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The author is a young Briton, in her late twenties, a student of the subcontinent history. During her long stay in India for her studies and witnessing one of the most acrimonious and tension-filled periods of Indo-Pak hostility during the Kargil war, she was drawn to the river which gave India its name but flows most of its course in Pakistan. As the author remarks “the demonized neighbour (of India) is actually Hinduism's motherland". Sindhu (the Indian name of Indus) and its tributaries form the setting of much of Rigveda although Hinduism shifted eastwards to the Gangetic plains with Buddhism occupying the centre stage before the advent of Islam. Her account straddles both the present and the past of each region she visits, camping at many places for long periods exploring, making contacts and living with ordinary people, travelling to the next destination with some local, and weaving a collage of images, anecdotes, historical snippet and facts to create a panoramic sketch of the river’s history from the earliest known period to the present. She often takes diversions from the course of the river to explore. She spends time with “Shiddhis” of Sindh whose ancestors migrated from Africa as slaves (Shiidis are also found in Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra too) and visits shrines of Sufis and saints to understand a unique intermingling of Hinduism and Islam where both communities claim the sufis as their own. Visiting Nankana sahib, birthplace of Guru Nanak, she briefly recounts how Sikhism began as a sect combining aspects of Hindu, Islamic and Buddhist teachings. She retraces, on foot as far as possible, a part of the journey of Alexander the Great from Afghanistan to Pirsar Mountain where he was besieged and had to fight back hard to defeat the fierce tribals. In the process she crosses the Afghan-Pak border illegally, and travels in this terrorist-infested dangerous region, at times clad in a Burqua , risking her very life. She follows the route of marauding iconoclast Mohammad of Ghazni as he came in search of the fabled land of the Indus valley and beyond, destroying and looting. She explores little known ancient rock carvings and paintings in Ladakh and Gilgit. She goes to Chitral region in NorthWest Frontier of Pakistan to observe for herself culture of “Kalash” people who worship multiple gods ( a god of rains called Indra among them) and who some believe are direct descendents of the Vedic Aryan people and remained insulated possibly due to geographic reasons from turbulent changes over these several thousand years. She narrates her visit to Swat and Kandhahar (ancient Gandhar) region where giant statues of Buddha stand testimony to the once widespread influence of Buddhism and where now Taliban fundamentalist rule. She also tracks down the remnants of Mughal Empire, of British adventurers who came looking for trade routes and political domination. She describes the people of Ladakh who’s matriarchal and polyandrous customs predate Buddhism. Trekking in Tibet through mountain passes, crossing valleys and streams amid rain and snow-blizzards, fighting altitude sickness and exhaustion, she ends her journey at the source of the Indus at a place called “Senge Khabab”, the Mouth of the Lion near mount Kailash.
The book is remarkable for several reasons. What strikes the reader most is the sheer audacity of journey, without much planning, at times travelling in remotest areas where even locals fear to tread, all alone or with complete strangers facing possible dangers of being waylaid, molested, looted and even killed. There is no mention of the dates and time but it is clear from passing remarks that the journey lasted several months. Neither are there descriptive romantic accounts of the landscape typical of a travelogue. What comes out in this narration though is the author’s grit and determination, her obvious skills in the art of persuasion and befriending as also hospitality of ordinary people, typical of this subcontinent. Her journey would have been impossible without enthusiastic support from scores of local people. What is also is evident is the authors scholarship and study of ancient and modern history of the region. The book is, more than a travelogue or a history, a sketch painted with broad strokes of the brush as it were, of the diverse cultures that the river gave birth to and nourished over the last five thousand years, of beliefs and faiths as varied as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, tribalism, Sufis , of peoples of different ethnic origins and records of their co-existence, their interaction and influence on each other, as well as their fights, of adventurers who came from lands as far away as Greece, Central Asia, Africa, in search of fame and fortune. The history of the Indus valley is incredibly rich, without any parallel anywhere in terms of diversity and complexity, and not yet fully understood. The enigma of People of Mohenjodaro and Harappa, who lived along the banks of the Indus over five thousand years ago and who built amazing and sophisticated settlements and planned townships and their inscriptions which they left behind for posterity continue to challenge understanding and interpretation even today. The intriguing rock carvings the author saw in Gilgit and Ladakh dating to Paleolithic era of some twenty thousand ago still baffle archeologist, their secret waiting to be unearthed.
Running as a parallel thread is an account of ecological devastation caused by damming of the river throughout its course. Once sprawling delta at the mouth of Indus in Sindh which supported varied vegetations like mangroves and animal life has been reduced to a fraction of its size and flora and fauna all but vanished. When she was close to the source in Tibet, she saw a big dam being built by the Chinese at a place called Senge-Ali that has stopped most of the flow from the upper reaches of the mountains which form the major portion of the river flow, larger than the water mass from its tributaries downstream. Apparently, there was some hue and cry in Pakistan when the fact came to light after this book was published.
The author refrains on the whole from commenting on the current political situation in the region or from Indo-Pak relations, although it what prompted her to set out on this voyage. Nevertheless, as one concludes this breathtaking travel with the author, one cannot but reflect with sadness the fact that this great heritage is in great danger on account of neglect, regional and religious conflicts and now haunted by specter of fundamentalism. It is also extremely unfortunate that the recent history of mere few decades of hostility and distrust between India and Pakistan has rendered any dispassionate and objective discussions on this shared history of more than five thousand years almost impossible, with votaries from both sides looking at the past through ideological prisms and interpreting it with a-historical perceptions that reflect present-day concerns and postures. However, simplicity, hospitality, warmth and humane dispositions of host of ordinary folks of all faiths and nationalities that the author met throughout her travel provides a glimmer of hope in these troubled times.
It is a journey worth undertaking with the author.
Edited by iwanttogoback, 30 December 2009 - 11:12 AM.
wwusa's wish is my command
