KATHMANDU, DEC 19 - Deb Mukharji is a serious man. Serious about his love for the mountains and the unyielding pleasures that he gets every time he travels to them. The ex-diplomat-cum-travel-writer-cum-photographer’s love for the massifs and the trails traces back to his university days in Delhi, 50 years back, a time when he began trekking in the Indian Himalayas.

Now, half a century later, Mukharji, 68,  is ready with a pictorial book on the one particular spot in the Himalayas where all the eastern religions converge, the one place where four mighty rivers of the subcontinent flow from, and the centre of the world, if the Puranas are to be believed.

Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar are the Himalayan equivalent of Jerusalem: a spot where narratives of four major religions of Asia—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Bon (the traditional religion of Tibet)—coincide, and the source of the longest rivers in the subcontinent—the Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra (known as Tsang-Po in Tibet), and the Karnali. Kailash is also the residence of Lord Shiva, according to Hindu texts; for Buddhists, it is the home of the Buddha Demchok, who represents supreme bliss; the site where Risabhadeva, Jainism’s first Tirthankara, achieved nirvana; and for the Bons, the seat of all spiritual power.

Mukharji’s book highlights all of these cultural significances and refers to accounts of visitors to the region as well. “Apart from the old Hindu texts such as Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the earliest physical reference to Kailash is by Kalidasa.” Mukharji also writes about other recent visitors, such as the Jesuit priest Father Hippolyto Desideri, who travelled from Badrinath in India to Lhasa, and passed by the region.

Mukharji’s love for Kailash and Manasarovar are not restricted by religion and culture alone. He says there is a great magnetic pull that one feels towards the mountain, a feeling that cannot be described by words alone. Prod him to put the feeling in words, and he says, “It is a sense of great fulfilment.”

But is our fascination with and the respect towards the pristine mountain merely a product of our upbringing in the eastern religions? Mukharji quotes travellers to the region, western travellers with a Christian upbringing, and says even they were moved by the mountain. “Even those not associated with our religions feel this attraction towards Kailash.”

A lot of that fascination probably has to do with not just the holy sites, but the rugged journey up there. The two are arguably the toughest pilgrimages a believer can make. Manasarovar is the highest body of freshwater in the world at 14,950 ft, while the circumambulation of Kailash—it is believed that circling the mountain by foot is the greatest purifier of all—starts at a height of 15,000 ft, and goes up to 18,200 ft. At that height, in the inhospitable terrain, it is just faith that carries one through.

Mukharji first travelled to the region in 1981, when improving Sino-Indian relations allowed pilgrims to travel to Kailash. He accompanied the group of pilgrims, and was fascinated by the faith that accompanied them. “You can be physically fit in Delhi or Kathmandu, but it is very different there (in Kailash). It is their faith that carries them through.”

Mukharji is an avid photographer and that passion certainly made it that much easier for him to document the mountains he’s passionate about. He clicked nearly all of the photographs in the new book, and loves talking about high-altitude photography—how the colours are much brighter because the place is less polluted than the regions below.

But Mukharji’s concerned that things are changing at his beloved sites. The mention of pollution leads him to talk about the inevitable problem of climate change in the Himalayas, and Mukharji’s sadness at the pollution in the region that he loves so much is self-evident. “It could be because of the increased number of tourists, but when I went in 2002, the region was not as clean as it was when I went in 1981.” He narrates the example of Tarchhen, from where the circumambulation starts, of the place’s morphing into a settlement with bars and pool tables in just two decades. “It is up to the government to make sure tourism does not equal pollution.”

Mukharji’s not averse to sounding off warnings to Nepalis as well— for he is someone who has travelled extensively inside the country. “The biggest advantage Nepal has is that one doesn’t have to plan ahead to trek here, as there are enough places to stay in most trekking routes.” He has been up to the Annapurna Base Camp (“surrounded by fantastic mountains”), the Gokyo trail (“with fantastic lakes”), and Poon Hill (“the best sunrise ever”).

Mukharji’s experienced the mountains in other continents too. “I’ve walked in the Alps, but nothing gives you the satisfaction of the Himalayas,” he smiles.

Mukharji’s new book, Visions of the Infinite: Kailash and Manasarovar, has been published by nepa~laya and is available in the market.

Posted on: 2009-12-19 12:28

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