India, the quintessential land of religions seems to be ever in throes of religious fervor fired by the zeal as exhibited by millions of its inhabitants across the length and breadth of its boundaries. What is that intangible factor that has been responsible for display of such a frenzy not seen anywhere else in the world that compels these denizens to undertake religious treks to inhospitable places on this globe as a mark of their reconnect to the temporal power they believe in? It is the unquestionable belief born out of centuries of grounding tempered on the anvil of their parenting, social grouping, and finally their own belief in what they think should fit into the scheme of things as conceived by them.
India is perhaps the only country in the world that encompasses in its fold maximum number of religions as found practiced from Gibraltar to Guam islands in the pacific. Naturally with such a humongous number of religions rubbing shoulders as practiced by its faithful there is bound to be a certain amount of dynamic force generated leading to sometimesfriction within its ranks. When seen in a larger perspective, this friction can be many times as a result of the government coming a cropper to assuage the feelings of falling short of aspirations of these religious groups to keep their promise.
The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra (suspended for the last 05 years in a row—since 2020) off late has been in the news every other alternate day in the media circles ostensibly due to no fault of its own doing and is a perfect example of government falling short of its stated commitments towards the fulfillment of the same. Under suspension caused by the element of ‘Force Majeure’, firstly as a result of the world wide corona pandemic in the year 2019/20, secondly the yatra saw its fortunes dip to its nether end when the area of the yatra as part of the LAC got embroiled in the Sino-Indian skirmishes at Galwan in May/June 2020.
With the entire LAC running from Ladakh till Arunachal Pradesh a live wire owing to the above Chinese depredations thereby putting paid to any aspirations of the pilgrims as such the yatra saw its fortunes at its lowest ebb. The latest to muddy the waters of pilgrim aspirations is the devious Chinese game plan for having started the Yatra from Nepal, but put restrictions only on Indian pilgrims by way of denial of visa to them owing to certain visa regulations.Now this step of China is totally uncalled for and against the stated foreign policy initiatives as well the CBM (Confidence building measures) in place between the two countries since 1993.
Be that as it may, India despite having pulled out all stops from the path of pilgrims be it the 80 kilometer road construction and its inauguration done by the Defense Minister Mr Rajnathsingh in May 2020 from Dharchula till short of Lipulekh pass as also assuaging the ego of Nepal in its stated claim over Kalapani –Lipulekh has now decided to call the bluff of China and Nepal both by exploring the possibility of offering the pilgrims a glimpse of the sacred mountain from India itself. It has been given to understand that the Utrakhand government had co-opted a team of tourism department officials, district authorities, adventure tourism expert and border roads organization officials and given them directions to break this logjam of KM Yatra which has been jinxed since more than 05 years in a row due to some or the other reason. The team thus constituted went to the most probable peak in the Garhwal Mountains in the near vicinity of the famous ‘Lipulekh pass’ that offers a ‘clear line of sight’ to the famous Mt Kailash.
Obviously this team had not stumbled over this peak (old Lipulekh peak) just like that without any previous reference from the locals to have undertaken such a venture. Located in the famous ‘Vayas valley” of district Pithoragarh, are numerous such peaks like the famous ‘Om Parvat’, Vayas Gufa, etc that still have the capability of riveting the attention of the pilgrims. The Vayas valley of district Pithoragarh is tucked in one remote corner of the state with very difficult routes of access. Being populated by predominantly ‘Rang’ community also called as ‘Rung’ they are a ‘Tibeto-Burman’ ethnic group dwelling distinctly in the upper parts of the Johar, Darma, Vayas and Mahakali valleys in India and Nepal. It is this community’s people who have been trudging the innermost recesses of Vayas valley for times immemorial familiar with each and every nook and cranny that remains hidden from a normal human’s eye and reckoning.
It has been understood now with wide spread interactions of officials with this ‘Rung’ community that there existed an old peak east of the famous ‘Lipulekh pass’ that had a clear line of sight and afforded a fantastic view of Mt Kailash’ in all its heavenly splendour. In fact this community incidentally too reposes faith in Lord Shiva and used to have the so called ‘Darshan’ of Mt Kailash for ages without disclosing it to outsiders by trudging this peak now called as the ‘Old Lipulekh’ peak . Since Vayas valley used to be cut off from human civilization till recently with very little human touch or outside interactions, hence such like secrets remained within the domain of the ‘Rung ‘ community as such.
But no longer now; driven by India’s dire need to find an alternative route or option in order to come up to the expectations of millions of faithful of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Bons etc. This Old Lipulekh peak is about 3 kilometers arduous trek bifurcating from the Lipulekh pass and goes over some very steep gradients with precipitous falls all along its way. Though not quite oblivious of this peak, ITBP personnel used to go for patrolling for this peak as part of area dominance operations along the LAC, but never viewed their endeavour would one day act as a face saving device for the country. Past utterances by the minister of roads and surface transport MrNitinGadkari that the country was in the throes of making alternative arrangements for the pilgrims to view the holy massif from India itself lends credence to the fact that GOI had indeed on its radar such alternatives up its sleeve should China or Nepal play spoil sport.
With just 50 kilometers of aerial distance between this peak and Mt Kailash, it is a God sent opportunity for the pilgrims to have a tryst with their holy beliefs. Readers will do well to remember that even in the early 60s a similar sort of effort was undertaken to establish a direct line of sight/contact with ‘Lop Nor’ nuclear testing facility of China in Xinxiang prefecture from Nanda Devi Mountain as part of a secret operation to eavesdrop during the height of cold war. Having gone on this route twice as part of an operational patrol from Dharchula way back in 1991 and then again in 1993 I can quickly relate to the route after so many years having gone by very vividly. The pilgrims during those times and even now are camped at the last point of Indian contact at ‘Nabidhang’ before their cross over to Tibet.
From Nabhidhang the pilgrims were made to trudge a distance of about 9 kilometers before dawn somewhere between 3 A.M to 6 A.M since after 6 in the morning the wind speeds and wind chill factor at that height could prove fatal to many .Now it seems the efforts of India has borne fruit with the construction of road from Dharchulajust short of the pass. Connected with this development is the forgotten fact that incase the project takes to winds then the Vayas valley will itself see its fortunes change for the better with a solid influx of pilgrims and tourists too on their already well documented places like the ‘Om parvat and ‘Adi Kailash Yatra forming part of the famous tourist circuit.
India it seems has called the bluff of both of its northern neighbors by this singular act of its dominance in the area showing in the bargain that a billion plus people’s religious belief cannot be held hostage to sundry machinations of theirs. Discovery of Old Lipulekh peak has truly been an act of serendipity for this nation of ours and redeemed the faith of countless followers of lord Shiva by affording a Darshan of Mt Kailash across the Tibetan plateau and thus the proverbial ‘Face saviour’.
(The writer is a retired army officer and can be approached on his email at: slalotra [email protected])
