The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
Our final
morning at Leh began with a rather long wait for a new driver, who had gotten
lost within the maze-like roads that led to our homestay! Why a new driver?
Because most drivers in Ladakh don’t like to drive into Srinagar! Besides, we
would be driving through Kargil and entering Srinagar on the 15th of
August, Independence Day. The date wasn’t intentional, and had we known, we
would have altered our plans, but apparently tensions run high around the date,
even when situation was as normal as possible. More about that later. For now,
there’s a lot more that I have to tell you about Ladakh and the places we
visited. Because yes, despite our intention to take things easy, we planned to
make a lot of stops on our last two days
in Ladakh!
Our first
halt of the day was the very interesting site of Pathar Sahib. The Gurudwara
here commemorates the visit of Guru Nanak to this region, on the way to Tibet,
in the 16th century. As per the legend, during Guru Nanak’s visit
here, a demon tried to kill him by pushing a huge boulder towards him. Instead
of crushing him, the boulder instead softened, and formed a mould around him.
It then hardened again, leaving his imprint on the stone. This stone is
enshrined within the gurudwara, the imprint intact. The legend is part of the
stories of Guru Nanak, and the stone must have been in worship at some point in
time. However, it was rediscovered in the 1970s while a road was being laid,
and the gurudwara built around it.
What makes
this site and the stone fascinating, is that the same story narrated for Guru
Padmasambhava, who is the one credited with bringing Buddhism to Ladakh. Such
similar stories for different sects is not unusual in India. Our mythologies
consistently overlap. While reading more about this connection, I came across
two varied points of views. One took the view that Guru Nanak was an
incarnation of Guru Padmasambhava. The other suggested that this was originally
a site dedicated to Guru Padmasambhava, but, with the arrival of Sikhism in the
region much later, probably coinciding with a period of the decline of
Buddhism, the site got associated with Guru Nanak.
Whatever
the reason, it is yet one more instance of the overlap of faiths, that we are
so inherently comfortable with!
A little
further along the road, we came across the confluence of the Indus and the Zanskar.
The difference between the two rivers is very clear, the Indus being filled
with silt, while the Zanskar is clear. It was tempting to go down and spend
some time at the confluence, but we were already delayed, thanks to our late
start, and my enthusiasm for Pathar Sahib. Hence, we chose to move on,
satisfying ourselves with a glimpse of the confluence. We did stop a little
further down the road, where the Indus was calmer, and collected some water to
take back home.
Along this route, we passed Basgo, and again, were tempted to halt. Once again, I found myself hoping I’d visit Ladakh again, and see all these interesting sites that I had missed.
 |
| Can you spot the caves? On the right is a citadel, a later structure. The caves are on the left, painted in white and red. |
The Saspol
Caves are located across the river Indus from Alchi. There are 5 caves, among
which cave 3 is most impressive. Every inch of the cave is painted, and the
paintings have been dated to between the 13th and 15th
centuries.
I had heard
about Saspol first from Shubra (@historywali), and then had seen Kevin Standage’s photos and if we couldn’t see the famed
paintings of Alchi, then I wanted to see something else just as impressive!
What I hadn’t realized, and wasn’t prepared for, was the narrow path of mud and
stones on the hill that led to the caves. I am not sure-footed at the best of
times, and though this path took us just about 15 minutes (at a snail’s pace,
so to speak) it was probably the most scary 15 minutes of my life! I remember
taking the name of every god I could think of, with every step I took! And
after that experience, I decided not even to try climbing to all the caves, and
contented myself with just one – the biggest of course.
To describe
my experience of the cave, let me share verbatim from my diary -
This one cave we visited took my breath away! Such vibrant colours and such amazing details! Wow! I have no words to describe them. What I found most interesting was that we did not need a flashlight to see the paintings. Once our eyes acclimatized to the darkness within, the light from the single entrance was more than enough to see every single painting in detail, and click photographs too!
 |
| Sakyamuni Buddha |
The central painting in the cave was of the Sakyamuni Buddha. Painted around him, in neat registers, were a number of acharyas, protector deities and Bodhisattvas. The cave was small, and the presence of the altar suggested this was the main place of worship for the monks who lived in these caves. It was fascinating to think about monks living here, at least 6 centuries ago, painting the caves with images, which remain long after they are gone.
 |
| Avalokiteshwara |
The two sites of Pathar Sahib and Saspol Caves couldn’t be more different. One is a modern place of worship built over an ancient site, the other is an ancient site maintained as it is. Both take great pains in preserving what is at their core – the stone at Pathar Sahib, and the paintings at Saspol. Even the very nature of the object of worship is different. Yet, the objective of both is the same - to inspire faith.
Earlier posts in series -
- Introducing the Ladakh Diaries
- Ladakh Diaries Part 1: The Beginning - Manali to Jispa
- Ladakh Diaries Part 2: Jispa to Leh
- Ladakh Diaries Part 3: Leh
- Ladakh Diaries Part 4: Buddhist Monasteries and Palaces in Leh - Stok, Hemis, Thiksey and Shey
- Ladakh Diaries Part 5: The Nubra Valley
- Ladakh Diaries Part 6: Turtuk
- Ladakh Diaries Part 7: Pangong Lake
Coming up -
- Ladakh Diaries Part 9: Lamayuru
Excellent and informative article. I wanted this. Thanks for sharing. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteNice Post.. keep writing more and more..
ReplyDeleteThanks
Praveen P
Painting Contractors in Chennai
https://jrpaintings.com/