Colin Thubron
Mount Kailas has been circling my mind space for a long while now, thanks to it being at an intersection of two of my favourite themes – Hindu mythology and travel. A peak that has never been scaled, but a mountain that has witnessed the circumambulation of scores of pilgrims across centuries. Personally, that made it more interesting to me than a standard travelogue.
The mountain is considered holy by two among the world’s biggest faiths – Hinduism and Buddhism. This is in addition to Bon, a native religious tradition of Tibet. Ravana, Hanuman, Nyo Lhanangpa all find a presence in the holy trek.
This is one of those books which bring out the equal importance of the journey and the destination in travel. Only about one third of the book really includes the circling of Kailas – the kora. The rest of the book is about the journey towards it and the people the author comes across during this. That is how we learn of the mythical kingdom of Shang shung, the attitudes of different monks towards their faith and life in general, (there’s an interesting anecdote of monks getting furious after a Manchester United loss, and another of monks collecting money from pilgrims in a box labeled Budweiser!) the martial prowess of Tibetans far back in history when they were treated in awe by Chinese armies, the exploits of Zorawar Singh – a general of the Sikh empire – in 1841, the destruction of all but 13 of 6000 monasteries since 1950 thanks to the Chinese occupation, all in addition to the physical strain experienced by those who chose to make the trip.
Colin Thubron uses conversations and experiences to truly bring out the life in the region, what it means to undertake a journey there, as well as the different mindsets of the pilgrims who make this arduous journey. It’s not just a vivid form of prose but one that’s extremely captivating in terms of literary style.
What probably takes it from just being a good travelogue to something beyond it is the author’s own inner journeys he shares with us. These are at least partially fueled by a recent personal loss. The superb narrative, along with journeys of the body and the mind, make this a very good read.
