How I came to know about the place
So I was on a road trip to this beautiful valley in Himachal Pradesh, India and on my way, I overheard a conversation of a few local people about this Mummy and I learned that it is hardly a 8 km detour for me and so I decided to go check it out.
The road towards this village can hardly be called one but once you reach the village, its beautiful! All around the path paved in rocks, you can see well maintained gardens and farms with people working in them. There are streams of glacier water flowing through these gardens and there are small wooden bridges built across them.
I could see this colourful buddhist monastry at the end of the village perched on top of a small mountain, from all the way across the village. Once I rode past the garden, I found myself on a road winding upward the mountain and I reached the monastry in a minute's time. As soon as I parked my motorcycle, a uniformed and armed army man approached me and handed me a key. He asked me if I came to see the mummy and upon my answer, he told me it's in the room and asked me to lock the room on my way out and return the key to him. So I was surprised and for 2 reasons:
- There was not another soul who is here to see the mummy? Well, hello! It's probably the only mummy in India and a self preserved one, if what I heard is right
- The mummy is in a small seemingly discarded room next to this grand monanstry.
The Mummy Room
So I unlocked the door and pushed it open to see a glass box full of money on its floor and amidst the cash, sat the Mummy. Yes, sat! The mummy was found in a sitting posture holding the prayer beads and I had seen nothing quite like it, all my life!
A little asking around told me the mummy was found by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and carbon dating dates it back to 1475 making it around 500 years old.
Mummyfication was not very common among the Tibetans because it belonged to the culture of ancient Egypt. But unlike the Egyptians who preserve the dead bodies by chemical reactions, this Mummy was swlf-preserved. Before your mind takes you to weird theories, let me tell you what that is- which is a little weird in itself. The monk has apparently starved himself and ate some tree barks, eventually making his body devoid of all water content and bacteria. Slowing the decomposition of the body considerably. I was able to clearly see the hair and nails on the mummy- which later turned out to be still growing gradually!
I'm not quite sure how true these tales are but one thing I'm certain of is that it is a mummy and it's amazing!
How to reach
It was a village called Giu which comes between the villages of Nako and Tabo and is now available on maps too. It is located at a height of 10000 feet approximately and it is a 7 km deviation from the road from Nako to Tabo.
Here's the link if you need it:
https://goo.gl/maps/a3UexMSGgmt
I came by this place on my trip to the beautiful Spiti Valley on a Motorcycle which I will write here sometime soon.
Found the narrative style of writing quite interesting and engaging.. Ill probably try it out sometime. :)
Seems like we may have similar interests apart from a a similar name. Do check out my profile and follow if you think it might be of interest to you.
Hey thanks! I've followed you and I look forward to reading your posts. I've learnt from your profile that I also need to write an introduction post. Cheers!