Spiti valley means not only stark mountains, monasteries and blue sky. But
it has rich culture, mysteries and legends in it.
On the way to Tabo from Nako, along the Spiti river we took a small detour to reach Giu village. Look at the Spiti river in this picture.Isn't she gorgeous in her turquoise blue ?
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| Spiti river on the way to Giu village |
Giu
village also has an interesting story like any other Spitian village. Our
driver had told that he is going to take us to meet someone very old yet fresh.
We were in surprise, when we entered a
small temple where the mummy lama was kept. It is kept inside the glass chamber and worshiped by the locals.
Look at this mummy carefully. It has skin, teeth, nails, hand as if holding rosary and hair. It
wasn’t preserved to mummify like Egyptian mummies. No chemicals. But naturally
mummified monk of more than 500 years old. Villagers believe that mummy lama is
protecting their village in all respects.
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| Mummy lama of Giu village |
How does it happen ??? Spiti is a land of Buddhist culture and religion.
Obviously many monks had lived here and were into yogic practices.Even now you find monks and monasteries everywhere in Spiti. Once, famine hit the village. A monk who was meditating in a posture with his
chin supported by knees and hands holding japamala(rosary) had died. May be due to starvation or
he was trying to achieve nirvana by continuous meditation and starvation.This is very common in Buddhists
and Jain traditions. People here believe that he had sacrificed his body to find a solution to deadly drought. After a few centuries,an Earthquake had slightly dislocated the entire region and his body was buried inside the earth. It was naturally preserved in that cold deserts I guess.
In recent years when Indo Tibetian Border Police(ITBP)
was excavating the area for some
construction, they found ‘him’! Apparently,
during this operation, when the axe hit his head, blood came out of mummy’s nose. We can still see the mark on his skull. For
few years it was under the custody of ITBP. But travelers were finding it difficult
to get access to see him. Hence, recently, it was moved to the newly built temple.
Carbon dating tests of the mummy lama say that it is older than 500 years ! Further studies have identified mummy as the 45 years old monk by name Sangha Tenzin of Gelugapa order from 15th century.
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| Having tea with Giu villagers |
As we came out after seeing the mummy monk, there was a
group of workers having their lunch and tea. When I tried to strike a
conversation they enthusiastically welcomed me to their group and offered tea
and lunch. How sweet !! by the time our
group also joined me. They gave all of us tea and rotis from their lunch box. They
posed and were amused by looking at
their pictures in our camera.
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| Happy moments |
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Some were too shy. I loved each one’s smile as it
was untouched by nuances of modernity just like the Spiti. When we left they
didn’t forget to give their address asking us to post their pictures.
Have you come across any such stories ? Pls share ...
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Very entertaining read. Beautiful village and beautiful people. Vidhya
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