition led by me was conducted with a diference. It was wholly unarmed and unescorted.”30

Te IFAS was to bring the Indian administration in Limeking, not far from the McMahon line on the banks of the Tsari chu (river). During his tour, Krishnatri encountered the feared Tagin tribe: “Te Diaspora of the Tagin tribesman sprawled right along India’s northeastern frontier with Tibet along its extremities extending through the hidden valleys of their Bangni kinsmen of Kameng frontier and their habitats of the Khru, the Kamla and the Subansiri river basins and over to the Mara and Na Tagins on the border lines, fnally merging their identities astride Siang frontier with the Monpa mix of Mechukha.”

In 1956, the Tagin heartland was still an unsurveyed area, which: “must be identifed with the higher approaches of the upper Subansiri river confuencing with Tsari chu and other feeder valleys right up to Migyithun

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in Tibet—their El Dorado where every twelfh year they were hosted by the Tibetan authorities for contracting a peaceful management of the TsariRong-Khor (circumambulation) pilgrimage.”31 Near Migyithun, the last Tibetan village, was the hamlet of Longju which, three years later, would become famous afer the Chinese attacked the border post, resulting in several casualties from the Indian side. Te incident was hotly discussed in the Indian Parliament; this event certainly marked the end of the Hindi–Chini bhai bhai honeymoon. In 1956, Krishnatry says: “Marabai and the Na people had border trade with Tibetan Lhopas and, therefore, rarely seen on the Assam side. Te pocket of territory remained the last to be explored for want of takers earlier for fear of warlike Tagins. It was for this that my wife and I volunteered and planned an unarmed friendship expedition. She became the soul of this expedition.” Geeta Krishnatry religiously took notes of her encounter with the villagers on the way to the border and entered every detail of their adventurous tour in her diary. It is a most remarkable anthropological and strategic document. Te former Maratha Light Infantry ofcer explains: “I sought positioning ourselves at Ziro for a feel of the area, fully convinced along with Geeta that the bloody culture of armed legacy of British expeditions against our own people must end forever—punitive or retributive. And a human rights approach of love, humour and patience must be tried out to set a tradition for future administrative operators. I felt that a woman was a more secure safeguard against tribal onslaught, while Geeta was frm she would rather trust peace with tribals than with armed escort in our company.”

Still today, Krishnatry believes that, “this unarmed and unescorted expedition has served to be a watershed in the administrative history of Arunachal Pradesh and has, if it is to be believed by the cynic, set the pace for lasting peace between the tribals and the administration unlike the other tribal communities of the north-east region of India.” He notes: “We took the plunge not unaware of the prohibitive passage through deep river gorges and towering missile like peaks. Bailey, Morshead, Sherrif and the Kingdom-Wards had to turn away dreading the Marabai and their formidable deep gorges.”

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From the Government of India’s side, Krishnatry’s expedition was trigeered by the Achingmori incident. In 1953, a forty seven Assam Rifes’ party had been massacred in what is known as the Achingmori massacre; no one survived. Krish, as his colleagues called him, explains: “Fresh on my return from Tibet, I had decided to face the sword of Damocles just when came the SOS to proceed in this multi-dimensional mission which had a far-reaching and permanent impact on peacekeeping all around.” Te massacre had happened ‘halfway in our projected itinerary’, says Krishnatry who adds: “My mandate was indeed as simple as it sounded supercilious: “Plan your own strategy and take as much force as you would need to thwart any designs to trespass Indian territory, enforce law and order among the recalcitrant Tagins in the Mara area and ensure peaceful passage of the pilgrimage; establish all administrative centre as near to the international border as possible.”

He, like other IFAS ofcers, loved his freedom to take immediate decisions without referring to any boss while implementing the Government of India’s policies in a truly ‘fexible’ manner. Such was the life of the IFAS ofcers: “It was a tall order in the face of no worthwhile intelligence available from any quarter. I had to deal with the people and I loved …to act as deemed necessary.” His agenda was simple, though not easy to implement: “Tis fairy tale is all about the multi-dimensional expedition reaching out to the last line of our administrative control with benefts to the last villages Limeking, Ging and Na enclaves in order to evaluate their living conditions on the borderline, cooling of of the Tagin trauma caused by arrest of the ring leader of Achingmori massacre by two large columns of the Assam Rifes force led by Hipshon Roy and K.T. Khuma, my colleagues, keeping peace with the Chinese or Tibetan escort for the pilgrims who had to circumambulate through our territory and the Governor Jairamdas’ dictate to consolidate the border—all in one, apart from the necessity of keeping ourselves on our feet.”

Te IFAS ofcers were pioneers and their attitudes and actions were to be a model for the future generations of administrators: “our main agenda was to lay down a pragmatic charter of behaviour for future generations following in the footsteps of time.” It is very unfortunate that the IFAS has

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been today forgotten and the young generation of IAS has absolutely no clue about what the three batches of adventurous and daring ofcers did. Te tour accounts are fabulous anthropological documents. Krishnatry, like his colleagues in the other Frontier Divisions of the NEFA, recorded a world which does not exist anymore: “Tagins were individualistic and the largest Tagin house seen by us was one containing four heaths. Centuries of tradition and mythology of our tribes residing in Arunachal Pradesh had rendered their own accounts and descriptions of places, names and all else in their thought and culture to mix up the haze of mystery. Nevertheless all that remained and rendered into new forms is relevant and interesting.” ‘Krish’ continues: “Tagins then were believed to sufer from endemic dissidence to authority. Tours and expeditions were a prohibitive thought. But for us, the technology of love and tolerance applied to primitive and hostile perceptions of their mind-set was, in a sense, ultra-modern. Anthropologically it turned into a path fnder for future for dealing with the primitive mind …where prices were not measured in weights and coins and currency notes had no value, where bartering levels and pricing were dependent on age-old free equilibrium unfazed by our economic trends and where coins had the only value for weaving them into trinkets and necklaces—such was the unique world of brave Tagins. Tat a yak would equal to 5 swords and rock-salt in a sack, a quantity of ambin (rice) was dependent on their own values and leverage.”

Tis was before the advent of a civilisation based on money. It was probably at that time, that the Government of India discovered that the Tsari pilgrimage was crossing over south of the McMahon before returning to Tibet. Krishanatry writes: “Tose of us who had not studied Bailey and others’ reports did not even know in 1955 in the NEFA outft that these pilgrimages had in fact been regularly performed since the creation of Sun and the Moon and pilgrims were trespassing through this segment of Indian territory. Of this we came to know from Lhasa. Te Dalai Lama had in fact performed the circumambulation ritual in 1900 over the Kinkhor or Chinkhor or Chunkhor circuit of the short pilgrimage around Takpashiri, with 11 staging huts for the stay of pilgrims which was an annual feature.”

It was to be the last time the parikrama around the sacred Takpashiri mountain was performed. Since then the tense relations between India and

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China have not allowed the Buddhist pilgrims to cross over to India and the Tagins have been ‘integrated’ in the Indian nation.

Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali A few words about another remarkable IFAS ofcer, Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali; he is today 92 year-old and lives in Shillong (Meghalaya). Tough he has difculty hearing, his memory is rather good for his age. When we met him, our questions brought back old memories, which he admitted having forgotten. He was delighted to hear that we had met some of his former colleagues, S.M. Krishnatri, Har Mander Singh, K.C. Johorey, Anupam Dhar, I.P. Gupta, Brig. (Justice) D.M. Sen and others.32 Yusuf Ali had an extraordinary life. He was educated in England; his father, Abdullah Yusuf Ali33 was a very famous Islamic scholar of Indian origin who had translated the Qur’an into English. Ali’s translation of the Qur’an is still the most widely used in the world. Abdullah married an English woman.34 In England, the young boy studied Greek and Latin in school. He still remembers that with some of his friends; he used to visit Germany and France during the holidays. At the age of 92, he was still able to recite a poem in French, which impressed us a great deal. In 1941, he was commissioned in the Indian Army35 and fought for the British in Burma. Yusuf Ali then served as Military Secretary to the Governor of Assam;36 he later served in Manipur. Like several other frontier ofcers, he resigned from the Army to join the service newly-created by Nehru in 1953–54. Yusuf Ali belongs to the frst batch of the IFAS. He explains that though created in 1954, the new cadre was only ofcialised in 1956; but like most of his colleagues of the frst batch he had already been posted on the NEFA frontiers. For three years Ali served as Political Ofcer in Bomdila37. He says what characterised most of the IFAS ofcers, is their long tours; they used to walk over long distances (sometimes for weeks) to visit the Indo-Tibetan border or remote villages. He mentioned walking from Daporijo38 to Along39; several days’ distance. He also remembers walking to Sepla with his wife.40 Ofcers of the IFAS were used to walk, he repeats; it is not the case today with IAS ofcers. An advance party would prepare the ground for the camp in the evening. Tey were used to this type of life; they enjoyed it.

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Tey were aware that the administration of these agencies depended much on the Gaon Burahs (the local headmen) who were very efcient as the tribals respect them a great deal. Ali is modest when he says that the IFAS ofcers had not much work to do; he thus explains why on their return from the annual tours, they used to write long and detailed reports, very much enjoyed by the Prime Minister41.

Nehru and NEFA In 1949, Nehru was not overly worried about the situation developing in China. In a letter to John Matthai dated September 10, 1949, he wrote: “Recent developments in China and Tibet indicate that Chinese Communists are likely to invade Tibet sometime or other. Tis will not be very soon. But it may well take place within a year. Te Government structure of Tibet is feeble. A Lama hierarchy controls the whole country, the majority of whose population is very poor. Any efective attempt by the Chinese Communists can hardly be resisted, more especially as the greater part of the population is likely to remain passive and some may even help the Communists. …Te result of all this is that we may have the Chinese or Tibetan Communists right up on our Assam, Bhutan and Sikkim border. Tat fact by itself does not frighten me.”42

Tis brings two remarks. First, Nehru had a poor opinion of the ‘lama hierarchy’. In the 1990s, in an interview with the Dalai Lama, we asked the Tibetan leader if, in his dealings with the former Prime Minister, he noticed that Nehru believed that a small dose of communism was not bad for ‘feudal’ Tibet. Te Tibetan leader answered: “I think so, I think so! A big dose!” and then he laughed and laughed in his characteristic way. When we further asked him if he felt that Nehru had been very much infuenced by advisors such as Panikkar or Krishna Menon who had lefist leanings and therefore, the ‘liberation’ of Tibet by Communist China, was something ‘positive’ for the Land of Snows, the Dalai Lama replied, “No doubt!” But in his compassionate way he added that it was not the only factor. “From the Buddhist point of view, there was an inner factor, the karmic factor too”.43 But in 1956, when Verrier Elwin visited Tawang, Nehru had suddenly developed a great admiration for the Tibetan monasteries. He wrote to the Foreign Secretary:

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“On the Tawang area, Shri Elwin writes a great deal about the high level of culture, in some ways better than the kind of thing that we bring to them. I think that from every point of view, we should endeavour to encourage their present cultural ways of living and not interfere with them. Indeed we should try to ft in our work with this. I entirely agree with Shri Elwin that it is not right for our schools and other training centres to lead to a detribalization of the boys and girls in small or big matters.”44 He even adds: “Te school should be connected with the major monasteries which thus far have been the schools or centres of learning. Te abbots or the senior monks might be associated with the schools.” He further comments: “Apparently, some of our ofcers have thought that ours being a secular State, we should not encourage in any way Buddha’s teachings or contacts with Buddhist places of worship. I do not think this is the correct view in these Buddhist areas. We should defnitely keep close contact with the monasteries and help them in various ways. We should repair and rebuild them and generally show our interest in the ways of life, religious or other.”45 Tis is indeed diferent from the ofen-repeated contemptuous comments on the ‘lama hierarchy’ in Tibet, though the education in Tawang monastery was in no way diferent from the one provided by big monasteries around Lhasa. Tis brings us back to the philosophy of NEFA, which was more a romantic concept than something grounded in reality. Ultimately, it harmed India’s strategic interests. Te second point is about Nehru’s remark that Tibet’s forthcoming invasion did ‘not frighten’ him. If one looks at the events between 1951 and 1959, one realises that ‘the philosophy of NEFA’ though based on genuine human concerns, did not take into consideration the military and strategic aspects of the region. Afer all, Dr. Verrier Elwin, the guru of the NEFA, was only an anthropologist, and it was certainly not his duty to be concerned with other aspects of the border areas. Nehru probably regretted dearly to have neglected the preparation of the border defence for a romantic preservation of ‘tribal life’. Te fact remains that these ofcers who decided to sacrifce their careers to join the IFAS were all remarkable personalities and still so today; even though the cadre does not exist anymore, they should be role models for young IAS/IPS ofcers.

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One can hope that in the future, more detailed studies could be undertaken on the fascinating achievements of these daring IFAS ofcers.

A non-exhaustive list of the frst IFAS ofcers: Col. P.N. (Pran) Luthra (Indian Army) K.C. Johorey (Indian Army) P.N. Kaul (Indian Army) Har Mander Singh (Indian Army) Major Bob Khathing (Indian Army) R.K. Bharat Singh (Indian Army) Maj. S.M. Krishnatry (Indian Army) Maj. S.L. Chhiber (Indian Army) Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali (Indian Army) U. Chakma (Indian Army) L.R. Sailo (Indian Army) A.H. Scott Lyndgoh Hipshon Roy K.T. Khuma (Indian Army)

Notes 1. See, http://www.arunachalpwd.org/pdf/Philosophy%20for%20NEFA.pdf 2. Te Ministry of External Afairs. 3 . Ofen ICS ofcers like Nari Rustomji or K.L Mehta. 4. He later took Indian citizenship. 5. See, http://www.arunachalpwd.org/pdf/Philosophy%20for%20NEFA.pdf 6. Ibid. 7. Ibid. 8. See, our interview with Kiren Rijiju: http://www.redif.com/news/slide-show/ slide-show-1-exclusive-kiren-rijiju-we-must-strengthen-our-position-on-chinaborder/20140617.htm 9. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House, New Delhi), Series II, Volume 18; see: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/ uploaded_pics/SWJN_Volume_18.pdf 10. Today Tuensang is one of the eight districts of Nagaland. 11. Ibid.

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12. A few years later, he said that the Monpa of Tawang were highly civilised. Apart from the Nagas and the Khasis, Nehru had only faint ideas of the diferent tribes living in the Northeast. 13. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House, New Delhi), Series II, Volume 23; see: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/ uploaded_pics/SWJN_Volume_23.pdf 14. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House, New Delhi), Series II, Volume 25; see: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/ uploaded_pics/SWJN_Volume_25.pdf 15. Te Ministry of External Afairs. 16. Ibid. 17. Corps of Signals. 18. Pran Nath Luthra, Constitutional and Administrative Growth of the Arunachal Pradesh, (Itanagar, Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, 1971). 19. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House, New Delhi), Series II, Volume 30; see: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/ uploaded_pics/SWJN_Volume_30.pdf 20. Ibid. 21. Ibid. 22. Most of the quotes of K.C. Johorey are from personal interviews with the author as well as from the Oral History Project of Te Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (Acc. No. 712, Part II). 23. Capt. Utonkomoni Chakma wrote his name U. Chakma; ‘U’ being equivalent to ‘Shri’ in Burmese. 24. Yusuf Ali was senior to his two colleagues. 25. Lt. Col. H. Bhuban Singh, Major Bob Khathing: Te Profle of a Nationalist Manipuri Naga (Pritam Haoban Publisher: Imphal, 1992). 26. Te IFAS did not exist in 1951; it started informally in 1953–1954 and it was fomalised in 1956. 27. Assam Rifes headquarters. 28. Seat of the Governor of Assam responsible for NEFA. 29. Ministry of External Afairs. 30. Te quotes in this chapter are from S. M. Krishnatry, Border Tagins of Arunachal Pradesh: Unarmed Expedition 1956 (New Delhi: National Book Trust, 2005) and interview with the author. 31. 1956 was a Monkey-Year, the year the Tsari Rongkor pilgrimage was organised. 32. Personal interview with the author. 33. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, CBE, FRSL (14 April 1872–10 December 1953). 34. Mother of Rashid Yusuf Ali. 35. In the 3 Rajput Regiment.

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36. Sri Prakasa who served as Governor of Assam between February 16, 1949 and May 27, 1950. 37. Ten, the Sela Sub-Division of the Kameng Frontier Division. 38. Subansiri Frontier Division. 39. Siang Frontier Division. 40. Today known as Seppa, the headquarters of the East Kameng district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. 41. Nehru once complained to the Foreign Secretary (Subimal Dutt) that he was not receiving their reports any longer. 42. See: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/SW13.pdf 43. Personal interview of the Dalai Lama by the author. 44. Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru (Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, Teen Murti House, New Delhi), Series II, Volume 43; see: http://www.claudearpi.net/maintenance/ uploaded_pics/SWJN_Volume_43.pdf 45. Ibid.

8. Himalayan Buddhism Travels West GLENN MULLIN

Te Background Te great Western scientist Albert Einstein wrote, “Te religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientifc needs it would be Buddhism.”1

In this way Albert Einstein endorsed Buddhism as the only religion he had encountered that seemed to be in harmony with the attitudes and disciplines of modern science. Indeed, his sentiment on the subject seems to be fnding a fertile feld in the Western world today. When he wrote this opinion half a century ago, there were perhaps a couple of dozen Buddhist temples in the West, and most of these were ethnic. By this I mean that they were founded by and dedicated to the service of Asian immigrant communities, and also that their activities were largely conducted in an Asian language rather than in English. In other words, they served more as spiritual community centres for frst and second-generation Asian minorities than as institutions for enlightenment, study and practice. Today, there are thousands of Buddhist centres in North America, with well over a thousand of them dedicated to the training of Occidental North Americans, that is to say, White English-speaking people. Te transformation has been dramatic. Te largest number of these focus on Himalayan Buddhism.

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Prophecies by the Buddha Te Buddha prophesied that his teaching would last for 5,000 years, with ten distinct periods of 500 years each. By international academic calculation, 1956 marked the halfway point of the 5,000-year cycle. In commemoration of this monumental occasion, Prime Minister Nehru, a closet Buddhist and the then leader of India, organised what can rightly be called the frst truly international Buddhist conference. Great masters came from more than a dozen diferent countries—from China and Japan to Sri Lanka and Tailand. Even the Dalai Lama of Tibet came as one of the many guests of honour.2 Tis event, we can say, marked the pivotal point when Buddhism entered its sixth 500-year cycle. For me it is a very important date. I was born in 1949 in a small town in Eastern Canada, and was only seven years old at the time. Little did my parents know that, as an adult, I would dedicate twenty years of my adult life to the study and practice of Buddhism, and then dedicate the remainder to writing about Buddhism and teaching it around the world. I regard it as a great honour to be born in this time, when Buddhism is in the amazingly dramatic period of transformation characterised by the transition from one 500-year period to another. At the 1956 conference, Nehru challenged Buddhist leaders from around the world to take up the important task of rebuilding the Buddhist sites in India, beginning with Bodh Gaya and Sarnath, the places respectively where Buddha attained enlightenment and gave his frst teaching. Tese sacred sites had become almost lost in the sands of time. Te Muslim invasions and conquest of India had almost ended international pilgrimage to them and little remained to mark them as places that had inspired a spiritual movement that had come to pervade almost half of the world. If we look back over the previous 2,500 years and the fve cycles of 500 years each that led up to 1956, we can see distinct transitions at the end of each of the 500-year periods. Of course historians might debate the signifcance of the transitions and also debate specifc details and implications of them. Teravadins, Chinese Buddhists and Himalayan lamas, for example, might take varying interpretations. My reading is from the perspective of a modern Western Buddhist and historian. I would say that the frst 500-year period was characterised by what is ofen termed in Indian Mahayana literature as the Shravaka doctrines. “Shravaka” is a term ofen used by early Indian Buddhist masters such as Nagarjuna to refer to the early monkhood, such as Ananda and

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Mahakashyapa, who memorised some of the public discourses of the Buddha and transmitted them orally. Later under Emperor Ashoka these were compiled and systemised into what today is ofen referred to as “Early Buddhism.” Ashoka presided over the Tird Council and decided on what would and what would not be included. Tis movement could more accurately be referred to as the brand of Buddhism endorsed and promoted by Emperor Ashoka.3 Te second 500-year period opens with the appearance of the great Indian master Nagarjuna. Himalayan Buddhists quote the Lankavatara Sutra4 in which Buddha prophesised about Arya Nagarjuna’s birth. Te passage states, “450 years afer my passing, a great being will come from the land of kusha grass. His name will be Naga, and he will accomplish (juna) great deeds for the spread of my doctrine.” Whether or not one accepts this passage as authentic, there is no question over the matter of Nagarjuna’s importance in opening the door to the second 500-year cycle. By the age of ffy he had mastered all lineages of Buddhism. He then became the frst important fgure to step out of the model promoted by Emperor Ashoka and to challenge Ashoka’s conservative and rigid approach to the Buddha’s teachings. Nagarjuna then went on to endorse several dozen sutras that had not been included in the Tird Council in India, and therefore did not become part of King Ashoka’s canon of Buddhist literature. Most important are the Prajnaparamita Sutras. Nagarjuna propagated these sutras widely, and wrote numerous commentaries to them. Te Himalayan Tengyur, or compilation of translated shastras from India, contains over 150 treatises written by Nagarjuna. Te most important of these is a set of six texts known as Rig Druk in Tibetan, or “Six Treatises on the Reasoning (of Enlightenment).” Te most famous of these is his Madhyamaka-karika-shastra, or “Verses on the Middle View,” that became the basis of all Mahayana schools in India. Nagarjuna is ofen referred to as the “Father of Mahayana Buddhism” because of this work of stepping outside the mould created by Ashoka. Te third 500-year period comes with the public emergence of the Buddhist tantras. Lineage holders of the Buddhist tantras claim that these sublime teachings had been passed by oral tradition from the time of the Buddha to small groups of advanced practitioners, much in the same way that the Mahayana Sutras had been passed. Tey remained underground to the public until the times were ripe for their wider dissemination. Be this as it may, the third 500-year cycle of Buddhism in India is characterised

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by the vast propagation and widespread popularity of this third aspect of Buddhism.5 Te fourth 500-year period is marked by the demise of Buddhism in India, largely as a result of the Muslim invasions. It is also marked by solidifcation of Buddhism in other Asian countries. Although many countries have played their particular roles, it is generally true to say that three main forms of Buddhism emerged during this period, based on diferent cultural and linguistic environments: the Shravaka lineages from Emperor Ashoka’s councils, that were preserved in Pali, a form of easy Sanskrit, and survived most strongly in Sri Lanka, Tailand and Burma; the Chinese lineages, based on transmissions and translations into the Chinese language, and then from China travelled to other Asian countries, including Korea and Japanese and the Himalayan lineages, wherein the seventh century King Songtsen Gampo made Buddhism the national religion, and had his Buddhist scholars create a special script, Bhoti, based on Sanskrit, with a view for easy and accurate translation of Indian Buddhist literature into Tibetan. Tibetan later became the linguistic and literary foundation of the forms of Buddhism that spread over the vast region stretching from the southern Himalayas to the snowscapes of the Mongol territories of eastern Russia, including Siberia. Te Tibetan script and language are still used in monasteries and temples throughout lands as far-fung as Bhutan, Ladakh, Mongolia and Buryatia. Monks from the Indian Himalayas to Siberia still chant all their sutras, tantras and prayers in Tibetan. Te ffh cycle of the 500-year cycles was marked by the emergence of various national Buddhist cultures. Tat is to say, within India, with Buddhism no longer present to serve as a unifying and balancing force, each form of Buddhism more or less became a world onto itself—with very little intercourse with lineages from other countries. On the positive side, Buddhism was preserved in numerous diverse forms; on the negative side, most of these forms were linguistically and culturally bound to the forms of their home country and generally tended to regard Buddhism in other countries as very diferent and therefore as less pure. I witnessed this phenomenon rather clearly in the late 1980s, when I helped curate an exhibition of Buddhist art in Atlanta. Te exhibition included Buddhist statues and paintings from a dozen Buddhist countries. One day a group of Tai monks came to the museum. Whenever they stepped in front of a Tai statue of the Buddha they would fold their hands together in prayer and their faces would shine with devotion. In contrast, when in front of a Tibetan, Chinese or Korean statue of the Buddha, their body language would

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be altogether diferent. Here the devotion and respect was completely gone and they looked at the image more like it was a piece of secular art. Te same behaviour was exhibited by monks from other traditions. Chinese monks tended to be very devotional and respectful when in the presence of a Chinese statue but to be much more secularised when in the presence of a Buddha image from another country. Tis brings us to 1956, and Prime Minister Nehru’s gala celebration of the day marking the beginning of the sixth 500-year cycle. Tis event was very important for two things that it accomplished. Te frst of these was positive. Te conference brought together for the frst time in history a large number of Buddhist masters from all the diferent Buddhist countries, from Sri Lanka to Tibet, Mongolia, China and Japan. Te strength of Buddhism as a living tradition made a strong statement. A second quality demonstrated at the gathering was less positive. Te degree of sectarian snobbery and nationalistic pride was obvious. Te Sri Lankans showed very little respect for monks from the Mahayana movements. Tey seemed to regard their tradition as “original Buddhism,” and the Mahayanists as having been somehow corrupted by history. Te Chinese and Japanese looked with disdain on the “Hinayanist” Sri Lankan and Tai Buddhists, regarding them as “mere nirvana seekers.” Te Tibetans looked with dismay on both Teravadin and Mahayana groups, for they seemed to lack the Buddhist Tantras, the aspect of Indian Buddhism that Central Asians regard as being the highest teachings of the Buddha. Te Chan, Zen and Seon Buddhists similarly seemed to look down on the other schools as somehow inferior to themselves. Tis element of Asian Buddhism still continues to some extent today, but it is on the wane. Te 1956 conference, that ofcially launched the beginning of the sixth 500-year cycle, thus showed both the strength and the weakness of Buddhism at the time. Te Himalayans like to quote a passage from one of the many editions of the Lankavatara Sutra, in which the Buddha says, “2,500 afer my passing, my Dharma will go to the land of the Red Man.” Most Himalayans today interpret “Te Land of the Red Man” to refer to North America. A similar prophecy is made in a treasure text attributed to Padmasambhava, the eighth century Indian master who taught in Tibet for ffy-six years and played such an important role in giving Himalayan Buddhism the character it assumed in his time that it remains till today. In that prophecy Padmasambhava writes, “When iron birds fy and horses run

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on wheels, my Dharma will go to the Land of the Red Man.” Himalayans today assume that the expression “iron birds” refers to aeroplanes, and “horses on wheels” refers to automobiles. Again, the Land of the Red Man refers to North America, the land of the “Red Indian.”

Te Fulfllment of Prophecies Some years ago a great British Indologist, Prof A. L. Basham, wrote a foreword to one of my books.6 In it he stated that the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s and the ensuing destruction of Tibet’s 6,500 monasteries and temples, with the scattering of Tibetan refugee lamas around the world, could be compared to the destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the scattering of that empire’s great artists, mystics and philosophers. And just as the scattering of Byzantine masters of culture brought about a great cultural transformation and renaissance in Europe, which had most beneftted from the tragedy, similarly the West was seeing a cultural and spiritual quantum leap forward because of the many hundreds of Himalayan lamas who had been cast on the seas of statelessness and washed up on the shores of many foreign lands. When the Dalai Lama evaded Chinese assassination in 1959 and escaped to India, he was followed by several thousand monks and intellectuals and tens of thousands of faithful followers. At that time there was not a single Himalayan Buddhist centre in Europe or America. Today, there are well over a thousand such centres in both Europe and America. Himalayan Buddhism is now a dominant force in the West. Every American city now has at least three or four Himalayan Buddhist centres, and some have as many as a dozen. Some years ago, when I was on a lecture tour of Spain in connection with the release of one of my books translated in Spanish, I spent a week with a Tibetan lama living and teaching in Madrid. Te year was 1990. One day the lama told me a story. “Back in 1963,” he said, “Te Dalai Lama gave a public discourse at our monastery. At the end of the discourse he mentioned that we should all make an attempt to learn English, because soon Buddhism would be spreading to the West, and our services as Dharma teachers would be required. At the time, his words seemed impossible to us. We could not imagine how our ancient Buddhist tradition could be useful to modern Western life, with its airplanes, supermarkets and high tech gizmos. We knew how benefcial the Buddhist Dharma was for us, but we could not imagine Westerners taking an interest

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in it. But now, thirty years later, there are perhaps two or three thousand Himalayan Buddhist centers in Europe and America. Te Dalai Lama was right. It seems that the Dalai Lama’s words have come true.”

On another occasion I took ten Himalayan monks on a tour of 100 US cities, to perform Buddhist temple music and dance for world peace, as a way of spreading knowledge of Himalayan Buddhism through its art forms.7 One of the young monks was wonderful at the temple chants and dances. I once commented to one of the older monks on the talents of the young protégée; the old lama replied that indeed the fellow was talented in Buddhist arts, but was a poor student of Buddhism in general, and put very little efort into his studies or meditations. Our tour continued for over a year, and at the end of it the ten monks returned to their monastery in South India. Amazingly, the young monk then threw himself into his studies with gusto. He went from being one of the worst students in his class, to being the best. Some years later he graduated from the monastery with a Geshe Lharam Degree, the highest academic and spiritual honour awarded by the Himalayan monastic system. Later I asked him how he had managed such a turnaround. He laughed and replied, “My parents put me in the monastery when I was just a boy, and I took things for granted. Being a monk was just a lifestyle, not a passion. But then when I toured North America with you for a year, I saw how much interest the West has in our spiritual culture. I thought that I should investigate why. I then noticed how deep and vast our Buddhist tradition is. Tat realization inspired me to try and master it.” He concluded by saying, “I went to America as a Buddhist monk artist. I came back determined to fnd Buddhist enlightenment.”

Afer completing his studies he was sent to America for fve years by the elders of his monastery, to teach in a Buddhist centre in New York City. Te centre that he established is thriving.

Blossoming Lotuses in the Garden of Bliss I began this chapter by mentioning how the Chinese invasion of Tibet brought about great spiritual benefts for the West. In fact, this phenomenon was not limited to the China–Tibet confict alone. Himalayan Buddhism had spread through the Mongol regions from the earliest days. Te frst Himalayan monastery was built in Mongolia in the ninth century AD, and in the thirteenth century Emperor Kublai Khan

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made Himalayan Buddhism the national religion of his empire.8 Kublai’s empire spread north through a dozen Mongolian kingdoms, into Buryatia and Siberia of what today is Eastern Russia. Te Tibetan language has been used in monasteries and temples throughout the Mongol lands from that time until today.9 Te Stalinist purges of the 1920s and 1930s brought great cultural upheaval; monasteries and temples were destroyed and lamas were killed or imprisoned. Some, however, managed to escape the disaster, and fee to the West. Tis occurred two and more decades before the tragedy that befell Tibet in the 1950s. Tus the birth of Himalayan Buddhism in America was initiated not by Tibetan lamas feeing from the mass murderer Chairman Mao, but by Mongol lamas feeing the murderous Stalin. Two names here loom large. Te frst is that of the Telopa Khutaght, or Mongolian lama regarded as being the reincarnation of the tenth century Indian master Tilopa. Te Telopa Khutaght was arrested by the Communists in the late 1920s but managed to escape into self-imposed exile. Eventually he ended up in New York City, where he lived until his death in 1967. He thus can be regarded as the frst qualifed lama to live and teach in America. Although he was somewhat reclusive and did not teach widely, the small number of students that he produced proved to be very important. Perhaps the most important of these was Gene Smith, who later created the Tibetan Buddhist Research Center. Tat centre has gathered and preserved thousands of Buddhist books written in Tibetan and has scanned more than twenty million pages of Tibeto-Mongolian literature. Although I knew Gene in India when he was working for the American government under its PL480 programme of publishing endangered Himalayan literature, I had not known of his connection with the Telopa Khutaght until a few years ago when I assisted in a publication of the Telopa’s autobiography and gave Gene a copy. Gene smiled and thanked me. “My frst teacher,” he said. “Te lama who inspired me to give my life to Himalayan Buddhism.” Te Telopa Lama was instrumental in bringing over the second lama to take up residence and teach in the US. He was the late great Geshey Wangyal, a Kalmyk Mongol. Like the Telopa Lama he did not accept a large number of students, but the ones he accepted tended to have a large impact on the development of Himalayan Buddhism in America. Perhaps the most famous of these is Prof Robert Turman, who has written over

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twenty books on Himalayan Buddhism, and produced a dozen students with doctorates in Himalayan Buddhism. Turman became a monk for some years, and in fact was the frst Westerner to be ordained by the Dalai Lama. Some years ago Time Magazine named him as one of the twenty-fve most infuential Americans of the year, because of his work with Richard Gere in establishing Tibet House in New York and forcing the US Congress to bring pressure on China for their abysmal human rights record in Tibet. Turman’s most important book, Inner Revolution, has become a mandatory reading on Himalayan Buddhism. Geshey Wangyal’s other very important student was Jefrey Hopkins, who has translated several dozen Himalayan Buddhist classics. Jefrey’s books are used as textbooks in classes on Himalayan Buddhism in dozens of American universities. Jefrey in turn produced several dozen graduate students, including Donald Lopez and Dan Perdue, and many of them have become important professors of Himalayan Buddhist studies in America and abroad. Both Telopa Lama and Geshey Wangyal chose to teach to small groups of select students and did not produce many Dharma Centers. In fact, both created just one each.10 Both of the above Mongolian lamas—Telopa Khutaght and Geshey Wangyal—belonged to the Gelukpa School of Himalayan Buddhism. Tis is the same school as that of all Fourteen Dalai Lamas. Te Geluk has remained the largest school of Himalayan Buddhism in Central Asia ever since the time of the Tird Dalai Lama, whose charismatic presence widely popularised it in the sixteenth century. Te Geluk School is the most intellectual and highly educated of the Himalayan sects. In preCommunist Tibet, a monk seeking a Gelukpa geshey lharam degree would have to study for more than twenty years, and then would have to stand for open tests in front of a gathering of more than 20,000 of the best trained monks in the country; any one of those 20,000 monks would be allowed to present questions to the contestant. Te Gelukpa lama to have the greatest efect in terms of popularising Buddhism and creating a large number of centres in the West was still to come. Tis awaited the appearance of Lama Tubten Yeshe (1935–1984) and his star disciple, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1946– ). Tese two opened centres wherever they went. Teir frst US trip came in the mid-1970s. Together, they created a hundred and ffy Gelukpa centers worldwide. Although Lama Yeshe passed away many years ago, his legacy lives on through Lama Zopa and several dozen of his other disciples. Teir movement, known

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as the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Tey brought several dozen other Himalayan lamas to live and teach in their Western centres, thus creating what seems to be an ever-increasing wave of Dharma activity in more than thirty Western countries. It is ofen said that Himalayan Buddhism is comprised of four great traditions: Nyingma, Sakya, Kargyu and Gelukpa. Te Kargyu in turn had numerous sub-sects. Traditional histories list twelve Kargyu Schools. One of these, the Karma Kargyu, was not especially large in Tibet in terms of numbers of monasteries and temples, but maintained a strong practice tradition over the centuries. Te next big movement in American Buddhism came with the arrival of Chogyam Trungpa, a lama of the Karma Kargyu sect. Afer training as a teenager in Tibet and then as a refugee in India he arrived in England and studied psychology in Oxford. Later he established several Buddhist centres in the UK, including Samye Ling in Scotland, before moving to America. Here his wild personality and charismatic manner attracted thousands of disciples. He frst established Tail of the Tiger Buddhist Center in Vermont, and then the Naropa Institute in Colorado. He then allowed students to open study and practice centres across the country, frst under the name Dharmadhatu Center (and over a hundred of these sprung up in the matter of a few years), and then, for general training with less of a distinctly Buddhist jargon, the Shambhala network of centres. Trungpa drank heavily and made love to hundreds of his female students, but this only seemed to add to his charm and popularity. Although he passed away many years ago, his centres continue to thrive under the watchful care of one of his sons. Another Karma Kargyu lama had similar success in the 1970s. Tis is the late great Kalu Rinpoche. Kalu Rinpoche held the Karma Kargyu lineages of the eleventh century master Khyunpo Naljor, whose Shangpa sect had disappeared as a separate entity and become absorbed by the bigger schools, especially the Karma Kargyu and Geluk. Kalu Rinpoche set up two centres in America and one in Europe for the three-year retreat and thus produced the frst crop of Westerners trained in that way. In the Kargyu School one receives the title “lama” by completing this three-year retreat. Kalu Rinpoche therefore produced the frst Westerners to receive this title in that way. He also brought numerous of his Himalayan lama disciples to the West to teach in his various centres. Te Nyingma School came to the West with Tartang Tulku, a highly trained Nyingma lama sent to California by the Dalai Lama, again in the

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early 1970s. Tartang Tulku established the Nyingma Institute shortly afer his arrival, and it soon began publishing numerous books of his teachings, as well as translations of Himalayan classics. He also facilitated visits to America by numerous other great Nyingma lamas, including Dujom Tulku, the then head of the Nyingma Sect, as well as Dilgo Khyentse, who afer Dujom’s passing was appointed as the Nyingma head lama. Tartang Tulku opened the door for several dozen other, younger Nyingma lamas who now live and teach in the West. Another Himalayan lama has proved almost as important. Namkha Norbu had been sent to Italy in the late 1960s by the Dalai Lama, to assist the great Italian academic Prof G. Tucci in his work on the Himalayan manuscripts. Namkha Norbu soon went independent, and began teaching Dzogchen around the world. He once said, “It is neither Bon School nor Nyingma School. It is simply Dzogchen.” In this way he set himself halfway between Bon and Nyingma Schools, both of which teach Dzogchen. He has risen to become one of the most infuential Himalayan teachers in the West. Here it might be useful to note that the Bonpo is sometimes called a pre-Buddhist Himalayan school, and also sometimes referred to as a ffh Buddhist school. Te Sakya School, that had played a very important role in Asia for almost a thousand years, was slower than the above three schools in terms of Western activity. Te main reason was that fewer of their great lamas managed to escape from Tibet, and therefore they could not spare the monk power for teaching activity in West. However, they quickly established strong training programmes in India and in the past decade the young crop of lamas graduating from their institutions have begun to make a strong impact. Kublai Khan in the thirteenth century had made the Sakya brand of Buddhism the formal religion of the Mongol aristocracy and this remained the case until the Mongols switched to the Gelukpa School in the late sixteenth century. Tere are now something like a hundred Sakya centres in North America. Something should also be said about the Himalayan Buddhist publishing houses that emerged during the 1970s and 1980s, and that played an important role in popularising Himalayan Buddhism in the West. Four are especially important: Dharma Publishing, inspired by Tartang Tulku; Shambhala, inspired by Chogyam Trungpa; Snow Lion, inspired by the Dalai Lama and Wisdom Publications, inspired by Lama Tubten Yeshe. Numerous others also appeared, but the above four both printed a larger number of titles and also achieved wider readerships.11

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Te Dalai Lama becomes “Lama to the World” Te biggest breakthrough for Himalayan Buddhism came with the amazing popularity received by the present Dalai Lama. Te simplicity of his presence, combined with the sharpness of his intelligence and quickness of his wit, have won hearts and minds around the world. From kings and presidents to monks and nuns, and to ordinary lay people everywhere, it seems that everyone loves the Dalai Lama. A Newsweek poll some years ago listed him as one of the three most popular citizens on the planet, along with Nelson Mandela of South Africa and former President Bill Clinton. When the Dalai Lama travels and teaches, he flls football stadiums and civic centres. No matter how large the venue, tickets to his events sell out weeks before his arrival. He has become something of a de facto international and interdenominational ambassador of Buddhism in general and Himalayan Buddhism in particular. It was not always that way and the Dalai Lama has earned the public acclaim that he has received through his consistent message of compassion, wisdom, tolerance and non-violence. Tousands of monks from China, Vietnam, Cambodia and other Asian countries had fed Communism and arrived in the West; yet none have achieved even a fraction of the popularity as has the Dalai Lama. One of the reasons for this is the Dalai Lama’s amazing ability to maintain a purity of tradition while projecting an openness to everything and anything and a complete humility in the face of the amazing attention that he receives. I remember one instance of this in India. Te Dalai Lama was speaking at the Delhi University. At the end he invited questions from the audience. Afer half an hour of this Q and A, a young student asked a somewhat embarrassingly silly question. Te professors on the stage beside the Dalai Lama squirmed, and one of them grabbed the microphone. “Te Dalai Lama has a meeting with the President of India, so we should cut the discussion here and leave,” he said. Te bodyguards and security people began to rise from their seats. Te Dalai Lama gently took the microphone from the professor and spoke. “My problem is that the name ‘Dalai Lama’ has a traditional meaning. In brief, if I think of the President of the country as being more important than this young student, and if I give more importance in my mind to a meeting with the President than I do to answering this young man’s question, then I should give back my title of Dalai Lama. I would

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not be worthy to carry it.” He then went on to answer the young student’s question for ffeen minutes or so, with complete humility and respect. As he concluded, the entire student body erupted in applause. Te Dalai Lama has gone on to win more than a hundred international humanitarian awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize and the Albert Schweitzer Award, to list but two of them. Several dozen books have been compiled and edited from his public teachings; several of which have gained listings on the New York Times bestseller list. Last year he won the prestigious Templeton Award for contributions to science and religion. Several hundred other Himalayan lamas now live and teach in the West. Te above account is intended to document the pioneers in the work

Te Four Great Schools of Himalayan Buddhism in the West Although Himalayan lamas teaching in the West tend to emphasise the specialties of their personal sect, in fact all Himalayan schools of Buddhism are 99 % similar in terms of content and philosophy, and only difer 1 % from one another in content. All combine the Tree Yanas in their training regimes. Tat is to say, all Himalayan schools make the Hinayana teachings of the Buddha their basis. Tey all teach the doctrines of the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eight-fold Path, the three higher trainings and the twelve links of dependent origination. Tey also include trainings in the four mindfulness and fve clairvoyances. On that foundation, they all then introduce the Mahayana teachings descending from the Buddha through Indian masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, Aryadeva, Dignaga, Chandrakirti, Dharmakirti, Shantideva and Kamalashila. Tey then introduce the tantric lineages from the Indian greats such as Indrabodhi, Ghantapada, Luipada, Tilopa, Naropa and so forth. Each, however, does have its own approach to personal training, its own sense of the balance between study and retreat, and something of its own linguistic. Himalayans themselves generally divide all Himalayan schools into two, based on the period of government. Tey call these Nga-gyur, or “Early Transmissions” and Chi-gyur, or “Later Transmissions.” Te meaning is that the early schools follow the linguistic approach to Buddhist language that was used prior to the eleventh century AD. Te latter follows the linguistic approach developed by the great renaissance masters of the eleventh and twelfh centuries. All of the early schools are referred to as

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Nyingma, even though during those centuries many hundreds of trends and lineages developed; these days all are generally lumped together as though they were a single school. Te latter, or “Later Transmissions,” are referred to as the Sarma, or “New Schools.” Tis group includes all later movements, such as the Sakya, the Kadampa, the Kargyu, the Zhijey, the Zhalu, the Raluk and so forth. Two centuries later a great lama from northeast Tibet, Lama Tsongkhapa by name, united all the Sarma or New Transmission Schools into one, which has become renowned as the Geluk. Te Geluk eventually became larger than all other schools of Early and New Transmission periods combined. Its chief proponents have been the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. It continues today as the largest of all the Himalayan schools, probably due to the fact that Lama Tsongkhapa managed to create a movement that did not give advantage to the aristocracy. Most high lamas in the other Himalayan schools are chosen from aristocratic backgrounds.

Some Concluding Refections We live in a most exciting era. Ours is the good fortune to experience and participate in the opening chapter of the sixth 500-year cycle of Buddha Shakyamuni’s legacy on this earth. And we are not mere witnesses sitting idly on the side, like spectators at a sports event. Tose of us who chose to do so can become active participants in the shape that Buddhism will take over the decades and centuries to follow. We can not only observe history, but can directly contribute to its unfoldment. We have been in this sixth 500-year period for almost two generations now. If we look back over the past fve decades, we can certainly see that the Himalayan lamas have come out very strong in terms of international activity, in fact stronger than any other form of Buddhism. One of the reasons for this is numbers. Although Tibet did not have a large population, it had nourished an enthusiasm for enlightenment perhaps unequalled in any other nation. Every family hoped to produce at least one monk, nun or tantric priest, and many families produced several. Tibet, with a population of only six million people, maintained a sangha that was an estimated quarter of a million people strong. Many monasteries had fve or six thousand members. A monastery with only a thousand monks or nuns would be considered somewhat small and provincial. Tis was not the case in other Asian countries, where a monastery of a few hundred monks or nuns would be considered large. And with such a large talent

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pool to draw from, it is not surprising that Tibet and the surrounding regions where Himalayan Buddhism thrived produced hundreds of great Buddhist scholars and mystics. Tis sheer volume of numbers has given Himalayan Buddhism an advantage in modern times in terms of its ability to spread its message around the world. Tere are well over a thousand Himalayan lamas teaching around the world today. No other Asian country has anything like this number of monks and teachers serving as active ambassadors of the Buddha’s Dharma. A second factor is the unique quality of Himalayan Buddhism. Because Tibet was located to the immediate north of North India, where Buddha Shakyamuni lived and taught from the time of his enlightenment until his passing into mahaparinirvana almost fve decades later. Tibet shared a land border of several thousand miles with Buddhist India from ancient times, and it could safely be said that the Himalayans in essence became an Indian cultural satellite12 from prehistoric days until the Chinese Communist invasion of 1951.13 Tese many centuries of continued and sustained interaction with India have provided Tibet with a unique window into the rich and vast nature of Indian Buddhism. Te Himalayan Kangyur, or “Translated Words of the Buddha,” contain over a thousand texts, including Hinayana Sutras, Mahayana Sutras and Vajrayana Tantras, all of which are attributed to the Buddha. Te Himalayan Tengyur, or “Translated Words by Later Indian Masters,” contain almost 5,000 texts by Indian Buddhist masters. Tis threefold approach to study and practice—Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana—is another of the factors that has led to the amazing popularity of Himalayan Buddhism in the West. Te Hinayana aspect appeals to Westerners in search of a simple approach to the spiritual life and they fnd this in the three higher trainings of the doctrines of the Hinayana: discipline, meditation and wisdom/philosophy. Alternatively, many Westerners connect with Himalayan Buddhism because of the Mahayana sutra tradition of great compassion combined with meditation and wisdom trainings and supplemented by the intellectual richness of the Indian treatises by great masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, Dharmakirti, Shantideva and so forth. Tirdly, many Westerners instead take an interest in Himalayan Buddhism because of the Vajrayana or Tantra feld of study and training. Whereas Hinayana and Mahayana work on the basis of conventional appearances—cause and efect, and so forth—the Tantra aspect of

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Buddhism jumps into an entirely higher world view, utilising the language and imagery of sex and violence to transport the practitioner beyond ordinariness into the sublime feld of immediate enlightenment.14 Te language of the Buddhist Tantras is much more in line with that of modern psychology, as evidenced by a reading of works by Western masters such as Freud, Jung and Adler. Tis synchronicity of Buddhist Tantra and Western mind science make the tantric approach very appealing to Westerners from a psychological background and training. Another aspect of Tantric Buddhism that has attracted great interest in the West has to do with what Tantric Buddhists call “the completion stage yoga.” Tis refers to the process of gaining control over the subtle body chemistry, and thus has a direct relevance to the Western science of psycho-neuro immunology. In Buddhism, this is also discussed in terms of the yogas of chakras, nadis and bindus, or “energy centres,” energy pathways,” and “subtle drops.” Te Buddhist teaching here is that the methods of breath control, directed by deep samadhi or meditation power, can very profoundly transform the workings of the subtle bodily chemistry that supports consciousness. Te implication is that the tantric yogas can be used to create a more efective body base, to create a bodily support of consciousness that is more efective as a vehicle of enlightenment. Buddhist Tantras state that a human body transformed by means of tantric yoga creates an environment in which one day of meditation is as powerful as a hundred years of meditation on the basis of ordinary physicality. In recent years, many American universities have initiated research into this “psycho-neuro immunology” manipulation by means of tantric application. Teir interest, of course, is not in the traditional Buddhist quest for enlightenment, but rather in how the yogas can be used for stress reduction, pain management, and improvement of the immune system for disease control. Nonetheless, this facet of the tantric yogas has brought further interest in Himalayan Buddhism, because the Himalayans are the principal holders of the Buddhist Tantras today.15 A fourth factor should be mentioned in regard to Himalayan Buddhism and its amazing success in the West in the past few decades. Tis is the factor of enlightenment as a living visionary tradition. Here the Tibetans have a saying, “Every lama is his own school of Buddhism.” Tis openness toward teaching in the Himalayan Buddhist world essentially allows a lama to teach in whatever manner he wishes. Tere is very little emphasis upon formula or specifc structure. Te individual can teach his or her disciples in whatever manner seems the most efective.

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Tere is a popular saying, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Te Chinese invasion and destruction of the enlightenment tradition in Tibet was indeed a dark cloud. Te silver lining is that the Himalayan masters were thrown like seeds upon the fertile soil of the international community. Te result is a bountiful crop of Himalayan Dharma centres around the world. Sixty years ago, there was not a single such centre. Today, there are several thousand. While the lamas have been busy in this way around the world, they have also been very active back in Tibet. Te Chinese Communists might have destroyed Tibet’s 6,500 temples and monasteries during the terrible years of “Te Cultural Revolution.” Te lamas have been busy rebuilding many of these ever since the death of the evil dictator and mass murderer Chairman Mao ushered in a more gentle and lenient regime. When Mao died, not a single Himalayan monastery or temple was open and active in Tibet. All but a half dozen had been razed to the very foundations. Now, three decades into the Chinese Communist policy of liberation, more than 500 of the 6,500 have been rebuilt to some degree. Tese two activities—the spread of Himalayan Buddhism around the world, and the rebuilding of Himalayan Buddhism within Tibet—are both very auspicious signs for the success of the next 500 years of Buddhism in the world.

References 1. Albert Einstein is famous for several statements that he made in support of Buddhism. Some people feel that he was attracted to Buddhism because of the Buddhist doctrine of relativity, or “dependent origination,” something he emphasised in his own theories of relativity in which he dethroned the concept of Absoluteness from the cosmos. Tere are many critics who claim this quote as spurious; Einstein did talk about ‘cosmic religion’ occassionally between 1930–1954, in letters, private talks, interviews and two of his articles. Te statement appears to be valid by taking into account his assertions at diferent times. See, Dokovic, V. and P. Grujic, “Albert Einstein, Cosmos and Religion”, Serbia Astrono J. No. 174 (2007), 61-72. 2. Tis was the Dalai Lama’s frst international appearance, and achieved international attention. Te photo spread in Life Magazine brought instant fame to the Dalai Lama’s unique character. 3. Te role of Emperor Ashoka in the formation of this early canon has tended to escape critical analysis. 4. Numerous editions of the Lankavatara Sutra exist. One reason for this is that India did not use woodblock printing. Instead, all books were hand-copied. Tis led to numerous editions coming into vogue. Later Indian editions have passages not present in the early editions.

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5. Some Mahayanists question the authenticity of the Buddhist tantras. However, the reasoning ofen used could just as easily be applied to the Mahayana sutras themselves. If one accepts the premise of the validity of the Mahayana sutras, the same reasoning can easily be used to support the validity of the Buddhist tantras. 6. Selected Works of the Dalai Lama II (1986). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. 7. Te tour featured ten monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery. It coincided with the Dalai Lama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. 8. Koreans will be well aware of Kublai Khan, because he brought about the cultural fowering in Korea known as the Gorea Period. In fact because of Kublai Khan, Korea today is known to the world as “Korea,” a name inspired by “Gorea.” 9. Te Communists who took over these Mongol lands outlawed the use of Tibetan in the 1930s but it remained alive and well as an underground force. Te fall of Soviet Communism in 1989 and 1990 saw an instant revival of the use of Tibetan in the hundreds of Buddhist monasteries in Russia and Mongolia that were re-established in the 1990s. 10. Geshey Wangyal brought over numerous other Tibetan and Mongolian lamas, who also taught widely. Perhaps the most well known is Geshey Sopa, who created the Deer Park Buddhist Center in Madison Wisconsin. 11. I personally published over a dozen titles with Snow Lion Publications. 12. Te frst recorded Tibetan king, Nyatri Tsenpo, who was enthroned in the second century BC and went on to unite Central Tibet under his rule, is ofen said to have been an Indian prince feeing with his army from civil wars in India. His name literally means “Carried on a Palanquin,” because the Tibetans were so impressed by him on their frst encounter with him that they put him on a palanquin and carried him to their capital city, which at the time was Tsetang in the Yarlung Valley. He is ofen referred to in Tibetan literature as the First King in the Yarlung Dynasty. Tsetang remained the capital city of the Yarlung Kings until Emperor Songtsen Gampo, ofen referred to as the thirty-third king in the Yarlung Dynasty, moved the capital to Lhasa, where he created the Potala as his new castle. Tibetan histories emphasise the Indian cultural connection of all the thirty-three of these kings. Tis was natural geographically, because the trade routes from Tsetang and Lhasa fowing south to India and Nepal were much shorter, safer and easily navigated than were the trade routes to any other of Tibet’s neighbours. 13. In 630 AD, Emperor Songtsen Gampo had a script created from Indian Sanskrit that became the basis of all Tibetan literature from then until today. Sanskrit has ffy consonants and sixteen vowels; the Tibetans formulated their script into thirty consonants and fve vowels. A century and a half later, the Chinese script was banned from Tibet. It remained a script non-grata for the twelve centuries to follow, until the Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet in the 1950s. 14. Te Buddhist Abhidharma literature claims that the death of an individual is followed by a “hereafer” process of seven times seven phases, marked in many Buddhist countries as “forty-nine days.” At the end of the process, the individual takes rebirth. Tibetan spiritual texts such as the Bardo Todol, or “Liberation by Listening When in the Bardo,” which has become famous in English translation as the “Tibetan Book of the Dead,” speak in depth of these seven times seven phases. According to this work, a being can achieve immediate enlightenment during any of the forty-nine transitions, merely by

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recognising the true nature of his own mind. However, if he fails to do so, then the time for rebirth soon looms. When this occurs, the being starts to notice couples making love. He foats between the various love/sex scenes of many dozens of couples, until eventually he choses one for his rebirth. He then develops strong sexual passion for the person having the opposite sex to what he will become, and also develops strong anger toward the person of the same sex of the one he will become. Desire and anger well up within him. Eventually the anger develops into a powerful instinct of violence and the urge becomes so intense that it kills his bardo body. He then plunges into the sperm/ovum mixture of the copulating couple and enters the womb of the mother-tobe. Tis Buddhist presentation fts very well with Freudism, and has attracted immense interest in Western psychological circles. In Buddhist thinking, we are always driven by these two instincts: attraction and aversion. On a primal level, they become the instincts to copulate and the instincts to express violence. Tantra states that quick and easy enlightenment is attained NOT by avoiding them, as is so ofen done on the two Sutra paths, but by directly working with them, as in done on the Tantra path. 15. Some of the Buddhist Tantras also travelled to China and from China to Korea and Japan. However, the Chinese emphasis upon simplicity and minimalism as inherited from the Daoist tradition, and on social conformity as pressed by Confucianism, meant that the Chinese mind did not prove to be fertile ground for the radical Tantric doctrines. Te Chinese were more interested in Buddhism’s social doctrines and general meditation techniques.

PART - III Mosaic of Politics

9. The Trans-Himalayan Geopolitics PHUNCHOK STOBDAN

Introduction Te Himalayan belt so far remains geopolitically a dormant sort of zone. However, in its west, Afghanistan remains the epicentre of all the geopolitical eruptions afecting in all directions. Once the US and the NATO thin down their troop presence there in the afermath of the 2014 drawdown, the infuence of the Taliban and the sway of extremist power are bound to grow and this time they will engulf the vast Eurasian space north of the Himalayas as well. Possibly, it is not just the geographical spread but also the intensity of confict that would widen. China inevitably cannot escape the rising tide of Islamic extremist resurgence. Revolts in Xinjiang are assuming a new dimension. Te Jihadi phenomenon, thus far new to China, is speedily penetrating in Xinjiang despite all the eforts made to prevent it by China’s all-weather friend, Pakistan. It is going to be an unstoppable occurrence and it will change China’s thinking and behaviour which in turn would afect India–China relations (hopefully in a positive way) in the longer run. In Tibet—contradictions between the ethnic Hans and Tibetan apart— the people on Asia’s high plateau will have to fght against their own time for a long time to come. Te Tibetans by and large have co-existed with the Chinese in the past. Of course, politico-spatial diferences have periodically erupted from time to time. However, in modern times, the wind of change has transformed China in a way that the Tibetans could not. Te Lamaism that infuences everyday life of a Tibetan remains acutely dogmatic and unlike Buddhism, it is stuck in a metaphysical time. Lamaism with all its mysticism is unlikely to help the Tibetans perform in the current geopolitical reality. To be sure, it remains just an interesting relic for the world community.

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Another Himalayan fssure is in Kashmir—the main faultline between the Western spread of Islamic culture and Eastern Indic civilisation. It will remain a zone of confict irrespective of what Pakistan and India do or do not. Te only victim in this contestation will be the Kashmiris; unfortunately due to layers of the history-cover that shaped their identity. For Pakistan, the Kashmir confict is essential for its survival and for India, the confict is desirable for consolidating national unity, if not an incentive for nation-building and its growth. Let us come to Nepal. Despite all the upheavals there—especially revolutionary moves made by the Maoists—the people of this part of the Himalayas are coming to terms with the geopolitical reality; a realisation that their destinies remain tied to an adjustment to the Indian organic system. Fortunately, India’s changed outlook under Modi will reset the direction that will ofer hopes for stability in Nepal afer a decade of civil war. Another Himalayan hermit kingdom, Bhutan—that historically formed a part of the Tibetan organic system—had drifed away in the twentieth century to fall under the British and then under Indian geopolitical infuence. Te only internal force responsible for the birth of the original Druk-Gyalkhap or Druk-Yul (Nation of the Tunder Dragon) is the incarnation of the Tibetan-origin god-king, the Shabdrung, whose status remains mysteriously buried since 1907 under the contemporary geopolitical exigencies. However, the spirit that continues to drive the main engine of Bhutanese relationship with India is their deep devotion to gyagar (the holy white country—India); a fdelity embedded into the Bhutanese ethos by the wisdom of the eighth century Indian leader and philosopher Padmasambhava, also known as Guru, who hailed from Uddiyyana—the modern-day Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Of course, such piousness today remains one-sided but importantly the Bhutanese have diligently displayed their obligations towards India so far. Irrespective of contemporary political convenience the Kingdom remained steadfastly and unshakably the most reliable ally and stood by India all along. Te only parallel example is another far away Vajrayana nation, Mongolia that posits a similar strategic obligatory faith in India. Tibet could have been another case but for India’s inability to protect its independence. Te Dalai Lama refuses to buckle under China’s sway and continues to stay in India. Apparently, the bona fde rulers—the Jebtsundamba of Mongolia,

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the Dalai Lama of Tibet and the Shabdrung of Bhutan have lived in India. However, when China’s infuence is growing all over the world, how could the tiny Himalayan state of Bhutan possibly escape from its gaze? Te impact is already palpable on the ground; creating a string of political electrons, threatening Bhutan’s traditional bond with its “sacred” brother India. Perhaps the Modi government has understood Bhutan’s case and its sensitivity. Under the previous government, the relationship had to go through major strains.

Te Himalayas: Zone of India–China Confuence Te last three thousand years of our history suggest that the vast range of the Himalayas played more of role of a bridge than a wall. It fostered a congruence of civilisations, culture, spirituality and commerce. It was responsible for shaping the Asian identity as it is today. In fact, if we follow the mythology, the epicentre of the Asian Mandala (circle of sacred and friendly space or a political order) was in the Himalayas; encompassing both the Indian and Chinese geographical space in its encirclement. If we begin to think this way in our own policy, many of the conficts are going to fade away. Te destruction of the Mandala that symbolised the Asian paradigm of order had started in the eleventh century when the Islamic invaders systemically smashed the institutions and centres that had attracted the Chinese to India. Te detachment since then began to afect the India— China cultural contiguity with enormous implications. Te forces from the West however continued to disrupt the Asian oriental equilibrium. Afer the Islamic rule, the inroads by Western powers into Asia to play the Great Game had their impact on the Sino-Indian harmony creating a host of problems especially for India. Ironically, the Himalayas today connect the string of political crises on both sides of the mountain range. Te distortion began afer the Western science of cartography started representing reality on a fat surface that demolished the conceptual circle of unity and infnite relations in a cosmic sense under the Mandala thought. Cartography takes the linear line and it still guides the current foreign afairs of states and their policy prescriptions. However, in the Asian context, tools of cartography that pierced through borderlands and frontiers tended to split nationalities, societies and ethnicities. For the people, having lived in the interlaced fow of culture, social and economic interdependence, the cartographic borders ofen become illogical. Terefore, the application of “linearity of divide” in cultural homogeneity sparked of conficts in the

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Asian landscape. Te crevice runs across the greater Himalayan region (running from Afghanistan, Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh). Tat is why delinating a boundary line through the complex Himalayan range in a cartographic sense remained problematic.

Dealing with Tibetan Geopolitics Notwithstanding the occasional festering tensions erupting across China’s Tibetan and Uighur populated regions, politics in the Trans-Himalayan region remains undermined. Te issues remain stalemated and dormant even though all aspire to preserve contiguous culture, identity and religion. Yet, the level of Trans-Himalayan radicalism is low. Nonetheless, the issues or instability factors do afect both sides of the Himalayas. Tibet can be a keystone but its leader, the Dalai Lama who professes Lamaism accepts neither radicalisation nor reconciliation that keeps both India and China guessing. Te Dalai Lama still visualises his world in the Mandala concept, for he does not seek either separation or independence in a linear political fashion. He has also even dropped the demand for “greater autonomy” and instead he seeks preservation of living under the Chinese Mandala or constitution that guarantees space for Tibetan culture and religion to exist as it did for centuries. A path forward is desperately required but it would be hard to push for dynamism in a short time. However, the onus is upon China to rethink the Trans-Himalayan paradigm. China has the resources, both intellectual and material, to revive the past concepts and to implement them in the modern context. China is already reproducing traditional concepts like the “Silk Route” to restore the ancient linkages. However, on the Himalayan front the time is running out fast. Te restoration of paradigm is possible only during the current Dalai Lama’s lifetime. To be sure, neither China nor India should desire radicalisation of the Himalayas—not an impossible thing though as the situation elsewhere is unfolding. Te stakes are high as the problem transcends borders and both India and China will have to sufer.

Economic Imperatives Tere are of course the economic and developmental imperatives for the Indian Himalayan belt. Te entire stretch of the Himalayas remains a backward zone; perhaps 40 percent of the world’s poor live in the region—of course not in calorie intake measures but in terms of its marginalisation; economically and socially. Te Himalayas’ natural strength is gigantic. Te

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enormous biodiversity, farming, lumbering, horticulture and hydro-energy potentials bestow the region. Its glaciers remain the source of all the Asian rivers. Yet most people living in these mountains lack drinking water. Tere have been no worthwhile scientifc, technological or commercial interventions in the region. Industries are nearly non-existent. No signifcant plan exists to draw on the enormous solar and wind power potentials. Te Himalayan tourism potentials are great but what the revenue tourism generates along with other value-added monetary savings fow back outside the region. No clear planning whatsoever exists for retaining the fnancial capital required to boost the economy further. Te barriers for the Himalayas are not natural but manmade. Te frozen and militarised border along 3,600 kilometres denies the region access to external markets. Tis has been going on for too long and cannot be sustainable in the longer term.

Way Forward Nevertheless, the trans-Himalayan regions will have to assume a dynamic importance at every level in the twenty-frst century. Te region, once a crossroad of Asia, entails enormous signifcance for cultural and economic resurgence of Asia. It holds the key to the sustenance of Asian culture, philosophy, tourism, environment (climate change), political and regional security. At a time when the balance of power is shifing towards Asia, the Himalayan societies will have to factor themselves in the foreign policy perspectives of their respective nations, for it has geostrategic value for all the concerned states. It remains a keystone and source of regional stability. With the potential of an increase in tensions between India and Pakistan, it may also be time for an out-of-box settlement of the Kashmir issue. If not, such prolonged crises, whose ends are not in sight, also leave the other regions in a state of uncertainty—especially about their direction of developments.

Economic Bridge: Reviving the Silk Route At a time when the economies of the Asian countries are rising, the TransHimalayan region could play an important bridge role in expanding India’s economic and commercial interests across East and Central Asia. In the changed atmosphere, the region needs to focus on restoring the lost trade linkages while reconnecting itself to the Silk Route and beyond. Such viewpoints could be the kernel not only for a broader atmospheric change but will also prove benefcial to all stakeholders. In fact, time has come to

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take beneft from China’s economic achievements. China can ofer better technology and experiences that other Trans-Himalayan regions require. Te two major countries, India and China, should explore the possibility of converting the existing problems into opportunities. It is time that initiatives for cross-border activities are launched say by proposing a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) scheme between India and China. Te RCEP will help to create a regional market covering both sides of the Himalayas. In fact, both sides of the Himalayas historically formed a web of religious, political and commercial interrelationships. Moreover, the interdependence was geographically determined and more importantly, such a trans-border cultural environment enjoyed endorsement by both India and China prior to the 1962 border confict. Even now, the issues could be resolved not so much by politico-military but through a well-calibrated cultural and economic means. A non-military approach might also work to end the current entanglement between the two countries. Te RCEP may have huge advantages for India as increased cross-border connections will provide India enormous access to markets in Xinjiang and Tibet—both having huge demand for Indian consumer products. A fresh approach is also required for seeking benefts from cooperation with China. A cooperative approach should eventually pave the way for greater understanding and sofening of the current standof, thereby creating a positive atmosphere for the resolution of the boundary issue. For India, a fresh thinking is required; any further delay could risk serious ramifcations against China’s increasing quest for strategic minerals and water resources.

Te Himalayan Sof Power One of the most important and powerful dynamics that have taken shape in the Trans-Himalayan region is the resurgence of Buddhism as a factor of cultural mobilisation and economic growth. Tis is happening when the Buddha nature and its wisdom is ushering a speedy comeback on the world stage to meet the challenges of the twenty-frst century. A strong revivalism of Buddhism in the Trans-Himalayan region is of great importance for restoring the lost traditional linkages between the Asian societies. Tis will become a new factor in enhancing mutual interests; especially exploring new opportunities for cultural, economic and human development across the mountain ranges.

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Moreover, Buddhism is making a speedy comeback albeit as a brand symbol of rising India. Analysts have noted that the Buddha-Industry could transform the lives of millions, providing lucrative career options to a large youth component of his land. India’s corporate believes that the country is sitting atop millennia-old tourist mines. A recent study report suggested that Shakyamuni could potentially generate $1 billion revenue for the country. Buddhism is speedily regaining its momentum in China as well. According to the Dalai Lama, China already has 400–500 million practitioners of Buddhism and the numbers will grow manifold in the coming years as China opens up.63 More and more Buddhist temples are coming up in China with enormous support from the common people. It is here that the Trans-Himalayan region plays a link role for the spiritual destinies of millions in Asia. One hopes that the Government of India under the BJP displays more fnesse and tangible actions in pursuing this important goal. In fact, a lot more is required to conceptualise the relevance of Buddhism as a cultural complex in the contemporary times. More than its market import, Buddhism needs a cultural tagging—a source of knowledge-based sof-power lever. Potentially, Buddhism has sufcient intellectual strength to afect the geopolitical trend in Asia besides the preservation of global peace. In fact, China is already trying to play a foremost role over Buddhism, at least on the Asian scene. Not only would it like to control the trend and nature of discourses on Buddhism but also use it as a vehicle of infuence and instrument of pragmatism in major parts of Asia. For India, Buddhism was its ancient geopolitical tool and it could still use this wisdom to meet the challenges of the new millennium. Te challenge before India is to retain its cultural leadership and play a meaningful role in shaping the course of this great phenomenon in the twenty-frst century. Of course, both India and China require a synergy for a nuanced and adept policy pursuit in Asia. Interestingly, Islam—another important religious faith—fnds itself embedded in the Trans-Himalayan cultural complex. In fact, a range of historical and ethical associations between Buddhist and Islamic principles continue to exist in the region as opposed to Western ethics. It is essential that some of the existing fawed Western interpretations of Asian history be revisited if a broader cohesion is to be brought about for long-term peace and stability in Asia.

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Sustainable Cultural Tourism A fresh policy approach is required to promote a brand of sustainable cultural tourism. China plans to invest $10 billion over the next five years to build several high profile infrastructure projects (roads, airports and hydropower stations) to develop the Kailash Mansarovar region. It aims to develop the entire Menser-Gunsa and Rudog-Senge Tsangpo (Indus) corridor so that the Kailash Mansarovar area—considered as a holy land for Buddhists, Hindus and Jainas—becomes easily accessible. It appears that the goal is to attract China’s own affluent tourists as well as the international tourist traffic including Indian pilgrims to Western Tibet. On the Indian side, Ladakh has come into sharp domestic and international tourist focus. The entire Indus corridor (LamayuruNimu-Bazgo-Leh-Hemis-Nyoma) has become an attractive cultural tourism complex. Now that India too is developing infrastructure including circular roads and airports in Ladakh, the two countries could explore the possibility of jointly developing tourism industries so that they serve as engines of economic growth for Ladakh. In fact, as the flow of traffic from the West is gradually drying up, the vast Indian and Chinese domestic tourists could become huge prospects for the Trans-Himalayan regions.

Environmental Protection Importantly, political stability, sustainable economic development and environmental protection are interconnected issues for the TransHimalayan region. Coordinated environmental policies are essential to mitigate the non-traditional security challenges such as climate change and natural disasters. Gradual glacial attrition from global warming means water scarcity in the Himalayas. Te fow of Himalayan water is already becoming a critical issue. Te possible diversion of the Brahmaputra river by China has raised eyebrows in India. However, the solution may not lay in politics but in culture. Just as Mt. Kailash is the home of Lord Shiva, the Shuomatan Point or U-Bend of Brahmaputra is the home of Vajra Yogini, a sacred deity, worshipped by millions in both India and China. Terefore, the protection of environmental biodiversity and culture should become a keystone of policy planning. It should become an important step toward laying the platform for long-term stability and harmonious co-existence of diverse regions.

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Conclusion In the context of security, India and China fnd themselves locked in a boundary dispute across the Himalayan range. Eforts have been made to draw a linear boundary across the Himalayas. Tey fail because the spatial reality here transcends political boundaries that both powers wish to delineate. Even the British strategic masters failed to draw a linear boundary and instead periodically laid emphasis on having a bufer concept by dividing regions into inner and outer zones. Even McMahon had to use a broad brush for drawing a line along the Himalayas that remains disputed even afer one century. It is therefore imperative that India and China should give up seeking a geometrical linear boundary and instead opt for creating a sof cultural frontier along the Trans-Himalayan region. A gradual transformation of the long militarised boundary into a humanised frontier zone will serve the interests of India, China and the Himalayan people.

10. Himalayas to Unite AKHILESH SUMAN

When we talk of Himalayas, it does not just mean a mountain range, but it means a whole series of organic life as well as the political geography around it. From the ancient age, the Himalayas had been the place of solitary worship as well as of pilgrimage and of adventurous spiritualism related to Hinduism and Buddhism. Even when it was proudly standing between the nations, trade routes still existed among the nations and Himalayas were playing a role of uniting force rather than a dividing one. With an elevation of 8,848 m and an area of around 1,089,133 square km, the Himalaya, always covered with snow while sustaining the lives around it, is a test for the human body and technology as well as for regional strategy and diplomacy.

Geography Geographically speaking, when we talk about Himalayan life we take into account the lives of the people right from Afghanistan, India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan to Myanmar. While from the Chinese side Tibet is closely situated in the Himalayan range, from the Indian side Jammu and Kashmir as well as Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim among others are also blessed in being in the same location. Himalayas is a blessing for Asia as it contains the highest amount of ice and snow afer Antarctica and Arctic. But, a mountain range that has ffeen thousand glaciers and stores 3000 cubic miles of fresh water is no less important for world politics and climate-change negotiations.

Geopolitics Between the two biggest Asian giants, India and China, Nepal and Bhutan are the two countries which Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited in his frst leg of foreign visits. Te result of competitive geopolitics came soon when the Bhutanese government got an ofer from the Chinese dispensation to resolve border disputes amicably and stitch torn relations

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forever between the two. Similarly, Nepal got a call from the Chinese not to give shelter to the Tibetans and not to call them refugees even. Both these reactions from China are considered to be knee jerk and people are feeling that this provocation is giving rise to regional tension for regional rebalancing.

Regional Bonding of Togetherness Nepal and Bhutan are the two countries from where people can travel without visa or passport to India or vice versa. Interestingly, both Bhutan and Nepal are surrounded by the Himalayas on one side and the Indian land boundary on the other, giving them the continuity with the unique Himalayan lifestyle and culture and also to be in touch with the plane land’s feelings. China does not give this privilege to any Asian country under its infuence so far. Tis is a unique bond that has been established since independence between both India and Nepal as well as between India and Bhutan. Actually, these two examples make for model cases for any future efort for Asian integration. Bhutan has a total population of around one million and Nepal has 28 million who are a hard-working, challenge-taking people who have survived even afer being cut of from the mainstream of the world for long periods of time. It was only with the independence of India from the British that they could come up with the modernising world and get a space of their own among the muscle-fexing communist and capitalist divides. India helped Bhutan get membership of the United Nations and took care of security of both Nepal and Bhutan from any external aggression. With a satisfactory try in keeping pace with the evolving world views and economies, both Nepal and Bhutan are now at the cusp of competitive strategic pulls from China from the other side of the Himalayas, even when their proximity to India is well known. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared his intent for establishing a Himalayan University to fnd out and strengthen what is in the minds and lives of the people living in the precincts of the great Himalayas, the continuous struggle in both the Himalayan nations for democracy and productive engagement with the world shows that resurgent Asian nations want to make a new history afer undergoing all sorts of ideological confrontations.

Regional Confict Te examples of Nepal and Bhutan are enough to underline that what

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is more important for the Himalayan nations is sustainable economic development rather than joining the confrontation for strategic goals. But, Himalayas are not at peace nor are the Asian Himalayan nations. While climate change is afecting the physical nature of the glaciers with the melting of ice and depletion of natural greens, territorial disputes emanating from the legacy of the British are still haunting the minds and policies of the Himalayan nations. Wars took place and ended, but confict between cooperation and confrontation also gained centre stage. However, territories remained the same and so did the problems of policies. Tere was no dearth of words, though, to solve the territorial disputes but hardly any country could even move an inch in the way of fnding any solution. Multiethnic populations in almost all countries of the Himalayas give a chance to all of them to claim not only territory but also the history and population.

Formula for Resolution My own experience and understanding says that the things that could not be decided by wars, in no way can be decided by words or negotiations, because things decided by smaller wars can only be re-decided by bigger and devastating wars. Te question arises whether Asia is ready for deciding to go ahead with a war on a much larger scale than those that have taken place between India and Pakistan and India and China, in diferent points of time. From the present mindset of the regimes of the Himalayan nations, specifcally in India, China and Pakistan, wars of words are getting their display in such a way as if they are positioning themselves for a fullscale war or encircling one another in anticipation of a war. Among these confrontationist positionings against each other, only Bhutan and Nepal have shown some restraint in the Himalayan geostrategy. Surrounded by two giant neighbours India and China, in one way or the other, they have kept their loyalties to the cause of peace and harmony to the top. Practically these two countries have done nothing that can be called giving rise to confrontation or strategic provocation. Sometimes they have spoken their minds in order to maintain an existential balance but that did not mean indulgence in the strategy of encirclement. And interestingly, both these countries have adopted the endeavour of democracy, in a democratic way. Both Nepal and Bhutan, which were monarchist-controlled in the past, are now struggling with all their wisdom for a suitable form of democracy and happiness to the people. Both Bhutan and Nepal had also problems with each other, but they endeavoured to solve it without military positioning. Tey managed it on

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the basis of the status quo of the populations and they did not dig out history to get brownie points. It was also heartening that both China and India did not intervene between them.

As it is, where it is Te essence of their understanding lay in the reality of the status quo, the principle that Himalayan nations can apply to resolve the Himalayan confict emanating from civilisational egos. If this formula is adopted, the Himalayan geopolitics can undergo a sea change from adopting a European–American style of resolving disputes. Why I mention the European–American way of resolving disputes, may be questioned by many and intentions might be imputed. But, the fact is that the European–American way had culminated in World Wars, and it is still endeavouring to solve disputes in a military way by directly or indirectly involving themselves in small wars in either African nations or in the Muslim-dominated world. A lot of terrorism has emanated on the world canvas due to this European–American style of confict resolution and the world has become hostage to not only terrorist non-state actors but also to their demands for statehood and regime change. I just wish to suggest that the Asian way of resolving disputes should be diferent from the European–American way, because this is an age of Asia. Right from the Chinese Premier to the Chinese President to ASEAN nations to the Indian Prime Minister, all are talking about the advent of the era of Asia. Indeed this is an era of Asia, but its emergence is diferent from the emergence of European or American era. While the European– American era had emanated from industrial–technological revolutions, the Asian era has come up due to hard labour and work force that has applied the knowledge of techno-industrial revolutions for mass consumption at afordable rates for all. Most of the productive forces also belong to the Asian nations. While Asia is producing goods for mass utilities, Europe and America’s main indulgence is in instruments of mass destruction. While Asia is trying hard to feed its people who are toiling in either factories or in the feld, Europe and Americas are trying to capture over the factories and corn felds of Asia in the name of climate change or WTO rules. However, while Asia is harping on the basic research in science and technology that came from the West, the poorest of the world could get the fruits only because of the Asian systems of production. Tis shows the basic sense of understanding of development for the world’s people.

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Tat is why Himalayas need to be taken into the picture. Te territories that were drawn by either geography or by history need to be accepted as the take-of point of peace and unity in Asia. If the intention is peace, territories should not be decided on the basis of past or perception, but on the basis of the present. And on the basis, the existing boundaries, lines of control or lines of actual control need to be turned into legitimate borders. Tis can be only one of the ways to asset the essence of Asianism that has fourished in the green felds of Himalayan nations and groomed in Himalayas either in the form of Buddhism or Hinduism. Both Kailash Mansarovar and Charar-e-Sharif are witness to this togetherness in the lap of the gigantic Himalayas. Asia could have been more volatile if India had claimed Kailash Mansarovar as its own place of worship in Hinduism. It could also have claimed Tibet, the hotbed of Buddhism that had open borders with India in all historical ages. India could have fomented terrorism in the Tibetan regions instead of giving shelter to the Dalai Lama and restraining him from any anti-Chinese activities. A time came in Asia when Tibet was annexed by China and India did not oppose it—neither did it try to gain any petty political brownie points. On the contrary, India sheltered the disappointed Tibetans who are living peacefully in India without indulging in any violent or terrorist activities against any one including China. Tibet became an international border between India and China and India kept its promises to China. Kashmir was divided and later wars between India and Pakistan decided a border that is in force from then onwards. But instead of respecting the new territory, China annexed part of Kashmir. It was a unique gesture of Pakistan to cede some of its areas under its own control to China. Considering it a fait accompli, India did not do much to reverse this situation. But, Bhutan and Nepal never faced any such situation from India. India never interfered in their territories, even when it has a open land boundary with them. Due to the fear of encroachment, Bhutan kept its borders closed for China. But both kept their borders open with India. Indian currencies are acceptable in both the countries and they are really becoming an example of Asian integration at the nascent stage. Indian currency is even acceptable in Pakistan and Bangladesh for the same reason of mutual understanding.

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Model of Bhutan as Asian Ethos Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook his frst foreign visit to Bhutan, the tiniest Asian nation. I had an opportunity to be there before and afer his visit and I travelled by road from India to Bhutan. What I found during the visit was a monumental display of happiness with the arrival of Prime Minister Modi, a natural fow of love for its southern neighbour. People were standing in the form of human wall from the airport to Timphu main city and there was no display of any high-handedness by the security on the roads along the journey. Te people of Bhutan believe in the happiness index propounded by Jigme Singye Wangchuk and they constitutionally accept the importance of forests which constitute upto 70 percent of their total land mass. Tis places Bhutan in a unique situation; when countries of the world are running for a consumer index cover, people of Bhutan take pleasure in tradition, thrif and handi-work. Tey have in their own country with little imports, necessities for a humane life. Tey drink, but they don’t create commotion; they love, but they don’t rape; they vote, but they don’t corrupt; they take aid, but they invest; they export, but they don’t import culture from outside. Afer all, they are adopting democracy and training people in that in a much more better way than even India. Step by step, they are reaching the parliamentary system and very well keeping the foreign relations that may help them have the democratic system not destroyed by single party rules prevalent for the sake of high productivity with little happiness in the lives of the people. Bhutan in a way is placed in the centre of Asia along with Nepal where things should grow in a natural way keeping their identity and reaching out to the world in a way that could be adoptable for the big Asian nations. Afer all, they are the real Himalayan Brethren who approached saw that side of the Himalayas for claiming territory; even when there were stark similarities with either Tibetans or with Kashmiris. Tey also did not claim Indian side of territory where one will fnd melting down of two cultures in one whole for a vow of living together in happiness.

Himalayas Decide What I want to argue here is that the Himalayas have decided a territorial divide for the unity of people living on both sides of the giant mountain range. Let all in Asia accept for once and all this natural boundary of the Himalayas and not indulge in claiming and reclaiming of other sides’

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gigantic peaks; preserve the Himalayas for good of the world and not invest the vast economic resources on creating war machines for posturing in peace times and killing in war periods. Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam are three realities of Asia and their followers are so dispersed over territorial lines that reclaiming and rewriting of history will destroy what the Asians have gained over time investing their sweat and blood amidst the overarching infuence of the West on our civilisational links. One may easily say that dialogue is the key and that dialogue should continue. But most of the time dialogues always occur under the shadow of the gun from both sides and no one is ready to accept the other’s point of view. Tis is the reason why confict has taken centrestage between India and China, the two Trans-Himalayan giants, at a time when both need each other more essentially than at any other time in the past. Prime Minister Narendra Modi needed to give a boost to the economy, infrastructure and employment opportunities in India, and like wise China needed its over-maturing economy to fnd the biggest market in the world on the basis of Chinese skill, scale and speed. But due to war posturing in a peace time, both the countries are missing a vast opportunity that can change the whole dynamics of Asian societies who are trying to overcome the long coercive infuence of one or the other Western rules. Unfortunately, at the time of their organic assertions, both China and India are fghting like kids in the street for a crazy cricket ball that is called Himalayas. Winning Himalayas is not possible; let us learn to live with it by respecting its natural divide. Let us not make Himalayas a zone of third world war; let us restore it for peace and eco-socio-politico-strategic unity. Himalayas unite; let us not allow the division of the Himalayan bonhomie.

Conclusion Accepting the status quo is the best solution among the Himalayan nations. Neither China nor Pakistan can win already existing territories by any means, either through guns or dialogue. Let India, China and Pakistan exist in peace. If it happens it will open the foodgates of cooperation among Asian nations and the biggest benefciaries will be China, Pakistan and the smaller nations. Tis is the golden period for Asian Integration—let us not miss the bus.

11. Why Siachen Matters to India NITIN A. GOKHALE

Introduction Fifeen years ago in the summer months of June and July Indian Army soldiers were doing their best to evict the Pakistani intruders from the heights of Kargil, Drass, and Batalik.   It was not until July 26, 1999 that India called of Operation Vijay, afer getting rid of the Pakistani intruders from the peaks that overlooked a crucial highway connecting the rest of India to Ladakh. Over the years many strategic thinkers have analysed why Gen Pervez Musharraf chose to launch the Kargil misadventure and have come up with various explanations. To me,  the most compelling reason Pakistan’s then military ruler had in mind for this 1999 misadventure was the  objective  to cut of  Ladakh  from the rest of India  and thereby force withdrawal of the Indian Army from the Saltoro ridge which sits astride the Siachen glacier.  Pakistan has never been able to reconcile to the fact that the Indian Army raced to the top of the  Saltoro  ridge and occupied three of its important passes. Tis loss, in the eyes of the Pakistani Army, is second only to its military defeat in 1971. Pervez  Musharraf, as a brigadier had tried—unsuccessfully—to wrest Indian positions but had failed miserably. In April 2012, Pakistan’s then Army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani suddenly called for demilitarisation of the Siachen glacier for the “development of Pakistan and environmental reasons.” “India and Pakistan must live in peaceful coexistence as defence without development is neither viable nor acceptable,” he declared. He saw all issues dividing India and Pakistan as capable of resolution and  Siachen  and Sir Creek, as convenient starting points, low-hanging fruits to be plucked as strong confdence building measures.

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Tis was completely out of character and a major departure from Pakistan’s position on the Siachen glacier.

Beginning of the Race to the Glacier Actually it was the tragic death of 130 troops of the 6 Northern Light Infantry in a massive avalanche at Gayari on  April 7, 2012, which triggered Gen Kayani’s new thought process. Afer visiting the site of the accident, Gen Kayani spoke at Skardu about the need to demilitarise Siachen. He said Pakistan was not manning those treacherous heights out of choice. “Te world knows why we are in Siachen”—reiterating the Pakistani position that it was India which started the dispute in 1984. But even while announcing the desire to make peace with India on ‘Siachen and Sir Creek”, Gen Kayani was economical with the truth. Te ground reality is that Pakistani troops are nowhere near the Siachen glacier. Teir deployment is on the western slopes of the Saltoro ridge—far away from the glacier and at much lower altitudes. Indian positions on the other hand are on absolutely dominating heights on the main passes of the Saltoro ridge, Sia  La and  Bilafond  La. As far as Indian Army is concerned, it sees no need to withdraw from the commanding heights it controls given Pakistan’s perfdy in the past, especially in Kargil when it tried to cut of Siachen in the summer of 1999. Tree months afer Gen Kayani made the ofer to demilitarise Siachen, I was in  Kargil, west of  Siachen  and at a much lower altitude along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. Every year on July 26, the Indian Army celebrates its victory here. Having reported on the area for 45 days during the 1999 confict, I try and visit Kargil every year to participate in the function that pays tribute to the 500-plus soldiers who died fghting the Pakistani intruders and in eventually evicting them. But in 2012, I had one more task at hand. I wanted to formally interview for NDTV, the channel I work for, Lt Gen KT Parnaik, a highly respected general and then India’s Northern Army Commander. Te Northern Command, Indian Army’s operationally most active command, has the unique task of guarding India’s vast land borders with both China and Pakistan. Its responsibility stretches from the forbidding heights of Karakoram down to the plains of Jammu. Moreover, it has been involved in counterinsurgency operations against the infltrating terrorists from Pakistan in the state of Jammu & Kashmir continuously for over a quarter century now. Of particular interest to me in 2012 however was the

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Northern Command’s reaction to Gen Kayani’s rather unexpected call to try and ‘resolve’ Siachen. As we sat down to record the interview, I worked through the usual questions about the threat posed by terrorists, the fragile peace in the Kashmir Valley and the deployment along the LoC. But I was actually itching to seek his answer on the Siachen  issue. Finally I asked him:  What is it that the Indian Army is concerned about with respect to Siachen? His answer, later circulated widely, put paid to any hopes Pakistan may have had in India agreeing to demilitarise the  Siachen  glacier area. Gen Parnaik said: “You see, to understand  Siachen, I think one needs to be geographically oriented to the region. And let me simply put it, because I’m telling you without a map, that the Siachen Glacier is bounded to the west by the Saltoro Range, which is a very high range and to the east by the Karakoram Range and the Nubra River. So, per se Siachen Glacier is a sort of iced river, which fows in between them. Te Saltoro Range actually provides domination of the entire area...Tere is a strategic implication of the  Saltoro  Range and the implication is that you have the Pakistanis sitting in the northern areas, which we keep saying is illegally occupied, its Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Now out of the other areas that they have occupied, they have illegally ceded the Shaksgam  Valley to the Chinese. Shaksgam  Valley lies to the north of the glacier. And if Saltoro Range was held by the (Pakistanis), it practically enables them to bridge this Aksai Chin and northern areas gap, which is with China, and also exercise complete control over the Karakoram Pass. Terefore, strategically, it is an important area. And we feel, by holding these areas, we would efectively deny approaches to Kargil and Leh. Now, in security parlance, for the country it is of strategic importance. Tat is one reason. Second reason is that we have had a number of rounds of talks on this. A large number of solutions have been ofered. One of the biggest issues that has not been resolved yet is that we insist that for anything to happen in Siachen, the Pakistanis must frst accept the actual line of ground position and delineate the line along the positions that are being held by the troops today, both theirs and ours, as is, where is. Tey do not seem to be amenable to this sort of a thing. Tey continue to say that we should go back to 1971 and 1953, when this whole area was not demarcated, so you should vacate it. Don’t forget, Kargil happened because of Siachen... If you peruse their own records, which are now public, one of the major objectives of what they did in Kargil was to force us to vacate the Siachen glacier. Now if that is their intent and that is their credibility, it is up to you to judge whether we should be really vacating the glacier or not.

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As a follow up, my next question was: Does the Government understand these strategic implications? Gen Parnaik said emphatically: “See, the ofer that was made by the Pakistan Army Chief, probably in wake of the tragedy that took place in  Gayari. If they fnd it difcult (to remain there) they are most welcome to withdraw to safe places. And let me assure you, the Indian Army has no evil designs to set across for those areas and capture those territories. Tis aspect is also well known to our leaders. So that is where it rests.”

In one short, swif answer, Gen Parnaik had demolished the case that was sought to be built by Gen Kayani that both  India and Pakistan need to withdraw from Siachen! He was only reiterating what successive Army Chiefs and Northern Army Commanders have stated. Over the past three decades, the Indian Army ably supported by the Indian Air Force has mastered the treacherous mountains and has evolved a high altitude doctrine  that is the envy of the world. In the process, the Indian military has shed blood, made enormous sacrifces and braved the elements. No wonder, the military leadership has told the political executive time and again that it is against any withdrawal from the  Saltoro  ridge and Siachen glacier.

Why does Siachen Matter to India? At the heart of the problem is the interpretation of the 1949 Karachi and 1972  Shimla  agreements by both sides. During both these negotiations, India and Pakistan demarcated their borders only up to Point NJ 9842. Tis includes the 772 km Ceasefre Line in 1949, now known as the LoC or Line-of-Control. It was stated in the agreements that the border would run “thence north” from map grid reference NJ 9842. Te Cease-Fire Agreement was signed in Karachi by top military representatives of India and Pakistan and the UN Military Observer Group. Te purpose of the Karachi meeting (July 18 to 27) was to establish a ceasefre line in the State of J&K in pursuance of Part I of the key UN resolution of August 13, 1948 that prescribed a ceasefre. Present at the Karachi Conference were members of the Truce Committee of the UN Commission for India and Pakistan, Hernando  Semper of Colombia (Chairman), William L.S. Williams (U.S), Lt-Gen Maurice Delvoie, Military Adviser; and Miguel A. Martin (Legal Adviser). Pakistan was represented by Maj. Gen W.J.  Cawthorn, Maj.  Gen Nazir  Ahmad, Brigadier  Sher

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Khan and a couple of  observers. Representing India were Lt. Gen S.M. Shrinagesh, Maj. Gen K.S. Timayya and Brigadier Sam Manekshaw, with H.M. Patel and Vishnu Sahay as observers. Te Karachi Agreement delineated the entire CFL, demarcating over 740 km on the ground. With the CFL increasingly running through high mountains and glaciated areas as it traversed north, it ofen followed a directional path in the absence of clear landmarks. Tus, fnally Chalunka (on the Shyok River), Khor, thence North to the glaciers, passing through grid reference NJ 9842. Te segment beyond NJ 9842 was by mutual agreement not demarcated on the ground; being a highly elevated, glaciated, unexplored and unpopulated region that had not witnessed any fghting. A plebiscite was soon to follow and the matter, it was assumed, would soon be settled. Te delineation of the northern-most segment of the CFL was, however, unambiguous: NJ 9842 thence north to the glaciers. If every one of 30 or more earlier directional commands were meticulously followed in tracing the CFL, there was no reason whatsoever for any departure from this norm in the case of the very last command. “Tence North”, could only mean due north to wherever the boundary of J&K State lay. Te very next section crucially directed that “the ceasefre line described above” be drawn “so as to eliminate any no man’s land”. Terefore, the Line, whether delineated or demarcated could in no way be lef hanging in the air. Te Cease Fire Line was ratifed by both sides. Twenty-three years later, it was revalidated as the Line of Control by the Suchetgarh  Agreement of December 1972, in the wake of the Shimla  Agreement between Prime Minister  Indira  Gandhi and Zulfkar  Ali Bhutto. Both sides also agreed in the LOC the military gains made by either side in J&K in the 1971 war. Tus in the  Kargil-Siachen  sector, all territorial gains went entirely to India which acquired the  Turtuk  comprising fve villages — Chalunka, Tang, Tyakshi, Pharol and Turtok—just south and west of NJ 9842. Tis modest but important military acquisition provided India an additional territorial bulwark against hostile cartographic or physical claims on Siachen. While India interprets this to mean due north (along the ridge line, as is the international convention), leading to the northern tip of the Saltoro ridge known as Indira Col, Pakistan claims that the line should run northeast towards the Karakoram Pass which leads into Tibet.   As many ofcers who have served on the glacier and in the Northern Command have pointed out time and again, occupation

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of the  Saltoro  and  Siachen  provides a bufer to Ladakh  and in military parlance, the much needed depth to important mountain passes that are gateways to Ladakh and onto Kashmir. Tere are other reasons too why Siachen or Saltoro to be more precise cannot be vacated. For instance: It will enable widening of the China-Pakistan handshake (collusive threat) to include Gilgit-Baltistan (reportedly being leased out by Pakistan to China for 50 years); Shaksgam Valley already ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963; Saltoro-Siachen region (that Pakistan may reoccupy through Kashmiri “freedom fghters” or cede to China), own Sub Sector North (SSN) east of Siachen with the Chinese sitting on the northern slopes of the Karakoram Pass—if not on top of it already—under Chinese occupation.  SSN and Eastern  Ladakh  will become focused objectives of Chinese strategic acupuncture. Defence potential of SSN will be totally degraded with western fank exposed and KK Pass to north, which India stopped patrolling years back for fear of annoying the dragon. We continue to remain thin in Eastern  Ladakh  against Chinese threat via Aksai Chin— heightened more now with possibility of two-front war. India’s next line of defence will perforce base on the Ladakh Range with the possibility of Leh coming within enemy artillery range.   Ladakh and Zanskar Ranges will be targeted for terrorism by the ISInurtured groups which Pakistan will say are out of control. Tere are however, a number of ‘experts who argue that it is futile to hold on to the positions on the Saltoro ridgeline because they are important only tactically and have no strategic signifcance. As one Indian Army ofcer has written: “Tey are obviously unaware of the prevailing conditions in Siachen. If ever there was a tactical gain that was instrumental in providing exponential dividend to a strategic cause, this is the one.” Trough innovation, hard work and sustained efort to improve the situation, the Indian Army has established such strong, controlling position that it enjoys overwhelming operational and psychological superiority in  Siachen. It would be  a folly to give up the  advantage. Self-proclaimed analysts have put forward arguments in favour of demilitarising Siachen citing the high human and material cost that the Indian military has to pay. Let us examine the costs. Between 1984 and 2007, the Parliament was told that 884 Indian soldiers were killed and 13,022 wounded. Tat makes it an average of 38 dead in a year and 550 plus wounded. But, the fgures do not refect the fact that since the ceasefre agreement between India and Pakistan went into efect in 2003, battle casualties are down to zero. Even

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the weather casualties are now down to single digit on an average in a year. Tis is a sea change from the frst two decades of the confict when the weather and battle casualties both were high. Financially, India has reportedly spent over Rs 8,000 crores since 1984 in Operation  Meghdoot. Te recurring costs today are pegged at about Rs 365 crores. Tis is no fnancial burden for a military that has an annual budget of Rs 2, 24,000 crore or about 38 billion dollars (2014). Infrastructure in the  Siachen  sector has developed over the years. Pipelines for kerosene and water have been laid and better facilities have been organised in every sphere of activity. Terefore, the expenditure incurred now is more in the form of maintenance and regular improvements. Over the years, the improvement in living conditions, health facilities and communication have reduced the attrition rate signifcantly. Today, fnancial and human costs in Operation Meghdoot are sustainable.

Demilitarisation: Prelude to Peacenik’s Idea of Peace Peak? In view of Siachen being strategically important for India’s northern parts, why is there fresh clamour for demilitarising Siachen? More importantly, can it be done? Several experts have weighed in on the issue and as in every other issue concerning India and  Pakistan,  the opinion is divided right down the middle. Demilitarisation by itself is a process that consists of several logical steps: ceasefre, authentication, demarcation, withdrawal, re-deployment and verifcation. Tis concept, everyone agrees, is the best possible solution. But why is there no forward movement? Te primary cause of disconnect is the sequence of the process of demilitarisation. India insists on authentication of current troop position as the frst step. Te Pakistanis want the Indian troops to withdraw to pre1972 positions before any further discussions can take place. Ten there is the question of trust. What if the agreement is fouted and the positions are occupied by the Pakistan Army? Te level of mistrust between India and Pakistan in general and the Indian and Pakistani Security Forces in particular is deep-rooted and cannot be overturned so easily. Yet there are many peaceniks who propose a unilateral withdrawal from Siachen; among them military ofcers who professed to be hawks while in service but who turned doves when out of it.

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Several diplomats and analysts have said India must recognise Pakistan’s compulsions and ofer a face-saving formula so that the agreement on Siachen does not look like a defeat for the Pakistani Army. Tis is utter nonsense. If Pakistan wants demilitarisation of  Saltoro-Siachen, it must frst accept the fact that Pakistani Army troops are NOWHERE NEAR THE SIACHEN GLACIER. More pragmatic military leaders like retired Lt Gen R.K. Nanavatty have suggested a practical formula. He says: “India’s approach towards a fnal settlement should be based on demilitarisation of limited and well-defned mutually agreed prescribed area.” Essential steps for this, he says begin with a political agreement followed by a formal ceasefre, delimitation, demarcation, disengagement, redeployment and verifcation.” Te bottomline according to General Nanavatty, “is that any peaceful resolution of Indo-Pakistan disputes is possible only when the two countries cease to view each other as military adversaries.” Ofcially too, India and Pakistan continue to hold dialogue over Siachen. Between 1986 and 2012, 13 rounds of talks have been held. Twice, past reports suggest, both countries came close to an agreement but political considerations rather than military compulsions prevented any fnal breakthrough. As Gen Raghavan said a decade ago: “Te assumption that demilitarisation is being hampered by military obduracy is, of course a misplaced one. Te record of negotiations (between 1986 and 2003) on Siachen is evidence enough of the political problems in bringing about demilitarisation.”

Fluttering the Tricolour atop Siachen Te civilian leadership in India has so far backed the military’s stand. To give  up  a dominant military position on Siachen  without ironclad guarantees from a revanchist enemy would be a fool’s errand especially in view of the enormous sacrifces and hardships that the Indian soldiers have braved in these past three decades to defend Siachen and to keep the Indian fag fying.

12. Empowering the Kashmiris IFTIKHAR GILANI

Introduction Insurgencies as well as popular unrests are generally rooted in political, social and economic deprivations, which in turn lead to the alienation and estrangement of a community. In Kashmir, these alienation and unrest date back to, and are linked with, the events that led to the partition of the sub-continent or its accession to the Indian Union. A popular sentiment seeking empowerment of the Muslim Kashmiris of the state was there for over the past fve centuries and it took frm roots during the Dogra rule (1846–1947). In some areas like Poonch, Mirpur, Gilgit and Muzafarabad, Muslims of the state had turned to armed rebellion against the Dogra kings. History is full of political deprivation and poverty of the Kashmiri people during most of the time of their subjugation by the Mughals, the Pathans, the Sikhs and later the Dogras. Ironically, this estrangement continued even under the democratic rule afer the Accession; while other Indian states prospered, Jammu and Kashmir has been haunted by political instability. It has turned into a landlocked region with its connections with the external world as well as other areas within the state severely impaired by heavy military presence. Tis has inevitably led to a feeling of insecurity and alienation amongst the people. Surprisingly, almost 67 summers later, there is little or no realisation in New Delhi about the depth of the Kashmiri estrangement. A majority of attempts for understanding its causes ofen get bogged down in the debates about accession and India–Pakistan relations. All the cures prescribed over the years have failed miserably. Prof. Hiren Mukherjee wrote, “Even today, perhaps the best of us do not quite realize the depth of Kashmiri alienation and are unready to ponder ways and means of overcoming it” (Te Times of India, February 25, 1994). Even several staunch pro-India leaders from the state have not taken care to bridge this gap between New Delhi and the

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people of Kashmir. Instead, they have chosen to stoke the fres whenever they have gone out of power. For example, on November 19, 2007 (in Jammu) and later December 5, 2007 (in Srinagar), the former Union Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah raised doubts about the legality and utility of Accession. Tis was also the case with his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, who had played a major role in the process of accession. Chronic political instability coupled with a fatal mix of repression, corruption, electoral fraud and denial of basic rights by leaders of the state known for their links to New Delhi, have led to popular rebellions in the past upon several issues, i.e., the Hazratbal holy relic controversy in 1963, the massive electoral fraud in 1987, the Amarnath land row agitation in 2008, the public outcry on rape and murder of two women in Shopian in 2009 and the popular uprising in June 2010. Mere propaganda by “fundamentalists” or the external hand cannot foster and sustain popular insurgencies for long. As a noted author on Kashmir afairs A. G. Noorani stated: “India produced the alienation, Pakistan provided the gun”. Te alienation has only deepened over the last two decades. Tis also explains why many Kashmiri parties have failed to own their responsibility for the mess they ofen create leaving New Delhi to manage the crisis on its own. Rather they choose either to fee the scene or to side with the people for their political gains. Te Amarnath land row in 2008 saw both the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) siding with the separatists. In 1989, the then Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah not only resigned but took the next fight to London leaving New Delhi high and dry to take on the agitating people and the rising militancy.

Te Political Division in Kashmir Te political landscape in Kashmir is broadly divided into two camps—antiIndia and anti-New Delhi or anti-Centre. Genuine pro-India nationalist parties like the Congress and the BJP are still to fnd roots in majority of the population, though they may have won few seats in the elections. Fortunately for New Delhi, the anti-India camp has always remained divided since 1947. Te radical Muslim Conference lost its grip with the fight of its top leadership, like Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas and Mirwaiz Yusuf Shah, to Pakistan afer the Lashkar invasion of Kashmir in 1947. Te moderate anti-Delhi camp led by the National Conference (NC) claimed sole leadership politically till the emergence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the late 1990s. Both these parties emphasise Kashmiri

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nationalism and identity and favour limited accession with India. But in the event of any mass agitation, lines of division between these two camps get blurred. Both the NC and the PDP have never attempted to bring the Kashmiri populace close to the Indian mainstream, even though they have assumed power and ruled with the blessings of New Delhi. Te current Chief Minister Omar Abdullah wrote about his own uncle and NC General Secretary Sheikh Nazir Ahmed a few years ago, and mentioned how he hated the words ‘India’ and ‘Indian’. He says in his blog for example: “I have an uncle who more ofen than not I disagree with but I admire the conviction he has—he disagrees with what happened in 1947 and subsequent events and so refuses to carry a passport. He has never applied for one. For the longest time he never lef the state and only travelled by road between Jammu and Srinagar because he refused to travel on ‘Indian’ Airlines.”

Addressing this estrangement needs a variety of sustained multi-track initiatives, both in the realm of security and political afairs of the state. In 2002, the Government of India tried to provide a semblance of respect for the people’s verdict, which ended the monopoly of the National Conference (NC) as being the sole political face of India in Kashmir. A strict message from Delhi was given to ensure free and fair elections. Tough participation was not very high, at least the process continued. Afer cohabitation with the PDP for one term (2002–2008), the Congress party which ran the UPA coalition at the Centre chose to enter into an alliance with the NC afer the 2008 elections. But, this month the alliance with the NC has broken afer a change in the power equation at the Centre.

Te Political Causes As per the 2001 census, Kashmir Valley had a population of 5.4 million. The total number of electorates in November 2008 was 32,60,663. In the 2008 elections, the PDP got 28.5 per cent of popular votes but got only 21 seats, whereas the NC got 27.5 per cent votes and bagged 28 seats. There is also a perception in the valley that Omar Abdullah was selected as the Chief Minister not by his party or the people of the state but the inner coteries within the Congress party in New Delhi. It was rumoured that young but influential Congress leaders like Sachin Pilot (who happens to be Omar Abdullah’s brother-in-law) and Rahul Gandhi had already declared Omar as their Chief Ministerial candidate before the elections. In fact, two months before the polls in October

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2008, former intelligence Chief A. S. Dulat, a long-time friend of the Abdullahs, had declared Omar as the CM, in a TV show, which NC had strongly contested. It is strange that there was nobody to point out to the young guns in the Congress that historically, the coalition between NC and Congress has always proved disastrous for Kashmir. Coincidentally, Sachin Pilot’s father, the late Rajesh Pilot, had scripted the famous Rajiv–Farooq accord 20 years ago, which had also proved catastrophic for the state and gave birth to militancy. The pattern was repeated in the 2013 elections and the ascendance of the junior Abdullah in the political spectrum of J&K was complete. 2014 elections have brought to the power another unnatural alliance of PDP and the BJP.

Governance Defcit On September 13, 2010 the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in its meeting in New Delhi acknowledged “trust defcit” and “governance defcit” as two big problems aficting the state and leading to political turmoil. Ironically, the CBMs announced a fortnight later did not announce any step to bridge the “governance defcit”. Tough, Kashmir has never been a well-governed state, the absence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah from the capital at crucial moments has made the situation worse. Moreover, Omar’s then alliance partner, the Congress party, started openly questioning his style of functioning. His Ladakh trip in the last week of June 2010, when Srinagar was on the boil, had jilted the administration. And instead of returning to Srinagar from Ladakh, he reportedly switched of his wireless set and his mobile phone and drove away with his family to Kulu-Manali. Afer fve days, he rang up his ofce for a helicopter to be sent to Manali to airlif him. Tere is even talk about the state helicopter making nine sorties to airlif relatives of Payal Singh, wife of the Chief Minister, for visiting Ladakh monasteries. Again, when Srinagar was up in fames in July 2010, the CM was spending his weekend in Gulmarg. But this time, he took the helicopter on Sunday morning, reached Srinagar and headed a cabinet meeting at the airport itself. Te cabinet meeting ordered the transfer of the SSP of Srinagar. And afer the meeting, he returned to Gulmarg in the same helicopter to spend the rest of the weekend there. Omar Abdullah may be an ideal nationalist and a secular Muslim showboy for New Delhi but his acceptability is very low in the state, and especially in the Valley. Tere is a constant refrain in the Valley that even afer having

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spent ten years in politics, he is unable to speak Kashmiri and therefore, cannot efectively communicate with his cadres and the local people. Tere is also a strong perception in Srinagar today that no amount of CBMs would work in Kashmir in the absence of governance. Te primary problem of a shaky and irresponsive administration has to be addressed on an urgent basis. Rather than expecting the intermittent unrest to die down due to fatigue, the central government should ensure a redressal of the genuine grievances of the people on a proactive basis. Besides governance, the CBMs introduced by New Delhi have not answered the popular clamour for justice and dignity. People in the Valley allege that 15 police personal were suspended for throwing a shoe at the CM, while no action has been taken against any erring security personnel for killing over 100 people. Anantnag was a case of gross high-handedness where even the CM admitted that the two boys had been shot dead inside their houses in cold blood. But, instead of bringing the police ofcer to justice, he was transferred out of Anantnag to Srinagar. No action was taken against any ofcial in a similar case in the state—simply because the person leading the arson happed to be a block-level president of the ruling NC. Interestingly, Omar Abdullah told a selected group of journalists some years ago that he had unmatched access to the power corridors of Delhi—the kind of access no Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir had ever enjoyed in the past. So, he believed that he was the best suited to settle the issue of Kashmir. He also claimed that the Congress President had promised him every support even at the cost of her own party’s interest in the state. Tis may be true because, despite his grave mistakes, Omar had not sufered the fate of his predecessors from Khawja Shamsuddin to Farooq Abdullah who were shown the door for even minor follies. It is well known that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had also packed Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad out of Kashmiri politics following the agitation over the thef of the holy relic in 1963, on the advice of B. N. Mulick, the then chief of Intelligence Bureau.

What Ails Kashmir? Kashmiri Muslims sufer from a psychological, emotional, political and historical complex which prompts them to believe that they have been progressively disempowered over the past 450 years. India has so far failed to address this problem even under a democratic system. Kashmiri Muslim

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sub-nationalism could have existed within the idea of India as Tamil, Telugu or Bengali sub-nationalism. Unlike the rest of the country, however, Kashmiris still feel they are reeling under ‘occupation’. Te Kashmiris had a hero in Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. But they now feel that even he could not bring dignity to them. He had his chances during a time when the machinations of the forces from across the border were at an all-time low. However, his dictatorial manners and his aversion for dissent came in the way of consolidation of the democratic process in the state. He lef a fawed legacy which led to popular alienation primarily because of the corrupt and venal administration by the NC government headed by his son and the massive electoral rigging of 1987. Forces across the border were only too pleased to fsh in troubled waters; the militancy they introduced in Kashmir continues till today. Nevertheless, there were moments of glory too. Kashmir has witnessed free and fair elections in 1977 and 2002; and it had shown results.  But no efort was made to capitalize on those brief periods of sanity. If Shiekh Abdullah squandered it away in 1977, the Congress party in the state has harmed its prospects by aligning with the NC, especially afer a rather successful alliance with PDP. 

Prisoner’s Mindset Another pertinent issue in Kashmir is that of a prisoner’s mindset. It is not just because of the presence of the security forces but because of closing of traditional routes linking it with the external world. Traditional crafs of Kashmir whether shawl or carpets, still depend on raw materials exported from or smuggled through Nepal from Tibet, China and Gilgit. Shahtoosh (king of fne wool) has become extinct as there was no access to the areas where captive breeding of Chiru or wild goat could take place. Cross-border linkages such as those encouraged by the previous governments of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh might result in legal trade in such raw materials which are quite vital for the growth of the local handicraf industry in Kashmir.

Regional Empowerment Decentralising powers to diferent regions of Kashmir through regional councils could play a great role in an overall empowerment of the population. In 1993, a notifcation issued by the then Governor established a regional council in Ladakh. Te idea was extended in 2002 to Kargil. Tese councils have been quite successful in meeting regional

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aspirations. Tere is a need to extend this experiment to other regions and sub-regions. It may be useful to set up at least six more councils, i.e., three each in Jammu and Kashmir regions. Tis may go a long way in addressing the issue of regional disparity. Te separatists may then be encouraged to contest in these local councils which will help the process of mainstreaming of these forces. An ideal way could be to follow the Northern Ireland lesson in this process. Te regions suggested are listed in Table 12.1. Table 12.1: Decentralising Power through New Councils Name of the Region

Sub-region

Ethnic Dominance

Kashmir Valley

North Kashmir

Mixed population

South Kashmir

Kashmiri-dominated

Central Kashmir

Kashmiri-dominated

Poonch-Rajouri

Gujjar-dominated

Peerpanchal Doda, Kishtwar

Pahari-dominated

Jammu-Kathua, Udhampur

Dogra-dominated

Jammu Region

Devolution of power through regional councils will also enable the local communities to address their own grievances through their representatives. Tis will put paid to allegations of dominance or bullying by one community over the other in the system.  Such innovative initiatives must be taken up in a sustained and consistent manner, which may help address the issue of progressive estrangement of the population. As noted journalist Ajit Bhatacharjee writes, “Events have made it clear that people of Kashmir are alienated from New Delhi and will not accept its domination. Tey have lost faith in New Delhi’s word. At the same time, resentment is growing against militants, and their Pakistani supporters, for the suferings they have brought without achieving anything. Terefore, an efective selfgovernance without amounting to secession from India is need of the hour.” Te time has really come for empowering the people of Jammu and Kashmir through realistic and practicable steps. New Delhi, Islamabad and Kashmiris must contribute to this process in the interest of peace.

13. Drug and Arms Flow in the Eastern Himalayan Region NAMRATA GOSWAMI

Te strategic signifcance of Northeast India from an Indian national security perspective is immense. Tis landscape lies at the cusp (emphasis added) of Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar with a terrain and ethnic character that is distinctive, challenging and picturesque. It is perhaps an irony that the signifcance of ‘strategic geography’1 has dawned upon us only in the last few years of how substantial Northeast India really is for Indian security: with Chinese power breathing down hard from across the Eastern Himalayas and Myanmar, coupled with cross-border non-state armed groups impacting daily life in this multifaceted landscape. India faced that strategic vulnerability that is imbedded in the Northeast in 1962 when the Chinese came down in waves and walked all over the then North East Frontier Agency (NEFA)—now Arunachal Pradesh. Te border and territorial disputes that led to the 1962 war have not disappeared with China continuing to stake claims on huge chunks of Indian territory (see Figure I). While the historical origin of that Chinese claim is based on

Figure 13.1: China’s Territorial Claim Areas Data Source and copyright: Namrata Goswami

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manufactured antiquity,2 yet China continues to aggressively emphasise that history. It is important to realise that we are talking about a strategic space (Northeast India) which has internal vulnerabilities of its own. Awakened ethnic identities, violent conficts, porous borders, political ambitions, ungoverned spaces, sub-optimal economic opportunities and major challenges to procure the basic needs of life and internal feuds over land afect Northeastern Indian life on a daily basis, albeit with some exceptions. Recognising this unique reality, the Union government established a specialised Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in 2004 upgrading the Department of Development of North Eastern Region established in September 2001, to a ministry.3 No other region of India has such a ministry focused on its development with such a clear mandate. Northeast India can develop, prosper and eventually overcome its troubles by engaging eastern foreign neighbours. Especially with the recent agreement on the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor blueprint, India can access markets in China’s west and southwest, through the Northeastern borders. Yunnan, the neighbouring province in China is the network hub for trade and connectivity with the rest of the country.  Equally important for Northeast India is the regional connectivity under the sub-regional and regional cooperations such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cooperation (GMS). Tat said, a word of caution is appropriate to understand the ugly behemoth of narcotic trafcking intertwined with ethnic insurgencies in the neighbouring Golden Triangle to ensure that ethnic communities in the Northeast are protected and can optimally beneft from the new slew of opportunities opening up for them. Huge quantities of illicit narcotics can easily ride the new access routes of greater connectivity and can blow up already existing issues of secured human health and well-being of society. India’s security strategy for the economic corridors and connectivity infrastructure will have to secure its citizens in a region directly afected by the new economic initiatives. And that entails water-tight anti-drugs control measures and mechanisms to snuf out the possibilities of surges in narcotic trafcking that may result from better connectivity and established networks of peoples across the region. Tis chapter discusses the impact of the drug and illegal arms smuggling across India’s eastern neighbourhood into Northeast India. Te chapter

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identifes the sources of these illegal trade as well as the linking areas with the help of extensive mapping. Te chapter deliberates on China’s presence especially in Myanmar and the former’s engagement with some of the ethnic Myanmarese armed groups and its impact on Northeast India. It ends by ofering certain recommendations.

Drugs and Arms Flow Bordering Myanmar to the east are the four Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Each state’s data from the National AIDS Control Organisation Reports show high numbers of HIVrelated diseases and volumes of drug trafcking. Narcotics and contraband frearms are regularly trafcked across the unmanned border as the routes of Western Myanmar are controlled by India’s north-east insurgents. In recent years, Manipur has witnessed huge quantities of contraband high Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride (PH)-content drugs manufactured in India being trafcked into Myanmar for processing narcotics especially heroin. Te thriving ethnic insurgencies of Manipur with their own “tax structure” help to exacerbate the problem. Pseudoephedrine is smuggled from New Delhi to Myanmar and China via Guwahati by conduits based in Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram (See Figure II)

Figure 13.2: Flow of Drugs in the Golden Triangle and Northeast India Data Source and copyright: Namrata Goswami

Traditionally, the Golden Triangle is a region between the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Tailand; a region infamous in the world for its opium

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production. According to the United Nations Ofce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s latest Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013, opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle went up by 22 per cent in 2013 propelled by a 13 per cent growth in Myanmar. Tis registered a 26 percent rise from 2012 in opium cultivation and yield.4 A decade ago, the Golden Triangle supplied half the world’s heroin but drug barons backed by ethnic militias in Myanmar have turned to trafcking massive quantities of amphetamines and methamphetamines “which can be produced cheaply in small, hidden laboratories, without the need for acres of exposed land”5 and these narcotics now dominate the Myanmarese part of the Triangle. Insurgencies in Myanmar have been funded by narcotics trafcking. Ceasefres with the civilian government of Myanmar have lef rebel groups free to continue their manufacturing and smuggling without interference. Since insurgencies based on purely ethnic issues are on the way out, high profts and access to the lucrative Tai and foreign markets now drive narcotics’ production and trafcking. Te Myanmarese government can do little to counter drug trafcking in the Golden Triangle as trafckers are well-organised Chinese syndicates operating from outside Myanmar. Myanmar’s Wa ethnic group is the largest producer of AmphetamineType Stimulants (ATS). Te United Wa State Army (UWSA) is sustained by narcotics money in addition to arms contraband. Increases in the use of methamphetamine in Tailand have contributed to regional instability and Tailand’s National Security Council now recognises narcotics smuggling as a critical threat to its national security. Tailand accuses Myanmar of unleashing “narcotic aggression” on Tailand and with the stupendous increase of methamphetamine production within Myanmar, drug trafcking into Tailand from Myanmar is on the rise. Ethnic militias like the UWSA and Shan State Army (SSA) control most of the 1800 km Myanmarese border with Tailand and corruption within the Tai security forces has abetted a thriving narcotics trade. Within Myanmar, the UWSA has emerged as the largest producer of methamphetamine. Mong Yawn, the drug base of the UWSA in the Shan state in Myanmar, enjoys direct access to the Tai province of Chiang Mai, emerging as one of the biggest drug boom towns near the Myanmar–Tailand border. Methamphetamine smuggling from Myanmar into Tailand by UWSA amounts to 200 million pills per year. Besides tackling border corruption within its ranks, the Tai military has a dangerous task, challenged as it is by the Shan and Wa armies complicit with narcotics crossing the border.

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China’s Drug Control Strategy Te former military junta in Myanmar had been at continuous war with the ethnic rebel groups of the Wa and the Shans interspersed with periodic ceasefres. Te UWSA had earlier supported the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) but later retreated to the northern part of Shan state. Te Tatmadaw also propped up several ethnic militias as a check against the ceasefre rebels. Tese various ethnic armed groups struck deals amongst themselves to facilitate the proftable narcotics trade. China’s Yunnan province has a 1997-km border with Myanmar and narcotics have adversely afected many Chinese border villages. Previously heroin use made Yunnan sufer the highest HIV rate of any Chinese province or autonomous region. Ruili, the border town in Yunnan, sufers from two-thirds of drug users infected with HIV due to sharing contaminated injections. Tis situation is further aggravated by the presence of guns and a heightened risk of border-related violence. In 2000, taking advantage of the ongoing conficts in the Shan state in Myanmar, China persuaded the ethnic Wa to relocate with their drug production units from the Myanmar–China border to the Myanmar– Tailand border (See Figure III). Te UWSA, aided by the Tatmadaw, had wrested the new acquired territory from the control of the SSA of Khun Sa, the opium warlord and ‘King’ of the Golden Triangle. Tis move reduced drug trafcking into China and at the same time dumped the problem

Figure 13.3: Flow of Drugs in the Golden Triangle and Northeast India Data Source and copyright: Namrata Goswami

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on Tailand. China armed the Wa with weapons and supplied money. In return the Wa would control the entrance and exit regions of Shan state and ‘help’ the Chinese in constructing roads through the territory giving China the much desired access to the Myanmarese coast. Te Tatmadaw also formed an alliance with the UWSA to frst defeat the Shans and second to serve as proxies in fghting the Tai army at the border. However, China still sufers from narcotic trafcking, with 3.2 tonnes of ATS seized in the Yunnan province in 2009. China has taken measures in the pharmaceutical industry to deter illegal drug production. Te latest seizure of 3.3 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine in South China, Guangdong province, was made in early 2014. However, China is far from ensuring that the fow of drugs remains limited and its own provinces escape its lethal efects.

Implications of this Trade for Northeast India Illicit drug trade and arms along the Golden Triangle has critical implications for Northeast India. First, opening up to Southeast Asia carries a doubleedged sword. On one hand, it promises development and investments. On the other hand, it invites the danger of rapid fow of illicit drugs and arms. Second, without efective drug control mechanisms that guarantee that illicit trade is kept to the minimum, the adverse consequences of illicit drugs on the Northeastern society could leave long-term negative efects. Tird, India should establish institutional mechanisms with China, Myanmar and Tailand to counter-illicit trafcking. Finally, there must be a long-term Indian strategy to limit drug trafcking, address the social impact of drug addiction, spread the word about the ill efects of drug abuse in schools and establish efcient rehabilitation centres in the HIV and drug zones in Northeast India. Tere is perhaps no other way to address the lifethreatening efects of drug addiction and HIV, currently destroying youths in Northeast India especially Manipur. However, India will have to grasp clearly the internal situation within Myanmar and the Chinese presence and proximity to that region to have a better informed policy with regard to its eastern neighbourhood.

Myanmar and Chinese Presence Myanmar is an important neighbour country of India. It has a 1, 643 km land border with India and is emerging as the gateway for India to other Southeast Asian countries. Tis land linkage will prove instrumental in opening up space for India’s under-developed Northeastern region. In the

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sidelines of the 2014 Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation  (BIMSTEC) summit held at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s President, U. Tein Sein reassured India that Myanmar will deny access to its territory to the insurgent groups from Northeast India for setting up camp. While Myanmar and India have followed their separate political paths since independence, ties between the two countries are fast converging in recent times. In the meantime, Myanmar’s other neighbour China has had a large footprint in the country. India has to calibrate its engagement with Myanmar for not just efectively implementing its Look East/Act East policy but also managing the contiguous border regions of Northeast India given the ground realities. Especially, the large region of North Myanmar fanked by Indian and Chinese borders calls for close cooperation amongst stakeholders for peace, progress and prosperity of the transborder region in a secure environment.

China’s Footprint Tere are two broad assets that Myanmar has, which is of interest to the Chinese—Indian Ocean access and abundant natural resources.6 Myanmar and China share over 2,000 km of mountainous border and a complex earlier history of confict. Now both countries refer to their relationship as “fraternal kinsfolk’ or Pauk Phaw in Burmese. More recently, since 1988, China has poured money into Myanmar with more than half of it in hydropower dam projects especially for export to the Chinese province of Yunnan across the border.7 In North Myanmar’s Kachin State, there are two big Chinese investments: the Myitsone confuence hydroelectric power plant project and the 2,800 km pipeline project owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).8 Both these deals were struck with the earlier military government, which received China’s political support and economic aid during the international sanctions against Myanmar.9 Since a civilian government took over Myanmar in 2011, China’s investment projects came under criticism.10 Public opinion in Myanmar objected to the construction of the Myitsone dam because of which the project was suspended by the government along with other projects such as the Letpadaung Copper Mine.11 Later data from China’s Ministry of Commerce show that investments in Myanmar dropped in 2012–13. China countered with harsh criticism Myanmar’s escalating conficts, related to border security issues, in the Kachin state. related to border security issues. Tere were no visits from Chinese leader during the civilian government’s reform period.

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With the diminishing of Chinese investment in Myanmar other countries have picked up the slack. Japan has renewed investments in Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the South Koreans are working on the airport project and Norway and Qatar have taken the lead for telecommunications development. Te other big pipeline project has been dogged by protests and controversy since work began in 2011.12 According to a Parliamentary hearing by Tun Aung Kyaw (Ponnagyun), member of Myanmar’s Parliament, the gas pipeline does not comply with international standards.  Tis is a dual oil and gas pipeline project that will transport gas along with oil imports from Africa and the Middle East to southwest China. Te pipelines will traverse 22 townships in central Myanmar—from the Arakan State, through the Magwe Division, Mandalay Division and Shan State, before entering China. Te sister project called the ‘Shwe’ (meaning ‘golden’ in Burmese) entails exploitation of underwater natural gas deposits of the coast of western Myanmar’s Arakan state. India’s Oil and National Gas Corporation, Videsh Ltd, holds a 17.5 per cent stake in this, while Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), India holds 8.5 per cent stake in the project. Myanmar stands to proft at least US$29 billion over 30 years from the revenues. Latest reports say that the oil pipeline component may be delayed since the large China Natural Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) oil refnery in Yunnan has been shelved. In Myanmar, the post-reform setup includes the government led by President Tein Sein; the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) steered by Parliamentary head Shwe Mann; the military commanded by senior general Min Aung Hlaing, and the democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi. China is dealing with these groups in isolation, which might give pointers to its overall Myanmar strategy. Chinese interests in Myanmar not only include some of the richest oil and gas felds in Asia but also a strategic location on what some Chinese diplomats call China’s “second coast.”13

Kachin and the Chinese At the eastern tip of Arunachal Pradesh in India live a small ethnic group called the Singpho who are related to the Kachin race of peoples living in Myanmar’s Kachin state and Yunnan province of China. Te Kachin take pride in their history of action as Kachin Rangers during World War II on the side of Allied Powers especially the US military operating out of Assam; a fact which later lent them Washington’s ear for assistance.14 Te Chinese

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Figure 13.4: Te Kachin-Dominated Areas

however have not taken this relationship very well. What might be a troubling scenario for Beijing are these ear whispers materialising into an actual US presence once more in the Kachin state—smack along China’s border. Of more pressing concern to China are the Kachin armed groups such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) due to their proximity to the Chinese border and recent investments in Myanmar. Te Kachin state holds major infrastructure projects such as the halted Myitsone dam and the twin gas-energy pipelines. Te KIA has also seized control of large areas designated for the Sino-Myanmar pipeline project in the adjacent Shan state where there are big Kachin populations. Te KIA is demanding autonomy for the Kachin state within a federal Myanmar and there has been a ceasefre for 17 years with Naypyidaw, which was shattered in June 2011.15 In 2013 in an unprecedented departure from a policy of “non-interference in internal afairs,” or what is popularly known as the ‘Beijing doctrine’, China intervened as third party by bringing the two sides for talks during two successive rounds of negotiations in the Chinese town of Ruili in Yunnan province. Te next round of peace talks between the KIA and Tein Sein was moved to Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin state inside Myanmar. China refused to join further peace talks with the US and other international entities as observers and would not recognise the event if it were held without a Chinese presence. Since the resumption of Myanmar’s military operations in Kachin, there have been other pointers to China’s involvement in the confict.16 Several

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mortar shells fred have landed across the border on Chinese soil and have been met with a tacit silence. Tere were media reports of Myanmar’s air force using Chinese airspace to attack KIA frontline posts. China has generally allowed Kachin refugees to enter and stay in China since the confict resumed. Tere have been allegations of human trafcking in refugee camps near the China–Myanmar border—especially young Kachin women and girls displaced by the war. An unstable and insecure border has put tremendous local pressure on China to intervene in Myanmar and press for a ceasefre. China faces a conundrum in Kachin where it does not want to fuel local resentment by siding too closely with the Myanmar military in its fght against the KIA. On the other hand China wants to maintain good relations with Myanmar.17 Tis unenviable position is largely driven by China’s big interests and investments in energy and resources in Myanmar—and Kachin state in particular. An active role in the KIA/government negotiations gives China the leverage to push along paths that are favorable to Beijing. Moreover, China wants to keep on good terms with the Kachin, who share ethnicity with minorities in China’s Yunnan province. Te Chinese, meanwhile, are lobbying hard to resume construction; however, some Kachin groups have slammed China’s outlook for development projects in their state. Te new ceasefre portends to be a win on all fronts for China including a possible reopening of the suspended Myitsone Dam Project.18 China’s economic ties with Kachin have benefted some of the state’s inhabitants with informal engagement. Kachin state depends on China’s Yunnan for its entire list of subsistence needs and is far more easily accessible across the Chinese border than from Myanmar’s capital. Chinese currency is used in fnancial transactions as well as in banks. Te old World War II Burma Road in Kachin is a visible example of Chinese entrepreneurship with nearly one-third of the population in Ruili, a border city on the Chinese side, crossing the border for work. However some of these activities are illegal in Myanmar like large-scale logging and jade trafcking.19 China has also supported an opium crop substitution policy in Kachin and other border areas, which may be of serious concern to locals losing their land rights.

China and Shan State Myanmar’s Shan state shares the remainder of the border with China which has been engaged with three ethnic groups in addition to the Kachin of that state, namely the Kokang, Shan and Wa.

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Tere is a background of controversial history back in the days of Chinese support to the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) who fought a long civil war with the Myanmarese government. Earlier in 1949, afer

Figure 13.5: Shan State in Myanmar Source and copyright: Namrata Goswami

the victory of the Communist Party of China (CPC), members of the Kuomintang (Nationalist) army fed from China regrouping as fghting units in the Shan state. Kuomintang generals trained and inducted Shan ethnic groups and formed them into fghting units. Later Shan ethnic armies—like the drug lord Khun Sa’s army—and their military training was conducted on the Nationalist model with Chinese as the common language. Te Chinese also began production of opium in the Shan state to exploit its market value and support the war. Tough the CPB has been disbanded, China’s ties with the earlier members from the Wa and Kokang ethnic groups have carried over to the present day. Te UWSA and Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) both occupy border areas between the Shan state and China. While China has close ties with both these militias, it does not like their narcotics business. Kokangs are ethnic Han Chinese who became native Myanmarese citizens afer a border agreement. Te Wa have been more of pawns in China’s chess game against Khun Sa’s Shan army at whose behest the UWSA relocated bulk of its forces to the south of the Shan state bordering Tailand. Ethnic Chinese are well represented at the upper levels

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of the Wa leadership; most of the economy is connected to China and not to Myanmar. China has provided the UWSA with advanced weaponry to battle their adversaries like the Shan State Army (South).20 Both the Wa and the Kokangs have refused to form the Border Guard Force (BGF) programme of the Myanmarese government. Some experts on Myanmar– China relations argue that China’s actions appear contradictory—while publicly supporting the Myanmarese government but privately supporting rebel forces in the Shan state for covert reasons.

China in the Mekong Trans-Borders China’s rapid path to prosperity has seen expansion of economic ties between the locals in Yunnan and their ethnic counterparts i.e. the Dai of Yunnan who are closely related to the Tai, the Lao and the Shan of Myanmar on either sides of the Mekong river. What is interesting is the case of China blurring the integrity of borders bounding sovereignty of the modern state, which enabled the capture and sentencing in China of the notorious Shan warlord, Nor Kham.21 Te Mekong River, known as the Lancang in China, is vital to people in Myanmar and South East Asia. Tere have been serious concerns amongst the stakeholders regarding the lack of scientifc collaboration and cooperative management of the Lancang-Mekong river system.

India’s Calibration While Myanmar’s earlier military government enjoyed overall close ties with China, there had been reservations by that leadership in 2002 to allow Chinese shipping on the Irrawaddy for access to the Indian Ocean. India needs to support the current government in upholding its stand on Myanmar’s territorial integrity. Tere have been media reports, followed up by comments and analyses by experts, of the existence of Chinese military bases in Myanmar.22 Two cases have stood out—namely, the Great Coco Island SIGINT collection station in the Andaman Sea and a naval base on Hainggyi Island in the Irrawaddy river delta. Tese stories have gained further credence through the US’s ‘String of Pearls’ theory of Chinese-built ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Tailand, Cambodia and the South China Sea. While India’s Chief of Naval Staf has ruled out the existence of Chinese bases in Myanmar, Chinese fshing boats were apprehended near Andaman Islands with depth-sounding equipment in 1994. India needs to cooperate with Myanmar to ensure the security of the Bay of Bengal. India can work with Myanmar to develop more mature

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plans of development especially in the stalled projects of developing natural resources beneftting the Kachin and other ethnic groups in Myanmar. Tere have been concerns amongst the Indian security establishment of arms trafcking from Myanmar to Northeast India. Tere is potential for strategic military cooperation, which enables the Myanmarese government to provide stability in its ethnic group regions like the Shan state which in turn secures India’s own northeastern region.

Notes 1. Geopolitics, as always, has proved hard to be precisely defned. Yet, as the term has been revisited and refned over the years, it implies that it has much to do with the relation of politics (power) to geography. Geopolitics assumes the primacy of states, existing military-economic competition and ways to cement interest-based cooperation. To operationalise this, strategy becomes the key factor, thereby bringing in the element of ‘geostrategy’ implying the strategic signifcance of a particular region to a state’s strategic interests. 2. Namrata Goswami, “Te “Myth” behind China’s Territorial Claims: Implications for Northeast India”, Society for the Study of Peace and Confict, September 09, 2014 at http:// www.sspconline.org/issuebrief/ChinasTerritorialClaimsandNortheastIndia (Accessed on November 02, 2014). 3. See “Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region”, at http://www.mdoner.gov.in/ content/why-mo-doner (Accessed on October 22, 2014). 4. United Nations Ofce on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013” at http://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacifc/Publications/2013/ SEA_Opium_Survey_2013_web.pdf (Accessed on November 14, 2014). 5. Ben Doherty, “Drug Smuggling into Tailand Soars Ahead of Burma Elections”, Te Guardian, June 21, 2010 at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/21/drugsmuggling-thailand-burma-elections (Accessed on December 07, 2014). 6. “Unrest in Kachin: China’s Mixed Blessing”, Asia Sentinel, March 06, 2013 at http:// www.asiasentinel.com/politics/unrest-in-kachin-chinas-mixed-blessing/ (Accessed on November 17, 2014). 7. “Status Quo Revisited: Te Evolving Ties Between China and Myanmar”, Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, December 20, 2013 at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn. edu/article/status-quo-revisited-evolving-ties-china-myanmar/ (Accessed on December 08, 2014). 8. Bernt Berger, “China’s Troubled Myanmar Policy”, Te Diplomat, August 23, 2013 at http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/chinas-troubled-myanmar-policy/ (Accessed on February 19, 2014). 9. Aung Tung, “Myanmar’s China Problem”, World Policy, October 30, 2013 at http://www. worldpolicy.org/blog/2013/10/30/myanmars-china-prob (Accessed on February 19, 2014). 10. Sophie Song, “China’s Says West Can’t Aford to Help Myanmar, but which Rival should it Fear?”, International Business Times, December 18, 2013 at http://www.ibtimes.

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com/china-says-west-cant-aford-help-myanmar-which-rival-should-it-fear-1512578 (Accessed on November 20, 2014). 11. Namrata Goswami, “China at Your Doorstep: Looking East from India’s Northeast”, IDSA Issue Brief, March 18, 2014 at fle:///C:/Users/namrata/Downloads/IB_ ngoswami_180314.pdf (Accessed on December 08, 2014). 12. Aung Shin, “Contested Sino-Myanmar Oil Pipeline Nears Completion”, Myanmar Times, November 17, 2013 at http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/8784contested-sino-myanmar-oil-pipeline-nears-completion.html (Accessed on February 20, 2014). 13. Yun Sun, “China Adapts to New Myanmar Reality”, Asia Times, December 23, 2013 at http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-04-231213.html (Accessed on February 20, 2014). 14. Yun Sun, “China and the Kachin Confict”, Te Diplomat, July 16, 2011 at http:// thediplomat.com/2011/07/china-and-the-kachin-confict/?allpages=yes (Accessed on December 08, 2014). 15. “Myanmar Holds Peace Talks with Kachin Leaders in China”, Reuters, February 4, 2013 at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/us-myanmar-kachinidUSBRE91307U20130204 (Accessed on February 21, 2014). 16. Brendan O’ Reilly, “China Steps into Kachin Confict”, Asia Times, February 07, 2013 at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/OB07Ad02.html (Accessed on November 20, 2014). 17. “Myanmar and China: Te Kachin Dilemma”, Te Economist, February 02, 2013 at http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21571189-over-border-kachin-conflict-causesheadaches-china-kachin-dilemma (Accessed on February 20, 2014). 18. International Crisis Group, “A Tentative Peace in Myanmar’s Kachin Confict”, June 12, 2013 at http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-east-asia/burmamyanmar/b140-a-tentative-peace-in-myanmars-kachin-confict.pdf (Accessed on February 24, 2014). 19. “Kachin–Yunnan Timber Trade Hampering Peace Process in Myanmar”, Radio Free Asia, January 17, 2014 at http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/kachin-01172014180515. html (Accessed on November 24, 2014). 20. Anthony Davis, “China Sends Armed Helicopters to Myanmar Separatists”, IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, April 25, 2013 at http://www.janes.com/article/12159/china-sendsarmed-helicopters-to-myan… (Accessed on October 29, 2013). 21. Jane Perlez, “Beijing Flaunts Cross-Border Clout in Search for Drug Lord”, Te New York Times, April 4, 2013 at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/world/asia/chinasmanhunt-shows-sway-in-southeast-asia.html?ref=global-home&_r=0 (Accessed on February 25, 2014). 22. Andrew Selth, “ Chinese Military Bases in Burma: Te Explosion of a Myth”, Grifth Asia Institute, Regional Outlook Paper, no. 10, 2007 at http://www.grifth.edu. au/__data/assets/pdf_fle/0018/18225/regional-outlook-andrew-selth.pdf (Accessed on February 26, 2014).

14. Cultural Continuity and School Education in Bhutan: Current Initiatives, Challenges and Opportunities DORJI THINLEY

Introduction Ofen perceived as a land shrouded in myths, lore and legends—and now as a country in pursuit of happiness—in the high Himalayas, Bhutan is one of Asia’s smallest nations with a population of less than a million people. Article 9 of Bhutan’s Constitution states that “Te state shall strive to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness… the true and sustainable development of a good and compassionate society rooted in Buddhist ethos and universal human values”. Bhutan’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) is founded on the values of sustainable economic growth, environmental conservation, promotion of cultural heritage, and good governance (MOE, 2009, p.10; RGOB, 2013, p. vii). Guided by this goal, the process of development—social, economic, environmental and political—is hinged on the need to create positive conditions that enable and maximise the experience of happiness (DPT, 2008, p. 13; PDP, 2008, p. 4; RGOB, 1999, p. 45). Inevitably, education is considered imperative for efectively pursuing this national aspiration. In the Bhutanese context, therefore, it is difcult to discuss education and culture independently of each other because the two are inextricably linked; each reinforcing the other. Culture and education, the wider context of this paper, are among the nine principal domains of GNH—the others being psychological wellbeing, health, time use, good governance, ecology, living standards, and community vitality (Ura, 2009, pp. 32-53). Signifcantly, the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage is also the third of the four pillars that support GNH. As this chapter is centred on the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage through education, it is necessary to understand how culture relates to happiness. Te policy perspective on

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happiness, for example, considers the preservation and promotion of culture as imperative for meeting the “spiritual and emotional needs of our people and in cushioning ourselves from some of the negative impacts of modernization” (RGOB, 2005, p. 70). While culture is a highly contested term, in this chapter it is considered in the context of policy. Viewed from the policy perspective, cultures manifest in two forms; the physical form and the abstract form, ofen known as ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible’ cultures respectively. While the tangible forms are to be seen in terms of customs, crafs, rituals, symbols, traditional sports, astrology, folklore, myths, legends, poetry, drama—to mention a few (RGOB, 1999, p. 65); the intangible forms include values, norms, attitudes, worldviews, moral and ethical choices, sense of right and wrong, among others (RGOB, 1999, p. 65). Although not very diferent from the tangible–intangible mode of diferentiation, Ura (2009, p. 53) considers the two categories of culture within the culture domain of GNH. He classifes the more physical ones as ‘actions and practices’, including in it dialect profciency, arts and architecture, traditional games and sports, Tshechus (festivals) and artisans, and the more abstract ones as “values” and includes in this category notions of identity, dignity, non-alienation and diversity. Tis chapter highlights the complementarities of two important dimensions of the philosophy of Gross National Happiness—culture and education.

Educational Development in Bhutan Although modern education with structured curricula and pedagogies (infuenced largely by the epistemology of monastic training) began in Bhutan as early as 1913 during the reign of its frst King (MOE, 2013a, p. xvii-xxiv), a formal system of secular education as a national initiative was introduced only in the 1960s. Te latter period was a time in Bhutanese history when the country opened itself up to the outside world, introduced social, political and judicial reforms, and launched its frst economic development plan. With the launch of planned development initiatives, the need to engage its citizens in nation building and increased interaction with the global community, the urgency to develop its human resource capability was felt like never before. Accordingly, in 1965 Bhutan’s frst public school— Timphu Public School—was established with English as the medium of instruction (MOE, 2013a, p. xxiv). Te following decades saw the establishment of schools and higher education institutions throughout the

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country. For example, a teacher training institute was established in 1968 in Samtse in South Bhutan which became a degree-granting institution in 1984. Earlier in 1983, Sherubtse College in East Bhutan had become the country’s frst university college ofering undergraduate courses. In 2003, the Royal University of Bhutan was established as a federated national university with the aim to “promote the cultural enrichment, personal development and wellbeing” of the Bhutanese people (RUB, 2008, p. 2). Beginning in the 1960s with only a few schools for the entire country, Bhutan’s educational system has developed by leaps and bounds. Today, the country has a well-developed educational system that provides free education to all children of school-going age up to the tenth standard and access to university education. For example, the Royal University of Bhutan alone provides opportunities for higher education to about 30% of the Kingdom’s higher secondary graduates. It has also has achieved 95 per cent primary school enrolment (MOE, 2013a, p. xiii), thus responding extremely well to the UN millennium development goal of education for all. As compared with only one school in 1914 and just a few in the 1960s, Bhutan today has over 2000 educational institutions including primary, middle and secondary schools, vocational institutes, early childhood care and development centres, continuing education centres, non-formal education centres, extended classrooms, special institutes, higher education institutions and others (MOE, 2013a).

Educating for Gross National Happiness Today, the country’s national vision of education is to see the development of “an educated and enlightened society of gyalyong gakid pelzom [Gross National Happiness], at peace with itself, at peace with the world, built and sustained by the idealism and the creative enterprise of our citizens” (MOE, 2013b, p, v). As evident in the country’s national vision of education as well as the Royal University of Bhutan’s institutional goal of “cultural enrichment, personal development and wellbeing” (RUB, 2008, p. 2), the transmission and internalisation of the country’s rich cultural values is an indispensable element of school and tertiary education in Bhutan. In 2009, the Bhutanese government declared that infusing the values and principles of Gross National Happiness into the country’s educational system was a top priority (MOE, 2009, p. 11). Accordingly, in December of the same year, a groundbreaking international ‘Educating for Gross National Happiness Workshop’ was held in Timphu (Bhutan’s capital) where, according to then Education Minister Takur S. Powdyel, “some of the fnest minds

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from some sixteen countries engaged in holistic education, eco-literacy, indigenous knowledge, sustainable development together with some of Bhutan’s well-known educators” refected on “an educational paradigm supportive of Gross National Happiness” (MOE, 2013a, pp. 50-51). In 2010, a nationwide education for the GNH programme was launched through training of school leaders who in turn trained the teachers. Today, the ‘Educating for GNH’ policy requires all schools in Bhutan to develop into “Green Schools”. One of the eight dimensions of a Green School is “cultural greenery”; the others being environmental, intellectual, academic, social, spiritual, aesthetic and moral greenery. Infusion of the cultural dimension into school education manifests in activities such as projects related to cultural identity and dignity, heritage, art and craf, art and architecture, performing arts, local wisdom, belief systems, community dialects, cultural diversity, mindfulness and meditation among others (DCRD, 2011, pp. 18-19). For example, most classes in schools in Bhutan commence their day’s academic learning with a moment of silence so that the students and teachers are together able to cultivate positive intentions and motivations for their own learning as well as for their relationship with others in the community. Hence, a unique characteristic of Bhutan’s education system is the role of culture and its articulation in educational policy, curricula, and teaching practice. In spite of the overarching emphasis on culture, like all small societies, Bhutan faces the many challenges and tensions that come with the advantages of globalisation.

Globalisation and its Impact on Culture and Education Te positive impact of globalization is evident in all imaginable spheres of growth and development such as education, culture, diplomacy, trade, travel and communications—to name a few. But the forces that accompany it also especially impinge on small and vulnerable cultures and languages in diferent parts of the world, including Bhutan (GNHC, 2009b, pp. 161-162). Bhutanese cultures and languages are not immune to the insinuating and homogenising efects of globalisation. In fact, the Bhutanese government recognises that A major challenge for conserving the country’s rich culture will be to minimize the efects of globalization that tend to homogenize diverse and rich cultures and cause people’s cultural identity to wither ofen resulting in a dissolution of local languages, knowledge, beliefs and practices. (GNHC, 2009a, p. 161)

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Tus, the ability to maintain and assert a unique cultural identity is considered imperative for Bhutan’s continued existence as a nation. In fact, cultural heritage is considered the very “foundation upon which the identity of the people and the country as a sovereign and an independent nation is built” (Planning Commission, 2002, p. 28; RGOB, 1999, p. 44). Since it is in the nature of globalisation to displace and homogenise cultures, especially small cultures with small populations, the Bhutanese government emphasises the value of cultural diversity (see RGOB, 1999, p. 35). Implied is the acknowledgement that in spite of its smallness, the Bhutanese society has a rich diversity of cultures (see GNHC, 2009a, p. 161) that must be preserved and promoted. Lo Bianco (2001, p. 469) says, “Globalization is making nations porous. Te boundaries are being lowered and the content is being transformed”. So the challenge of keeping languages and cultures alive is by no means small (see also GNHC, 2009a, p. 161). Given its geographical location between two of the world’s cultural giants—India and China, each with a population of over a billion people—the challenge is even bigger. Moreover, exposure to the outside world infuences people’s worldviews and their perceptions about language and culture. In spite of its small size and population, Bhutan has a “diverse linguistic heritage” consisting of nineteen diferent languages spoken in diferent parts of the country (Gyatso, 2004, p. 265; van Driem, 2004, pp. 294-295). Apart from the rich legacy of tangible cultures that infuence the everyday life of Bhutanese people, many of these languages carry a rich and diverse tradition of oral cultures such as spiritual poetry, epics, morals and ethics, legends, ballads, sayings and proverbs, spiritual songs, and heroic tales (RGOB, 1999, p. 65). School and university curricula, formal as well as informal, are active and dynamic sites for keeping these cultures and their values alive.

Cultural Continuity through Education Culture and education are inextricably linked. As stated in Bhutan 2020: A Vision for Peace, Prosperity and Happiness (RGOB, 1999, pp. 20 & 36), government policy recognises children and teachers as the custodians of culture and the catalysts of cultural transmission, respectively. Tey are therefore the key to addressing the cultural consequences of globalisation and ensuring intergenerational continuity and infuence of the Bhutanese cultural heritage. Te policy envisages that the “country’s rich traditions, values, ideals and beliefs must ideally live on in the minds of Bhutanese youths [youth]”, so that these traditions continue to inspire their thoughts

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and actions and enable them to make “ethical and moral choices” in their lives (GNHC, 2009a, p. 20). Since teachers’ infuence has a direct bearing on the students’ lives, their role is considered vital for “inculcating in our children and young people an understanding and appreciation of our culture and heritage” (RGOB, 1999, p. 20). For example, these overarching policy visions infuence the school English curricula as they do the other domains of learning such as mathematics, history, economics, media literacy, civics and Dzongkha (the national language). For example, the curriculum states that materials selected for “reading and literature” (including short stories, essays and poetry), listening and speaking, and writing should be based on “Bhutanese culture” encompassing “examples”, and the “values of Bhutanese culture” (CAPSD, 2005e, pp. 101-102; CAPSD, 2005f, pp. 3334). Accordingly, curriculum reform in the past decade has ensured that Bhutanese children are sufciently exposed to materials from Bhutanese history, literature, culture and society and that these are included in the school syllabi, which in turn will inform classroom practice, including the way children learn and are assessed. From the Bhutanese government policy perspective, cultural preservation and promotion best happens in school through what the children learn (GNHC, 2009a, p. 20; RGOB, 1999, p. 36). It says: If our culture and heritage is to continue to survive and fourish, our young people must understand and accept their role as custodians of a distinctive culture and the values and principles on which it is founded.

Te opportunity as well as challenge for school and university education in Bhutan will, therefore, be to translate the wise policy aspirations concerning cultural preservation and promotion into efective curricular enactments, authentic teaching, learning and assessment and uniquely Bhutanese models of learning environment characterised by the values of respect, inclusiveness, identity, diversity, inner and outer well-being.

Interaction of Culture, Curricula and Classroom Practice From the policy perspective, the role of teachers and students is considered crucial for preserving and promoting the cultural heritage (see RGOB, 1999, p. 20). Consistent with this view, many Bhutanese writers afrm the need to infuse school curricula with traditional values. For example, both Dorji (2002, p. 20) and Penjore (2005, p. 67) recommend inclusion of Bhutanese folk literature in the school curriculum. Zam (1991, p. 144)

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considers folktales “legitimate material” for use in Bhutanese classrooms as they can stimulate the learners’ enthusiasm and passion better than culturally unfamiliar materials. Some other writers suggest the need for preserving the oral traditions and passing them on to future generations (Acharya, 2004, p. ix; Choden, 2002, p. xv; Dorji, 2002, p. 20; Powdyel, 2005a, p. 4). Bhagwati (2008, p. 116) in ‘In Defense of Globalization’ (2008) concludes that indigenous cultures cannot be impervious to the forces of globalisation. He argues that “Only active nurturing of the collective memory and a selective preservation of cultural artifacts can be a response, not the impractical fossilization of traditional attitudes and values”. Bhutanese scholars present alternative perspectives that are quite diferent from Bhagwati’s. Choden (1997, p. ix), for example, says: It is unfortunate that the modern world must always have tangible and empirical evidence. As a result of this it misses the opportunity to share much of the folklore and mystery that are as old as the Himalayas. Today, we are caught at the crossroads of traditionalism and modernity; we must not sacrifce our felds of experience for fear of exposing ourselves as backward under the scrutiny of the modernists’ glare.

Similarly, Powdyel (2005b p. iv), writing about a book on Bhutanese beliefs and superstitions, says that its publication happens at a time “when the tide of modernization is sweeping across our country, ofen dislodging the inherited wisdom” and the “myriad strands of our beliefs and practices” are “taken for granted”. Seen from Choden’s and Powdyel’s perspectives, the meaning of culture goes beyond ‘artifacts’ and fossilised attitudes and values and encompasses non-material and nonmeasurable values such as “inherited wisdom”, “beliefs and practices”, “folklore and mystery”, and “our felds of experience”. Unlike Bhagwati, Pennycook (1998, p. 217) advocates the need for a genre of writing that articulates “both counter-discursive arguments and alternative realities” and shows “alternative representations, alternative stories, and alternative possibilities” made available in school classrooms and teaching materials. In Bhutan, the school is considered an active and dynamic site for children’s authentic experience of culture where knowledge and appreciation of cultural values are fostered. For example, in the English curricula for schools, the importance of learning English in a cultural context is emphasised so that students are able to refect on the “cultural values of Bhutan” as well as those of other countries. Implied here is that

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learning opportunities and experiences must be created in the enacted curriculum, especially in the teaching strategies that English teachers use in their classroom practice for students to develop these understandings. Te school, its formal and informal curricula and teaching and learning environment, therefore, become important sites for learning cultural values. Te role of teachers is equally important, if not more. Rightly so, their facilitative role in the transmission of cultural values to children has been emphasised in policy documents and in the curriculum literature. Te curricular reforms that were initiated in the frst decade of this century were largely set against the backdrop of “globalization and its attendant pressures and impact” and the increasing emphasis placed on the role of the tangible and intangible forms of culture in the education of children, including the values of identity, diversity (GNHC, 2009a, p. 161) and recognition of and respect for “cultural diferences” (RGOB, 1999, p. 66). To illustrate, the English curricula for grades 11 and 12 emphasise students’ understanding of “the notions of spirituality, love, understanding, impermanence, tolerance and patriotism”, “ageing, self knowledge, and language and culture” (CAPSD 2005c, p. 4; CAPSD, 2005d, p. 3). Apparently, the cultural emphases refect the infuence of Buddhist spiritual concepts (e.g. impermanence), notions of loyalty to country and the importance of language and culture. Similarly, the grades 9 and 10 English curricula emphasise the need for the students to not only cultivate values that refect the Bhutanese way of life, to learn Bhutanese culture and “religious practices” (CAPSD, 2000, p. v) but also to develop an understanding and appreciation of “their own culture as well as the cultures of others through the study of prescribed texts” (CAPSD, 1996, p. 74). For example, the grades 9 and 10 English curricula state that Trough their reading, graduates have studied and refected on the cultural values of Bhutan and other countries, particularly the diferent ways in which people discover meaning in their lives; diferent expressions of fundamental values of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. (CAPSD, 2005a, p. 3; CAPSD, 2005b, p. 3).

Te same emphasis is made in the English curricula for grades 7 to 10 (CAPSD, 2006b, p. xiv; CAPSD, 2006c, p. xiv; see also CAPSD, 2005f, p. xii). In spite of the eforts already made, there are challenges that need to be addressed. Paradoxically, as Bhutanese writers generally point out,

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children are not exposed adequately to Bhutanese folk literature, an important carrier of cultural values, and that children are ofen “reared on folktales from distant places at the expense of local ones, which could begin a process of alienation from the local culture” (Choden, 2002, p. vi). Similarly, Penjore’s (2005, pp. 68-69) study of the value education curricula for grades 7 and 8, ‘Teaching Learning to Be: Suggested Values Education Lessons’ (CAPSD, 2001) found the syllabus ‘defcient’ because all of the texts included in the syllabus for teaching the target values such as honesty, responsibility, loyalty, unity, and obedience/respect were those that were drawn from literatures of other countries (see CAPSD, 2001, pp. 68-91). Clearly, this calls for a careful assessment of the linkage between policy intent, educational practice (e.g. curricular reform), and improved classroom pedagogies. Tese are no mean challenges. Te challenge, therefore, especially in the absence of evidence-based research, is to understand the link between policy intent and the reality that exists in the schools which enables refection and future intervention.

Cultural Diversity in Curricula and Pedagogy Respect for diversity is an important element of the cultural dimension of a ‘Green School’. According to government policy: Part of the nation’s rich cultural traditions are to be found in the diversity that exists within the Kingdom. Although we share a common worldview and sense of purpose, cultural diferences within the nation are considerable, with each ethnic group making its own distinctive contribution to our living past. Tere are diferences in folklore, myths, legends, dance, poetry and crafs that together add richness to the nation’s cultural tapestry (RGOB, 1999, p. 35).

Bhutanese scholars afrm the value of diversity. For example, Powdyel (2005a, p.257) underscores the elements of “respect”, “humanity”, and “cultural responsibilities” which enable a person to recognise the “sanctity and sensitivities of other cultures”. Ura (2009, p. 53) adds cultural “diversity” to the cultural domain of Gross National Happiness and says, “Te members of a cultural group add diversity to the otherwise imploding and homogenising world”. Children are taught to respect diversity in school and there are advantages: First, when cultural diferences are recognised and respected and children feel appreciated, they develop a mutual understanding and respect for each other. Second, when children

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are exposed to diverse cultural materials from diferent parts of the country, they develop the ability to understand and appreciate diversity better than they would theoretically. It develops positive feelings in children when they see their cultures appreciated or valued by others. Te challenge, though, especially in the absence of empirical studies on the linkage of policy intent and classroom practice, seems to be to on the gaining of a full understanding of how the concept of cultural diversity plays out in classroom discourse as well as in the myriad situations of the school’s informal or hidden curricula. Hayes et al. (2007, pp. 68-69) say that “Curriculum knowledge that is constructed and framed within a common set of cultural defnitions, symbols, values, views and qualities— and thus attributing some higher status to it—stands in contrast to the curriculum’s claims to valuing cultural knowledges”. Given the linguistic and cultural diversity that exists in Bhutan and the importance attached to it in government policy, it is important that teachers’ beliefs, attitudes and professional practices concerning diversity are understood through empirical studies.

Conclusions Bhutan views cultural preservation and promotion as imperative for maintaining the country’s unique identity in the world. Given the diversity and richness of the country’s cultural heritage, including the oral traditions that exist in its many diferent languages, the need to preserve the heritage is a genuine one as much as it is urgent. Fortunately, the Bhutanese educational system is already taking a number of strategic steps to integrate modern education with the country’s rich culture by articulating the role of culture in policy and the school curricula and transferring these to the teachers’ classroom pedagogies. Tis makes teachers the catalysts of cultural transmission. However, emphasis on culture in curriculum policy must be matched by efective classroom practice that helps children to develop a deep understanding and appreciation of culture. Without this, it is possible that a mere quantitative presence of cultural material in the curricula is interpreted as a polite gesture to policy without much commitment, while qualitative presence, it is assumed, provides the valorisation of the content in question to be actually taught and assessed. Although, important roles are attributed to teachers and students and eforts are made to infuse school education with the fundamental values and principles of Gross National Happiness, in the absence of empirical studies, the real impact of these interventions is not yet known. Tis calls for classroom-based

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studies that explore teachers’ and students’ knowledge and perceptions of the education for GNH initiatives and programmes in Bhutanese schools. Part of the study could employ action research methods that assess positive change in knowledge and attitudes over time as a result of the interventions. It is, therefore, important to see how the teachers’ classroom practices (including their approach to assessment) refect the important role culture is assigned to in the school curricula. In understanding the role attributed to cultural values in the school curricula, it is important to understand that inclusion in the syllabus alone may not refect the importance attached to it unless it is taught and assessed. Documenting best practices from Bhutan’s unique approach to school education may have the potential to present to the world an alternative educational paradigm inspired by the country’s development philosophy of Gross National Happiness.

References 1. Acharya, G. (2004). Bhutanese Folk Tales (From the East & the South). Timphu: Pekhang Publications. 2. Bhagwati, J. (2008). In Defense of Globalization. New Delhi: Oxford India Paperbacks. 3. CAPSD (1996). Te Purpose of School Education: A Curriculum Handbook for Schools. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 4. CAPSD (2000). Short Stories for Class 9 & 10. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Education Division, Ministry of Health and Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 5. CAPSD (2001). Teaching Learning To Be: Suggested Values Education Lessons. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of Education, MoE, RGOB. 6. CAPSD (2005a). BCSE English Reading & Literature: Class IX. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 7. CAPSD (2005b). BCSE English Reading & Literature: Class X. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 8. CAPSD (2005c). BHSEC English Reading & Literature: Class XI. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 9. CAPSD (2005d). English Reading & Literature Text: Class XII (Draf). Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 10. CAPSD (2005e). English Curriculum Guide for Teachers: Class XI. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan.

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11. CAPSD (2005f). English Curriculum Framework: Classes PP-XII. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 12. CAPSD (2006a). English Curriculum Guide for Teachers: Class X. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 13. CAPSD (2006b). ENGLISH Reading & Literature: Class VII. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 14. CAPSD (2006c). English Reading & Literature: Class VIII. Timphu: Curriculum and Professional Support Division, Department of School Education, Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 15. Choden, K. (1997). Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti. Bangkok: White Lotus Press. 16. Choden, K. (2002). Folktales of Bhutan (2nd edition). Bangkok: White Lotus Press. 17. DCRD (2011). ‘Educating for GNH: A Guide to Advancing Gross National Happiness’. Timphu: Department of Curriculum Research and Development, Ministry of Education. 18. Dorji, T. (2002). “Folktale Narration: A Retreating Tradition”, Journal of Bhutan Studies, 6, 5-23. 19. DPT (2008). Manifesto. Timphu: Druk Phuensum Tshogpa. 20. GNHC (2009a). Tenth Five Year Plan: 2008-2013 (Vol. 2). Timphu: Gross National Happiness Commission, Royal Government of Bhutan. 21. GNHC (2009b). Tenth Five Year Plan: 2008-2013 (Vol. 1). Timphu: Gross National Happiness Commission, Royal Government of Bhutan. 22. Gyatso, L. (2004). Difculty in Teaching Dzongkha in an English Medium System. Paper presented at the “Te Spider and the Piglet: First International Seminar on Bhutan Studies”, Timphu. 23. Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P., & Lingard, B. (2007). Teachers & Schooling Making a Diference: productive pedagogies, assessment and performance. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. 24. Lo Bianco, J. (2001). “Talking Globally: Challenges for Foreign-Language Education from New Citizenship and Economic Globalisation”, Forum for Modern Language Studies, xxxvii(4). 25. MOE (2009). Educating for Gross National Happiness Workshop. Timphu: Ministry of Education. 26. MOE (2013a). ‘Te Centenarian: 100 Years of Educating the Nation’. Timphu: Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan, pp. 18-21. 27. MOE (2013b). ‘Educating for Gross National Happiness: A Training Manual’. Timphu: Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan. 28. PDP (2008). Te People’s Democratic Party Manifesto 2008: Well Being for Everyone. Timphu: Te People’s Democratic Party. 29. Penjore, D. (Summer 2005). Folktales and Education: Role of Bhutanese Folktales in Value Transmission. Journal of Bhutan Studies, 12, pp. 47-73.

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30. Pennycook, A. (1998). English and the Discourse of Colonialism. NY: Routledge. 31. Planning Commission (April 2002). Ninth Plan Main Document [2002-2007]. Timphu: Planning Commission Secretariat, Royal Government of Bhutan. 32. Powdyel, T. S. (2005a). Culture—Soul and Substance: Some Personal Refections. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 5th Colloquium on Tangible and Intangible Culture of Bhutan, Paro. 33. Powdyel, T. S. (2005b). Foreword in K. Pedey, Ta She Gha Chha: Te Broken Saddle and other Popular Bhutanese Beliefs, Timphu: DSB Publication. 34. RGOB (1999). BHUTAN 2020: A Vision for Peace, Prosperity and Happiness. Timphu: Planning Commission Secretariat, Royal Government of Bhutan. 35. RGOB (June 2005). Annual Report (July 2004-June 2005) Presented by the Hon’ble Prime Minster, Lyonchen Yeshey Zimba to the 83rd Session of the National Assembly on 3 June 2005. Tashichho Dzong, Timphu: Cabinet Secretariat, RGOB. 36. RGOB (2013). Happiness: Towards a New Development Paradigm (Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan). Timphu: NDP Steering Committee and Secretariat, Royal Government of Bhutan. 37. RUB (2008). ‘Te Wheel of Academic Law’. Timphu: Te Royal University of Bhutan. 38. Ura, K. (2009). A Proposal for GNH Value Education in Schools. Timphu: Gross National Happiness Commission. 39. van Driem, G. (2004). Bhutan’s Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Under the Dzongkha Development Authority: Te Tree Rare Gems. Paper presented at the First International Seminar on Bhutan Studies, Timphu. 40. Zam, S. (1991). Folktales as a Bridge between Culture and Literacy: English Instruction in Bhutan. A Tesis Submitted in Partial Fulfllment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education. Fredericton: Te University of New Brunswick.

15. Buddhist Identity Politics in Nepal since the 1990s TSERING CHOLDAN

Introduction Te term identity politics refers to certain forces organising and appealing to a group defned by specifc ascriptive characteristics and mobilising this group identity as a means of gaining access to power. Tese characteristics are usually, but not exclusively, those ascribed by virtue of birth to parents or to a particular religion or an ethnic group, par excellence. Power here may be either control of or infuence in the state or access to control over resources.1 Identity politics invoke political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of social minorities, or self-identifed social interest groups. In a state, identity politics is intimately linked with the debates and conficts surrounding the state’s character, role and very existence.2 Not all members of any given group are necessarily involved in identity politics. To participate in identity politics, a group may, or may not be, a marginalised class of people. However, the advocates of such politics are informed by a self-belief and self schema that they are in fact a marginalised group. Typically, these group identities are defned in terms of race, ethnicity, religion and gender. Identity politics is driven by several motivations. One aim of identity politics has been to empower the oppressed to articulate their oppression in term of their own experience. Tis involves a process of rising consciousness that distinguishes identity politics from the liberal conception of politics as driven by individual selfinterest.3 “Identity”, in its broadest sense, includes both socially defned and ofen visible characteristics as race, gender, and ethnicity as well as other aspects of groups and individuals, such as belief system, worldview, ideologies and religions that are not always considered part of identity but that increasingly form the basis of major cleavages among people. Some of these

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characteristics may be hard to change while others are, at least potentially, matters of option. Te question of choice plays a vital role in the aspects of identity. It begins with the assumption that an individual can choose their identity, perhaps by deciding on a particular kind of life or by giving or withholding their loyalty to a particular group. So identity becomes a measure of the freedom of action that people have within the larger society. By contrast, when states or other powerful institutions can efectively limit identity choices by enforcing conformity to norms or ideals, individuals’ freedom of action is restricted and can be considered to be in a state of decline.4 Identities also represent entitlements to the sharing of a group’s or society’s resources. Conformity to the common identity proclaimed by social or political groups becomes increasingly important to the group’s bargaining power in identity politics. Te identity of a group makes political action possible. Without a common identity, individuals cannot form a collective agent. Te individuals too cannot be either the subject or the object of action without an identity which directs one towards others in transactions. Identity is not maintained in isolation; it exists in the system of relations.5 Tat is, it involves a necessary interaction with others in a system of shared understandings. Te issues of identity, its representation in the state structures and demarcation of federal lines among the states are far more complex than they appear. Such as, the adoption of the ofcial title of Hindu state by the 1990 constitution of Nepal which was framed in the background of the movement for the restoration of democracy is on the one hand, reverence to the uninterrupted history of Nepal’s religious identity as a Hindu kingdom, but it is on the other hand, contested by emerging trends for secularism under democratic disposition in the post-1990 period. Te 1990 constitution of Nepal upheld a number of features of Hinduismbased Nepali nationalism, including the ofcial title of Nepal as a Hindu state; whereas the nation constitutes the people irrespective of religion, race, caste, or tribe.

Nationalism in a Monarchical Institution Te institution of Monarchy in Nepal remained the most important symbol of Nepali nationalism till the end of twentieth century. A broad consensus prevailed in recognising its historical role in both the making of modern Nepal and integration of the diverse populations into a single nationhood.6 Gorkhanisation or Hinduisation, a process initiated by Prithvinarayan

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Shah, was strenuously followed by his successors over the period of the next two centuries. Te age-old imperial guidelines became the source of the four pillars of Nepali nationalism that came to be identifed in popular perception. Tese are (1) Unquestioned power and authority of the Hindu King of Gorkha or in other words Gorkha Supremacy, (2) Te primacy of the Hindu ethos in national life or declaring Hinduism as the state religion, (3) Social integration through the Hindu social system based on caste divisions and (4) Making Nepali language as the national language.7 In this way Hinduism, Monarchy and Nepali language became the conventional symbols in the process of identity formation in the Gorkha state that became the ‘modern Nepal’. Te role of Gorkha dynasty, frst in unifying and then in establishing their hegemonic infuence through a practice of patriotism that demanded total and unquestioned loyalty to the King, came to constitute an inseparable feature of modern Nepal.8 Te Panchayat regime (1960–1990) in Nepal imposed the values and norms of the dominant group:its language (Khas-Nepali), religion (Hindu) and culture (hill-high caste) on the entire society. Te languages, cultures and religions of other groups were marginalised to the extent that some languages are at the risk of extinction. In addition, indigenous nationalities (adibasi janajati), Dalits (traditional untouchables) and Madhesis (people living in the Terai plains), who comprise over two-thirds of the population, have been excluded politically, economically and socially.9

Assertion of Buddhist Identity since the 1990s Constitution Since the restoration of a multiparty democracy in 1990, identity politics has become a major force in Nepali politics. Te Buddhists of Nepal have mobilised to demand greater inclusion within the political system as well as social and cultural rights. Tey argue that high-caste Hindus from the hills have monopolised the state since its inception in the late eighteenth century, and this has created political, economic and social disadvantages for the other groups of people. Te Buddhists and ethnic minorities’ cultures could not get due space even in the 1990 Constitution, hence, their cultural identity was at risk. Te 1990 Constitution reiterated the long promotion of Hinduism as the state religion, and the Hindu character of the kingdom was retained. Te Buddhists, who were ethnically and culturally a diverse people, for the frst time came out openly to demand a better share and for redefnition of their role in the decision-making process of the country. Demand for a secular state is obviously the main agenda of the minority religious groups.

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Unlike the history of Hindu–Buddhist coexistence, now Buddhists have built an informal alliance with other minority religious groups in exerting pressure for secularism. On June 30, 1990, the largest demonstration took place, organised by the Nepali Buddhist Association. 25–30,000 people walked through the centre of Kathmandu urging ‘Give us a Secular State, Buddhism is not just a branch of Hinduism’. Tis march too ended up at the open air theatre at Tundikhel in the middle of Kathmandu. Several Buddhist scholars addressed the crowd including Bhikshu Amritananda. He deplored the notion that Hinduism and Buddhism were the same and called strongly for a secular state. Te speeches emphasised how Buddhists had been suppressed.10 The Buddhists’ demonstration came as a total shock to most of the Nepalese Hindu politicians. According to the 1981 census, only 1 in 20 of the population of Nepal was Buddhist.11 Moreover, the Buddhists had a reputation for living peacefully almost invisibly alongside the Hindu. Asha Ram Sakya, a Buddhist scholar and leader of the Nepal Buddhist Association maintained that the Buddhist population shown as 5.3% in the 1981 census, was totally wrong. Tamangs were not Hindus, Gurungs were not Hindus, nor were the Sherpas, the Chepangs, the Rais and the Limbus of Eastern Nepal. In addition there are minor nationalities who are all Buddhists. In reality, the Buddhists of Nepal are not accurately reflected in census. When the census officers arrived, the Buddhists, majority of whom are not educated, would be asked about their religion. They would ask, ‘Do you worship Ganesh? They would answer “Yes”. Because Ganesh is identified as a Hindu god, they would be written down as Hindu. But in Nepal, Hindus worship Buddha and Buddhists worship Ganesh. That does not mean that all are Hindus; it is just a result of the long cultural intermingling and interaction between Hindus and Buddhists. And it also does not mean that Buddhism is just a branch of Hinduism, which the government of the Nepal claimed.12 It was in fact true that many Nepalese combined elements from both Hinduism and Buddhism in their religious practice, making it very hard to draw a clear dividing line; For example, among the Newar community, both the believers of Hinduism and Buddhism are there and to demarcate a line between who is a Hindu and who a Buddhist, is not easy. But, regardless of the exact numbers, even if a majority of Nepal’s Buddhists were not conscious of themselves as such in the past, slowly they are getting aware with the increasing level of education and through other means of information-dissemination technologies. In fact, a growing

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number of intellectuals like Asha Ram Sakya were attempting to reclaim their culture and religious identity as Buddhists.13 Assertion of identity politics became highly visible in the post-1990 movement. Te frst political party with representatives from the Buddhists was founded in 1990. It was the Nepal National People’s Liberation Front and Nepal Rastriya Janamukti Morcha.14 Te programme was to fght for equality for the entire racial and ethnic groups in the country. A more extreme party was the Janajati Party established on August 19, 1990, led by Khagendra Jang Gurung. In addition, several other organisations sprang up—all putting forward demands on behalf of the Tibeto-Burman-speaking people who are Buddhists. Among these was the Nepal Tamang Ghedung, established on June 7, 1990. Tis group demanded a special constitutional recognition of the Tamang community who lived in the hill around the Kathmandu Valley. Although the Tamangs were numerous, they were amongst the least privileged of all the ethnic groups in Nepal.15 Tus, the common demands of all these various organisations were to declare Nepal as a secular state, equal recognition of all the ethnic languages, proportional representation for all the minority communities in political– bureaucratic structure, education and the public sector, amelioration of the socio-economic condition of the people through positive discrimination by the state. Tese organisations represented a spectrum of opinion ranging from the extreme to the moderate. Yet, they all shared certain basic common concerns. Teir integration into the Hindu society varied from group to group. Te Magars, for example, reckoned themselves as proper Hindus, while the Tamangs claimed that they were Buddhists. Te Limbus in Far Eastern Nepal had managed to preserve large parts of their native religion and culture. Many Gurungs, Magars, Limbus and Rais had generally been restricted to access state benefts. Te Tamangs were not eligible to join the Gorkhas and had remained cut of from a major source of income. In addition to these were the Takalis, who were a small group. But these people had made a good living on the main trade route to Tibet.16

Buddhist Politics under the Janajati Umbrella Te politics of Buddhists identity is not isolated. One of the more remarkable developments in Nepal afer 1990, was the rapid growth of ethnic organisations. Each seeks to promote the welfare and culture of the single ethnic group, such as the Gurung or the Tamang. Most of the demands and grievances of the Buddhists in Nepal are similar to that of the Janajati Mahasangh. Tus, many of these organisations joined

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an umbrella organisation, the Janajati Mahasangh (Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities), which was the dominant voice in the mid 1990s.17 Te Janajati Movement may be seen as a response to the country’s strained unifcation in the nineteenth century and perpetuation of a complex set of discrimination and inequalities resulting from this situation. Te Buddhists are the majority in the Janajati Mahasangh but all the Janajatis are not Buddhist, and their demands are also being expressed through the Janajati movement. Te movement has played a key role in channelling ethnic grievances in a non-violent way and in democratising the political system. Te Buddhists under the Janajati Mahasangh had articulated their political demands primarily by operating as a lobbying or pressure group, working to infuence members of the various governments to accommodate the interests of their communities. During the drafing of the 1990 Constitution, the Janajati Mahasangh made recommendations to the Constitution Commission and their demands have remained fairly consistent, including that the government declare Nepal as a secular state, reform the Constitution, ensure linguistic equality for all the people, introduce a federal system of government and develop an afrmative action.18

Conclusion Tus, the resurgence of Buddhists and other hill ethnic groups afer the 1990 Constitution led to the new movements partly because of the wrong state policies of nation building and partly because of the increasing awareness of the Buddhists and other ethnic groups. Te Hinduised Constitution and the predominantly Hindu population of the country seem to have created a feeling of insecurity among the religious minority populations of the country. Te religious minorities like Buddhists had vociferously demanded that the new Constitution should declare Nepal as secular state. To create political stability and a more democratic polity, the state should adopt the policies that create an inclusive political system. State representation of the Nepali Nation should refect the diversity of the population which includes the political aspiration and identity of the Buddhists as well. Te state must ensure that the ethnic nationalities including Buddhists are adequately represented in any decision-making bodies, through appointment, reservation or a proportional election system. May the new Constitution of Nepal represent all the minorities’ aspirations and uphold the majestic plurality!

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References 1. Imam, M. Ayesha (1994). “Politics, Islam and Women in Kano, Northern Nigeria”, in Valentine M. Moghadam (ed.) Identity Politics and Women: Culture Reassertions and Feminisms in International Perspective, University of Virginia: Westview Press, p. 123. 2. Bellamy, Richard (2002). “Identity Politics: Introduction to a New Series”, Government and Opposition, 37(3), p. 295. 3. Crenshaw, Kimberle Williams (1995). “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color”, in Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda et al (eds.) Critical Race Teory: Te Key Writing Tat Formed the Movement, New York: Te New Press, pp. 357-370. 4. Papanek, Hanna (1994). “Te Ideal Woman and the Ideal Society: Control and Autonomy in the Construction of Identity”, in Valentine M. Moghadam (ed.) Identity Politics and Women: Culture Reassertions and Feminisms in International Perspective, University of Virginia: Westview Press, p.43. 5. du Preez, Peter (1980). Te Politics of Identity: Ideology and the Human Image, London: Blackwell, p.3. 6. Hayes, D. Louis (1975). “Te Monarchy and Modernization in Nepal”, Asian Survey, 15 (7): 616-628. 7. Chauhan, R.S. (1991). “Nation Building in India”, in B.C. Uprety and Ramakant (eds.) Nation Building in South Asia, New Delhi: Sterling Publisher, p.371. 8. Brown, T. Louise (1996). Te Challenge to Democracy in Nepal: A Political History, London: Routledge Publishers, pp. 1-23. 9. Helpdesk Research Report (2009). Identity Politics in Nepal, Government and Social Development Resource Centre, Online website:http://www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/ HD571.pdf 10. Hutt, Michael (1991). “Drafing the Nepal Constitution 1990”, Asian Survey, 31 (11): 1020-1039. 11. Hofun, Martin (1999). People, Politics and Ideology: Democracy and Social Change in Nepal, Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, p.316. 12. Interview with Asha Ram Shakya, 20/9/1990. In Martin Hofun, William Reaper and John Whelpton (1999). People Politics and Ideology: Democracy and Social Change in Nepal, Kathmandu, p.317. 13. Whelpton, John (1991). Kings, Soldiers and Priests: Nepalese Politics and the Rise of Jung Bahadur Rana, New Delhi: Manohar Publication, pp.37-57. 14. Cailmail, Benoit (2008). Te Fall of a Hindu Monarchy: Maoist Power in Nepal, pp. 1-21. Online website:http://www.ifri.org/fles/centre_asie/AV12.pdf 15. Hofun, Martin (1999). People, Politics and Ideology: Democracy and Social Change in Nepal, Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, p.323. 16. Ibid., p.326. 17. Gellner, David N. (2001). “From Group Rights to Individual Rights and Back: Nepalese Struggle over Culture and Equality”, in Jane K. Cowan et al (eds.) Culture and Right: Anthropological Perspectives, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp.177-200. 18. Hangen, Susan (2010). Te Rise of Ethnic Politics in Nepal: Democracy in the Margins, New Delhi: Routledge Publishers, p.39.

PART - IV Philosophy, Art and Culture

16. Relevance of the Nalanda Tradition for Contemporary Society: Wisdom, Non-Sectarianism and Secular Ethics DORJI DAMDUL

Nalanda Tradition is kept alive for centuries in the Himalayan belt. To understand Himalayan culture, it is imperative to refect over Nalanda tradition whose seeds were planted by the pan-Himalayan spiritual masters like Padmasambhava and Naropa.

Te Importance of the Nalanda Tradition Te Nalanda University, which existed from the frst century AD to the thirteenth century AD (according to some historians), has a glorious intellectual heritage in many felds of studies such as philosophy, logic, psychology, metaphysics, epistemology, cosmology and literature, marked by scholarly depth and rigour. Tese subjects developed to a great height of excellence through the contributions of intellectual giants such as Arya Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Acharya Chandrakirti, Bodhisattva Shantideva, and many others. In essence, the studies at the Nalanda Monastic University had the following features: a) Vastness, rigorousness and sophistication of knowledge in the feld of philosophy, psychology, logic and so forth—which is much more refned than what is presently found, rendered and studied in Western-style universities across the world. b) Knowledge of interdependence: Te practical application of the Nalanda wisdom studies has a deep impact on the world which is interdependent, both in terms of human-to-human relations and the relationship between human beings and the fora and fauna. Tis insight into the interdependence of everything instills a sense of responsibility towards fellow humans and the delicate environment. A sense of unconditional love and care is also encouraged.

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At the moment, the world is facing numerous crises owing to a lack of insight regarding the points mentioned above. His Holiness the Dalai Lama clearly states that to know the concept of dependent origination one need not be Buddhist. Anyone can acquire knowledge and conviction in the interdependent nature of all phenomena for a deeper insight into other felds of knowledge such as education, environment, law, business and so forth. With this awareness one will become wise enough to take care of others; knowing that the happiness and success of you and your group depends on the happiness of others and their contributions.

Te Teachings of Seventeen Great Nalanda Scholars Arya Nagarjuna who appeared, according to many historians, in frst century AD, mainly taught about the discrepancy between ontological reality of phenomena and the epistemological perception. Arya Nagarjuna says that everything is dependently existent; yet, undeniably all things appear to our minds to be independent and solid. Tis deluded perception is responsible for all fears, problems and world crises. Seeing the dream as real is the ignorance which gives rise to nightmares; the insight that the dream is empty of being real, relieves one from the nightmare. Te knowledge of interdependence and insight into the emptiness of independent existence of things will eradicate the corresponding ignorance and usher in relief from all fears and pains of the world. Tere were several scholars over the centuries afer Arya Nagarjuna and Aryadeva such as Acharya Bhavaviveka (500–578 AD) and Acharya Chandrakirti (600–650 AD) who followed the thoughts of Arya Nagarjuna. Tey wrote many commentaries on the original works of Arya Nagarjuna. Te main contribution of Arya Asanga (300–370 CE) and Acharya Vasubandhu, the two brothers, is in the feld of Abhidharma and ontological reality according to the Cittamatra School of thought, although Arya Asanga himself followed the Madhyamika philosophy. Te main contributions of Acharya Dignaga (480–540 CE) and Acharya Dharmakirti (480–540 CE) were in the felds of logic, psychology and epistemology. Bodhisattva Shantideva’s (685–763 CE) primary legacy is in the form of his classic works, Bodhicharyavatara (Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life) and Shikshasamuccaya (Compendium of Trainings), which provide seminal advice on how to manage the mind so that the mind can be geared towards the unconditional love of the Bodhicitta and the practice of the six

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perfections with an emphasis on generating the wisdom of emptiness and dependent origination. Acharya Shantarakshita (eighth century CE) and his student Acharya Kamalashila (740–795 CE) contributed mainly in establishing what the ultimate reality is and tearing apart the subtle nuances of the workings of the mind. Tey diferentiated between a passive mind devoid of any mental activity and a mind actively maintaining stability and alertness on the object. Te latter is what encompasses proper meditation, while the former does not. Acharya Haribhadra (eighth century CE) is known for his eloquence in concisely explaining Abhisamayalamkara (Te Ornament of Clear Realisation). It is the most important work of Arya Maitreya, a very comprehensive text, which methodically highlights all aspects of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and the integral practices. Acharya Atisha Dipankara Shree Gyana (982–1054 CE) contributed to systematically bringing all the thoughts of the earlier masters into a practice manual, which he delineated in his book Bodhipathpradipa (Te Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment). From the above mentions of works by the Nalanda masters through diferent times it becomes clear that the entire framework of their contributions is meant to be a means to guide people towards greater happiness and peace of mind. As all experiences of happiness and pain are in the form of mental experiences, their respective causes are also mental. Tus, the study of psychology becomes very important. Most of the Nalanda masters, particularly Arya Asanga and Acharya Vasubandhu, contributed to this feld. As all problems are due to ignorance that comes in the way of the vision of reality; therefore, the study of philosophy to unravel the ontological reality becomes crucial. Most of the masters, such as Arya Nagarjuna, contributed to the exploration of this facet of reality. Te ontological reality is extremely subtle, owing to which a methodological and precise expression is required to tear apart the subtle nuances of the concept of reality. For this, the study of logic plays an extremely important role. Acharya Dignaga and Acharya Dharmakirti made great contributions in this area. For the aspirants to fnally put all this vast knowledge into practice, a manual for practice that incorporates all the essential points mentioned above is required. Bodhisattva Shantideva, Acharya Haribhadra and Acharya Atisha Dipankara, made extensive contributions in this regard.

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Non-Sectarianism in the Eyes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama: A Refection of the Nalanda Tradition Non-sectarianism as advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama can be understood on various levels: a) amongst the four Tibetan schools b) between Teravadins and Mahayanists c) among the diferent religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and so forth. a) Among the four Tibetan Buddhist schools: All four Tibetan Buddhist Schools arose from the same source—the Nalanda tradition. Apart from some minor diferences in rituals, they all share the same philosophy and practice inherited from the erstwhile Nalanda University. Sectarianism on this level is a clear indication of a lack of knowledge of the proper Nalanda tradition. b) Between Teravadins and Mahayanists: Te teaching on the Four Noble Truths, the Eight-Fold Noble Path, the monastic rules, the three higher trainings on the basis of the Tripitaka, meditation on anicca and anatta are the same in both traditions. Only if these teachings are there, the Teravada and Mahayana make sense, otherwise not. Owing to the lack of awareness of the fact that all these meditations are found in both traditions, sectarianism can arise. c) Among the diferent religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and so forth: No one medicine is best. All medicines are good with respect to diferent illnesses. Because there are so many kinds of ailments, varieties of medicines are required. Te main concern of all great teachers such as Buddha or Jesus was the removal of pain and fear from the minds of people. Whichever path helps individuals to reduce pain, become more compassionate and live morally, is the best for them. For some people the concept of God is very soothing and benefcial. It helps them gain greater conviction in the practice of compassion and conscientious living. Whereas for others, the law of karma is convincing. Conviction in the efcacy of the law of karma makes them behave ethically and morally and strengthens their compassion. Only if one appreciates a compassionate and moral way of living and sees how every religion has the same potential to make this a reality in its own way, sectarianism will cease to fnd a place in peoples’ minds. Nalanda is a perfect model for this. It was home to

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the various contradictory philosophies of Buddhism. Te holders of these philosophies lived harmoniously for ages.

Unity amidst the Diversity of Traditions: For Buddhists, no matter what tradition one might be following, it is necessary not to forget Buddha Shakyamuni as the principal teacher and to remember this teaching of the Buddha: O Monks and wise people! Just as the goldsmith tests the purity of the gold, Trough cutting, rubbing and burning the gold, You should also examine my words thoroughly and put them into practice, Not merely because you respect me.

With this stanza as a benchmark for approaching the teachings of the Buddha, one needs to learn the teachings of the Buddha to the best that one can, such as the teachings on the Four Noble Truths with emphasis on impermanence (Pali: anicca), emptiness (Skt: shunyata), dependent origination (Skt: pratityasamutpada) and selfessness (Pali: Anatta). Te Eight-Fold Noble Path needs to be learned and trained in, along with the practice of the Four Immeasurables (appamana)—loving kindness (Pali: metta), compassion (Pali: karuna), joy (Pali: mudita) and equanimity (Pali: upekkha; Skt: upeksha). All the above need to be integrated with the practice of the Tree Higher Trainings (Skt: trishiksha): discipline (Pali: sila), meditation (Pali: samadhi) and wisdom (Skt: gyana) which are the subject matter of the Tripitaka. Seeing that these are common to all the Buddhist traditions—Teravada, Sutrayana (sometimes loosely referred to as Mahayana) and Vajrayana—one will see all of them as the teachings of the same teacher, Buddha Shakyamuni. In this way a sense of sisterhood among all the Buddhist traditions will dawn. Tis will herald a spirit of non-sectarianism amongst the diferent traditions of Buddhism. With this spirit of respect and appreciation, one can follow any tradition of Buddhism or adopt the aspects which ft favourably with one’s mental proclivities from any of the Buddhist traditions, rather than being rigid in one’s thinking. On several occasions His Holiness the Dalai Lama sent Tibetan Mahayana practitioners to learn breathing meditation from Teravada teachers in Tailand. While there are so many techniques of meditation

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including breathing meditation in Tibetan Buddhism, this gesture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of sending students to learn from other traditions is a wise and compassionate gesture to encourage non-sectarianism in practical terms, garner respect towards other traditions and dissolve the potential for misunderstanding among the sister Buddhist schools.

Ethics: Te Spirit of Humanity, across the Board Te secular ethics which His Holiness the Dalai Lama emphasises is grounded in the consideration of the basic human values of warmheartedness, compassion, forgiveness, contentment and self-discipline. Tese values are universal values, the implementation of which makes people, irrespective of adherence to religion or not, genuinely happy within themselves and with their surrounding environment. Tese are, therefore, secular in terms of being universal values. It is quite common that non-religious people pay no attention to these values thinking that they are religious matters. However, it is not true that these are religious matters. Love, compassion and so forth are universal values the presence of which usher in happiness, peace, and harmony, irrespective of whether the individual is religious or not. Not only religious people, but everyone, including non-religious people want happiness, peace and harmony. Religions are simply meant to encourage people to embrace and nurture these values in society. When a person, even if non-religious, has these qualities, he or she is very happy and peaceful, and thereby makes the environment peaceful. Tis is a clear indication that one need not be afliated to any religion in order to be happy and peaceful through the cultivation of these human values. Terefore, these values are referred to as human values and not necessarily religious values. Tus, they are known as secular ethics, the integration of which can be done by all people irrespective of whether they are religious or not. Tese values are secular in nature. Of course we need to keep in mind the meaning of ‘secularism.’ Some interpret it to mean the rejection of religion. Other interpretations, such as in the Indian constitution, understand it to signify respect towards all traditions and religions, as well as towards non-believers. By secularism His Holiness the Dalai Lama means the latter. At the same time these values underscore the practices one fnds in all religions including the Buddhist practice of ethics (sila). Tis is very closely related to the Nalanda tradition in the sense that ethics in its fnal

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sense is to tame the mind in such a way that positive behaviour eventually arises from such a tamed mind. Tree methods of taming the mind are ofered in Buddhist teachings, commonly known as trishiksha (the three higher trainings): sila (morality,) samadhi (concentration meditation) and gyana (wisdom.) Te practice of sila tames the section of the mind that governs our physical and verbal actions by enhancing the power of introspection and mindfulness pertaining to the physical and verbal actions. Samadhi, on the other hand, tames the mind that governs mental actions by enhancing the power of subtler introspection and mindfulness. Gyana tames all mental states in their subtlest form through insight into the reality of interdependence. Unfolding the reality of interdependence enhances one’s respect towards all sentient beings as well as the environment. Te Nalanda tradition, while it bestowed all three trainings (trishiksha), is unique in that it contributed to a rigorous insight into the reality of interdependence through a very sophisticated knowledge of psychology and logic. A person who lives in integrity through a profound understanding of the interdependence of everything along with a remarkable experience of psychology and logic as taught in the Nalanda tradition will have a refned understanding of trishiksha. Other than a few minor points, the whole nature of the trishiksha is universal in nature, thus secular. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the best living example of such a secular ethics.

Change Your Eye-Lens: Tere is No Enemy In Nalanda from the frst century CE–thirteenth century CE, the great pundits, broadly speaking, followed four diferent philosophical thoughts, and yet lived together harmoniously. Te Buddha Shakyamuni, himself taught four seemingly contradictory philosophies. Te reason behind this is the Buddha’s appreciation of the varying mental dispositions of people. Te fnal purpose for all religions and philosophies is to create expansive peace and happiness for sentient beings. Te beings who are to create this peace have diferent mental dispositions; they need diferent approaches to create peace. Tese diferent approaches came to be known as diferent religions. Te Nalanda masters lived harmoniously despite diferences in their philosophical views, with due recognition of the multiplicity of mental propensities. Tis model of the mode of living and learning of the Nalanda pundits, is ideal for followers of the various religious traditions to live harmoniously and work for the common cause to create peace on earth. And defnitely there are centres like Nalanda in other religious

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traditions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and so on, which are exemplars of harmony and from which we can learn a great deal. How can harmony be created in the midst of the diversity of religions, nationalities and viewpoints? It is not magic. We would need to resort to rationality and some efort to think in this way. Just as an apple can be red, big, delicious, organic and so forth, having so many characteristics, individuals also have numerous identities. For example, I am a human being, a Buddhist, a Tibetan, a male, a non-expert and so forth.    Depending on which of the identities I identify more closely with, my view and relationship with others arises accordingly. So, if I focus mainly on the identity of being a Buddhist, there would be a tendency to push aside people from other religions, resulting in religious strife.    Whereas, male chauvinism surfaces the moment I emphasise more on the male aspect of my identity.   Te narrower the scope of the identity, the greater the chance for strife. On the other hand, the broader the scope of the identity that one associates oneself with—such as being a human, which pervades across all seven billion human beings—the greater the chance that discrimination of all kinds and likewise strife will dissolve, resulting in harmony among all human beings.  In this way the whole world will become one family, living together in genuine peace. For instance, in the same family where some siblings are female and others are male, there is oneness and harmony, as the feeling of being from the same family dominates over other secondary diferences, such as gender. We need to learn this ourselves and then teach the younger generation about the perspective of associating ourselves with the identity of being human frst, and letting the rest be secondary.    Tis is what distinguishes some, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as world leaders. For genuine practitioners of Bodhicitta, which cherishes all others more than oneself, the concept of dissolving diferences is very natural. For them everyone is seen as so close to them, as their own mother or children. Te Nalanda tradition, one of a kind among the various religious traditions, is an embodiment of this excellent spirit.

Legacies of the Nalanda Tradition for Today’s World Arya Nagarjuna’s Ratnamala (Precious Garland) and Suhrllekha (Letter to a Friend) are two classic compositions in the form of advice given to two kings (King Udayi of the Satavahana Dynasty and King Gautamiputra

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respectively) on virtuous administration of the kingdom. Tese two texts would be extremely helpful for leaders and politicians to foster healthy public relations. Bodhisattva Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara is another masterpiece to tackle our day-to-day emotions such as anger, craving, ego and so forth. Above all it focuses on the cultivation of unconditional love. Te advice one fnds in this book is very convincing, full of common sense insights and rationale, to enable us to lead a life of greater meaning and sensibility. It teaches us how to be least afected by external factors so that we have a stable state of mind at all times. When you are not afected by external conditions you do not lose your freedom. Freedom is genuine peace and happiness.

A Take-Home Gif from the Erstwhile Nalanda Mahavihara Te teachings from Nalanda point to the fact that everyone has the right to be happy. Te source of happiness, fortunately, is not external to you. It is within you. Te causation between the source of happiness and the resultant happiness operates on the basis of the law of interdependence. Just as happiness is what your mind experiences, the sources are there within your mind itself. With joy and wisdom extract the causes of happiness from within. Te Buddha stated in the systematic compilation of the Dharma Sutra: Enlightenment is not bestowed by anyone; Nor is enlightenment held by anyone else; Realising the qualities within yourself, Is the awakening of Enlightenment.

Imagine that you are in a large, beautiful garden, but in pitch darkness. Even though you are in the most exquisite garden you cannot enjoy it. Te reason is obvious. Tere is no light. Just as not enjoying the garden is due to the absence of light, all our miseries are due to the darkness of ignorance. Only through introducing the light of wisdom can the darkness of ignorance be eliminated. All the writings of the great saint-scholars of Nalanda are meant to ignite the light of wisdom, which sees everything as dream-like, empty of objective existence, as elucidated by the Buddha in the Samadhiraja Sutra: Just as in the dream of a youthful girl, She met with a boy and saw his death, Joyous was she at the meeting and anguished at his death, View all phenomena as thus.

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Furthermore, although the light is introduced, if it is small like that of a tiny candle, one can only enjoy seeing one or two fowers, not the entire beautiful garden. Only a pervasive light like that of the sun will allow one to enjoy the entire exquisite garden. Likewise, the light that you introduce should be pervasive. What makes the light of wisdom pervasive is universal love that reaches out to all beings. If you ask how such appealing, tender and unconditional love can be cultivated, the writings of the great Buddhist masters from Nalanda, particularly Bodhicittavivarana by Arya Nagarjuna and the Eighth Chapter of A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by the great Bodhisattva Shantideva, are very helpful. In short, the legacy of these great beings from Nalanda is marked by the cultivation of wisdom to see everything as dream-like in the context of the interdependence of all phenomenon and unconditional love that simply erases all ill-thoughts by embracing all sentient beings, leaving none aside. Tis keeps you, the family of sentient beings and the environment in peace and calmness at all times.

17. Footprints of Nalanda Master Naropa in the Himalayas GYALWANG DRUKPA

According to ‘Te Wand that Opens the Eyes and Dispels the Darkness of Mind (the abridged collection of biographies of the successive Gyalwang Drukpas), Naropa was born around AD 956 and passed away around AD 1050. However, other sources record him as living between AD 1016 and 1100. Naropa was born in the small kingdom of Bengal. His father was a royal chiefain of an area named Shantivarman and his mother was called Srimati. His yearning for spiritual development was so strong that when he was eight years old, he journeyed to Kashmir (one of the main seats for Buddhist studies in historical times) in order to study with the master Gaganakirti. It was from Gaganakirti that he received his lay ordination. Naropa remained in Kashmir for three years, learning Buddhist teachings and philosophies from many great masters. By the end of his stay there he was an erudite scholar and, upon returning home, already had number of students following him as their master. Tree years afer his return from Kashmir, Naropa was forced by his parents to marry a lovely Brahmin girl, Bimaladipi (also known by her caste name, Niguma). Although they were happily married, Naropa’s ardent wish to live to full spiritual life in a monastic environment became increasingly strong and Niguma also began to take spiritual practice seriously. Afer eight years of marriage, the couple decided to divorce and take ordination orders. Later, Niguma became one of Naropa’s most advanced disciples and a devoted spiritual companion; she served Naropa when he lived in Pullahari, Kashmir. After the divorce, Naropa went to the hermitage of Anandarama, where he was ordained as a novice by Abbot Buddhasarana and the guru Jnanaprabha, with whom he stayed for three years, mastering various Mahayana and Tantrayana philosophies. He then stayed in Pullahari

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for six years and wrote several commentaries on Guhyasamajatantra, Abhidharma-uttaratantra, Samvaraudbhava and Hevajratantra and composed many other works based on the Buddha’s teachings. Pullahari later became an important pilgrimage site in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, because it was one of the places where Marpa received instructions from Naropa. Afer his stay in Pullahari, Naropa went to the Nalanda University, where his wisdom, oratory skills and spiritual understanding earned him the chancellorship of the university. He also became the ‘Northern Gatekeeper’. Troughout his eight years’ residence at Nalanda he was constantly faced with difcult debates with the Tirthikas, but was regularly victorious in these. At this time, he was known as Mahapandita Abhaya Kirti (Tibetan: Jigme Dragpa). Naropa’s years at Nalanda were mostly engaged in intellectual activities until an old and ugly woman—who was in fact a manifestation of Vajra Yogini—appeared before him and made him realise that he was not managing to break through his spiritual misconceptions and misunderstandings. She pointed out that he should look for his destined guru Tilopa if he wished to attain Ultimate Liberation. As a result of this meeting Naropa lef Nalanda, searching earnestly for Tilopa—a great master who could lead him to realise the ultimate nature of his own mind. Travelling eastwards, Naropa fnally met his destined root guru, who instantly put him through difcult tests. Naropa experienced twelve major and twelve lesser hardships in order to purify his karma and emotioninduced obscurations. Trough receiving great blessings from Tilopa and accomplishing his own purifcation, Naropa realised the clarity and harmony of mind—truly experiencing the state of Vajradhara. Afer attaining this magnifcent realisation, Naropa taught in many places and had numerous disciples, especially in Kashmir and Zanskar where he established many monasteries. Naropa spent twelve years serving his guru Tilopa until the latter’s death. Naropa himself was said to live until AD 1050 or 1100 (according to the diferent sources) and then resurrected into light, leaving no physical remains. Tilopa and Naropa are both recognised as two of the eighty-four great mahasiddhas in the history of Buddhism. Amongst Naropa’s accomplished disciples was Marpa, the translator, who succeeded Naropa in the lineage and brought the teachings and transmissions in their entirety to Tibet.

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Although Kashmir is now dominated by Islamic infuence, vestiges of Naropa’s activities are still visible to this day. For example, the imposing Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, used to be a huge monastery where Naropa gave teachings to over ten thousand people. During the time of Naropa, both the majority of Kashmiris and the inhabitants of the neighbouring states were accomplished Buddhist practitioners. Te monastery was converted in the thirteenth century into one of Kashmir’s largest mosques. Te base of the three hundred and seventy stone pillars in the four lofy prayer halls is the only proof of its ancient past; as the building has been burnt down and been reconstructed at least three times. About ten minutes’ drive from Srinagar, near the village of Khyiru in the area of Mountain Khunumoo, is the ancient site of Pullahari. Tis is the place where Naropa spent six years afer his enlightenment. His former wife, Niguma, became one of his most accomplished disciples and a great yogini in Pullahari. In many treatises, Niguma is referred to as Naropa’s ‘sister’, whose lineage of instructions is preserved in the Tibetan Tangyur under her caste name, Niguma. In Pullahari, there are two caves, one used by Naropa and one by Niguma, which are only 10 metres apart. Two self-arising rocks are found in Naropa’s cave; the larger one symbolises Naropa and the smaller one Niguma. Tey represent the union of compassion (karuna) and wisdom (prajna) that are the two wings of Ultimate Liberation. It was recorded in history that there used to be a river between Kashmir and Zanskar and that the latter used to be a part of the Kashmir kingdom. Today, with the geographical changes, the ancient river has become an alternating dry and wet river bed suitable only for agricultural purposes. Zanskar was sited along one of the more difficult trails for the Silk Road travellers. However, it enjoyed considerable prosperity and experienced a lot of missionary activity, due to traders and pilgrims traversing the northern parts of India and ancient Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Tibet. Travellers also journeyed between these places and southern India. In the eighth century AD, when Guru Padmasambhava—the great Indian master who introduced Tantric Buddhism into Tibet—journeyed from the Swat Valley (now Pakistan) to Tibet, he stayed for a while in Zanskar and lef many of his sacred ‘body prints’ in several parts of the country.

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For example, Sani, a picturesque village six kilometres west of Padum on the road to Kargil, is a sacred place of Guru Padmasambhava. At this site he manifested as Guru Loden Chaktse and gave teachings near the Kanika Stupa for fve years to the four Kakinis. It is also said that the Lotus-Born Guru hid many treasure texts in the liver-shaped southern mountain peak of this area. Te site of the Kanika stupa is recognised as one of the eight holy charnel grounds. Apparently, the Kanika stupa was constructed by a Kushana ruler, King Kanishka, who came to power in AD 120. In doing this, Kanishka was following the example of the great King Ashoka, who built stupas everywhere in his kingdom in order to spread the Buddha’s teachings. Sani is also the place where Naropa few up into the sky upon attaining enlightenment whilst wearing the renowned Six Bone Ornaments. Naropa meditated in a small hut facing the Kanika stupa and taught the people of Sani for a number of years. When it was time for Naropa to leave, the local people sincerely begged him to stay. Naropa took out a golden Vajradhara statue from the hair knot on his crown and said, “Tere is no diference between Vajradhara and me. Venerate this statue of Vajradhara just as you are venerating me and you will get the same blessing”. Naropa lef afer handing over the golden statue to the local people. Today, this is kept in the heart of a very special Naropa statue, which is unveiled once a year in late July on the eve of the Naro-Nasjal festival. People from all over the Zanskar valley participate in this festival, at which time monks from the Drukpa Bardan Monastery perform mask dances as well as ritual oferings. One of the important caves of Naropa in Zanskar is known as Dzongkhul Monastery. Tis is located on the Padum-Kishtawar trekking trail, just before the ascent to the Omasi-la pass begins. Tis monastery is currently managed by Drukpa Stakna Rinpoche of Ladakh. Tere are actually two caves in Dzongkhul, with the larger of the two (near the access road) being situated within the monastery compound. Tis comprises a Tara shrine room, a Lineage Guru shrine located in the main cave, a Protector shrine and a smaller cavity where spring water can be collected. Just outside the main cave, on a rock ceiling, there is the very arrow that Naropa shot from the opposite mountain across the Ating gorge. A further steep climb of about thirty metres brings one to the upper cave, which was used by Naropa for meditation. A statue of Naropa and one of Vajradhara have been placed there as objects of veneration. His Holiness said that compared to the other Naropa statues, the statue in this

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case is an exact resemblance. Marpa received many of his fnal teachings and instructions in this cave from Naropa. Clinging to a tree-covered ridge above the old village of Pibiting in the Zanskar valley is the Stakrimo Monastery, also managed by Stakna Rinpoche. Tis is the place where Naropa imparted many teachings to Marpa and the dakinis built a secret tunnel running from Kashmir to this monastery so that they could deliver food and supplies to Marpa while he was in retreat. Te Stongdey Monastery is located about eighteen kilometres to the north of Padum on the road to Zangla, where it perches on a rocky outcrop overlooking the oasis-like village. Tis monastery was built by Marpa and was known as ‘Marpa Ling’, before being converted to the Gelugpa School by Lama Gyaltshen Lhundrub Palzangpo. Tere is also a cave on the clif where Marpa used to meditate. Below the rocky clif, there used to be a river that fowed towards Srinagar. Tere are many of such holy pilgrimage sites in Kashmir and Zanskar, related to Naropa and his spiritual heirs. It would be quite impossible to mention all here. Naropa’s indelible footprints in the Himalayas are now enshrined in the minds of the believers of the Kagyu sect (Drukpas) which is the dominant Buddhist sect towards the southern side of the Himalayas from Ladakh, Lahul-Spiti, Kinnaur on to Bhutan.

18. Sowa Rigpa: Traditional Medical System of the Himalayas PEMA DORJEE

Sowa Rigpa refers to the science of healing with sowa meaning “heal” and rigpa meaning “science” or “knowledge”. Tis is the traditional medical system practised throughout the Himalayan region by the Amchis. Te body of all sentient beings is made up of fve elements: earth, water, fre, air and space. Te characteristic features of these elements difer from one another. Tese elements make their part of the contribution in the formation of the body by functioning in accordance with their characteristics. Tese in a balanced state help in the existence of the body, while in an imbalanced state with an increase, decrease and disturbance in the normal proportion of their characteristics cause destruction of the body. Even the remedies to correct the imbalanced state of these elements such as the mountains, rock, forest, river, air, herbs and fowers etc. are of the nature of the fve elements and endowed with the hot and cold power or characteristic, thus having the power to heal the imbalanced elements of the body. For instance, in case of an increase in any of the elements of the body, these remedies have the potency to lessen the substances afecting the body while in the case of a decrease, to increase it. Similarly, for correcting a disturbed state, it can either balance or evacuate it. Diferences in places/location cause diferences in the hot and cold nature, and constitutional types of human beings. For e.g. those born in Tibet or Himalayan regions are kind and caring in nature, have baekanloong constitutional type of body and the medicines grown in this region are cool in potency. Tis is because of the place being surrounded by Himalayas, cool rivers, cool-natured herbs and fowers and clean air with proper space for birds and animals to move freely. Tose born in hot places are broad minded, arrogant, and the medicines grown in this type of places are endowed with warm natured potencies. In any ways, both the hot and cold places have pros and cons.

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However, it is good if people born in cold places live in the same type of place. Otherwise, sudden arrival in hot places and sudden changes in diet, lifestyle, and climatic conditions can cause disturbances in the bodily elements and result in severe disorders. Te same thing can be applied to those born in hot places. But, if one can follow a dietary and lifestyle regimen in accordance with the nature of the place and climatic conditions etc. the bodily elements will also be balanced. Terefore, it is mentioned in the Tibetan Medical Text that if one wishes to eat unfamiliar food or abandon any habitual foods, one should do so by gradually increasing the unfamiliar food and slowly giving up the familiar food. Even in the absence of facilities like physicians and clinics in these areas, and without any kind of guidance, our body prefers to opt for conditions opposite to that of the one which caused it to sufer. For e.g. in case of development of hot disorders due to an excessive increase of the element fre, one feels headache, bitter taste in mouth, severe pain in the upper body, high body temperature, diarrhoea or vomiting of blood and tripa etc. In such cases, the patient opts for cool conditions such as cold water, relaxing, craving for bitter-tasting foods and even requests friends to get them the same. In case of degeneration of digestive fre due to an excessive increase of elements earth, water and air and decrease of element fre, one experiences loss of body heat, paleness of tongue and gums etc., excessive mucus, heaviness of body and mind, difcult digestion of food, restlessness, sigh, dizziness, unlocalised pain, and rigidity and contraction. In such cases, the patient automatically opts for warm conditions like hot water, bone soup, warm place, warm clothing, warm foods and even requests friends to get them the same. In this way, even in these kinds of places, people can survive with these natural responses of the body to that condition. Out of the parents, the mother especially is considered to be the foremost physician as she is very compassionate towards her child; nurtures the child well away from the suferings of hot and cold, feeding the child with nectar like lukewarm breast milk that extends from her own body. Tereafer, she makes the child gradually accustomed to food. In short, the mother is the one who knows what is best for the child’s development, and is endowed with the quality and nature of a Menpa or physician. Menpa is the Tibetan word for physician, which also means “benefactor”. Te mother with her experience of the nature and its changes guides the child to follow an appropriate diet and lifestyle regimen in accordance with the nature outside. Terefore, Sowa Rigpa is based on the principle that the hot

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and cold nature of the body can be determined on the basis of the changes in the elements of nature such as hot and cold etc. Gradually, with the development of the mind, people started to develop facilities like medicine, physician, and clinic. All sentient beings have three nyepa within them, of which loong is made up of element air, tripa of element fre, and baeken of elements earth and water. Tese nyepa are responsible for the mind–body Figure 18.1: Five Elements and Tree Nyepa connection. Nonbeings have the fve elements present in them but are devoid of the nyepas loong, tripa and baekan. From tripa is produced heat while from baekan and loong are produced coldness in the body which we normally experience in our body. Tis acts as the basic principle of traditional medical systems like Ayurveda, Tibetan Medicine and Chinese Medicine. When our body is afected by a disease, we say atsah or achhu! as a verbal expression of our pain and sufering. Just as the body is comprised of hot, cold and air, the space also has sun, moon and air. Te sun helps in the development of heat, moon helps in the development of cold energy and air in the development of air in the body. Any kind of increase, decrease or disturbance in the normal rhythm of the energies of sun, moon and air causes drought, food, storms etc. which make the body sufer. Other than this, the sun, moon and air which have always been of great beneft to the body are because of the need of universe and the beings. As mentioned earlier, the three nyepa are made up of the fve elements, the human body and the regenerative fuid of the father and mother. With ignorance as the root cause, the three mental poisons give rise to the three nyepa in the body. Loong refers to movement or the mobile force in the body, be it physical, verbal or mental; tripa refers to heat or burning and baekan which is of earth and water element refers to the cold energy in the body. Baekan and tripa are opposite in nature while loong assists both of these energies in performing their functions. Tese three nyepa

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in a balanced state maintain the body in a disease-free state while in an imbalanced state of increase, decrease and disturbance make the body diseased. Te factors responsible for causing imbalance of these nyepa are seasons, evil spirits, diet and lifestyle with the mind being the prime factor. Mind is responsible for all the activities of body and speech. An ignorant mind causes the body and speech to act in wrong ways due to which the three nyepa are imbalanced leading to a diseased body. Similarly, imbalance in the normal rhythm of the characteristics of seasons in the form of disuse, overuse and misuse causes diseases. Evil spirit is something which is the result of imagination created by the sentient being in its mind and the infuences of the same cause mental diseases. Diseases can be classifed into four hundred and four types: one hundred and one diseases of this lifetime, one hundred and one minor transient diseases, one hundred and one diseases caused by evil spirit infuences and one hundred and one diseases infuenced by negative imprints of past lives. Of these, the one hundred and one diseases caused by negative imprints of past lives can not be treated simply with medicines but one has to take up religious rituals as remedial measures. Since the other diseases have nothing to do with past life imprints, it is said that these can be treated with medicines. Even though there are innumerable classifcations of diseases in terms of their general features, there is no disease that cannot be summed up under loong, tripa and baekan. Tere is no location of diseases other than the seven bodily supports (nutritional essence, blood, muscle tissue, fat, bones, marrow and regenerative fuid) and the three excretions (faeces, urine and perspiration). No matter how high a bird fies in the space, it has no place other than the space to fy. According to the age factor, elderly people, adults and children are classifed as loong, tripa and baekan respectively. Te body is more susceptible to the disease related to its type at a specifc age. For instance, in case of an elderly man who is like an old car and whose bodily elements have degenerated, the old age acts as its causative condition. Its bodily essence has degenerated thereby making the body susceptible to loong diseases, which is risky. In case of an adult, the bodily supports are all at the developing state at this age. Te abdominal strength, complexion of face etc. are all at its glowing best, thus making one susceptible to tripa diseases, which is considered risky. A child being reliant upon milk as its food, and fond of sleep has its body parts yet to be developed. If he is caught by a baekan disease at this age, it is considered risky.

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In the circle of a day and night, loong diseases aggravate in the evening and at dawn; tripa diseases at noon and at midnight, and baekan diseases at dusk and in the morning. Likewise, in seasons, loong diseases aggravate during summer; tripa during autumn and baekan during spring. Just as it is always important to be careful and cautious about the age and seasonal factors, it is also important to follow a dietary and lifestyle regimen in accordance with the seasonal changes. Te Tibetan healing system ofers three ways of diagnostics methods: visual examination, touch and interrogation.

Figure 18.2: Diagnostics Methods

Diagnosing a disease through the visual examination includes all objects of diagnostic methods connected with the eyes of the physician such as the height, body structure, complexion of the patient and examination of the tongue and urine in particular. Tis is the examination by understanding the true nature of the objects seen by eyes. Diagnosing a disease through the examination by touch includes all objects of diagnostic methods connected with the touch of the physician such as body temperature, texture and reading in particular of the messenger-like pulse which connects the disease and the physician and identifying foating, empty and halting pulses as loong pulse; fast, overfowing and twisted as tripa pulse, and sunken, declining and slow as baekan pulse. Tis method is the intense intellectual observation through which the physician can understand the hidden matter. Diagnosing a disease through the examination by questioning the patient includes all objects of the physician’s ears i.e. the sound or words produced from the patient’s mouth. Tis examination can be done by asking a question in the three tenses of the past, present and future: Past: interrogating the cause of disease by which we can determine the related nyepa; Present: Characteristics of the disease; Future: A verifying test to exactly determine the disease.

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Afer the disease is identifed, one has to undergo the treatment methods. Tese are diet, lifestyle, medicine and external therapy. Tese remedial measures should be applied in accordance with the nature and strength of the disease. Diet and lifestyle are two factors which act as both the causative factors as well as the remedial measures of diseases. It is mentioned in the Tibetan Medical text that “one should avoid the two conditions that cause arousal of diseases”. Intake of a wholesome diet and indulgence in wholesome lifestyle activities beneft the body and help to prevent diseases. Similarly, the intake of unwholesome diet and indulgence in wrong lifestyle activities act like poison in the body. Terefore, one should always follow a proper dietary and lifestyle regimen. Te Tibetan Medical Text states that there cannot be an efect from a cause without a contributing condition; therefore, it is important to abandon conditional factors. According to Tibetan Medicine, everything in this world is made up of fve elements and can be used as medicines. It is not necessary to compound medicines like precious medicine, stone medicine, soil medicine, wood medicine, aromatic medicine, herbal medicine together. For example, in the unavailability of other medicines listed above, medicines can be prepared using herbs. It is more potent as compared to medicines like precious medicine and camphor etc. With the kind blessings of the Buddha and the compassionate beings, these herbs grow everywhere and if the physician has a proper knowledge in the identifcation of the herbs, he can treat a patient by collecting the nearby grown herbs. External therapy refers to eliminating or pacifying a disease by means of an external intervention. Tibetan Medicine comes in diferent forms. It can be classifed into pacifying and evacuative medicines. Pacifying medicine consists of decoction, medicinal powder, pills, paste etc.

Decoction

Medicinal Powder

Pills

Figure 18.3: Pacifying Medicines

Paste

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PURGATION

MILD ENEMA

EMESIS

NASAL MEDICATION

STRONG ENEMA

Figure 18.4: Evacuative Medicines

Evacuative medicine consists of purgation, emesis, nasal medication, enema and strong enema:

VENESECTION

CUPPING

TSHUG

Figure 18.5: External Terapy

External therapies consist of venesection, moxibustion, compresses, medicinal bath, massage and surgical therapies as: Apply venesection for treating hot natured diseases; moxibustion/ heating such as cupping and tshug for cold natured diseases; compresses on the point of diseases etc.

19. Himalayan Food Culture JYOTI PRAKASH TAMANG

Introduction Te Himalayas range from the Indus Trench below Nanga Parbat (8,125 m) in the West to the Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra gorge below Namche Barwa (7,756 m) in the East, a west-northwest to east-southeast distance of about 2,500 km and a width of 200–300 km, and include India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Arunachal Pradesh and some hill regions of northern Assam), Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet Autonomous Region in China. Te agro-climatic conditions of the Himalayas vary from hot sub-humid tropical in the southern low tracts to temperate, cold alpine and glacial in the northern high mountains, due to their various sub-ecological locations, elevation and topography. Agriculture and livestock are the major livelihoods in the Himalayas, where the ethnic people have traditionally practiced integrated agriculture, animal husbandry, agro-forestry and forestry. Te Himalayan regions are genetic resources of many indigenous varieties of agricultural plants: cereals such as rice, maize, fnger millet, wheat, buckwheat, barley, sorghum, pearl millet; pulses such as soybeans, black gram, green gram, garden peas, black lentils, French beans; vegetables such as cabbage, caulifower, leafy mustard (rayo sag), young tendrils, fruits and tubers of squash (iskus), brinjal, chilli, cucumber, young tendrils and fruits of pumpkin, sponge gourd, tomato, tree tomato, lemon etc.; tubers and rhizome such as potato, beetroots, sweet potato, cassava, arum/taro, yam, ginger, turmeric, large cardamom; roots such as radish, carrot etc. Varieties of seasonal fruits such as orange, apple, mango, papaya, guava, banana, pear, peach, fg, avocado etc. are cultivated and consumed. Tea, ginger, large cardamom, garlic, medicinal and aromatic plants, wild and domesticated ornamental plants and orchids are the cash generators for the people. Beefarming (both home and wild) for honey is also a common practice among

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the Himalayan farmers. Varieties of wild edible plants including young bamboo shoots, ferns, stinging nettles and their parts such as seeds, fruits, roots, leaves and fowers are eaten by the Himalayan people as part of their local diet (Rai et al. 2005, Pradhan et al. 2015). Te domestic livestock of the Himalayas includes cow, ox, goat, pig, sheep, yak, ‘joe/churru’ (hybrid of cow and yak), bufalo, poultry etc., which are mainly used for meat, milk and its products, and eggs. Yaks (Bos grunniens) are reared mostly on extensive alpine and sub-alpine scrub lands between 2,100 m to 4,500 m altitude for milk products, meat, hairs, tails and skins (Balaraman and Golay 1991, Sharma et al. 2006). Te river systems along with their tributaries in the Himalayas exhibit a wide range of gradients from the sub-tropical to the alpine zones (Tapa et al. 2006).

Food Culture Ethnic foods are generally categorised into fermented foods including alcoholic beverages (Table 1) and non-fermented foods. Te Himalayan ethnic foods have evolved as a result of traditional wisdom and experiences of generations over a period of time, based on agro-climatic conditions, availability of edible sources, ethnic preference, customary beliefs, religion, socio-economy, regional politics, cultural practices and taboo or social ban imposed by diferent rulers from time to time (Tamang 2001a). Ethnic food culture harnesses the cultural history of ethnic communities; their indigenous knowledge of food production with vast nutritious qualities and microbial diversity associated with fermented foods as genetic resources. Food culture or dietary culture of the Himalayan people presents a kaleidoscopic panorama (Tamang 2005). Te Himalayan culture is wedged between the rich Hindu-Aryan culture in the south and the BuddhistMongolian culture in the north (Tamang 2010). Tus, the Himalayan food culture is a fusion of the Hindu and the Tibetan cuisines with modifcations based on ethnical preference and social ethos over a period of time. Te Himalayan regions bordering Tibet (in China)—Ladakh, Lahul & Spiti, Kinnaur & Kalpa, Chamoli, Pithorgarh, hills of Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Bhutan, north Arunachal Pradesh—have close cultural afnity with the Tibetans which has infuenced the food cultures of the regions, while the Hindu-predominant regions mostly in the foot hills and ‘tarai’ or plain areas of the Himalayas have been infuenced by the vegetarian diets of the Hindus. Migration of people carrying the food culture and habits may also infuence the settlers and thus amalgamation or fusion over a period of time. Te political history of Nepal has seen several changes in its

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demography from 600 BC till the eighteenth century AD (Pradhan 1982). Te greater Nepal extended from Himachal Pradesh to the Far East of Assam till 1816 afer which the British added the territories of Nepal into India by signing the famous ‘Treaty of Sugauli’ on March 4, 1816 (Pradhan 1982). Darjeeling hill was a territory of the Sikkim Kingdom till 1835 which was handed over to the British on lease agreement by the Chogyals or Kings of Sikkim (Bhanja 1993). Rice or maize is a staple food in the Eastern Himalayas whereas wheat or barley is a staple food in the Western Himalayas. Bhat-dal-sabji-tarkaridahi/mohi-achar combination, which corresponds to steamed rice-legume soup-vegetable-curry-curd/butter milk-pickle, is a typical recipe of every meal in the Eastern Himalayas and roti/chapatti-dal-sabji-dahi-achar, corresponding to baked bread/roti-legume soup-vegetable curry-curdpickle is a typical recipe of every meal in the Western Himalayas. Tough the people of the Eastern Himalayas are mainly rice eaters, nowadays, roti or chapati (wheat-based baked bread) is replacing this traditional habit particularly among the urban population. Dhenroh, boiled maize-four, is substituted for rice and is commonly eaten with mohi, buttermilk, in rural areas in Nepal, Bhutan, Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. Food culture of the Himalayas is very rich in having more than 300 types of ethnic fermented foods, 100 types of ethnic alcoholic beverages and more than 600 types of non-fermented ethnic foods. Daily life of a typical Himalayan people (in this case a typical example of a Gorkha of the Himalayas) starts in the morning with a full mug of tea taken with sugar or salt with or without milk, and with or without a pinch of black pepper. Te frst meal eaten in the morning is a simple recipe containing bhat-dal-sabji-tarkari-dahi/mohi-achar. Tarkari means a side dish or curry which includes varieties of ethnic fermented and non-fermented food items. It is followed by light refreshment with mostly traditional snacks and tea in the afernoon. Te second major meal is dinner, which is served early in the evening, and which consists of the same bhat-dal-sabji-tarkari-dahi/mohiachar. Food culture of the matwali Nepali (alcohol drinkers which is a part social provision) fnds ethnic fermented beverages and distilled alcoholic drink in the evening meal (Tamang 2009). Tibetan, Bhutia, Drukpa and Lepcha usually eat tukpa (noodles in soup), skiu or momo (small dumplings of wheat four with meats), baked potatoes, tsampa (ground roasted barley grains), chhurpi (cottage cheese), kargyong and gyuma (sausages), butter tea and chyang (alcoholic beverage). Te ethnic people of Northeast India have social provision of drinking traditional alcohol with fermented or smoked

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fsh and other dishes. In high mountains (more than 2,500 m), yak milk and its products are popular food items. Milk and milk products are more popular in the Western than the Eastern Himalayas except Darjeeling hills, Sikkim and Bhutan. In Northeast India except Assam and Tripura, milk and milk products are not the traditional food items; hence, fermented milk products have not been reported from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and several parts in Arunachal Pradesh where pastoral system is rare or seldom. Te common connotation in Nepali cuisine is chawrasi vyanjanas i.e., Nepali has eighty-four diferent food items. Te Himalayan food is less spicy and prepared in butter from cow milk or yak milk, but now commercial edible oil is also used. Majority of the Himalayan ethnic people are nonvegetarians except the Brahmin communities, who are strict vegetarians. Due to health consciousness and rapid electronic advertisements on health and nutrition, the food habits in the urban areas of the Himalayas is changing to a vegetarian diet. Non-vegetarians eat chicken, eggs, mutton, lamb, chevon, pork, beef, bufalo, yak, fsh etc. Beef and yak is taboo to a majority of the communities belonging to Nepali, Garwhali, Kumauni, Assamese and people from Himachal Pradesh. Te Newar/Pradhan prefer to eat bufalo meat. Cooking is usually done by daughter-in-laws, daughters and mothers. A custom serving meals to the elder male members in the family is well-prevalent in the Himalayan food culture. Daughters-inlaw and daughters eat aferwards, a tradition which is still followed in the rural areas. Tis trend of serving meals to elders and eating separately is changing in the urban areas where the family is seen eating together. Te practice of storing of foods is of a unique type in the Himalayas. Maa (in Tibetan language), butter made from yak milk, is commonly stored in the animal stomach in the Tibetan villages in Ladakh (Attenborough et al. 1994); whereas gheu (in Nepali language), butter made from cow milk is stored in a wooden or bamboo container by the Nepali in Nepal, Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. Tis is due to the local availability of storage containers, since bamboos are not grown in alpine regions. Te Himalayan people use hands and thus wash properly to feed themselves. Eating foods with hands has been mentioned in the history of Nepal during the Lichchhavi dynasty (100 AD to 880 AD) (Bajracharya and Shrestha 1973). Bamboo-made chopstick is commonly used by the Tibetans. Use of chopsticks is not the tradition of the Himalayan people except the Tibetans. Plates made up of brass or lining with brass called kasa ko thal are traditionally used by a majority of rural Nepali, Kumaoni, Garhwali etc. Te rich people or rulers used to feed on golden or silver

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plates with decorations. Small soup-bowls are used by Tibetans, Bhutia, Lepcha and Drukpa of Bhutan. Locally available tree leaves i.e. commonly available fg plants, are also used in in some parts of Northeast India for serving foods. Ethnic fermented foods and beverages in the Himalayas are socially and culturally acceptable food items in the local cuisines. Besides taste and aroma, ethnic foods have been used for non-edible purposes such as worshipping gods and goddesses, ofering to nature, spirit possession etc. Some ethnic foods have social importance for celebration particularly during festivals and special occasions. Every food has its social or ethnic value and is associated with custom and culture of the community. Tere exists a ritual that the Nepali Brahmin male afer bratabandha (Christianised into Hindu) and the Hindu female afer marriage are not allowed to take stale food (Tamang 2009). As per the conventions food cooked in a roofess place is not allowed to be eaten and this belief still prevails in the society. Te Himalayan kingdoms like Sikkim and Nepal were ruled by kings for a period of time; as a result there emerged only two classes of people in the society: the rich and the poor (Tamang 2005). Ethnic fermented foods like kinema, gundruk, sinki, along with boiled maize pudding locally called dheroh are generally graded as poor-man’s foods and are common among the rural poor (Tamang 1997); the rich people during that period might not have tasted or consumed such foods due to social status. Probably, these ethnic foods must have had their origin in the food palate of the poorer section. Te poorer class included the working labourers and farmers, who needed inexpensive and easily cooked food to fll their tummies to the fullest. Tus, foods like dheroh, kinema, gundruk, sinki, etc. might have emerged as a result of this need and preference of the poor class. Tese foods are still considered as poor man’s foods in the Nepali society. Today, these ethnic foods are associated with culture and tradition yet they are not at all accepted to be consumed during special occasions and festivals. Bhutanese people have more or less homogenous food habits and are mostly non-vegetarians. Teir cuisines are similar to the Tibetan cuisines; however, the ethnic Nepali of Bhutan has identical food habits with the people of Darjeeling hills, Sikkim and Nepal. From the fusion of ethnic foods of the Nepali and that of the Drukpa, has emerged a unique Bhutanese cuisine.

Sociology of Himalayan Fermented Foods Invention of biopreservation methods by the ethnic people of the Himalayan regions through pit fermentation or lactic acid fermentation is

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signifcant due to the transformation of the availability of raw materials at a particular season to those of defcit (Tamang et al. 2005). Sun-drying of freshly prepared gundruk, sinki is a traditional preserving method by which the shelf-life of the products is prolonged. Dried products are preserved for several months without refrigeration and consumed during the long monsoon season when fresh vegetables are scarce. Dry gundruk, sinki and inziangsang are comparatively lighter than the weight of fresh substrates and can therefore, be carried easily while travelling a long distance in the difcult terrains of a mountainous country like Nepal. People might have invented such preservation techniques to feed themselves while travelling for long distances and also to store for future use whenever vegetables were in plenty. Carrying dry fermented products is still common practice in the Himalayas while travelling for long distances (Tamang 2005). Because of the acidic taste, gundruk, sinki and inziangsang are said to be good appetisers and the ethnic people use these foods for remedies from indigestion. Gundruk and sinki are part of the ritual codes that apply afer the death in the family of Newars. Tey believe that gundruk and sinki may not be eaten for the frst eleven days following the death in the family. On the last day, i.e., the twentieth day of the death ceremony, gundruk and sinki are traditionally served to the family. Tis is a tradition that is followed by the Newar. Soibum-based dishes are highly preferred during social and religious ceremonies in Manipur. Dahi (curd) plays an important part in the socio-religious habits of the Himalayan people and is considered as a sacred item in many of their festivals and religious ceremonies both by Hindus and Buddhists. Dahi is a common savoury but it is also used as an adhesive to make tika with rice and coloured-powder during the Hindu festival called ‘dashai’ and is applied to foreheads by the family elders. Dahi is also mixed with beaten rice locally called chiura and makes an essential food item during the festival such as ‘ashar ko pandra’ signifying the beginning of work in the felds for the farmers. Dahi is ofered to the bridegroom as a symbol of good luck during marriage and is essential for solemnising the marriage of a Hindu. Tibetans, Bhutia and the Lepcha also use dahi (shyow) in their religious and social events in marriages and funerals. Shyow (curd) is served exclusively during ‘shoton’ festival of the Tibetans. Mohi or buttermilk is used as a beverage in meals during many social festivals and religious events. It is ofered to guests and visitors in many of the homes as a refreshing savoury. For both Hindus and Buddhists, gheu or butter is a sacred item in all their religious ceremonies and is used in birth, marriage, death as well as in other prayers as sacred oferings. Te giving of Gheu

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to a newborn baby along with honey by the father to protect it from any disease is a tradition among the Nepalis. Gheu is also used for lighting the lamps for gods and goddesses in Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries. Sof chhurpi is served as an important dish as curry and pickle achar in the various religious and social festivals. Chhu is an important local food and is consumed by the Tibetans and Bhutia as soup along with rice when other foods are not easily available. Hard chhurpi is eaten in high altitudes by Tibetans as chewing gum and masticator which gives an extra energy to the body by continuous movement of the jaws and gum. Somar is consumed mostly by the older generation of the Sherpa and is generally consumed to increase the appetite and to cure digestive problems. Celebration of festivals with selroti is a custom of the Nepali and is served as a confectionery during festivals (Yonzan and Tamang 2009). Selroti is prepared in almost all functions and festivals, particularly on ‘bhaitika’ in ‘tihar’ by Nepali sisters for their brothers. It is also served in marriages and death-related rituals. It is a customary to hand over a basket full of freshly fried selroti to the bride’s parents by the groom during marriage among the Nepalis. Tis is probably to supplement the sweetdish, which is traditionally not common among the Nepalis, for greetings. Traditionally, the newly married Nepali bride visits her parent’s house once in a year. When she returns to her husband’s house she should carry a thumsey (local name for bamboo basket) containing freshly fried-selroti. Tis is traditionally known as pani roti in Nepali. Selroti is traditionally served along with other traditional food items during ‘bhai tika’, a Hindu festival, which is observed to honour the brothers by their sisters. Beside this, it is also served during other festivals of the Nepalis like chaitay dasai, maghay sakranti, bara dasai, etc. Fried selroti products can be preserved for about 10–15 days without refrigeration and consumed as it is or afer slightly warming up. Carrying fried selroti is a traditional practice in the Himalayas while travelling for long distances. Some of the fermented products of Himachal Pradesh have ethnic values. Siddu is served hot with ghee (butter) or chutney (pickle) in the rural areas of Himachal Pradesh as a special dish on customary occasions. Chilra is prepared during marriage ceremonies and festivals in Himachal Pradesh. Marchu is eaten during local festivals (phagli, halda), religious and marriage ceremonies in Lahaul. It is customary for the daughter to take marchu whenever she visits her maternal home from those of the in-laws or vice-versa in Himachal Pradesh (Takur et al. 2004).

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Fish is popular in the places nearby rivers and their tributaries, lakes and ponds in the Himalayas. Te ethnic people of Northeast India catch freshwater fsh from the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries and lakes. Nonconsumption of fsh products by the Tibetans may be due to the religious taboo as fsh is worshipped for longevity and the Buddhists strongly believe that releasing captured fsh into the rivers may prolong their longevity through the prayers called ‘tshethar’. Moreover, lakes are regarded as sacred by the Buddhists in Sikkim, Bhutan, Ladakh and Tibet barring them from angling. Another reason for not consuming fsh in the local diet may be due to the taste for animal meats and dairy products and the presence of minute bones and scales in the fsh which hinder them from being eaten as easily as compared to animal meats with larger bones (Tamang 2010). A sizable number of populace in the Himalayas are meat-eaters; however, regular consumption of meat is expensive for a majority of the poor people. People slaughter domestic animals (goats, pigs, cow, yaks and sheep) usually on special occasions, festivals and marriages. During ‘dasai’, goats are ritually sacrifced to please the Goddess Durga by the nonBrahmin Nepalis. Afer the ceremony, the fresh meat is cooked and eaten as a family feast; the remaining meat is preserved by smoking above the earthen oven to make suka ko masu for future consumption. Tibetans, Bhutia, Drukpa and Lepcha slaughter yaks occasionally, consume the fresh meat and the remaining fesh of the meat is smoked or preserved in open air called satchu. Te ethnic people of the Kumaun Himalaya prepare chartayshya curry especially during kolatch festival (worshipping of the ancestral spirit) and ofer to ancestors before eating (Rai et al 2009). Marcha, non-food, amylolytic starter makers are restricted to the Limboo and Rai castes of the Nepalis and the Lepcha. Traditionally, the Limboo and Rai are known as matwalis, meaning alcohol drinkers. Te preparation of marcha is done by women of these castes. In order to keep this art secret, marcha is prepared usually at night. Te trade in marcha is protected as a hereditary right of these castes. Tis may be the reason of adopting the marcha preparation only by certain ethnic groups. Marital status is a strong determinant in the preparation of marcha by the Rai castes of the Nepali who allow only widows or spinsters to make marcha. Te Limboo do not follow the marital status for making marcha. Many marcha producers believe that addition of wild herbs gives more sweetness to the product and they also believe that adding chillies and ginger gets rid of devils that may spoil the product during preparation.

HIMALAYAN FOOD CULTURE • 285

Tis is actually to check the growth of undesirable micro-organisms that may inhibit the growth of native micro-organisms of marcha (Soedarsono 1972) and addition of sweet herbs is to supplement the carbon source for growing organisms in marcha. Moa tribes in Nagaland believe that the use of charcoal pieces and Elscholtzia blanda during khekhrii preparation act as antimicrobial regulators to keep the fermenting rice free from contamination (Mao 1998). Drinking of alcohol is a part of the social provision to the majority of the ethnic people of the Himalayas except for Brahmin Hindus and Muslims, for whom alcohol is taboo (Tamang 2010). Jaanr and raksi are essential to solemnise the marriage ceremony of non-Brahmin Hindu Nepalis and the Buddhist tribes (Tamang et al 1996). Eloping is a common practice in the Himalayas. Traditionally, relatives of the boy usually afer three days, visit the girl’s parents with bottles of locally prepared ethnic distilled liquor raksi/aarak to respect the verdict of her parents and pay the penalty for elopement. Once the consent is granted by the girl’s parents, freshly prepared raksi is served to signify the union of the two families and the marriage is thus solemnised. Such practice of bridging two families by a bottle of alcoholic drink is common only among the Himalayan people; mostly the non-Brahmin Nepalis. Ethnic alcoholic beverages have a strong ritual importance. Alcoholic beverages are ofered to perform the ‘pitri puja’ or ‘kul puja’; the religious practice to pray to the family gods and goddesses by the diferent ethnic people. Mong chee (alcoholic beverage of Lepcha) is essential in various cultural functions such as ‘lirum’, ‘sejum’ and ‘namsung’. Mandokpenaa thea (alcoholic beverage of Limboo) flled in toongbaa and rice-made raksi are used for performing a ritual of the Limboo called ‘tonsin mundhum’. Tose who come to ofer condolences at a funeral or a memorial service for the deceased are served with alcoholic beverages mostly among the Tibetans, Drukpa, Sherpa, Bhutia, Lepcha, Naga, Bodo etc. Spirit possession among the ethnic people of the Himalayas is a common tradition (Hitchcock and Jones 1994). ‘Phedangma’ and ‘bijuwa’, the Limboo priests, and ‘Lama’, the Buddhist priest, essentially use freshly distilled liquor raksi/aarak during spirit possession. ‘Losar’ or the Tibetan New Year is celebrated by the traditional Tibetan cuisines which basically consist of chyang (fermented barley beverage), fresh roasted barley four for phye-mar (sweetened barley four symbolising good wishes), gro-ma (a small dried sweet potato), bras-sil (sweet rice)

286 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

and lo-phud (a young sprout of wheat or barley symbolising the birth of the new year), tea, butter, sheep’s head, butter lamps, fruits and sweets— especially locally produced foodstufs (Rigzin 1993). Ayela, a clear drink of the Newar, is traditionally prepared during the month of December immediately afer the conclusion of the marriage season which usually falls in November. Te Newars believe that the quality of ayela remains better if it is prepared by a woman. Te month in Newar called ‘pahela’ (the month of fermentation and regarded as the best month for fermentation) is closely associated with ayela. Tis month falls in the winter season shortly before the marriage season (December to mid-January). Tere is a superstition among the Newar that the quality of ayela determines the reputation of the marriage ceremony. If the best quality ayela is served, the guests may grade the ceremony as the best.

Conclusion Food culture of the Himalayas is unique and is a fusion of the soybean– alcohol-consuming Chinese culture from the north and milk–vegetableeating Hindu culture from the south. In fact, the Muslim food culture has not much infltrated into the Himalayan food culture except in the Jammu and Kashmir region. Te British have infuenced the food culture of the Himalayan people mostly in the regions where the British ruled for a century or more particularly in the Darjeeling hills, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Assam etc. but the infuence of the British cuisines has not changed or added any new fermented food products to the Himalayan people. Tere are many English food products that have been adapted to the food culture of India such as cakes, pastries, breads and loaves, processed cheese, hams, fruit juice, wine, beer, brandy, whisky, rum, sizzlers etc. Tough the diversity of the Himalayan foods is unknown to most of the countries outside the Himalayas, no doubt these ethnic foods and alcoholic drinks have been consumed by the Himalayan people for more than 2,500 years as per the historical records.

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37. Tamang, J.P. (2010). Himalayan Fermented Foods: Microbiology, Nutrition, and Ethnic Values. New York: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. 38. Tamang, J.P., Chettri, R. and Sharma, R.M. (2009). “Indigenous Knowledge of Northeast Women on Production of Ethnic Fermented Soybean Foods”, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 8 (1): 122-126. 39. Tamang, J.P., Dewan, S., Tamang, B., Rai, A., Schillinger, U. and Holzapfel, W.H. (2007a). “Lactic Acid Bacteria in Hamei and Marcha of North East India”, Indian Journal of Microbiology, 47 (2): 119-125. 40. Tamang, J.P., Dewan, S., Tapa, S., Olasupo, N. A., Schillinger, U. and Holzapfel, W. H. (2000). “Identifcation and Enzymatic Profles of Predominant Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Sof-Variety Chhurpi, A Traditional Cheese Typical of the Sikkim Himalayas”, Food Biotechnology, 14 (1&2): 99-112. 41. Tamang, J.P. and Nikkuni, S. (1996). “Selection of Starter Culture for Production of Kinema, Fermented Soybean Food of the Himalaya”, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 12 (6): 629-635. 42. Tamang, J.P. and Nikkuni, S. (1998). “Efect of Temperatures during Pure Culture Fermentation of Kinema”, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 14 (6): 847850. 43. Tamang, J.P. and Sarkar, P.K. (1993). “Sinki—A Traditional Lactic Acid Fermented Radish Tap Root Product”, Journal of General and Applied Microbiology, 39: 395-408. 44. Tamang, J.P. and Sarkar, P.K. (1995). “Microbiology of Murcha—An Amylolytic Fermentation Starter”, Microbios, 81:115-122. 45. Tamang, J.P. and Sarkar, P.K. “Microbiology of Mesu, A Traditional Fermented Bamboo Shoot Product”, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 29: 49-58. 46. Tamang, J.P. and Tapa, S. (2006). “Fermentation Dynamics during Production of Bhaati Jaanr, A Traditional Fermented Rice Beverage of the Eastern Himalayas”, Food Biotechnology, 20 (3): 251-261. 47. Tamang, J.P., Tapa, S., Tamang, N. and Rai, B. (1996). “Indigenous Fermented Food Beverages of Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim: Process and Product Characterization”, Journal of Hill Research, 9(2): 401-411. 48. Tamang, J.P., Tamang, B., Schillinger, U., Franz, C.M.A.P., Gores, M., and Holzapfel, W.H. (2005). “Identifcation of Predominant Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Traditional Fermented Vegetable Products of the Eastern Himalayas”, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 105 (3): 347-356. 49. Takur, N., Savitri and Bhalla, T.C. (2004). “Characterisation of Some Traditional Fermented Foods and Beverages of Himachal Pradesh”, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 3 (3): 325-335. 50. Tapa, N., Pal, J. and Tamang, J.P. (2004). “Microbial Diversity in Ngari, Hentak and Tungtap, Fermented Fish Products of Northeast India”, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 20 (6): 599-607. 51. Tapa, N., Pal, J. and Tamang, J.P. (2006). “Phenotypic Identifcation and Technological Properties of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Traditionally Processed Fish Products of the Eastern Himalayas”, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 107 (1): 33-38.

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52. Tapa, N., Pal, J. and Tamang, J.P. (2007). “Microbiological Profle of Dried Fish Products of Assam”, Indian Journal of Fisheries, 54 (1): 121-125. 53. Tapa, S. and Tamang, J.P. (2004). “Product Characterization of Kodo Ko Jaanr: Fermented Finger Millet Beverage of the Himalayas”, Food Microbiology, 21: 617-622. 54. Tapa, S. and Tamang, J.P. (2006). “Microbiological and Physico-Chemical Changes during Fermentation of Kodo Ko Jaanr: A Traditional Alcoholic Beverage of the Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim”, Indian Journal of Microbiology, 46 (4): 333-341. 55. Yonzan, H. and Tamang, J.P. (2009). “Traditional Processing of Selroti: A Cereal-Based Ethnic Fermented Food of the Nepalis”, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 8 (1): 110-114.

Table 1. Himalayan Fermented Foods (References: Chettri, R. and Tamang, J.P. 2008, Dahal et al. 2005, Das et al. 2007, Dewan and Tamang 2006, 2007, Jeyaram et al. 2008a, b, Kanwar et al. 2007, Karki 1986, Katiyar et al. 1989, Kozaki et al. 2000, Singh and Singh 2006, Tamang 2001b, Tamang and Tamang 2009a, b, 2010, Tamang et al. 2005, 2008, Tamang 2003, Tamang et al. 2007, 2009, Tamang and Tapa 2006, Tapa and Tamang 2004, 2006, Tapa et al. 2004, 2006, 2007) Food

Substrate

Nature and use

Region

Gundruk

Leafy vegetable

Dried, sour-acidic; soup, pickle

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Inziang-sang Mustard leaves

Dried, sour; soup, curry

Nagaland, Manipur

Inziang-dui

Mustard leaves

Liquid, sour; condiment

Nagaland, Manipur

Goyang

Green vegetable

Freshly fermented; Sikkim, Nepal juice as condiment, soup

Sinki

Radish tap-root Dried, sour-acidic; soup, pickle

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Khalpi

Cucumber

Sour; pickle

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Mesu

Bamboo shoot

Sour; pickle

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Soibum

Bamboo shoot

Sour-acidic; curry

Manipur

Soidon

Bamboo shoot tips

Sour-acidic; curry

Manipur

Soijim

Bamboo shoot

Liquid, sour; condiment

Manipur

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Ekung

Bamboo shoot

Sour-acidic; curry, soup

Arunachal Pradesh

Hirring

Bamboo shoot tips

Sour-acidic; curry, soup

Arunachal Pradesh

Eup

Bamboo shoot

Dry, acidic; curry, soup

Arunachal Pradesh

Lung-siej

Bamboo shoot

Sour-acidic; curry

Meghalaya

Bastanga

Bamboo shoot

Sour-acidic; curry

Nagaland

Sinnamani

Radish

Freshly fermented, sour; pickle

Nepal

Anishi

Taro leaves

Fermented; sour; curry

Nagaland

Kinema

Soybean

Sticky, favoured; curry

East Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Hawaijar

Soybean

Sticky, favoured; side-dish as fshsubstitute

Manipur

Tungrymbai

Soybean

Sticky, favoured; curry

Meghalaya

Aakhone

Soybean

Sticky or drycakes; side-dish

Nagaland

Bekang

Soybean

Sticky, favoured; side-dish

Mizoram

Peruyaan

Soybean

Sticky, soybeans; curry

Arunachal Pradesh

Maseura

Black gram

Dry, ball-like; condiment

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Dahi

Cow milk

Curd; savoury

All

Shyow

Yak milk

Curd; savoury

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Gheu

Cow milk

Butter

All

Maa

Yak milk

Butter

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Mohi

Cow milk

Buttermilk; refreshing beverage

Eastern Himalayas

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Lassi

Cow milk

Buttermilk; refreshing beverage

Western Himalayas

Chhurpi (sof)

Cow milk

Sof, cheese-like; curry, pickle

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Chhurpi (hard)

Yak milk

Hard-mass, masticator

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh

Dudh chhurpi

Cow milk

Hard-mass, masticator

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Phrung

Yak milk

Hard-mass, masticator

Arunachal Pradesh

Chhu or sheden

Cow/Yak milk

Sof, strong favoured; curry

Sikkim, Bhutan

Chur yuupa

Yak milk

Sof, favoured; curry, soup

Arunachal Pradesh

Somar

Cow/Yak milk

Paste, favoured; condiment

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Dachi

Cow/Yak milk

Sof, cheese-like, strong favoured; hot curry

Bhutan

Philu

Cow/Yak milk

Cream; fried curry with butter

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet

Pheuja or Suja

Tea-yak butter

Fermented butter tea

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Paneer

Whey of cow milk

Sof, cheese-like product; fried snacks

Western Himalayas

Selroti

Rice-wheat four-milk

Pretzel-like, deep fried; bread

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Jalebi

Wheat four

Crispy sweet, deep fried pretzels; snacks

Western Himalayas

Nan

Wheat four

Leaved bread; baked; staple

Western Himalayas

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Siddu

Wheat four, opium seeds, walnut

Steamed bread, oval-shaped; staple

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Chilra

Wheat/barley/ buckwheat

Like dosa; staple

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Marchu

Wheat four

Baked breads; staple

Himachal Pradesh

Bhaturu

Wheat four

Baked breads; staple

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Seera

Wheat grains

Dried, sweet dish

Himachal Pradesh

Suka ko maacha

River fsh

Smoked, sundried; curry

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Gnuchi

River fsh

Smoked; curry

Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Sidra

Fish

Dried fsh; curry

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Sukuti

Fish

Dried fsh; curry

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim, Bhutan

Ngari

Fish

Fermented fsh; curry

Manipur

Hentak

Fish and petioles of aroid plants

Fermented fsh paste; curry

Manipur

Tungtap

Fish

Fermented; pickle

Meghalaya

Karati

Fish

Dried, salted; curry

Assam

Bordia

Fish

Dried, salted; curry

Assam

Lashim

Fish

Dried, salted; curry

Assam

Mio

Fish

Dried; curry

Arunachal Pradesh

Naakangba

Fish

Sun-dried; pickle, curry

Manipur

Ayaiba

Fish

Smoked fsh; pickle, curry

Manipur

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Lang kargyong

Beef

Sausage-sof or hard, brownish; curry

Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Yak kargyong

Yak

Sausage-sof, brownish; curry

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Faak kargyong

Pork

Sausage-sof or hard, brownish; curry

Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Bhutan, Tibet

Lang satchu

Beef meat

Dried or smoked meat, hard, brownish; curry

Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Yak satchu

Yak meat

Dried or smoked meat, hard, brownish; curry

Sikkim, Darjeeling hills, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Suka ko masu

Bufalo meat

Dried or smoked meat, hard, brownishchocolate; curry

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Yak chilu

Yak fat

Hard, used as substitute of an edible oil

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Lang chilu

Beef fat

Hard, used as an edible oil

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Luk chilu

Sheep fat

Hard, used as an edible oil

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh, Nepal

Yak kheuri

Yak

Chopped intestine of yak; curry

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Lang kheuri

Beef

Chopped intestine of beef; curry

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh

Dried/smoked meat; curry

Kumaon hills

Chartayshya Chevon

HIMALAYAN FOOD CULTURE • 295

Jamma

Small intestine of chevon, fnger millet

Sausage, sof; curry Kumaon hills, Western Nepal

Arjia

Large intestine of chevon

Sausage; curry

Kumaon hills, Western Nepal

Bagjinam

Pork

Fermented pork; curry

Nagaland

Sukula

Bufalo

Dried, smoked; curry

Nepal

Marcha

Rice, wild herbs, spices

Dry, mixed Eastern Himalayas starter to ferment alcoholic beverages

Phab

Wheat, wild herbs

Dry, mixed Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, starter to ferment Ladakh alcoholic beverages

Ipoh/Siye

Rice, wild herbs Starter to ferment Arunachal Pradesh alcoholic beverages

Hamei

Rice, wild herbs Dry, mixed Manipur starter to ferment alcoholic beverages

Mana

Wheat, herbs

Starter to ferment Nepal alcoholic beverages

Manapu

Rice-wheat, herbs

Starter to ferment Nepal alcoholic beverages

Emao

Rice-herbs

Starter to ferment Assam alcoholic beverages

Tiat

Rice-herbs

Starter to ferment Meghalaya alcoholic beverages

Pham

Rice-herbs

Starter to ferment Arunachal Pradesh alcoholic beverages

Khekhrii

Germinated rice

Starter to ferment zutho/zhuchu

Balan

Wheat

Starter to ferment Uttarakhand alcoholic beverages

Bakhar

Rice-herbs

Starter to ferment Western Himalayas alcoholic beverages

Nagaland

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Kodo ko jaanr

Finger millet

Mild-alcoholic, slightly sweetacidic; alcoholic beverage

Eastern Himalayas

Chyang/ Chee

Finger millet/ barley

Mild-alcoholic, slightly sweetacidic; alcoholic beverage

Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh

Bhaati jaanr

Rice

Mild-alcoholic, sweet-sour, food beverage

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Makai ko jaanr

Maize

Mild-alcoholic, sweet-sour, food beverage

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Gahoon ko jaanr

Wheat

Mild-alcoholic, slightly acidic; alcoholic beverage

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Simal tarul ko jaanr

Cassava tuber

Mild-alcoholic, sweet-sour; food beverage

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Jao ko jaanr

Barley

Mild-alcoholic, slightly acidic; alcoholic beverage

Nepal, Darjeeling hills, Sikkim

Faapar ko jaanr

Buck wheat

Mild-alcoholic, Nepal, Darjeeling hills, slightly acidic; Sikkim alcoholic beverage

Atingba

Rice

Mild-alcoholic, sweet-sour, food beverage

Manipur

Apong

Rice

Mild-alcoholic, beverage

Arunachal Pradesh

Pona

Rice

Mild-alcoholic, sweet-sour, food beverage; paste

Arunachal Pradesh

Ennog

Rice, paddy husk

Black rice beer

Arunachal Pradesh

Jou

Rice

Alcoholic beverage Nagaland

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Zutho/ Zhuchu

Rice

Milky white, alcoholic beverage

Nagaland

Oh

Rice-millet

Sof, alcoholic beverage

Arunachal Pradesh

Temsing

Finger millet/ barley

Alcoholic beverages

Arunachal Pradesh

Mingri

Maize-rice/ barley

Alcoholic beverages

Arunachal Pradesh

Lohpani

Maize-rice/ barley

Alcoholic beverages

Arunachal Pradesh

Zu

Rice

Alcoholic beverages

Assam

Sura

Finger millet

Food beverage; staple

Himachal Pradesh

Lugri

Barley

Alcoholic beverages

Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Tibet

Sing sing

Barley

Beverage

Ladakh

Buza

Barley

Tick liquor,

Ladakh

Raksi

Cereals

Clear distilled liquor

Eastern Himalayas

Aara

Cereals

Clear distilled liquor

Arunachal Pradesh

Duizou

Red rice

Alcoholic drink

Nagaland

Nchiangne

Red rice

Distilled liquor

Nagaland

Ruhi

Rice

Distilled liquor

Nagaland

Madhu

Rice

Distilled liquor

Nagaland

Yu

Rice

Distilled liquor

Manipur

Kiad-lieh

Rice

Distilled liquor

Meghalaya

Poko

Rice

Food beverage

Nepal

Bhangchyang

Maize-rice/ barley

Extract of mingri; beverages

Arunachal Pradesh

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Daru

Cereal

Alcoholic beverages; fltrate; jiggery

Himachal Pradesh

Chulli

Apricot

Alcoholic beverages; fltrate; alcoholic drink

Himachal Pradesh

20. Art Heritage and Law: Railroading Geographical Indications Act and Kangra Miniature Paintings NAMRATA NEOG

Te enforcement of an act or a law in terms of heritage protection in a particular geo-cultural context remains ambiguous and slightly mysterious. How efective is the law in protecting a cultural heritage of a region, a product, a landscape or a structure? What are the consequences of the enforcement of an act? Or is a law really the answer to protection of any heritage entity? Who protects? Who is responsible or liable? Why do we need to protect our cultural heritage? Tese are some of the questions that had been consistently raised when one tries to understand the dynamics between law and cultural heritage protection. Sometime back in April 2014, the Kangra miniature paintings under the aegis of Kangra Arts Promotion Society (KAPS), based in McLeodganj, Himachal Pradesh got registered under the Geographical Indications Act, with the aim of ‘protecting’ and ‘promoting’ an art form which intrinsically belongs to the geo-cultural region of the Kangra Valley in Himachal Pradesh. Tis comes with the understanding that the registration would give copyright protection to Kangra artists and Kangra miniature paintings which over time have become victim to a reproduction of cheap reprints resembling the original Kangra miniature paintings sold and distributed throughout the country. In this chapter, I look at the implications of the enforcement of the Geographical Indications Act and Kangra miniature paintings and try to understand whether some of the worrying aspects of heritage protection, revival and sensitisation among local and non-local inhabitants are adequately fulflled or not.

Kangra Miniature Paintings: A Brief History Te term Pahari Paintings form a loose umbrella of various painting styles that fourished in diferent parts of the Kangra Valley, practised by numerous artists under the patronage of the rulers in Guler, Kangra and Nurpur. However, ambiguity regarding when this style became prominent

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in this valley and why it got concentrated in the valley of Kangra still persists. However, art historians like M.S. Randhawa (1954) who studied this art form in an immaculate manner throw ample light on its subtle beginning in the valley and trace its quick proliferation, which attained an independent unique style thriving in the beautiful valley of Kangra in the Himalayas. Te evolution of Kangra Paintings in Kangra is attributed to the rise of power of the Katoch dynasty from the eighteenth century under Ghamman Chand and later under Sansar Chand Katoch, afer a brief lull in their power and landholdings. Te major schools of painting then were centred around Guler, Basohli, Chamba, and Mandi under the patronage of their respective rulers. It is Guler which had the oldest tradition of ‘Kangra’ art. Strategically located in the plains, Guler was in constant touch with the Mughal powers. As a result of this close proximity to the Mughal Empire, this had a great bearing on the political, social and cultural landscape of Guler. Te fow also coincided with the gradual loosening of the political grip of the Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb who apart from introducing other forms of bans and regulations also imposed stringent regulations on the fourishing of Mughal miniature art in its atelier. As a result of this clamping, artists in the Mughal Empire were slowly migrating to other favourable regions to practice their art forms and for attaining patronage. Tis led to a slow fow of artists from the Mughal atelier to the courts and royal houses of Guler and their infuence got refected in the paintings they made. Initially, the grandiose style which was very typical of the Mughal miniature paintings slowly evolved into subtle depictions of the Kangra landscape in the paintings. During the rule of Dalip Singh (1695–1743 AD), Kangra artists were working at Haripur-Guler. Some of the early Guler style paintings were done by Nainsukh and Manaku, who had apparently worked earlier at the Mughal court. Te signifcance of Guler lies in the fact that it was not merely another centre of Pahari Art; it was a breeder of one of the most unique art forms—the Kangra Art. Later with shifing power balances, artists migrated from one court to another seeking patronage and suitable conditions for work. Tus, artists from Guler also migrated to Chamba and Basohli and over time lent a distinctive touch and symbolism to the paintings. Apart from this, marriage alliances were also an important factor for the migration of artists among various hill states. With the occupation of the mighty Kangra Fort and the subjugation of the neighbouring hill states of Kangra by Ghamman Chand Katoch and

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later taking it to greater heights by his grandson Sansar Chand Katoch, Kangra saw a huge shif in power, politics and art. Tis was when Kangra art attained its own unique self, style and content. It evolved in a region heavily infuenced by the landscape and heavily inspired by the rich literary legacy of the Vaishnavite cult which emerged as a creed of Hinduism sometime in the eleventh century. Te cult of Kangra paintings as having evolved in Kangra from its earlier centre in Guler was a signifcant and a beautiful transition which established Kangra as the centre of Kangra Art. Tis art form fourished as a result of the generous patronage of Sansar Chand Katoch who was a huge connoisseur of art. Te most distinct features that marked the uniqueness of Kangra Art from other art forms are the beautiful expression of human love, a teasing eroticism and romance in the fringes. Tis became a common theme in all the paintings. Te expression of love became the central theme with the beautiful Kangra valley providing a surreal background to the paintings. Love as an expression and as an idea has been defly represented through the literary classics of Radha–Krishna such as the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, Ramayana, Barahmasa, Nala Damayanti, Rasikapriya of Keshav Das and Sat Sai of Bihari. Te lyricism in these poems has been rightfully justifed in the Kangra paintings. Tese poets were hugely infuenced by the Vaishnavite cult, a movement which was gripping many parts of India. Te mushrooming of Vaishnavism in various parts of India refected the ideas of having a ‘personal god’—human love and the freedom to express emotions—which was a stark rebellion from the stronghold of the Brahminical order in the society and this got refected in the works of poets and writers. Te literary legacies of these poets and writers of the Vaishnavite fold hugely inspired the Kangra artists and hence these poems of love clearly refected in their paintings the adoption of these themes. Tis too was a marked departure from the Mughal miniature paintings which mainly portrayed the grandiose royal settings of the courts with rulers, nobles, kings, queens or rather the eminent nobility of the empire as subjects. Tis diference marked Kangra miniature painting as a unique style, form and an independent school of art. Although, there are a few portraits of the Kangra rulers which were painted in the earlier stages but the number and the content is far outnumbered by the other series of paintings inspired by the poems of love created later. Kangra paintings saw a distinctive focus on feminine beauty and this is clearly seen in the depiction of women in those paintings. Te rendering of expression of diferent moods of the women is beautiful and magnifcent, which is not

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seen in many of the painting styles that grew in diferent regions during that time. Another important inspiration for the Kangra paintings was the province and culture of the Punjab province, which has not been adequately considered by art historians and critics. In Kangra paintings especially those of Nurpur and Guler, regions which were close to the plains of Punjab, the dress styles of the women in the paintings were typical of the dresses worn by Punjabi women, whereby, they are usually shown wearing the suthhan that resembles breeches, kamiz and dupatta. Te popular legendary tales of Hir–Ranjha, Mirza–Sahiban, Sohni–Mahinwal were ofen depicted in the Kangra paintings. From 1810 AD onwards, the Kangra valley came under the rule of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh infuence on the Kangra paintings could be also discerned during this period. Historically, Kangra miniature paintings cannot be attributed to one artist or one region or one ruler or one source of inspiration. It is a culmination of ideas, various cultural and political environments, infuences of diferent regional landscapes and most importantly it is an art form intrinsically linked to human movement and shifing dynamics in cultural and political landscapes in the valley of Kangra. Consequentially, Kangra miniature paintings remain undoubtedly a unique art form, style and with a rich historicity.

Geographical Indications Act 1999: What does it mean in the Heritage Protection of the Kangra Miniature Paintings of Kangra? According to the Geographical Indication Act 1999, a geographical indication states that “in relation to goods, means an indication which identifes such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating, or manufactured in the territory of a country, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of such goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and in case where such goods are manufactured goods one of the activities of either the production or of processing or preparation of the goods concerned takes place in such territory, region or locality as the case may be.” In relation to Kangra miniature paintings, they as having evolved and thrived in the region of Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh technically qualify to have a geographical indication. Tis means that according to the law Kangra miniature paintings can come under the aegis of an umbrella organisation rallying for this status, in this case the Kangra Promotion Society (KAPS) which has the right/ability/power to register Kangra miniature paintings under the Act. Once registered, the Kangra

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Arts Promotion Society is vested with the power to fle a suit against any producer of Kangra miniature paintings outside the region of Kangra and also against the circulation of the same without the legal permission to do so. Tis legal aspect tremendously protects the Kangra miniature artists practising in various parts of Kangra and the artists who also form part of the Kangra Arts Promotion Society’s rich atelier which toils for months to produce a series or one of a series. Tese paintings are magnifcent pieces of work with intricate details captivating the viewers at frst sight and a as value of their work, these paintings also come with a price. As a result of a lack of sensitivity and awareness among most people, there are a very few people who would buy these paintings from the artists and hence the study, appreciation and also to a huge extent patronage, remains concentrated only in the few hands of art historians, art lovers, academicians and sometimes various government ofcials. As a responsibility towards history, towards sustainability of not only an art form but a heritage to be passed on to the coming generations, towards a further engagement of people with art and history, towards the giving of patronage to the remaining Kangra artists and inspiring a new breed of artists, there lies a big responsibility on behalf of an organisation like the Kangra Arts Promotion Society. Te grant of a Geographical Indication registration to the Kangra miniature paintings as such does not ascertain that the heritage is protected. Tis only gives a certain amount of power to protect the Kangra paintings produced by the Kangra artists from the fake imprints, which are distributed at throwaway prices throughout the country and elsewhere, and to maintain and preserve the real value of the paintings produced. However, this Geographical Indication can be used as a tool to contribute towards the broader vision of information dissemination about the cultural and historical legacy of the Kangra miniature paintings. Tis also means inspiring the new artists who would want to seek patronage and practise the art of painting Kangra miniature paintings and the garnering of confdence by them. In terms of infringement and unlawful production or circulation, the Geographical Indication Act states that if “any person who is not an authorised user of a geographical indication registered under the Act in respect of the goods or any class or classes of goods notifed, uses any other geographical indication to such goods or classes or classes of goods not originating in the place indicated by such other geographical indication or uses such other geographical indication to such goods or classes or

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classes of goods even indicating the true origin of such goods or uses such other geographical indication to such goods or class or classes of goods in translation of the true place of origin or accompanied by expression such as “kind”, “style”, “imitation” or the like expression, shall infringe such registered geographical indication.” Tis is a powerful aspect of the Act, which ensures and protects the original producers of a good—in this case the Kangra miniature paintings originating in the Kangra Valley. Apart from this, it prevents “unfair competition” and promotes good business practices. However, the other side of the debate comes with an interesting twist, if the notion of Geographical Indication registration and the powers vested in protection from infringement are abandoned. Historically, we are well aware that humans have been migratory and with these movements come fuidity and movement of ideas and goods. Migration and movement remain the ultimate essence of information dissemination, sensitisation and evolution. Te Kangra art just like any other art form, political idea, technology or goods is quintessentially a product of human movement and ideas, which attained diferent hues later. When Kangra paintings get replicated in print forms and get distributed throughout the country and elsewhere, which in today’s legal terminology could be branded as illegal, this act can also be seen as a way of reaching out to a diferent mass of people who may not necessarily have a fne understanding of the Kangra art and a way in which they could be bought at throwaway prices in locations outside the Kangra Valley. Tis is not a result of today’s consumerist capitalist world. Copying and distribution of art work can be dated to as early as the beginning of the Roman Empire—in fact, even earlier—when the spread of agriculture from the Levant saw movement of humans, objects, ideas, art styles in pottery, use of diferent objects for sculptures and many other instances as a consequence of human contact and migration. Similarly, there is recorded evidence of Greek-style pottery, sculptures and art being copied and spread in the Roman Empire. So in this case, because of the advent of printing technology, cheap reproduction and easy circulation from the nineteenth century onwards, when we see the Kangra paintings in the form of prints sold throughout the country, this is a result of just this— an attempt to sell and circulate art to a diverse population, who may not necessarily be visually and historically literate about the Kangra paintings. In the most contemporary times, we have seen the reprints of the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma reaching out to the most mundane households in South

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India, when his paintings of gods and goddesses created a futter among the people. In fact, Raja Ravi Varma himself promoted the idea of creating reprints of his paintings which could be sold at every nook and corner of the street, with the aim of his art reaching out to a multitude of people. Te stronghold of the Brahminical order in society is vehemently subjugated by this very act against the elites, who consider themselves as the great patrons of art and attach exclusivity to themselves—the exclusivity of having the sole propriety to own and view the paintings. Te fact remains that the depiction of the love story of Radha–Krishna (being important deities in Hindu mythology and pantheon) in the various series of Bara Masi and Geet Govinda in Kangra miniature paintings has a huge political, religious and cultural coinage among the people. Tese paintings, as I see it, are politically, culturally and religiously very powerful for their tremendous ability to reach out to and afect a diverse population. Tis is the biggest breaking down of the lines between art and religion; art and politics; art and heritage and art and culture. So, when reprints are made by unregistered printers and producers (which even though in today’s legal world could be termed as an illegal act), this act itself is rebellious in terms of its mass reach; adorning the walls of a multitude of people’s houses for whom those reprints could hold multiple meanings and buying them is not a huge investment or task. Kangra paintings through this mode are already travelling and entering people’s lives. Tis, I see as another incarnation of the Vaishnavite cult; where the idea of a personal god among all sections of the society, away from the glare and hegemony of the elite section of the society, an idea and a movement rallied by Vaishnavite preachers and leaders since the twelfh century in diferent parts of India, could be practiced even now through the acquisition of reprints depicting the paintings of gods and goddesses. Today in the twenty-frst century, with technology becoming the way of everyday life, people’s ability to access the reprints and prints of the Kangra paintings—which have a huge infuence of the Vaishnavite cult itself and the depiction of Radha–Krishna as a strong motif in the psyche, religious leanings and culture of a huge chunk of India’s population—has increased. Consciously or unconsciously, with people like Raja Ravi (add ‘Ravi’)Varma who was a big proponent of the print culture of paintings in India and many other nameless printers and copiers dotting diferent parts of the country, one does not necessarily have to proclaim its leanings of being Vaishnavite (i.e. mainly propagating the idea of having a personal god; could be through prints or just a symbol). Te expensive Kangra paintings produced by the artists, if under strict prohibition of producing prints or

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copies, is an act which is again linked to the politics of power; patronage being concentrated in the hands of few, since only few could acquire it and discussions, study, viewing and patronage would just centre around a small group of academicians, art buyers, critics or bureaucrats. Te reach to a wider and a diverse mass would be cut and hence this story would again attain the hue of “history repeating itself ”; in this case, the politics of art and religion and the game of claiming ownership being intertwined and how this notion can get manipulated by multiple stakeholders—ofen not artists themselves—but other players in this game, mainly patrons of art claiming to uphold heritage and history.

Railroading the Two Debates How does one reach a common ground between these two divergent and conficting thoughts, without compromising on the validity of both the arguments, both holding signifcant coinage theoretically and also practically? On one hand a law is made to ‘protect’ infringement of art and heritage at the cost of patronage by few hands, which is further linked to the idea of politics of control and power while on the other hand there is a sub-culture seething in today’s legal climate resulting in mass circulation and printing of art for a diverse population, feeding diferent ideals and meanings. How does one negotiate between these two competing ideals— on the one hand an organisation like the Kangra Arts Promotion Society which is trying to protect the real Kangra miniature paintings of the Kangra artists where sustainability, promotion and protection of an art form and a heritage is a huge challenge, whereas on the other hand there is the minimising of the ‘ethical’ aspect when reprints are allowed to circulate? I believe that there should be sensitisation about the Kangra art and not just among the local community but among all sections of the society; for, it is not just an art form but a statement of heritage, a symbol of politics, culture and religion and thus is extremely crucial. Apart from giving the real value of the Kangra paintings and to the practising artists, it is also important to reinvent new ways of reaching out. Tis could mean creating reprints too with legal permission to do so. In close collaboration with the education policy makers, academia, curators, researchers, business professionals there are several ideas and innovations one could work out. For instance, creating a dedicated Kangra art school which could be based in Kangra with eforts to reach out to a younger population, mainly students; introducing special study cases in schools for children so as to get them exposed to heritage understanding and art practice; fne

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tuning between curation of Kangra art not solely confned to museums and promoting production of reprints of Kangra paintings which could reach a wider population, artists’ residencies, public engagement in talks and art practice. Tese measures could be ambitious, but ideas need to be brainstormed with all stakeholders so as to ensure that a fne balance is maintained between heritage sensitivity/protection and also promotion of the Kangra art form in innovative ways. Discussions on the railroad between law and ethics in art heritage will always entail but the idea is to keep alive discussions for more engagement and reinventing one’s thought process on these issues.

21. Alchi Murals: Tracing the Multiple Traditions GEETIKA KAW KHER

Introduction Te monuments found at Alchi (tenth–eleventh CE), a monastic complex in Central Ladakh, come across as a melting pot in which various traditions and styles are seen amalgamating to produce a unique and vibrant art form. Located in the scenic Himalayan landscape, these monuments refect tranquility and peace which adds to the charm of the already mesmerising panorama. Alchi is considered as the most important of all the monastic complexes believed to have been conceived by Rinchen-bzang-po (958– 1055 CE), primarily because it has been lef intact and retains the original art works unlike the restored ones in Samye and Toling. Tis complex comprises a group of six buildings and its importance lies in the fact that it has the best preserved original mural paintings in the area especially in two of its monuments viz. Du-khang (the assembly hall) and Sum-tsek (threetiered temple). Being at the junction of various cultures, Alchi combines artistic traditions from the Indian plains, the Kashmir valley and local Ladakhi culture which is well

Figure 21.1: Du-khang and Sum-tsek

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illustrated by the fat-roofed buildings built of stone and mud-bricks. Although the form of the architecture seems to betray local sensibilities it is the wooden elements found in them which clearly show a deep resemblance to the temples of Kashmir. Te exquisite trefoil niche from Du-khang in which is seen a seated Boddhisattva, echoes the one seen in the Pandrethan temple clearly betraying a Kashmiri prototype for such motifs. While on the one hand the mural paintings on the monuments here are considered as a hallmark of Buddhist painting in the area, on the other they have a multitude of stories to tell about the contemporary painting scenario in the Kashmir valley. Unfortunately as Huntington1, Snellgrove2 and P. Pal3 unanimously observe, hardly any trace is lef of the Kashmiri painting of that time which can be directly compared to the ones at Alchi. Nevertheless, there is enough historical, stylistic and epigraphical evidence which strengthens the contention that the Kashmir valley played a very important role in the stylistic and iconographical development of the murals at Alchi and at other temples/monasteries which fall on the route between Srinagar to Guge (presently in Western Tibet).

Historical and Cultural Context Cunningham4 observes that Ladakh had come in contact with the Kashmir valley as early as 250 BC when Ashoka is believed to have sent his Buddhist missionaries there. In the frst CE, Kanishka, the Kushana king, held the Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir which gave a great impetus to the spread of the newly formulated Mahayana Buddhism to other parts of the country. It is recorded that he sent some 500 Kashmiri missionaries to Tibet. Te statement can be substantiated by the fact that Fa-Hien, the Chinese traveller, while on pilgrimage to India in 399 C.E. records that Buddhism was in a fourishing state in Ladakh in that period. Moreover, an inscription found in the Kharoshthi script at Khalaste and the existence of a Kushana stupa at Sani (Zanskar valley) testifes to Kushana activity in the region. Apart from religion, the Ladakhi script generally known as Bo-ti owes a lot to the Kashmiri scholars. An incident mentioned by Francke5 tells us that around 600–650 CE a student Ton-mi-sambota along with sixteen other fellow students was sent to Kashmir to learn grammar by King Songtsan Gampo of Tibet. Te interesting conversation between the King and Sambota recorded by Francke is quite revealing: Te king said “Have you learnt the letters and the language? Ten you may ofer praise to Spyan-ras-gzigs (Avalokita). Tereupon Ton-mi wrote

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down the So-lo-ka (Skt. Shloka) and presented it to the king. Te king was much pleased and erected the temple of Byin-gyi-khod-mar-rdo, and before the image of Spyan-ras-gzigs these letters (the shloka) were carved on stone. Francke concludes: Tese form the earliest inscription (in Tibet) and the oldest temple. Traditional Tibetan accounts as collated and translated by Lama Yuthok and Taylor6 suggest that during the reign of Songtsan Gampo, examples of handicrafs and astrological systems were imported from China and the Western Xia; the  dharma  and the art of writing came from India; material Figure 21.2: Songtsen Gampo (centre), wealth and treasures from the Nepalis Princess Wencheng of China (right) and Bhrikuti Devi of Nepal (lef) and the lands of the  Mongols, while model laws and administration were imported from the  Uighurs  to the North. Te statement clearly puts forward the kind of composite culture and tradition one could see in the region as early as the seventh CE. Marital alliance played an important role in augmenting new religious and cultural ideas as Songntsen Gampo’s two main wives hailing from China and Nepal respectively were respectively seen as forms of White and Green Tara, the goddess of compassion and learning, while he himself was identifed as Avalokitesvara. Te impetus given to the new Mahayana form of Buddhism with its focus on saviour deities and common salvation is quite evident from such facts. Tis activity was furthered by King Trisong Detsen (eighth CE) who invited Guru Padmasambhava, Santaraksita, Vimalamitra and numerous other Indian teachers to spread the new forms of Buddhism (a mixture of Mahayana and Vajrayana) in Tibet. Establishing the monastery at Samye these teachers started the ambitious project of translating the Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Classical Tibetan. It is here that the famous debate took place between the Indian Mahayana scholars and Chinese Chan (Zen) Buddhists where Indian teachers were victorious and thus became the principal monks and spread their version of Buddhism in the land. In this new version of the religion various deities from the Bon religion were also incorporated as were also some powerful demigods from diferent traditions. Te example of Pehar, the guardian deity, gives an interesting insight to such appropriations. With his special powers, Padmasambhava foresaw that Pehar would be the appropriate spiritual protector for Tibet and

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hence incorporated him in the Buddhist pantheon so much so that today this originally Mongolian god is considered as the guardian spirit and principal oracle god of the Dalai Lama. Buddhism faced a major setback in the region during the politically unstable reign of King Langdarma for about seventy years. Tus, there was once again a need to revive and resuscitate. Tis feat was achieved by King Yeshe-Od who sent his Figure 21.3: Pehar academic followers to learn and translate some of the Sanskrit Buddhist texts. Among these academics was Nagtso, who was eventually sent to the Vikramasila college to study Sanskrit and plead with Atisa (982–1054) to come teach the Dharma in his homeland. According to Jamgon Kongtrul, a prominent master of Buddhism in nineteenth CE, Atisa was well impressed by the store of Sanskrit texts at Pekar Kordzoling, the library of  Samye and the spread of Vajrayana in Tibet. He founded the Kadampa sect here, which adopted very austere methods. As a result, Buddhism spread from here to the whole of Tibet. Later, Atisa’s disciple was responsible for establishing the Kagyu sect with emphasis on physical and mental meditation techniques; many of them were borrowed by the Mahasiddhas.

Toling Monastery and the Second Difusion of Buddhism Tis monastery is one of the frst temples built at the start of the “second difusion” of  Buddhism  in Tibet, though most of it was destroyed and reconstructed later. Te Toling Monastery complex has many rectangular buildings. It is a walled complex facing east. Built of mud bricks, the style became the forerunner for similar temples built in the kingdom including the ones at Alchi. King Yeshe-Od (tenth–eleventh century AD), the King of the Guge state in Western Tibet (now under Chinese occupation) residing at Toling seems to have been dissatisfed with the elementary Buddhism that was being practiced in the area. Te fact that the King decided to send some twenty-one students to Kashmir and other parts of India to learn new theories of Buddhism itself shows how important and fourishing the religion must have been in Kashmir. Te most prominent among these students was Rinchen-bzang-po (958–1055 AD) who got thoroughly educated in Sanskrit and philosophy. He then tirelessly translated them for the beneft of his people. According to Tucci,7 Rinchen was assisted by

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the Kashmiri scholars in translating diferent sacred texts. His biography reveals the names of sixteen Kashmiri scholars who had helped him in his Herculean endeavour. Rinchen’s activity did not stop there. He is known to have returned with thirty-two Kashmiri artists and started an ambitious project of constructing some 108 temples. Interestingly of the temples that we know of today, most fall on the route between Guge to Srinagar. Te most notable ones are at Alchi, Sani in Zanskar, Tabo in Spiti, Toling, Mangnang and Nythang. Prof Tucci has dealt elaborately with the infuence of Kashmiri art on the development of art in Western Tibet in his monumental work, Tibetan Painted Scrolls8. As stated by him, “Rinc’enbzan po, born in the 10th century in one of the Western Tibet highlands, visited Kashmir several times to study Buddhism and he took seventy-fve Kashmiri crafsmen with him to his country. In Tsaparang, Toling, Tabo; in every place of any importance in Western Tibet; the temples founded on Rin c’en bzan po’s advice and under the patronage of the kings of Guge bear evident traces of Kashmiri crafsmen’s work: bronzes, wooden portals; sculptured with a sof suppleness and a plastic relief proclaim unmistakably the country of their origin…..”

Now, all these examples go on to show that there was a constant connection between Ladakh and Kashmir since antiquity. In recent centuries, the region has been almost completely under the cultural sway of Tibet and indeed Ladakh is aptly seen as essentially an outpost of Tibetan culture with no visible ties with Kashmir. However, while talking about Alchi we have to remember that we are talking of pre-Islamic times when painting formed a major part of one’s religious and secular life in Kashmir. Te Nilmata Purana9 (sixth–seventh CE), while prescribing the methods of celebration of Buddha’s birthday suggests that the dwelling places of Sakyas (viharas) should be white-washed and the wall of the Caityas (the abodes of the gods) should be decorated with paintings. Moreover, dancing and drama both are mentioned as forms of celebration. References too are made to the paintings painted on the cloth, the wall and the ground (bhumisobha). Viug—a circular pattern drawn on the ground on which the bridegroom stands before entering the lagan mandap, observes Ved Kumari Ghai,10 is a direct descendant of the ‘bhumisobha’. Damodaragupta in his Kuttanimata too refers to courtesans practicing the art of painting to advertise their trade and Somadeva in his Kathasaritsagara11 talks of the prevalence of naturalistic-looking portrait painting. Tese examples point

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towards a rich and well-developed painting style in the Valley right from sixth–seventh CE. Moreover, Lama Taranath (a seventeenth century AD Tibetan lama) too in his History of Buddhism in India talks about a welldeveloped school of painting fourishing in Kashmir in the sixth–tenth CE.

Alchi: A Stylistic Inquiry Paintings of Gilgit Manuscript: Te Missing Link Te earliest painted Kashmiri Buddhist manuscript was found in Gilgit (presently in Pakistan). Excavated by M.S. Kaul Shastri in 1938, the wooden manuscripts reveal three sets; each consisting of two panels dating back to the ninth–tenth CE. Te frst set incorporates a seated Avalokitesvara and a Dhyani Buddha; the second one depicts Padmapani Lokesvara and Amitabha Buddha and the third set portrays worshipping devotees along with the three Dhyani Buddhas. Tough, it cannot be said conclusively but the visuals seem to belong to the Vairocana cult. Te third set where the three Dhyani Buddhas are painted, gives special prominence to Vairocana Buddha seen in the dharmachakra prvartana mudra between two other Dhyani Buddhas and is very much similar to the position it has in later murals of Alchi and other sites. Stylistically, Pal12 divides the paintings at Alchi into three groups: Te frst being the homogeneous style seen at Du-khang and Sum-tsek (Style I), second a radically diferent style akin to the Pala style (Style II) in Lhakhang Soma and third a mixture of both styles seen at Lotsava Lhakhang (Style III). Style I is generally considered to derive from Kashmir as the fgure types resemble the ninth–tenth CE century bronze images from Kashmir. One of the most interesting painted composition in Style I at Sum-tsek shows TaraPrajnaparamita enshrined in a niche. She is attended by four emanations of herself and is the object of devotion of a noblewoman and a priest who are shown just below her. To either side is a depiction of a tall structure regarding which Huntington13 observes, “Given the archeological remains at Parihaspur and the renown of that site as a Buddhist center, along with the forms depicted in the painting it is likely that these represent Lalitaditya’s catiya at Parihaspur with its towering form and gigantic metal Buddha image, on the lef, and Cankuna’s stupa, at the right.” Such a depiction of existing holy shrines as mentioned by Huntington seems to have been a common practice in Buddhist art as seen right from the Sunga times upto the depiction of the Amaravati stupa on the fragments found from the site.

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It seems quite likely that the artists who painted this composition were Kashmiris who might have painted the viharas and caityas at Parihaspur. A stylistic analysis of the panel further proves its connection with Kashmir. Te shading of the anatomy of the deity is done with meticulous care and such modelling is usually attributed wrongly to the infuence of Hellenistic naturalism. Te fact that shading as an important constituent of painting is mentioned in Visnudharmottara Purana14 datable to ffh–sixth CE proves that shading was used widely by artists in India. Considering the number of references (almost 21) that the Nilamata Purana makes to the former text it shows that even if the former was not written in Kashmir its contents were well known there. Te female form can well be compared to the beautiful female fgures from Mangnang and Mangyu. Te painting virtually shimmers with warmth and colour mainly due to the generous use of yellow and green in addition to other colours. Te almond-shaped eyes extending to accentuate their beauty, a narrow waist, well-defned pectoral muscles and the elaborate headdress typify the Kashmiri idiom comparable to the bronze images. Here, it would be interesting to mention a Kashmiri artist by the name of Bhidaka who has been mentioned in Rinchen-bzang-po’s biography to have made a large image of Avalokitesvara and to have gotten the needed essential brass from Kashmir15. As Misra in his well-researched paper on the position of artists in ancient India writes101, “Te role of Buddhist monks is found telescoped into that of artists within the framework of the Buddhist Sangha. As for the identity and prominence of artists in the Buddhist system it seems to apply only to those on top of echelon.” By this one can deduce that Bhidaka and the likes of him were not mere artisans but the master artists who had masterminded the entire layout of the temple. According to Pal17, the seated fgures depicted at Alchi apart from forms and modelling share one peculiar feature with some Kashmiri bronzes of the tenth–eleventh century AD. Most of them whether at Sumda or at Alchi appear to be perched on their lotuses with their knees extending far beyond the circumference of the fower. Tis is a characteristic feature of several Kashmiri bronzes of the period; the most notable being the Lokesvara dedicated in the reign of Queen Didda of Kashmir (980–1003 AD). Several faint and illegible inscriptions written in the Indian script have been found in many places between the murals at Sum-tsek. Believed to have been iconographic notations, it does talk of a well-developed and

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well-researched style getting transferred to Alchi defnitely through the Kashmiri artists. Te entrance to the interior of the assembly hall (Du-khang) is decorated with fne examples of wood carvings in the Kashmiri style, observes Huntington18, and it can be very well compared to the stoneceiling panel temple at Pandrethan datable to about eighth–ninth century AD. which was clearly based on a wooden prototype. Tough, the former is more elaborately carved, the style of carving and the treatment of space remains essentially the same—especially the torana over the porch of the building bearing rampant lions and other composite animals inhabiting the semi roundels Te paintings that decorate the walls of the interior of the Du-khang (Style I) display a well-preserved collection of mandalas. Intended as technical meditational devices for the use of the monks, the mandala represents the Sarvadurgatiparisodhana Tantra cycle in which Vairocana, as the Sarvavid (Universal Knowledge), appears in many diferent manifestations. All the forms which include Sarvavid Vairocana as Sakyamuni, Manjusri, Prajnaparamita and others are composed into these huge mandalas, each with thirty-seven principal deities and many ancillary fgures. Each fgure is rendered in exquisite detail and has an elegant, attenuated body with a narrow waist and the impression of musculature in the torso— characteristic of the Kashmiri idiom. Ofen only about ten centimetres in height, these fgures are clearly the work of miniature artists. In other mural traditions of South Asia as at Ajanta, painters worked on a larger scale but here the elements of the composition appear to have been literally transferred from a manuscript tradition to the mural context. Combined into complex and enormous compositions, however, the tiny fgures do not seem at all inappropriate on the wall surfaces. Te possibility of them being copied from some manuscript paintings or cloth paintings cannot entirely be denied and may be that will explain the small scale and extreme detailing. Talking of Style I, one needs to look at the elaborately painted lower garment of the gigantic stucco Avalokitesvara fgure at Sum-tsek. It seems that this temple was designed for the laity, hence, the bright colouration and the didactic aspect of paintings here is explained. Te various structures depicted on the garment have raised interesting speculations among scholars. Snellgrove19 observes that “the whole consists of a series of small scenes depicting palaces and shrines. It is possible that they represent places of pilgrimage in Kashmir which were well known from the Hindu/

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Buddhist period.” Moreover Khosa20 states that the architectural elements depicted are particularly similar to the ones found on relief carvings from the Avantisvamin temple near Srinagar. Around and between these holy structures are depicted a variety of men and gods viz. shrine attendants, Buddhist monks bringing oferings, musicians and dancers, fgures on horseback, vidyadharas holding garlands etc. Te whole feeling that the depictions gives is of celebration and joy. Each fgure here is delineated with the utmost care and gives a sense of volume and sof roundness. Te complete layout which cannot be grasped in one glance reminds me of Wolfein’s Idea of Multiplicity (one of the fve pairs of opposed visual concepts) where a part of a painting can be viewed as a whole and where each part is a complete painting in itself. Te femalefgure type almost echoes the image of Prajnaparamita mentioned above though the attire is gaudier and much louder. Interestingly, the position posture and attire of the musicians correspond exactly to the instructions given in the Visnudharmottara Purana21. Te text also mentions that the pure musical compositional practice of singing should be used for the worship of the divine. Tat such forms of music were popular with the Viharas in Kashmir is testifed by an incident mentioned by Kalhana in the Rajatarangini.22 Style II as seen in the murals of Lhakhang Soma are more schematic and abstract in their depiction and talk of a radically diferent style. Nevertheless, the shading and modelling seem to derive from Style I but they defnitely lack the grace of the earlier representations. Tough the date of this structure is not fxed, it seems to have been painted afer Sum-tsek and Du-khang. Te Pala infuence in these murals is unmistakable and probably has been infuenced by the Indian teacher Atisa and his retinue from East India. An interesting combination of both Style I and Style II can be seen in the murals of Lotsawa Lhakhang. While the fguration follows the Style I convention it lacks the naturalism and three-dimensionality of the earlier style. One can compare the mural painting of Rinchen painted in Lotwawa Lhakhang to the one painted at Chorten near Sum-tsek (in Style I). While the former has Indian features and is quite naturalistic, the latter takes recourse in fantastic elements and is more schematic much like the Style II paintings. In the former painting form is delineated with sof lines and there is a certain lyrical quality to the lines while in the latter the forms are almost enclosed in geometric designs and are themselves reduced

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to patterns. Te plasticity and the sense of volume which give a threedimensional quality to the earlier painting is missing in the latter. A usual critique of the Kashmiri connection to the murals at Alchi suggests that the hunting scenes depicted on the lower garment of the Bodhisattva and the palace scenes are foreign to Kashmir and seem to have a Persian or Central Asian connection. Here I would like to bring to attention the remains from Harwan where such hunting scenes and secular scenes are seen in abundance. Moreover, Visnudharmottara Purana23 clearly mentions that archers and bowmen should be painted with uncovered thighs and as wearing boots. It further suggests that men should be painted according to their country, their colour, their dress and their appearance should be depicted intelligently.

Conclusion Tere is still much to be learned about the artistic movements within the area mentioned and this monumental work needs a good understanding of arts of the adjoining cultures. Huntington24 goes as far as to suggest that that there is a dire need to evaluate the Yunkang caves in China, the wall paintings from several sites in Inner Asia especially Qizil and Tunhuang and some iconographic manuscripts from Japan keeping in mind Kashmir as a possible source. Her fnal verdict that a full understanding of the transmission of Buddhist art through Asia is dependent upon the development of a greater knowledge of Kashmiri art has to be seriously looked into. Most of the scholars who have worked on these sites mentioned have sadly lamented the fact that very little of the once highly glorious and magnifcent paintings remain today. Many like Snellgrove have shown a keen sense of concern regarding the state of monuments and especially the zealous repainting and renovation taking place in various living temples. Te numerous and variegated infuences from various cultures deciphered at Alchi talk about a vibrant economic and artistic exchange taking place in the region. Multiple styles as enumerated and studied by Pal further strengthen the contention that very much like western India, the monasteries here too were constructed along the trade routes hence amalgamating various styles and mannerisms.

Notes 1. Huntington, Susan L., Te Art of Ancient India, New York, 1999, p 385. 2. Snellgrove, David L, Tadeusz Skorupski, and Philip Denwood, Te Cultural Heritage of Ladakh: Vol I—Central Ladakh, Warminster: Aris and Philips Ltd., 1977, p 8.

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3. Pratapaditya Pal, Marvels of Buddhist Art: Alchi-Ladakh, Paris, 1988, pp 19-20. 4. Cunningham, A., Ladakh, London, 1854, pp 317-357. 5. Francke, A.H., Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Vol II, New Delhi, 1972, pp 82-83. 6. McComas, Taylor and Lama Choedak Yuthok, Te Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet’s Golden Age, Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1996, p 106. 7. Rinchen-bzang-po’s biography has revealed the names of the following Kashmiri scholars viz: Kanakavarman Kamalagupta Gangadhara Janardana Jnanabhadra Tathagataraksita Devaraka Dharmasribhadra Padmakaravarman Buddhasubhadra Buddhasrisanti Vijayasridhara Sakyamata Sraddhakaravarman Subhasita Subhutisribhadra 8. Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, Vol I.I, pp 272-273. 9. Ved Kumari Ghai, Te Nilamata Purana, Vol I, (A Cultural & Literary Study of a Kashmiri Purana), Srinagar, 1988, pp 114-115. 10. Ibid, p 115. 11. Somadeva, Kathasaritsagara, Teste, Renou Louis, p 157. 12. Pal, op. cit., p 18-19. 13. Huntington, p 382. 14. Visnudharmottara Purana, Trans. by Priyabala Shah, New Delhi, 2002, pp 145; verses 82-83. 15. Pal, p 20. 16. R.N.Misra, “Te Roots of Ancient Artist’s Anonymity: An Approach towards Identity Interpretation”, Panikkar & Sheth (eds) Public in the Art of Ancient India: Contextualizing Social Relations, Baroda, 2004, p 44. 17. Pal, op. cit., pp 21-23. 18. Huntington, op. cit., p 379. 19. Snellgrove, op. cit., pp 51-52. 20. Sunil Khosa, Art History of Kashmir and Ladakh, New Delhi, 1984, pp.58-59. 21. Visnudharmottara Purana, pp 130-138. 22. Kalhana, Rajatarangini (A Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir), M.A. Stein (trans),Vol I, New Delhi ,1989, pp 26, Book I, verse 140-144. 23. Visnudharmottara Purana, pp 141, verse 34-36; pp 142, verse 49-50. 24. Huntington, p 385.

22. Pre-Vaishnavite and Post-Vaishnavite Dance Forms of Manipur SINAM BASU SINGH

Manipur: An Introduction Manipur is a shining pearl in the Himalayan range. India’s frst Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, described Manipur as the “Jewel of India”. Te name “MANIPUR’ was given to this gem-shaped land only during the reign of Meidingu Pamheiba or Garib Nawaz (1690–1751), who declared Hinduism as the state religion in 1717 AD. Earlier, the land was known by a variety of names like Kanglei Pungmayol, Kangleipak, Meitrabak, Poirie Meitei, Kathe by the Burmese and Kassay by the Shans of Upper Burma. One of the seven sister states of Northeast India, it is a border state in the northeastern part of India having an international boundary of about 352 km. It is bounded on the north by Nagaland, on the south by Mizoram, on the east by Upper Myanmar and on the west by the Cachar district of Assam. Te state is divided into two broad divisions viz. the hills and the valley. Te valley lies in the central part of the state and is surrounded by hills on all sides. Manipur, an independent kingdom till 1891, was subjugated by the British. It regained independence in 1947 and promulgated its own constitution. On October 15, 1949, Manipur joined the Indian Republic and was merged with the state of Assam. It became a Union Territory in 1956 and was subsequently upgraded to full-fedged statehood on January 21, 1972. Te Manipuri language was recognised as a national language in 1992. Manipur has nine districts i.e. Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Toubal, Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul. It is inhabited by diferent ethnic and religious groups. Te valley population is comprised of the Meiteis, the Nepalese, the Pangals and Mayangs (a pejorative term for those who came from other parts of India). Te Hill area is dominated by ethnic groups like the Nagas and the Kuki-Chin tribe. Tere are several Scheduled Tribes in Manipur. Tey are: Aimol,

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Anal, Agami, Chiru, Chothe, Gangte, Hmar, Kabui, Kacha Naga, Koirao, Koireng, Kom, Lamkang, Mizo (Lushai tribes), Maram, Maring, Mao, Monsang, Moyon, Paite, Purum, Ralte, Sema, Simte, Sukte, Tangkhul, Tadou, Vaiphei and Zou. Te ethnic diversity and vivid landscape makes Manipur shine with diferent colours of life. Te state is rich in art and culture. Music and singing are part of the everyday life in Manipur. A love of art and beauty is inherent in the people and it is difcult to fnd a Manipuri who cannot sing and dance. Te culture of dance is highly advanced. Manipuri dance is now one of the major classical dance forms in South Asia and occupies a place of pride along with dance forms like Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi and Odissi. Te Manipuri school of dance can be characterised into two forms: indigenous (folk) and classical. Both forms are devotional in nature and performed at appropriate times and places. Dances are not merely recreational activities, but a way to please the divine. Pre-Vaishnavite Form of Manipuri Dance Lai-Haraoba is a Pre-Vaishnavite traditional festival of Manipur celebrated since primordial times by the Lais (Gods and Goddess) who inhabited the Koubru Hill. Te festival was celebrated by divine creatures at Nongmaijing Hill and aferwards imitated by human beings to please the Lais. In humanrealm, this festival is known as Umang Lai-Haraoba and is celebrated by re-enacting the works of God’s creation and, by doing so, He is pleased and blesses the mortals. Tat is why the Meitei celebrate the festival of Lai Haraoba. Te original source prescribing the procedure for the Lai-Haraoba ritual is found in an ancient Puya text “Lai Hoi Laoba” written in the archaic scripts. Literally translated, Lai Hoi Laoba means “shouting Hoi by the Lais/gods”. Te term ‘Lai-Haraoba’ is derived from Lai Hoi Laoba. In Manipur, 364 Umang Lais (gods and goddess) are believed to be living all over the state according to the “Umang Lai Khundaba”. Lai-Haraoba also means “to please the God” and the essence of the ritual is that it is performed to call up the Lais and to please them by counting their deed in the creation through panegyrics and re-enacting the work of creation. Tengbanba Mapu or the Atiya Mapu Sidaba (immortal sky god), represents the highest god in the creation myth. He is the soul of the universe, and all other Lais are merely the manifestations of Atiya Mapu Sidaba.

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Te prevalent Meitei creation myth describes how in accordance with the will of Atingkok Kuru Sidaba, his elder son Asiba was completing the creation of the Earth. At a later stage, he got confused. Tereupon, Atingkok Kuru Sidaba opened his mouth and showed all the living creatures which were to be created, within him. Te son was overjoyed and exclaimed “Hoi”. Te event is now remembered as “Lai Hoi Laoba”. Many commentators refer to the shouting or singing of Hoi as the joy of the primal elements while coming out from within the person of Atingkok Sidaba at the time of Leishemba (creation). Hoi has various connotations in the story and may mean diferently as ‘Yes”, “Let us start” or the “Beginning”. Lai-Haraoba is the main source of dance and music, rites and ritual, indigenous games and mass education—it is the centre of the traditional life of the people of Manipur. Generally, there are four types of Lai-Haraoba—namely, Kanglei Haraoba, Chakpa Haraoba, Moirang Haraoba and Kakching Haraoba. Kanglei Haraoba is performed in many parts of the valley of Manipur except the sub-regions where Moirang Haraoba, Kakching Haraoba and Chakpa Haraoba are practised. Moirang Haraoba is performed only in Moirang near the Loktak Lake. Kakching Haraoba is held in Kakching and Chakpa Haraoba is celebrated at Andro, Phayeng, Sekmai, Koutruk, Leimaram and Tairenpokpi at the peripheries around Imphal. Te main deities vary across the region. Pakhangba, the supreme ancestor of the royal/Ningthouja salai, is the main deity for the most widespread form of Kanglei Haraoba; Tangjing is the main deity for Moirang Haraoba; Panam Ningthou, Pureiromba, Koubru and Loyarakpa for Chakpa Haraoba, and Lainingthou Khamlangba for Kakching Haraoba. Various diferences can be noticed with regard to the ritual observances in these four types of Lai Haraoba. However, despite these diferences in the ritual observances, the celebration is similar in all four types of Lai-Haraoba and are held between April and July each year Among the four types of Lai-Haraoba, Kanglei Haraoba is celebrated much more in the capital at Imphal and in the adjoining areas. A short description of the elaborate celebration of the Kanglei Haraoba is discussed below: 1. Fixing the Day of the Lai-Haraoba: Firstly, the organisers or the villagers go to the Pandit Loisang and ask the auspicious day for both beginning and closing the Lai-Haraoba. Te Pandit

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Loisang will fx the day and send the Maiba (Priest), Maibi (Priestess) and Penakhong (a Pena player; Pena is a bowed instrument) to the respective village for ofciating the Lai-Haraoba Festival.

(Khong Chingba of Moirang Haraoba)

Prior to the festival, the villagers will clean up the surroundings of the Laibung (the particular site where the Lai-Haraoba is to be celebrated). In the Kanglei Haraoba, the rituals have eight basic sections. Tough there are slight variations from deity to deity, the basic pattern always remains the same: (i) Laiphisetpa (clothing of the deities) (ii) Lai Ekouba (invocation of the deities from water) (iii) Nongmagi Touram (daily schedule of rituals) (iv) Kanglei-Tokpa (predilection of the bride from among the audience) (v) Lai-Lamthokpa (performing ritual outside the Laibung) (vi) Lairoi (ritual programme on the closing day) (vii) Mukna-Kangjei (playing indigenous games) (viii)Leikhomba (ritual performed afer three or fve days of Lairoi) (i) Laiphisetpa: One day before the initiatory day of the Lai-Haraoba Festival, the ritual Laiphsetpa (clothing of the Lais) is performed in

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the temple by the Maibas and Maibis. Since there are no permanent images in the temple mirroring the Lais, idols of Lainingthou (God) and Lairembi (Goddess) are made from bamboo and are clothed. (ii)Lai Ekouba: Te invocation of the soul of the deity for whom the Lai-Haraoba Festival is to be held is termed as Lai Ekouba. Te main purpose of this ritual is to invoke the spirit of the deity from water. It literally means “to call up the soul of the deity”. Te Maibas and Maibis, along with the villagers, walk to the designated ekoupham (river or pond) and perform the ritual Lai Ekouba. (iii)Nongmagithouram: It is a daily programme scheduled during the LaiHaraoba Festival which can be sub-divided into two i.e. a) Morning Ritual and b) Evening Ritual. (a) Morning Ritual: Te morning ritual includes Lai Yakaiba, Laimang Phamba and Jagoi Katpa. In the early morning, the Penakhongba sing an awakening song in front of the deity and the curtain is drawn open. Tis process is known as Lai Yakaiba. Te local people gather with their oferings in the temple. Te oferings are arranged in front of the deity. Ten, the Laimang Phamba is started by the Maibi. She sits in front of the deity on a piece of plantain leaf, holding the handbell and the edges of the white cloth which also covers her. She sings the Lairol and rings the hand-bell. Afer sometime, she becomes Laitongba (the soul of the deity goes into the Maibi and a state of trance is induced) and as an oracle delivers predictions regarding the welfare of the local people. Tis procedure is called Laimang Phamba. When Laimang Phamba is over, the Maibi and the villagers perform a dance in front of the deity. Tis is called Jagoi Katpa (the name is derived from two terms: Jagoi means “dance” and Katpa means “presenting”). Te morning ritual concludes thereupon. (b)Evening Ritual: It is composed of the following rites: Leilangba, Jagoi Asangbi (Tougal Jagoi), Hoilaoba, Laiching Jagoi, Laiboula Taba, Hoirou Hoya Laoba, Laibousaba, Lairenmathek Chatpa, Wakol Laoba and Naosam Eshei. Leilangba: In the evening all the men, women and children gather in the Laibung (the venue of the festival) wearing their best traditional costumes. Te elder men and women are packed in their respective seats according to the rank of seniority as per their local status inside the lodges. Ten the Leiroy Hanjaba (a man who arranges all the fowers which are required in the festival) and Leiroy Hidang distribute fowers which is termed as “Leilangba”.

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Jagoi Ashangbi or Tougal Jagoi: it is a particular dance ofered to the deity by men and women along with the Maibi. Hoilaoba: A group of men in traditional costumes, the Maiba, the Penakhongba and the Pungyeiba (drummer) gather at the southwestern corner of the Laibung and sing “Hoi” accompanied by the clapping of hands and Pena and Harao Pung (typical drum played in the Lai-Haraoba). Te singing is called “Hoilaoba”. Laiching Jagoi: Te Maibis dance with the langthrei (a special leaf) held between the fngers. Tis dance sequence involves a variety of expressive movements where the spirit of the deity is invited to enter each Maibi’s body. It also includes the Leisem-Jagoi or the enactment of the creation of the earth by nine gods (Laibungthou-Mapan) and seven goddesses (Lainura-Taret). Tis dance is called Laiching Jagoi. Laiboula Taba: In this dance performance, a long towel is folded three times and placed on the plantain leaf. Langthrei buds are kept at the four corners along with three at the centre of the towel. Te Maibi brings the towel out from the temple, facing the deity, and keeps it at the centre of the Laibung. Tis ritual is termed as “Laiboula Taba”. Hoirou Hoya Laoba: Te Pena singer stands behind the Laiboula, facing the deity and sings the song “Hoirou Hoya” accompanied by the music of Pena. Laibouchongba: Tis is one of the most important sequences in the Lai-Haraoba Festival. Noone is allowed to leave the ritual ground once the

(Laibou Chongba of Kanglei Haraoba)

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Laibou-Chongba (dance of the creation of the human body and its diferent activities) has started. For the Laibou-Chongba, the Maibis are arranged into two lines: Lainingthous (Gods) and Lairembis (Goddesses). Ten, the rows of the processions are led by the Maibis that move in an anticlockwise circle. Te Maibis dance and describe the primitive concept of cosmology through 364 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements (mudra). Hakchang Sagatpa: Te various stages of the creation of the human body are expressed through symbolic suggestions made by 64 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements. It is accompanied by the lyrics of the Anoirol (a particular style of Pena singing) as is sung by the Pena player. Angang-unaba: Various stages of the birth of a child are expressed by 40 sequences of hand gestures accompanied with bodily movements. Yumsarol: Trough 44 diferent sequences of hand gestures along with specifc bodily movements, the process of building a thatched hut is indicated. Te completed house is dedicated to the deities. Panthoibi-Jagoi: It is a duet dance portraying the romantic afair between the god Nongpok-Ningthou and goddess Panthoibi that takes place in 14 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements. Pamyanlon-Jagoi: It is a dance form that depicts the cultivation of cotton. Te theme is suggested through 39 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements describing the diferent stages of growth from the sprouting of the cotton seed to its fowering. Phisarol-Jagoi: It is a detailed expression of the weaving of cloth through 146 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements. Te cloth is then dedicated to the deities. Longkhon-Jagoi: Trough 9 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements, the dance shows the diferent stages of fshing. Paton-Jagoi: It is the dance form depicting the movement of a Pakhangba (snake) and is described in two sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements. Phibul-Jagoi: In this dance form, a ball game is imitated through 6 sequences of hand gestures with bodily movements. Lairen-Mathek: A Maiba indicates the movement of a snake in single line, which follows the specifc pattern of the Yumjao Paphal (a traditional snake pattern)—a symbol of the snake-god, Pakhangba. Wakol: Afer keeping all the objects used in the ritual inside the temple, the Wakol, a concluding song, is sung.

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Naosum Eshei: Te Penakhonba sing the cradle song (Naosum Eshei) to put the deities to sleep. With the divine creatures put to sleep, the Lai-Haraoba is concluded. (iv) Kanglei-Tokpa: It is the concluding ritual performed on the odd days of the Lai-Haraoba. Tis ritual is performed by the Maibis and it depicts the search for a wife by Lainingthou Khoriphaba. Te Maibi, covering her face with a veil and holding a Kangjei (a bamboo object that appears like modern-day hockey stick), hooks a girl from amidst the crowd with the hooked end of the stick. Te girl has to come in front of the deities and dance with the Maibi. Tis is known as Lai Nupi Tiba (predilection of bride from among the audience). (v) Lai-Lamthokpa or Sabal Lamthokpa Kongba Lamyengba: It is held on the odd day of the Lai-Haraoba or on two days ahead of the closing day of the Lai-Haraoba. Te two idols of the Lainingthou (God) and Lairembi (Goddess) are kept on a decorated palanquin and a procession is started from the Laibung to the chosen spot where the Lailamthokpa is to be held. Here the daily ritual programme is performed including the Tang Jagoi (sword dance).

(Lai -Lamthokpa of Kanglei Haraoba)

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(vi)Lairoi: On the last day of the Lai-Haraoba Festival, an additional programme is to be held as a night ritual. When the evening rituals are over, all the Maibas, Maibis and Penakhongba will prepare for the Lairoi ritual. Te following sequences are to be held in the same order: Tang Taba, Loutarol, Tangkhul Nurabi, Ougri Hungel, Khenchong, Lairempaosa, Uyallon, Hijing Hirao, Lai Nongaba, Laite Taba and Saroi Khangba. (vii)Mukna Kangjei: One day afer the Lai-Haraoba Festival concludes, an indigenous game of Mukna Kangjei (the Meitei style of wrestling) is held. Other indigenous games are also played like Lamjel (athletics), Touri Chingnaba (tug of war) etc. In the evening of the day, the Penakhongba sings at a place so as to ask forgiveness for any mistakes committed inadvertently during the period of the Festival. Tis is known as Keining Kumba. (viii)Leikhomba: On the ffh day of the Lairoi (the closing day of the LaiHaraoba Festival), a ritual which is known as the Leikhomba is held. In this ritual, all the degradable articles such as fowers, fruits and plantain leaves which have been used in the Festival are to be buried inside the temple. Te Manipuri society continues to maintain this rare living art form “Lai-Haraoba” Festival’s continuity from generation to generation. It has preserved, practised and performed this ritual dance festival with perfection and gaiety. In fact, the Lai-Haraoba Festival plays a signifcant role in inspiring and guiding the emotional and cultural life of the Manipuri people and binding them amidst a cacophony of identities. Post-Vaishnavite form of Manipuri Dance (Classical) With the advent of Hinduism in Manipur, a new era for the dances and music of Manipur emerged. Manipur adopted Vaishnavism as the state religion. Te supreme fowering of the Vaishnavite culture with Nata Sankirtana, Ras Leelas and others Leelas associated with the Bhagavata tradition began during the reign of Rajarshi Bhagyachandra (1763–1798 AD). But, the seeds had been planted during the ffeenth century AD with the establishment of a Vishnu temple at place called Bishnupur in 1467 AD during the reign of King Kyamba (1467–1508 AD). Afer the installation of god Vishnu in the Vishnu temple of Bishnupur, a new singing style of kirtan came to Manipur. But during the reign of the great King Garib Nawaz (1709–1748) who adopted the Ramanandi

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cult, an old school of kirtan of the style of Bangdesh or Ariba Pala became popular and is still preserved at the Govindaji temple and at some other centres in Manipur. But, Rajarshi Bhagyachandra (1764–1789) adopted the Chaitanya school or the cult of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. It was the period when Manipur’s art and culture attained its zenith. He introduced a new style of kirtan known as the Nata Sankirtana as well as the world-famous dance, Manipuri Ras Leela, which found its supreme expression during his reign. Afer sculpting the statue of Shri Shri Govindaji from a jackfruit tree, the King sanctifed the statue and in honour of the Lord Shri Shri Govindaji, he designed the frst Ras Leela dance and introduced it to the public at the Langthabal Palace in 1779 AD. Te Ras Leela was performed for fve days consecutively, starting from Friday, the 11th day of Hiyangei (Kartik) up to the full-moon day of Mera (October). From that day onwards, the most spiritual and devotional Ras Leela dance came into existence and spread all over the world. It continues to be performed in the various temples of Manipur. Te King Rajarshi Bhagyachandra introduced at least three of the fve Ras Leela dances of Manipur. Tey are Maharas, Basantaras and Kunjaras. Tese three Ras Leela dances have been designed exclusively with the unique approaches of Vaishnava devotion blended with the cultural and traditional art forms of the Meiteis. Te creative addition of the Vaishnava bhava and bhangimas make these dances unique and authentically devotional dance forms. Te above three Ras Leela dance introduced by King Rajarshi Bhagyachandra can be divided into two according to the venues of performance i.e. the Ras Leela performed at the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple and the Ras Leela played at the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji temple and the local village temple. When the Ras Leela dance is performed at the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple, the statues of Shri Shri Govindaji (Krishna) and Smt Raseshwori (Radha) are placed on the Bhadrachakra at the centre of the Ras Mandal and the gopis (artistes) surround the statue and perform the dance. But when it is performed on the premises of the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji temple and at other local temples, the role of Radha and Krishna is played by the child artiste and also episodes likes Krishna Abhisara, Radha Abhisara as well as Krishna Nartana, Radha Nartana are added in diferent episodes. Te remaining two Ras Leela are Nityaras and Divyaras. Nityaras was introduced by King Sir Chandrakirti Maharaj and Divyaras was introduced

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by King Churachand Maharaj. Tese two Ras Leela dances are performed at the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji temple and in all the localities except the Shri Shri Govindaji temple. An outline of the fve Ras Leela dances of Manipur is given below: Maharas: Tis Ras Leela dance is performed on the full-moon night of Kartik (Mera Waphookpa in the Manipuri calendar) in November on the premises of the Shri Shri Govindaji temple, the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji temple and at other localities. It is based on the theme of “Rasapanchadhyaya”, the tenth episode of the Shrimad-Bhagavata, written by Veda Vyasa. Tis Ras Leela was frst introduced by King Rajarshi Bhagyachandra in 1779 AD.

(Maharas Leela of a Local Temple)

(Maharas of Shri Shri Govindaji Temple)

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Kunjaras: Kunjaras is performed on the full-moon night of Ashwin in October on the premises of the temples of Shri Shri Govindaji, Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji and those of various localities. It is based upon the text of Govinda Leelamrita and was frst introduced by King Rajarshi Bhagyachandra. Basantaras: It is performed on the full-moon night of Chaitra (Shajibu purnima in the Manipuri calendar) in the month of April on the premises of the temples of Shri Shri Govindaji, Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji and those of other localities. It is based on the Shri Geet-Govindam written by Jayadeva, Chaitanya Charitamrita and Padakalpataru Anandavrindavanacampu. Tis Ras Leela was frst introduced by King Rajarshi Bhagyachandra.

(Basantras)

Nityaras: It can be performed throughout the year at night-time except the periods during which the other three Ras Leelas are performed— the month of Mera of the Sharad season and the month of Shajibu of the Basanta season. It is not performed on the premises of the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple. It can be performed only on the premises of the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji Temple and at other localities. Tis Ras Leela is based

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on Shri Govinda Leelamrita andPadmapurana. Tis Ras Leela was frst introduced by King Chandrakirti in 1850 AD. Divyaras: Tis Ras Leela also can be performed throughout the year in the daytime before sunset except when the other three Ras Leelas are performed during the day. It is based on some selected chapters of the Shri Krishnaras-Sangeet Samgraha and a few hints from Govinda Leelamritya, “Rasapanchadhyaya” of Shrimad-Bhagavata and the Sangitamadhava. It cannot be performed on the premises of the Shri Shri Govindaji Temple. It can be performed only on the premises of the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji Temple and at other localities. Tis Ras Leela was frst introduced by King Churachand in 1940 AD. Te costume of Manipur’s Ras Leela is a fascinating, absorbing and one of the most beautiful aspects of the performance. It occupies one of the most distinct places in the history of costume designing in the country. Tere is a story that Shri Krishna appeared in a dream and instructed Rajarshi Bhagyachandra about this Ras costume. Rajarshi Bhagyachandra conceived this costume and since then, it has been worn traditionally. Te costumes are designed in such a manner that the bodyline of the dancer is not highlighted. Again, the face of the character dancers of Radha and Gopis

(Goshtha Leela Sansenba)

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is covered by a transparent veil to help to negate the entertaining aspect of a dance recital while keeping an emphasis on the devotional aspect of the dance form. Such has been its impact, that one cannot visualise a Manipuri dance recital without a Ras costume. Tere have been two diferent ornaments for the headgear of Radha and the Gopis. Tey are Koktumbi and Jhapa. Koktumbi is worn in Maharas, Kunjaras and Basantaras. Jhapa is worn in Nrityaras and Divyaras. Te other plays associated with devotion towards Krishna which are still being performed in the temples are Gostha Leela Sansenba and Udukhal. Gostha Leela Sansenba: It is performed on the day of Kartik Gostastami in November on the premises of the Shri Shri Govindaji and the Shri Shri Bijoy Govindaji temples. It is based on the tenth chapter of the SrimadBhagavata. Tis play was frst introduced by King Gambhir Singh in 1868 AD. Udukhal: It is primarily played during Kartik (November) but also can be performed at any time of the year. Tis play is based on the Srimad-Bhagavata’s tenth chapter. It was frst introduced by King Churachand in 1935AD. (Sinam Basu Singh performing the classical Te Manipuri dance forms, Manipuri Dance) both pre-Vaishnavite and postVaishnavite, are variegated and weave elegance with complexity, hand gestures with body movements and devotion with desire. Being the only classical dance-form of the Himalayas, the Manipuri dance is in need of greater number of gurus and shishyas and more importantly, the connoisseurs of exquisite dance forms from the jewel of Asia. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Bandopadhay, Sruti (2010). Manipuri Dance: An Assessment of History and Presentation, New Delhi: Shruti Publications.

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2. Doshi, Saryu (1989). Dances of Manipur: Te Classical Tradition, Bombay: Marg Publications. 3. Gangumei, Kabui (1991). History of Manipur, Volume One: Pre-Colonial Period, New Delhi: National Publishing House. 4. Ibochaoba, Haobam (2009). Te Pre-World War II Form of Ras Leela, Published by (L) Haobam Ongbi Shantibala Devi, Imphal, Manipur. 5. Kumar, Dr. Khumujam Ratan (2001). Lai-Haraoba of Manipur: Indigenous Festival of Manipur, Published by Smt. Ph. Pratima Devi, Mayang, Imphal. 6. Manipur State Kala Akademi (1975). Manipuri Dance Seminar. 7. Nongthombam, Premchand (2005). Ritual and Performances, Manipur: Cultural Resource Centre. 8. Parratt, Saroj N. Arambam (1980). Te Religion of Manipur, Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Limited. 9. Parratt Saroj N. Arambam and Parratt, John (2010). Collected Papers on the History and Culture of Manipur, Patriotic Writers’ Forum, Manipur. 10. Singh, E. Nilakanta (1997). Manipuri Dances, New Delhi: Omsons Publications. 11. Vatsyayan, Kapila (1974). Indian Classical Dance, New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

PART - V Spiritual Odyssey

23. Rishikesh: Silent Hum of Mystery AMBIKA TALWAR

Introduction With mild trepidation and a touch of enthusiasm, I agreed to write this story of my visit to Rishikesh some years ago. Moments afer, it dawned on me that I could not recall much about my days in this august city of pilgrimage. I smiled: so typical of me to jump into the ring of fre and wonder what happened. Déjà vu! Not the visit but my habit. So I called my mother in Delhi to ask what she could recall. Neither of us could even remember which year it was. But she tuned in and started talking. She recalled how fantastic it was that we had the darshan of Swami Chidanananda Saraswati of the Divine Life Society where we had stayed. She said this was a rare thing. I recalled being ushered into the visiting room. I remember Swamiji looking at us, gesturing that I move closer… then handing me some pamphlets. Mother spoke about the Lakshman Jhoola, the temples along the river Ganga, the Shiva statue. Ten she laughed saying, “Tat’s it. No more.” Visions came alive in my mind’s eye in an eidetic train of possibilities. Te statues made by a German devotee for the temple, a life-size statue of Vishnu and Lakshmi in Vaikuntha, the divine Ganga where boats are held in place by strong iron chains, shops selling items for puja in temples, restaurants…

1. I remember how much I had wanted to visit Rishikesh among other cities. Having lived away from India for a number of years, I had developed a longing to connect in ways I hadn’t when I was a child. Te old wanderlust was stirred. Te sacred was dancing. When I arrived in New Delhi, I insisted that we three travel north. Father loved to travel, but said—no, take mother with you. Mother was keen. We lef by train one early morning.

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Te train pulled out of the Delhi station, then stalled; stopping amid felds on the outskirts of the capital. Afer a long hour or so torrid with smells and indecision, mother and I decided to leave the train. We found a three-wheeler, which took us to the bus stop. We reached in time for a bus towards Haridwar—the Door of God. Getting to Rishikesh would be a further challenge as fnding a connecting bus was not easy. If I recall, we hired a taxi. In the eyes of the divine, what would it matter how one arrives at a destination? We might each have been told at some point that the destination is never the goal. It is something far deeper, even if ephemeral; far more poignant, even if it calls for one to be stoic. Journey is a celebration, a dance. It is an answer to a longing of the soul; is this not Love in all its forms? I smile for I recall being told that there is something inherently poetic about being Indian, that we philosophise every little human act or decision. I have not a response. I imagine mountaintops with wild hair of rishis and Mothers fanning the winds. For in the head is glowing fre.

2. Our supposed destination is this beautiful place at the foothills of the Himalayas. We are here. I feel physically charged and excited and wish to begin my exploration of holy sites and treasures. I think: I am here! I am in Rishikesh. Call me not tourist in search of fame take away even my name or what’s a river for? Mother and I arrive at the ashram and are shown our room. One rule mother lives by is to clean the room and bathroom wherever we land. Tis is a way of making it one’s own. My eagerness to get out borders on impatience. Finally, we leave and walk down the slope back towards and past the langar (where food is served) to the temple of many rooms. Te main room of this temple has statues of Mother Durga and Saraswati, each made by a devotee, who had lived here for many years. Tese are exquisite expressions of love. How the lines fow with dynamic grace of the Mothers who are the centre and electrifer of all cosmic expressions!

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Te goal of the journey is to fnd this mystery. Tere is much more to discover. As we go towards the gate, a man from the temple calls out to us.We wait. He comes to us calling, “Ma.” He wants to know who I am, where I am from. I feel a little shy. He brings us mangoes, my favorite fruit. His name is Dushrath. I feel his adoration and wonder about it. As we are leaving, he will hold the fruit for us. He tells us he had run away from his home in Orissa when he was around 14 years. Difcult life-struggles led him here where he found peace and self. Tinking about this moment itself triggers my body with vibrations—which have become now very frequent in the last two years. From here, we head out to town. Up and across the road, we visit the main centre of the Society. Here we meet with Swamiji. Poignant moments with him go with us to the narrow streets with vendors, lined by temples and the river. How beautiful is this Ganga; this is the closest I have come to our ancient waters, source of a trillion legends. how fast she fows cold rush of wild knowledge Mother and I cross the Lakshman Jhoola to fnd narrow lanes, which take us to other temples. On this frst day, we stay close to the central areas. But, we get a wondrous view of Lord Shiva’s statue, elegant against the blue sky. For a short while, we walk along the river and watch the boats neatly secured. Tey have to be—for the water rushes at a phenomenal speed. Swimming in here is prohibited. One has to enter the wild river holding on tightly to the chains held fast by solid iron posts, or be carried away by her passionate love. I remember the smell of the air lifing over the river. Ten I wonder. How does a mythos smell—one that has cradled a civilisation for thousands of years; one whose breath has spawned poetic utterances now caught amid sheaves of paper; one that continues to inspire right thinking, one that will maintain harmony and love? I am caught in these musings again even as another devastating war is causing a deeper wound in our hearts and psyches and all life is on the alert. How shall a timeless mythos continue to birth its new ways in the midst of uncertainty of the survival of the very species that is causing its own

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demise? It is not that wisdom cannot pour through technological junk as is surely evident by the diverse texts on the web, myriad impressions on flm, and ways of calculations. It is the alacrity with which corrupt beings distort the power of innovation that speeds our end and that of all species on this glorious planet. Somehow, mother and I fnd our way to a temple within the confnes of a wall, which is painted pink and decorated with a swastika at regular intervals. Te boundary wall has the familiar look of cracks and mildew, which is somehow comforting. We enter through the white metal gate contained by a white wall with a scalloped arch above which is a sign in Devanagari that says Mani Kuta Dham. Te temple inside is lovely, but I cannot recall who the deities were. What I remember are small altars on the frst foor with diferent deities: we love our diversity of form, symbol, and attributes. Te silence is sweet; one can always hear the birds. We linger inside here for quite a while. When we depart, we see a young man sitting beside one of the swastikas. Curious, I begin a conversation with this traveller from Israel in search of his peace. I ask how it feels to sit by a swastika. He smiles for he understands its real meaning, a meaning distorted for gain and loss, a meaning that reveals ultimately harmony of the cosmos through the revolution of the planets around the sun in a symbol also of the Celts, the Greeks and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Mother and I walk back to the ashram. She has hurt her foot, so we go slowly. As we return to the ashram, Dushrath who had been awaiting our return brings us the fruit. He walks us back to our room and waits outside to walk us to the langar. Inside here, we fnd our plates and sit on the foor. We are served rice and vegetables. When we eat, we wash our plates in the community washing space, which is all wet and not so clean. Unfortunately, in the framework of making spiritual oferings, people have forgotten the care of the vehicle. Surely, body, mind and spirit must be in balance and equally cared for. Also the body outside us; the places we inhabit. But that cleaning is always lef to someone else.

3. black night lingers in dreams let birds waken us to majesty of loving kindness.

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Afer a strange waking, I step out to fnd a bowl of fruit lef at the door. Dushrath and his devotion touch me endlessly. When we leave to eat at the langar, he waits to walk us there. He is again excited to see me and he shows us around the temple again. He shows us his simple home. He assures me he will bring me mangoes the following day. My heart falls for we have little time in Rishikesh. We begin our adventure along the slopes of these winding roads amid mountains whose mystery and rough beauty beads. We stop at a jewellery shop and buy sphatic malas, necklaces made of naturally occurring crystal beads. We stop at another shop where sits a palmist. He asks to see my palm and then makes a strange look. Mother says, we should never show our hands to strangers. I don’t know what he saw; I know what I am becoming. We continue to discover more and more temples along the river and among the rich diversity of trees and wild fauna. It is their breath too that marks the walls of temples and houses. It is not uncommon to see a new baby tree growing out of a wall. Innocently, life expresses itself in myriad places where the sun shines. Far from the main walkway amid huge trees and houses are small kutiyas here and there: homes for the sadhus whose lives are spent in prayer. Somehow holiness or a sense of it marks the bricks that walls are made of. Holy men with dreadlocks and red turbans sit on steps or by tea stalls; homeless men lie in slumber and rest under trees. Temple bells stir the air every so ofen. I hope commerce will not take away the rhythm of this town. Local folk watch us with interest. Dressed much like them, I wonder why we are the cynosure of curious eyes. Te chatter of people walking and temple chanting weave the spaces in which we walk. we are that weave always that sings in chaos… a riot of colours splinters hearts open amid falling fruit. We visit old temples; some are part of old houses—it is a way of life. Just as there is no separation between the true heart and mind and we (might) live in concert with nature, so, too, in the old structures that emerge one

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from the other set amid trees. Yes, monkeys, too, are part of the scenario. How can we be separate! River Ganga calls us to sit beside her, but not for long. Once evening changes colour, we are asked to move away from the edges. Te rhythmic lapping of the water by the shore and the rushing of the river remind us to honour the silence. Mother and I wonder at the difculties of our family: why is this the condition of the whole world? Our last evening here is wrought with bitter-sweetness as we refect on the passages in our lives and what we desire yet, be fulflled.

4. We carry our bags outside where Dushrath waits loyally for us. I feel already his sadness at our leaving. He insists on carrying all our bags down the street to the bus-stand. He wants to know when we will return. His tear-spiked eyes won’t let go of my gaze. I do not know which Mother he saw in me. But my feeling of my own journey is renewed. mango is an endless road kissed in this air a pathless path of devotion… remnants of time point to that other road where points meet a luminous eye. In a few hours we reach Haridwar. Such a crowded place that walking through the milling throng is a challenge I had not experienced in some years. In a tiny cab jostling on narrow roads in this ancient Door to God, we reach the river. Of course, it is the river where much happens. In a few hours will be the aarti, waving of lights and song for blessings. Tis time, I hold the chains and step into the river. Delicious and cold, the water wraps round my slender body, I breathe in a taste of glory; I feel sated now. Cold water always brings me to serenity. All around me people are waving these lights made with small atta diyas placed in banana leaves. Tese are then let go of in the river, so the blessings go far and wide. Bones of the cremated are cast in the water further downstream. Mine are still living bones, but living and dying are concurrent streams.

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I come out of the water soaked to the head, wave my own aarti and set my desires free into the river. What will I manifest? What will I become?

5. I return with longing for all that was stirred in me, the days when Mother sang her primordial sounds into the weaves of my body, perhaps, before I was born—this body in my own mother’s womb taking on her unsung songs. My own mother who travelled with me to these shores has been wistful with her own longing. What if we erase old symbols, icons, and tools and begin anew! What if we return to our primal sound and sense and rewrite our longings with the silent hum of light and dark: pure, ineluctable, and ubiquitous. dark eyes of Dushrath remind I am kiss of simplicity interwoven mesh of timeless wonder; SHE dances in me and I must be as She wild whole potent love is devotion! In just three days, a bite of the Himalayan air brings me to my hidden self. Te wild hair of the sages will carry secrets of such seeds in the wind, the fres, the water, and the mountain gaze stolid in the far distance. My hair wet with the Ganga water frames my face as I gaze at the fame winking in a diya on a banana leaf in my hands. Now 20 years later when I look through the internet for pictures of places my mother and I had visited, I fnd a wild splash of tourist attractions: water sports, beautiful yoga on the banks, eateries. Someone got it wrong. Someone wrote the wrong contracts. I wish some of these are just tags for other places, that Rishikesh still has a magic that lured me into its heart. Tat which is pristine must remain so.

24. The Himalayas: A Mystic’s Viewpoint SWAMI PARANAND TIRTH

Te word Himalaya literally means ‘the abode of snow’. Apart from being a geographical entity, it has in various ways shaped the life and culture of the South Asian people. Comprising of nine highest peaks in the world, this awe-inspiring range has been an object of veneration for people and epitomises the concept of sublime beauty. Te Himalayas are bordered on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain, on the northwest by the  Karakoram  and  Hindu Kush  ranges and on the east by the Indian states of  Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Te Himalayas span fve countries: India, Nepal, Bhutan, China (Tibet) and Pakistan with the frst three countries having dominion over most of the range. Te Himalayas are home to three major Indian rivers which are the lifeline of the area—the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Important civilisations arose at the bank of these magnanimous rivers; hence, they occupy a very special place in the hearts of the people who consider them as their mother. While the Indus and the Brahmaputra rise near  Mount Kailash in Tibet, the Ganges rises in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. In the Hindu tradition and belief system, the Himalayas are not only a magnifcent mountain range but also the sacred abode of the gods. In various texts, the range itself is considered as the manifestation of the divine and ofen referred to as devatma or god-souled. Also known as Giriraj or the ‘King of Mountains’, they assume a signifcant position in Hindu myths, folklore and history. Te earliest text mentioning the Himalayas is the Rig Veda. Singing the praise of the supreme deity, the poet-sage refers to the Himalaya: “It is to Him to whom belong these celestial mountain ranges”. Tese sages also describe its stretch as “the expanse of the two arms of the great being”. Te epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, and the Puranas, describe this as the region where the

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gods dwell, and the landscape is evoked beautifully in classical poetical works. According to the Skanda Purana, “As the sun dries the morning dew so does the mere sight of the Himalaya dissipate the sins of man”. Te Himalayan range as a whole is sacred because it is in the north, which for Hindus is the direction of wisdom and spiritual rebirth. It also includes the highest peaks in the world, which are a sight to inspire awe and wonder in people of any race or creed. From times immemorial, the Himalayas have given out speechless invitations to sages, anchorites, yogis, artists and philosophers. Te mighty altitude of the Himalayas constantly reminds us of the lofiness of the human soul and its vastness. Te Himalayas are a diverse region encompassing many diverse practices and beliefs. From the perspective of the Hindus from the plains, the Himalayan region symbolises the ultimate ascetic experience of the renunciant—Shiva, the quintessential yogin, residing in the Himalayas with his wife Parvati. Both deities become transformed in local practice, taking on localised forms and histories relevant to those who are permanent residents of the Himalayas. Not surprisingly, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to many diferent pilgrimage sites in the mountains each year. As a reservoir of frozen water, the body and home of the God Himalaya is the divine source of sacred rivers such as the Ganges and Indus that sustain life on the hot and dusty plains of northern India. Te ancient poets and sages regarded the range as more than a realm of snow; they saw it as an earthly paradise sparkling with streams and forests set beneath beautiful peaks. Te Himalaya is considered as a living and breathing entity in both Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. A deity in itself, it is deemed capable of feeling and expressing the feelings of happiness and displeasure in multiple manners. Eastern religions including—Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism —recognise non-humans as sentient beings. In Jainism and Hinduism, this is closely related to the concept of ahimsa or nonviolence toward other beings. Right from antiquity, Indian myths and folklore have revolved a lot around nature spirits and the power bestowed on them. Various Yaksha–Yakshi fgures seen in both Hindu as well as Buddhist art always epitomise and personify an important element of nature or an important phenomenon. Rivers are ofen equated with a mother who nourishes and cares for her child lovingly. Various mother goddesses symbolising the concept of fertility have been part of the visual culture for ages. Te

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traditional Hindu thought has never erected a high wall between human existence and animal existence while recognising the important distinctions between the two. Lord Vishnu is believed to have incarnated ten times. He descended to the earth in ten diferent forms (avatars) to preserve righteousness in the world. Te Himalayas have done the same: Mountains reincarnate to preserve the planet’s ‘right environment’ for life. Tis Vishnu–Himalaya parallelism has mythological beauty and richness. In the Hindu mythology, Himavat is the personifcation of the Himalayan mountains. He is the father of Ganga, a heavenly river that few from the toe of Vishnu, but which was brought down to the earth to purify the ashes of the dead. Te site where the Ganges enters the plains of northern India is called Haridwar (the gate of Hari or Shiva); in ancient times, people also called it Ganga-dwara (the gate of Ganga). Himavat’s younger daughter is variously known as Uma, Himavati, Pravati or Devi, who is also the consort of Shiva. Nanda Devi is attributed to this goddess, while Mount Kailash is considered as Shiva’s paradise and Shivling is thought to be Shiva’s Lingam. Vishnu also has his foot in the Himalaya, close to the Ganges; Kedarnath and Badrinath are attributed to him in several myths. Te peaks, valleys, rivers and rocks of the Himalaya have long been perceived as a sacred landscape by its peoples, pilgrims and scholars as well as by climbers, surveyors and scientists. Mythological Signifcance of a Few Himalayan Peaks on the Indian Side from Esoteric and Exoteric Perspectives

1. Nara and Narayana As the legend goes, Sage Markandeya underwent severe penance at a shrine near the Chitra glacier on the confuence of the Ganga and Pushpa Bhadra. Te Lord incarnated in the form of twin ascetics, Narayana (the frst human avatar of Vishnu) and his twin brother Nara—to sage Kashyapa’s son Dharma and Daksha’s daughter, Matamurti—and granted him a boon that he will visualise the real form of maya, the primeval delusive power of the Lord, and thus fnd a way to go beyond the labyrinthine conduct of the destiny and fate of man. Tis place is on the right bank of the Bhagirathi some 3.50 km west of Gomukh, the holy cow-head glacier where the Ganga becomes visible to the mortals for the frst time. Afer the sage attained immortality (Markandeya

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is one of the eight immortal saints of Hinduism), the two incarnations of Lord Narayana transmuted in the form of two peaks called Nara and Narayana respectively. Tese are accessible from Badrinath. Nara can be seen just opposite the main temple of Badrinath and the Narayana peak is behind the Neelkantha peak. River Alaknanda, one of the fve forms of the Ganga, fows through the valley between the two peaks. Esoterically, these denote Jiva and Ishwara which are the two refections of the absolute principle in maya and avidya (nescience and delusion). Both are the aspirant and adept aspects  of a yogi and  pertain  to  the subtler metaphysical states of consciousness.

[Image source: http://www.vanamaliashram.org/Badrikashrama.html]

2. Nanda Devi It is located between the Rishiganga and Goriganga valleys in Uttarakhand. Literally, the “Goddess of Bliss” incarnated as the daughter of Nanda and Yasoda. As she was about to be thrashed by Kamsa, the villain-uncle of Lord Krishna, she slipped of his hands and incarnated as Yogamaya, who dwells on the peak called Nanda Devi. She is a favourite deity of many hill people who propitiate her in [Image source: http://indovacations.net/english/ Nanda-Devi.htm] various ways. A mass pilgrimage

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takes place every twelve years and a four-horned sheep is ofered to her. She is adored as a princess who is betrothed to Lord Shiva; so the pilgrimage is more like a bridal procession. Metaphysically speaking, Nanda is one of the six aspects of Durga which signifes the six-fold aspects of nature or prakriti.  3. Bhrigu  Tung Tere is a conspicuous peak in the backdrop of the river Pushpa Bhadra which we have already mentioned as the ashram of Nara and Narayana. Te river Pushpa Bhadra originates from the Chitra glacier at the base of this mountain. Self-mortifcation and self-extinction were the two prominent religious practices during the era of strict theocracy and ecclesiastic subservience. Te  practice  of  Bhrigupatnam  or  falling  from the big mountains was a popular means of salvation during the hoary past. Tis is also called as veeradhwa—the path of the brave.

[Image Source: http://www.fickr.com/photos/steynard/15484301520/in/photolist-9Q6g Tp-pAi6nS-53GEJ3-pSLsuU-oVTSWr/]

4. Bandarpunch (Monkey-tail) One range of mountains between the origins of the Ganga and Yamuna actually looks like a massive tail of a reclining monkey. During their exile, Bhimasena was negotiating a clif to fetch a fower of divine genus for Draupadi. He came across an old monkey who blocked his way with his tail. “I am too old to move even an inch, please push it aside yourself ”, said the ape.

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One of strongest men of his time, despite strenuous eforts and with all his might, Bhimasena could not move the tail even an inch. Te monkey was none other than Hanumanji. Bhimasena made obeisance to the great hero and invited him to join the Pandavas in the battle of Mahabharata which was to commence shortly. “I will be there as the emblem on Arjuna’s fag and keep up your morale with constant battle cries”, said Hanumanji. Two peaks, Hanuman Tibba, a peak adjacent to the Bhrigu Parvat and Bandar Punch between Ganga and Jamuna are attributed to Hanumanji.

[Image Source: http://nanonkka.blogspot.in/2011/07/bandarpunch-successful-summit.html]

5. Shivling  Beyond the Gangotri glacier, afer crossing a few hillocks on the western side, one enters a realm of stupendous scenic beauty. A fve–six km stretch of plain meadows with an immaculate crystal-clear brook fowing across it is just breath- taking and jaw dropping!  Tis place called Tapovanam has been  named afer a great mystic explorer of the  Himalayas— Swami  Tapovanamji. If the weather god is benign, one can see the mountain Shivling, a fve- faced symbol of Shiva made by his own nature. Tis peak is also visible from a few km before reaching Gomukh.  Most of the times, it is hidden by thick, dense and  dismal cloud fakes— just the way Shivalingas    elsewhere are ofen concealed under ofering of fowers, leaves and sweetmeats. 

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Tese holy places facilitate the withdrawal of senses and the absorption in  one’s  own essential nature.  Maheshwarananda, the  author of Maharthmanjari, a trika mystic canon says, “Te real worship of Shiva is recognising him as one’s own universal self—the Lord of the universe is in no dearth of liquids, leaves or fowers”.

[Image Source: http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Shivling-Garhwal-Himalaya/ photos/11899]

6. Bhagirath King Bhagiratha practised a strenuous penance for a very long time. Unless the Ganga came down to the earth, thousands of his ancestors could not be delivered from the curse of sage Durvasa. His penance fructifed. Not only did the Ganga descend but she also blessed the entire country by her austere contact till her merger into the ocean. Te conspicuous peak overlooking the glacier has been named afer King Bhagiratha. Mount Bhagirath has three major peaks. Te three peaks dominate the sky in the valley near Gomukh, the end of the Gangotri Glacier.

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[Image Source: http://renokadventures.com/10-highest-himalaya-mountains-peaks/]

7. Sumeru As we climb up  the glacier  on the right side of  the Tapovanam  ridge of the Shivling, one has to walk on rough and massive boulders sometimes 10–15 m tall for a few km towards the  right.  Tree peaks are visible,  glistening in the frst rays of the morning sun. Modern surveyors have given them  names  like  Meru-1,  Meru-2  and Meru-3.  But,  these are the three points corresponding to the three realms in the subtle world; the abode of the empress Goddess Mahatripurasundari who is believed to be residing at the middle summit of the trio (“Sumeromadhyasringstha”; Lalita Sahasranama). Tis mystic triangle, though ordinary looking, has a special mystic charm which comes either from prolonged adoration or by sharing the vision of the mystics and adepts.  Tese three peaks as it were, are experienced by the practitioners of kundalini yoga within their plexuses. Tere is an esoteric fortifcation within the middle summit. Te supreme divine mother dwells within a palace of the wish-fulflling gem— cintamani.

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Only initiated ascetics of a very high order can experience such intricate details. For a commoner, it’s just a frightening, scary, chilly and dreadful fold of the Himalayas in the middle of nowhere.

[Image Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255304/American-climbersconquer-Indias-Mount-Meru-Sharks-Fin-Trio-world-ascend-20-700f-death-defyingpeak-11-day-climb.html]

8. Mani Mahesh Te Manimahesh Kailash Peak, also known as Chamba Kailash, is located in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Tere is the Manimahesh

[Image Source: http://bharmourview.in/manimahesh/Bharmour, Himachal Pradesh]

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Lake here. It is believed to be the abode of Shiva. Tere is a natural linga on this mountain enhancing the sanctity of the place. It also remains a virgin peak, since it has not been successfully climbed by mountaineers. Te local legend goes how Manimahesh was created by Lord Shiva afer his marriage with Parvati. Shiva used to show his displeasure by creating blizzards and avalanches. On lake Manimahesh’s banks, Shiva performed penance. He was thence adopted as the supreme god by the local community of Gaddis. 9. Harmukh Harmukh peak is located in the Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir. It rises above Gangabal Lake. Harmukh literally means “similar on all sides”. Te peak is considered as the abode of Lord Shiva.

[Image Source: Aditya Paranjape, http://www.panoramio.com/photo/101121935]

10. Swargarohini Swargarohini is in the Bandarpunch Range. It consists of four separate peaks and can be seen during the Satopanth trek. Swargarohini is the main one among the four peaks. Te legend mentions that the Pandavas undertook their last journey along this route. Dhaumya, the priest of the Pandavas, came to this place during their exile. Only adept yogis who are expert in pranayama can go beyond this point (“Vana Parva”). During the Mahabharata days, they knew about the rare oxygen but practised pranayama (breath control) instead of carrying oxygen cylinders on their back. Afer the war was over, the Pandavas resolved to walk the plank and cleanse themselves from the sin of genocide.

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Tey took a similar route via Satopanth, literally the way to righteousness, and reached the stairway to heaven. Five boulders on the ridge are like human fgures ascending the mountains. Tere is a general belief that they were frozen and mummifed en route due to unfavourable karmas and could not make it in fesh and blood. Only Yudhishthira and his dog, who was actually the embodiment of Yama (Tanatos of Hindu wisdom), made it. In an esoteric sense, fve elements viz. the earth, water, fre, air and ether are the fve Pandavas and Draupadi, their common consort, is nature. A homogeneous blend of the six leads to a perfect system that is conducive to righteousness and thus the attainment of the Kingdom of Heaven. But as the course of karma would have it, this is a rare occurrence and only a chosen few can attain it. It was not this difcult in the eras of sata and dwapara— the former pertains to the age of truth whereas the latter to the age of righteousness. Some other legends say that it is the only way to directly ascend to heaven keeping the human body intact. Terefore, this is considered as the place of immortals where the siddhas live and guide human destiny.       Swargarohanam is a peak climbed by mountaineers from all over the world but to make it up to heaven through penance and austerities is much more difcult.

[Image Source: Tilak Soni, http://www.merapahadforum.com/tourism-places-of-uttarakhand/ swargarohini-pandav-went-heaven-from-here/]

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Coda Te Himalayas have been home to an intensive religious life since times immemorial. Sages, rishis and yogis came to hidden places to meditate. Indian sacred texts and epics tell stories about miracles and revelations that happened here.  Much of the Indian religious beliefs originate in the Himalayas. Each mountain, lake and river is steeped in mythology. Tis “abode of the gods” includes many shrines and places of pilgrimage including the Char-Dhams—the four most sacred and revered Hindu temples: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri; Hemkund Sahib sacred to Sikhs and various gompas and monasteries deeply revered by the Buddhists. Reaching a certain destination like Badrinath located in the lofy Himalayan heights at 10,400 feet requires one to pass from holy sites like Haridwar, Rishikesh, Devaprayag, Rudraprayag, Karna Prayag, Nanda Prayag and Vishnuprayag which makes the entire journey a spiritual experience to be cherished for life.  En route also are Pandukeswar where the Pandavas are believed to have been born, and the site where Bhima and Hanuman (sons of Vayu) met. Hot water springs of Taptakundam are seen on the banks of the Alaknanda at Badrinath. Te lofy peaks Neelakanta Parvatam and Nara Narayana Parvatam are visible from the temple. Badrinarayan is worshipped here in form of a saligrama. Tere is a shrine dedicated to Adi Shankara. Te Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is considered as the epitome of pilgrimage by both Hindus and Buddhists. Te towering 22,028  f high peak Mt. Kailash in the Himalayas, 25 miles north of the Mansarovar Lake, is hailed as the abode of Shiva. It is an arduous trek to Kailash through the snow-clad Himalayas and is attempted only by a few. Te Tibetans refer to Kailash as Kang Rinpoche (Jewel of Snow). Mount Kailash appears like a giant Shivalingam placed in a 16-petalled lotus. Pilgrims frst reach Darchin, and then start their 32-mile pradakshina or circumambulation around the sacred mountain. From Darchin, they proceed to Landifu, then Derfu, and then in a northeast direction to Gowrikund, 19,000 feet above sea level. Gowrikund in Tibet is known as Tuki Singbu. Te pilgrim goes further to Jandalfu and come back to Darchin. Tere are several Buddhist temples in this area. Mt. Kailash is regarded by the Hindus as an embodiment of Shiva and Parvati. Te Buddhists refer to the sacred mountain as Kangri Karchak; they regard the presiding deity of Mt. Kailash as a Deity with three eyes,

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holding the damaru and the trishul; his consort is referred to as Dorje Fangmo. Te Jainas regard Mt. Kailash as the Ashtapada Mountain where the frst Tirthankara Adinath (Rishabhadeva) attained nirvana. Major rivers have their source around the Manasarovar Lake and Kailash. Te Mansarovar Lake is known as Cho Mapan. Tere are two lakes here: one is the Rakshasa Tal, where Ravana is believed to have performed penances to please Shiva, and the other the  Mansarovar, considered as being one of the 51 Saktipeethas. Gangotri and Yamnotri are the sacred sites from where the two most important rivers of the north Indian plains—Ganga and Yamuna— originate. Temples dedicated to these river goddesses indicate their holiness and importance as life-giving mothers. Everyday, we see how nature is being plundered and destroyed to satisfy the insatiable hunger for more by us humans. Te concern about the environment and its destruction is a much-talked about subject these days but the world has not yet discovered the appropriate means for living in complete harmony with nature. The universe is balanced to the very core and has a self-balancing mechanism at play. The imbalance created by humans in their lust for more will ultimately result in their own destruction. Nature punishes the follies of men—especially, when they take it for granted. Many an earthquake, typhoon and flood occur due to human negligence and carelessness towards nature. The recent tragedy at Kedarnath was an example of a punishment for such a misdeed. From June 14 to 17, 2013 Uttarakhand and the adjoining areas received heavy rainfall, which was about 375% more than the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon. The environmental experts reported that the tunnels built and the blasts undertaken for the 70 hydroelectric projects contributed to the ecological imbalance in the state, with flows of river water restricted and the stream-side development activity contributing to a higher number of landslides and more flooding. Similarly, the recent foods in Jammu and Kashmir were attributed to unlawful occupation and flling up of the food channels which resulted in food waters getting collected in the city and hence drowning major areas. Worshipping and respecting nature is no way a superstition but it is a constant reminder that we are dependent on nature for everything and we should do nothing to invoke its wrath.

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Te ancient Rishis and seers of India lived in the caves of Himalayas and did rigorous penance. Te temperature is quite even in a cave and they are generally cool in summers. Te heat of the scorching summer cannot penetrate inside the cave. It is quite warm in winter. All external sounds are shut out in a cave so one can engage in an uninterrupted meditation. Tere is solitude in caves and the spiritual currents are elevating. Te Himalayas is full of natural as well as manmade caves primarily for the purposes of meditation. Te Buddhist rock-cut caves which serve as both chaityagrihas and viharas were quite popular in this region especially in Ladakh, Tibet and Spiti. Manmade caves were created for monks who needed solace and an austere atmosphere to carry out their meditational and devotional activities. Such caves were ofen carved away from human habitation. It is the abundance of natural caves in the area along with the fowing river which lends the special status as a spiritual haven to this region. So many saints have been known to have achieved god-consciousness in one of these natural caverns. Tere are many yogis still meditating in the caves of Himalayas. Tey are totally isolated from the modern world. Tey have the power to resist the extreme weather conditions of the Himalayas.  Te Himalayas have three unparalleled qualities, which is amazing. Firstly, there is solitude; the environment is pristine and spiritually vibrant. Secondly, there is eternal silence, eternal concentration and the light of energy (Shakti) fowing here. Tat is why mountain peaks, snow-covered areas and such places are considered holy. Many sadhakas have not even seen such areas of the Himalayas where siddhas have made their home, which has mystical and secret doorways through which one can gain entry to the Maha-Himalaya— the subtle astral realm superimposed on the gross physical dimension. Almost all avatars, siddhas, mahayogis who have actually achieved any heights in the feld of spirituality have talked about it. Tere is this physical expanse of mountains in the Himalaya which can be seen through the eyes and felt ordinarily—the visible Himalaya. But, there is another invisible Himalaya above this visible Himalaya. Tis is the third quality. And across all yugas, this invisible Maha-Himalaya has sent its messengers, its representatives to the known world, carrying the message of Truth. Death is not the end of life, rather there is another amazing life afer death. And in fact, one can gain access to that astral life usually accessible afer death, even while being alive. And that is the sadhaka’s life—a spiritual life.

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Index Abdullah, Farooq (Dr), 208 Abdullah, Omar, 209, 210, 211 Abdullah, Sheikh Mohammad, 208, 212 Acharya Chandrakirti, 253, 254 Afghanistan, 34, 111, 123, 124, 181, 184, 191, 265 Aksai Chin, 201, 204 Alchi Murals, Tracing Multiple Traditions, 309-318 conclusion, 318 historical and cultural context, 310-312 introduction, 309-310 stylistic inquiry, 314-318 Toling monastery and second difusion of Buddhism, 312-314 Alexander the Great, 119, 120 Anantnag, 211 Antarctica, 191 Arctic, 111, 114, 191 Art Heritage and Law, Railroading Geographical Indications Act and Kangra Miniature Paintings, 299-307 Geographical Indications Act 1999, what does it mean in heritag protection of Kangra miniature paintings of Kangra?, 302-306 Kangra miniature painting, brief history, 299-302 railroading two debates, 306-307 Arunachal Pradesh, 7, 123, 139, 140, 142, 145, 147, 148, 149, 151, 184, 191, 215, 217, 222, 277, 278, 280, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 347 Arya Nagarjuna, 161, 253, 254, 255, 260, 262 Aryadeva, 171, 253, 254 Assam, 78, 79, 81, 97, 120, 123, 139, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150, 152, 153, 222, 277, 279, 280, 286, 293, 295, 297, 321, 347

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 194, 216 Aurangzeb, 300 Australia, 45 Bangladesh, 34, 37, 40, 41, 73, 74, 123, 195, 215, 216, 226 Bay of Bengal, 78, 81, 118, 221, 226 Beijing, 40, 223, 224 Bhutan, 22, 34, 36, 37, 41, 73, 133, 141, 153, 162, 182, 183, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 215, 229-239, 267, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 284, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 347 Bhutto, Zulfkar Ali, 202 BJP, 187, 208, 210 Bodhisattva Shantideva, 117, 253, 254, 255, 261, 262, 318 Britain, 50 Buddha, 83, 91, 115, 117, 130, 131, 160, 161, 162, 163, 171, 172, 173, 186, 187, 246, 257, 259, 261, 274, 314 Buddhism, 83, 84, 91, 93, 103, 117, 118, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 159-175, 181, 186, 187, 191, 195, 197, 246, 256, 257, 258, 264, 265, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 348 Buddhist Identity Politics in Nepal since 1990s, 243-248 assertion of buddhist identity since 1990s constitution, 245-247 buddhist politics under janajati umbrella, 247-248 conclusion, 248 introduction, 243-244 nationalism in monarchical institution, 244-245 Burma, 59, 64, 74, 77, 79, 93, 118, 145, 152, 162, 224, 225, 321 Calcutta, 131

384 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

Cambodia, 41, 170, 226 Cape Verde, 34 Canada, 91, 160 Challenges to Himalayan Watershed, 33-43 anthropocene, 33 Asia’s himalayan hydrology, 36-38 climate change and water resources, 3839 conclusion, comprehensive understanding of water, 42-43 context, 33 Himalayan glacier profle, 35-36 Himalayan hydropolitics, 40-42 importance of China’s hydrological position, 39-40 profle of himalayan mountain system, 34-35 question of Tibet, 42 China, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 51, 57, 60, 67, 73, 74, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 91, 93, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 120,135, 140, 152, 153, 160, 162, 163, 165, 167, 170, 181, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197, 200, 201, 204, 212, 215, 216, 217, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 233, 277, 278, 311, 318, 347 Christianity, 85, 93, 256, 260 Clinton, Bill, 170 Congress, 209, 210, 211, 212 Costa Rica, 34 Cultural Continuity and School Education in Bhutan, Current Initiatives, Challenges and Opportunities, 229-239 conclusions, 238-239 cultural continuity through education, 233-234 cultural diversity in curricula and pedagogy, 237-238 educating for Gross National Happiness, 231-232 educational development in Bhutan, 230231 globalisation and its impact on culture and education, 232-233

interaction of culture, curricula and classroom practice, 234-237 introduction, 229-230 Dalai Lama, 80, 135, 136, 140, 151, 153, 160, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 182, 183, 184, 187, 195, 254, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 312 Darjeeling, 123, 131, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 286, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 296 Das, Sarat Chandra, 129, 130, 131, 132, 135, 136 Dras, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 19, 23 Drug and Arms Flow in Eastern Himalayan Region, 215-227 China and Shan State, 224-226 China in Mekong trans-borders, 226 China’s drug control strategy, 219-220 China’s footprint, 221-222 drugs and arms fow, 217-218 implications of this trade for northeast India, 220 India’s calibration, 226-227 Kachin and chinese, 222-224 Myanmar and Chinese presence, 220-221 Einstein, Albert, 159 Emperor Ashoka, 117, 161, 266, 310 Empowering the Kashmiris, 207-213 governance defcit, 210-211 introduction, 207-208 political causes, 209-210 political division in kashmir, 208-209 prisoner’s mindset, 212 regional empowerment, 212-213 what ails kashmir?, 211-212 Encounter and Engagement, Vignettes of Trans-Himalayan Region, 129-137 conclusions, 136-137 cultural missions, 132-134 introduction, 129 Tibetan encounters, diferent strokes, 130-132

INDEX • 385

Gandhi, Indira, 203 Gandhi, Rahul, 209 Gangtok, 144 Garhwal, 22, 116, 120, 122, 123, 353 Germany, 50, 152 Goa, 144 Guru Padmasambhava, 265, 266, 311

fulfllment of prophecies, 164-165 prophecies by Buddha, 160-164 some concluding refections, 172-175 Himalayan Food Culture, 277-286 conclusion, 286 food culture, 278-281 introduction, 277-278 sociology of Himalayan fermented foods, 281-286 Himalayas, A Mystic’s Viewpoint, 347-360 coda, 358-360 mythological signifcance of few Himalayan peaks on Indian side from esoteric and exoteric perspectives, 349358 Himalayas to Unite, 191-197 as it is, where it is, 194-195 conclusion, 197 formula for resolution, 193-194 geography, 191 geopolitics, 191-192 Himalayas decide, 195-197 model of Bhutan as Asian ethos, 195 regional bonding of togetherness, 192 regional confict, 192-193 Hinduism, 191, 195, 197, 245, 246, 256, 260, 301, 321, 329, 348, 350 HIV, 217, 219, 220

Haridwar, 113, 340, 344, 349, 358 Himachal Pradesh, 277, 279, 280, 283, 286, 299, 302, 355 Himalaya (Himalayan) (passim throughout text) Himalayan Buddhism Travels West, 159175 background, 159 blossoming lotuses in garden of bliss, 165-169 Dalai Lama becomes “lama to the world”, 170-171 four great schools of Himalayan Buddhism in west, 171-172

Iceland, 34 India, (passim throughout text) India-Asia Collision and Making of Himalayas, 1-24 conclusion, 23-24 geological framework, 6-7 Indus Tsangpo suture zone, 10 initial shaping of Himalayas/transHimalayas, 17-23 timing of India–Asia collision, 13-17 trans-Himalayan Ladakh batholith, 7-9 Tso Morari crystallines–subducted continental lithosphere, 10-13 Indian Frontier Administrative Service,

Tibetologists from russia, 134-136 England, 152, 168 Europe, 45, 57, 133, 164, 165, 168, 194 First World War, 50 Footprints of Nalanda Master Naropa in Himalayas, 263-267 France, 50, 86, 152 From Dhaulagiri to Lappland, Americas and Oceania, 45-67 East Asian linguistic phylum, 59-63 Eastern Himalayan homeland, 63-67 father tongues, 56-57 from Eastern Himalaya to Lappland, 5759 introduction, 45-45 mongoloid myth, 46-48 Sino-Tibetan myth, 48-54 words of caution on language and genes, 54-56

386 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

Romanticism and Hostile Borders, 139-155 illustrious Maj. Bob Khathing, 146-148 Indian Frontier Administrative Service, 141-144 Johorey, one of pioneers, 144-146 Lt. Col. Rashid Yusuf Ali, 152-153 Maj. S.M. Krishnatry in Subansiri frontier division, 148-152 Nehru and NEFA, 153-155 non-exhaustive list of frst IFAS ofcers, 155 Rousseau’s romanticism, philosophy of NEFA, 139-140 Tibet invaded, october 1950, 140 Iran, 111, 133 Iraq, 78 Islam, 187, 197, 256, 260 Islamabad, 213 Jainism, 118, 260, 348 Jammu & Kashmir, 200, 277 Japan, 40, 47, 65, 66, 83, 132, 133, 160, 163, 222, 318 Johorey, K.C, 144, 152, 155 Judaism, 256, 260 Kangchendzonga, 82 Kangra, 82, 299-307 Karachi, 202, 203 Karakoram, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 24, 34, 35, 81, 129, 200, 201, 203, 204, 347 Kargil, 7, 10, 19, 199, 200, 201, 203, 212 Kashmir, 73, 81, 112, 117, 118, 119, 121, 123, 182, 184, 185, 191, 195, 200, 201, 204, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 263, 264, 265, 267, 277, 286, 309, 310, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 356, 359 Kathmandu, 36, 117, 246, 247 Khan, Genghis, 47 King Garib Nawaz, 329 King Kanishka, 266, 310 Korea, 133, 162

Ladakh, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 81, 82, 83, 103, 133, 162, 188, 199, 204, 210, 212, 266, 267, 278, 280, 284, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 309, 310, 313, 360 Laos, 41, 64, 74, 77, 217 Leh, 7, 14, 133, 188, 201, 204 Lhasa, 4, 80, 83, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 140, 144, 148, 151, 154 Lord Krishna, 350 Lord Shiva, 120, 122, 188, 341, 351, 356 Lord Vishnu, 349 Mahavira, 115 Mandela, Nelson, 170 Manipur, 79, 82, 83, 85, 97, 98, 100, 101, 123, 152, 217, 220, 280, 282, 290, 291, 293, 295, 296, 297, 321, 322, 323, 325, 327, 329, 330, 331, 333 McMahon line, 148, 151 Modi, Narendra, 182, 183, 191, 192, 196, 197 Mount Kailash, 115, 116, 121, 122, 347, 349, 358 Maurya Empire, 119 Meghalaya, 46, 79, 123, 152, 280, 286, 291, 293, 295, 297 Mekong basin, 34, 44 Mizoram, 98, 123, 217, 280, 291, 321 Mongolia, 47, 48, 83, 130, 132, 133, 134, 136, 162, 163, 165, 182 Mt. Everest, 82 Mughal Empire, 300 Mulick, B. N, 211 Musharraf, Pervez, 199 Myanmar, 34, 73, 78, 80, 82, 83, 100, 101, 103, 191, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 321 Nagaland, 81, 83, 97, 98, 99, 103, 123, 217, 280, 285, 290, 291, 295, 296, 297, 321 Nalanda University, 253, 256, 264 Naropa, 168, 171, 253, 263-267 National Conference (NC), 208, 209

INDEX • 387

Nehru, Jawaharlal, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 147, 160, 163, 211, 321 Nepal, 22, 34, 36, 37, 40, 41, 47, 73, 79, 115, 118, 120, 122, 123, 129, 130, 134, 182, 191, 192, 193, 195, 196, 212, 243248, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 311, 347 New Delhi, 24, 144, 147, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 217, 339 New York, 165, 166, 167 Nomadia, 75-78, 91, 92, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), 139, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 151, 152, 153, 154, 215 Operation Vijay, 199 Pakistan, 5, 7, 10, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 56, 123, 124, 181, 182, 185, 191, 193, 195, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 226, 265, 314, 347 Pant, Govind Ballabh, 143 Paris, 49, 50 Parnaik, KT (Lt Gen), 200, 201, 202 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 208 Philippines, 60, 67 Pilot, Rajesh, 210 Pilot, Sachin, 209 Pre-Vaishnavite and Post-Vaishnavite Dance Forms of Manipur, 321-334 Manipur, an introduction, 321-22 post-vaishnavite form of Manipuri dance (classical), 329-334 pre-Vaishnavite form of Manipuri dance, 322-329 Qur`an, 152 Refection of Himalayas in Ancient Indian Texts: A Note, 111-124 Relevance of Nalanda Tradition for Contemporary Society: Wisdom, NonSectarianism and Secular Ethics, 253-262

change your eye-lens, there is no enemy, 259- 260 ethics, spirit of humanity, across board, 258-259 importance of Nalanda tradition, 253254 legacies of Nalanda tradition for today’s world, 260-261 non-sectarianism in eyes of his holiness the Dalai Lama, refection of Nalanda tradition, 256-257 take-home gif from erstwhile Nalanda mahavihara, 261-262 teachings of seventeen great Nalanda scholars, 254-255 unity amidst diversity of traditions, 257258 Roman Empire, 304 Rig Veda, 112, 347 Rishikesh: Silent Hum of Mystery, 339-345 introduction, 339-345 Russia, 83, 129, 130, 132, 134, 135, 136, 162, 166 Siberia, 46, 55, 58, 59, 67, 79, 111, 133, 134, 162, 166 Sichuan, 46, 59, 67, 74, 79, 80, 83, 97, 98 Sikhism, 260, 348 Sikkim, 73, 82, 123, 130, 131, 132, 133, 136, 141, 153, 191, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 284, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296 Singh, Manmohan, 212 Singapore, 34 Slovenia, 34 South Africa, 47, 170 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), 39, 216 South Korea, 40 Soviet Union, 133 Sowa Rigpa: Traditional Medical System of the Himalayas, 269-275 Spain, 164 Srinagar, 133, 208, 209, 210, 211, 265, 267, 310, 313, 317

388 • HIMALAYAN BRIDGE

Sri Lanka, 123, 133, 160, 162, 163, 226 Syria, 78 Taiwan, 60, 67 Taliban, 181 Tawang, 146, 147, 153, 154 Textile, Text, Terracing, Territoriality: Weaving a Pan-Himalayan Identity, 73104 back to Deleuze and Guattri, geophilosophy of terracing, 99-102 circle vs. strata, 103-104 coda, 104 ethnic textiles in Himalaya’s eastern stretch, 93-96 introduction, 73-75 is Yunnan region of common origin of Tibeto-Burman people?, 78-81 Ladakh’s Kangla to Imphal’s Kangla, postulating Kang culture grid in Asia’s underbelly, 81-86 measuring timelessness through Naga skirts, 97 nomadia, 75-78 non-verbal communications, understanding materiality, 86-87 re-reading handicraf, smooth political space vs striated mental, 97-99 textile and textuality, 88-92 textile as perissological resonator, 87-88 Tailand, 41, 64, 74, 100, 160, 162, 217, 218, 219, 220, 226, 226, 257 Timphu, 196, 230, 231 Tibet, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17, 34, 37, 40, 42, 73, 80, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 140, 141, 144, 146, 148, 149, 151, 153, 154, 160, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 172, 173, 175, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 188, 191, 195, 203, 212, 247, 264, 265, 269, 277, 278, 284, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 297, 310, 311, 312, 313, 347, 358, 360

Tripura, 123, 280 Tso Morari, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 24 Trans-Himalayan Geopolitics, 181-189 conclusion, 189 dealing with Tibetan geopolitics, 184 economic bridge, reviving silk route, 185186 economic imperatives, 184-185 environmental protection, 188 Himalayan sof power, 186-187 Himalayas, zone of India–China confuence, 183-184 introduction, 181-183 sustainable cultural tourism, 188 way forward, 185 United Arab Emirates (UAE), 34 United Nations (UN), 41, 42, 202, 231 United States (US), 40, 48, 165, 166, 167, 181, 222, 223 Vajpayee, Atal Bihari, 212 Vietnam, 41, 74, 77, 79, 99, 170 Washington, 222 Why Siachen Matters to India, 199-206 beginning of race to glacier, 200-202 demilitarization, prelude to peacenik’s idea of peace peak?, 205-206 futtering tricolour atop siachen, 206 introduction, 199-200 why does siachen matter to india?, 202205 World War II, 222, 224 Xinjiang, 181, 186 Yunnan, 46, 59, 64, 67, 74, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 103, 216, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226 Zanskar, 3, 4, 10, 11, 19, 20, 22, 24, 82, 204, 264, 266, 267, 310, 313