in bits and pieces
It is one of those resorts where you can do the “vicco vajradanti”….you know…pick the apple straight from the tree and eat.
View of the resort
view of Indus from the resort
Night Sky. You can catch the milky way.
One of the finer rooms.
View from the room window.
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My stay at the place was complimentary of Banjara Camps
“Ladakhi girls dancing at Nemu Camp, 18 miles before Leh. They have visited Punjab and hence their style of dress.” July 1949. Enaskshi Bhavnani for Photo Division India.
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| After the show Singers Hunder Nubra valley |
I asked them to sing a “Bodhi” song. They laughed and said,”Aap nay toh humay Bodh bana diya!”
They were Muslim, they sang love songs.
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In the beginning of August, a flash flood triggered by torrential rain and cloudburst caused a stream to send heavy boulders and rocks to fall into Indus river at Bima village. The resulting blockage caused the river to swell into a lake and submerge the village.
In September, the waters had receded a bit but I found the village almost empty and under water. After the flood, the only motorable access to the village remained from Kargil side. I was arriving from Leh side and at a point the road just simply vanished into the lake.
To get into the village had to climb a 15 feet cliff face.
During peak tourist season, you can find around fifty tourists roaming in the village. I found even most of the villagers missing. They have been provided temporary shelter by Army where they get breakfast, and then they leave for towns to work as porters and do other menial work. With their farms under water, there’s not much they can do. I was told it would still take couple of months before any form of measure to remove the blockage in Indus can be tried.
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| The stream that rolled boulders into the Indus |
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| The blockage point. The river here roars like a waterfall. |
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| A Brokpa working in one of the only farms still functional |
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| A Brokpa brewer of ‘Arrak’ The village might be under river, but the river of Arrak must continue flowing. Distilling ‘Chang’ (local Barley Ale) to get Arrak (Barley wine) |
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| Brokpa woman |
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| Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in Sumtseg temple |
The Kashmiri painters at Alchi have drawn these scenes around bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in Sumtseg temple of Alchi. Avalokiteśvara, ‘the lord who looks down’, the buddha of compassion, is said to live on mythical mountain Potalaka which modern scholars say is in fact Pothigai hills of Western Ghats (Tamil Nadu/Kerala).
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| Site map of Alchi Chhoskhor The monastery was abandoned in 16th century for some unknown reasons It is now run by Likir Monastery, currently headed by the Dalai Lama’s younger brother, Tenzin Choegyal. |
Although Ladakhi tradition places the monastery in 10th century and to Zangpo, inscriptions at the temple ascribe the monastery to a Tibetan noble called Kal-dan Shes-rab later in the 11th century. The various temples here are now dated to be between early 12th and early 13th centuries. A period of great religious and political upheaval for the entire region with the coming of Ghaznavid Attacks on the sub-continent, but miraculously, owning to its geographic location, left this place untouched.
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| Sumtseg/Sumtsek temple made in stone and mud brick supported by wooden beams Alchi temples are also the oldest surviving big wooden structures done by Kashmiris. |
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Maiteya Buddha
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| Akshobhya Buddha |
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| Bodhisattva |
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| The upper floors are off limits for tourists |
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| the caretaker monk If you are a woman, there is a chance he will grab your hand and try to explain away the place. |
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| Inside the temple: Pattern drawn on the beams is now believed by scholars to have patterned on the design of Kashmiri textile, making it the only surviving sample of Kashmiri cloth design of medieval times. |
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| West niche of Sumtsek temple Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara the most interesting part of Alchi complex |
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| Avalokiteśvara’s painted clay dhoti |
Scholars like British anthropologist David Snellgrove and German art historian Roger Goepper have suggested that the scenes depict ancient pilgrimage sites of Kashmir or famous sites of Kashmir known to the artists (depicts 13 places in all and a place). It is a map of Kashmir.
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| A Shiv Temple And the Riders |
The figures in the painting look too Kashmiri, with typical nose, beards and half-closed eyes. But the over-all feel seems a bit Islamic.
Not just Trans-Himalayan and Indian subcontinent, 10th, 11th and 12 century Kashmir was also going through some major changes.
The Hindu Shahi Kings in Kabul were going to rise and then fall under Ghaznavid blade. Kashmir of Lalitaditya Muktapid ( 724- 761 A. D.) when Hinduism and Buddhism flourished together in Kashmir was past but its legacy in form of architecture was still alive (One of the oldest Kashmir text from the era, ‘Nilamata Purana’, mentions Buddha was one of the lords worthy of worship).
Queen Didda (979-1005 AD), grand-daughter of Bhimadeva, Shahi ruler of Kabul, arrived to rule Kashmir. Shivaie Abhinavgupta wrote the great work of Kashmir Shaivism, Tantrāloka. Mahmud Gaznavi couldn’t get Kashmir due to its remoteness. For the moment valley was safe from outsiders. But, wasn’t safe from insiders.
Kashmir was to see the reign of Harsha (ruled 1089-1111 AD), a destroyer of Hindu and Buddhist temples. He had many ancient temples destroyed, had their golden statues melted for financial reasons. In fact, for his temple destroying ways, Kalhana calls Harsha a ‘Turushkas’. Apart his temple destroying ways, Kalhana (whose father was a minister for Harsha) in his Rajatarangini also remembers the King as a patron of arts and music. It is mentioned that under his rule new fashions of dress and ornaments from foreign were introduced. His ministers were always luxuriously dressed. In his army were employed Turk soldiers (foreign Muslims, in Rajatarangini any Muslim from Central Asia was a ‘Turk’). Can these be the riders seen in the paintings at Sumtsek?
Rajatarangini, mentions that the scale of Harsha’s temple destruction was immense, but some temples did survive. Among those saved was one at Parihaspora, left untouched as a favor to a singer named Kanaka. The year was 1097.
Parihaspora was the capital of Lalitaditya. Here he had built five large buildings viz.,(1) the temple of Mukta-keshva with a golden image of Vishnu, (2) the temple of Parihasa-keshava with a silver image of Vishnu.(3) the temple of Mahavaraha with its image of Vishnu clad in golden armour, (4) the temple of Govardhanadhara with a silver image and (5) Rajavihara with a large quadrangle having a large copper Buddha. At the site, was also a stupa built by Chankuna, Tokharian minister of Lalitaditya.
The site has earlier been plundered by S’amkaravarman (A.D. 883-902), son of Avantivarman. But, obviously some of it must have survived. The silver image of Vishnu Parihasa-keshava was carried away and broken up by King Harsha. Rajavihara was not touched. The site was finally destroyed by Sikandar But-Shikan (A.D. 1394-1416). However, even up to the year 1727 A.D. the Paraspur plateau showed architectural fragments of great size, which were carried away as building materials.
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| Caitya of Cankuna which housed Brhad Buddha 1915, Parihaspora |
The scholars now suggest that these Buddhist sites of Parihaspora can be seen depicted in the paintings on the west niche of Sumtsek temple.
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| west niche of Sumtsek temple. |
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| representation of Lalitaditya chaitya at Parihaspora |
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| Stupa built by Cankuna at Parihaspora |
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| In the center Green Tara in varada mudra Born of Avalokiteśvara’s tear protects from ‘unfortunate circumstances’ Style in which her eyes are drawn can be seen in Ellora murals (8th Century), Aurangabad, Maharastra |
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| Manjushri Right wall Dhoti depicting scenes from life of Shakyamuni |
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| Mahakala |
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| Lotsa Temple |
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| Mahakaal Inside |
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| Gate of Manjushri temple |
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| Red Manjushri Inside Bodhisattva of wisdom Saraswati of Hindus, the goddess of Kashmir |
Outside the temple, there are some monk cells meant for meditation.
The inside of the monk cells tell another interesting tale.
Notice the flying apsara…now see this:
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| Photograph of the Meruvardhanaswami temple at Pandrethan near Srinagar, taken in 1868 by John Burke. Pandrethan, now mostly in ruins, is one of Kashmir’s historic capitals, said by Kalhana in his poetical account of Kashmiri history called Rajatarangini to have been founded by king Pravarsena in the 6th century AD. |
The ceiling of the temple:
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| Copy of Pandrethan ceiling prepared by one R.T. Burney was presented by W.G. Cowie in his 1865 paper ‘Notes on some of the Temples of Kashmir, especially those not described by General A. Cunninghan’ (Journal of The Asiatiic Society of Bengal Volume 35, Part 1. 1866) |
By 13th century, the Buddhist Kashmiri Pandits in Ilkhanate court where heading back to Kashmir as Iran became Islamic. But, by the end of 14th century, Kashmir also became Islamic. The famous Bodh vihara of Nalanda in Bihar was destroyed by Muhammad Khilji. It’s last head a Kashmiri named Shakyashri Bhadra (1127-1225) headed for Tibet and then retired to Kashmir.
Later Rajataranginis tell us that temples with beautifully painted walls were found in Kashmir till Akbar arrived in 16th century. The area around Hari Parbat in Srinagar was full of such temples. But, these got lost or destroyed and none remain. Around 16th century Alchi monastery was abandoned for unknown reasons. The stories on its walls remained etched and untouched for centuries. A little time capsule, storing the glory of ancient Kashmir and its artists.
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Glimpses of the Lost World of Alchi By Jeremy Kahn
View of plans of Basgo (Bazgu) village with Zangla castle at top of a hill, about 4 miles further of Nimo, about 42 kilometer west of Leh.
Here was fought the battle of Basgo that ended with Ladakh coming under to sphere of Mughal influence.
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| Zangla Castle |
In the middle of 17th century, Tibet was under the control of Mongol Gushi Khan who supported the 5th Dalai Lama to take control of the region that was seeing quarrels between different sects of Buddhism. This is the Dalai (meaning ‘Ocean’ in Mongolian) who built Potala (Skrt. Potalaka meaning ‘celestial residence’) in Lhasa.
After the war, Ladakhi source do not mention the conversion of Namgyal to Islam, but Mughal sources do. As was the norm of the time, Fidai Khan took some of the royal family members to Kashmir as ‘hostages’ while Delek Namgyal changed his name to Akbat Mahmud Khan.
Based on info. in ‘Buddhist Western Himalaya: A politico-religious history’ by O.C. Handa. According to the author, the exact year of the event is much disputed and is given as 1650 by Francke, 1680 by Hutchison and Vogel and 1687 by Cunningham. This was also the time when first mosque was erected in Leh in 1699.
The Zangla castle was where stayed the famous Hungarian Alexander Csoma de Kőrös (1784-1842) and brought out the first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book. The castle was renovated by a Hungarian team in around 2006.
On way to Nimo, a small village 35 kilometer from Leh at 11,000 feet.
An old woman at Nimo, post morning drink.
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Confluence of Sindhu (Indus, green coming from left) and Zanskar (muddy white coming from top).
Near Nimmu.
