Description

Spiti Valley, a mountainous cold desert freckled with green patches over a dry weather-beaten face, fascinating valleys, windswept landscapes, and quiet villages, Spiti, which loosely translates as ‘the middle land’. The geographic placement passes a heavy influence of Buddhism and stark cultural similarities of the region into the valley. Religion plays a major role in everyday life, testified by the piles of ‘mani’ stones, white-washed shortens that house Buddhist relics, and prayer flags fluttering relentlessly in thin air. Echoes of ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ (literally,’Behold the Jewel in the Lotus)by all bring good fortune and prosperity to the distant land. Novelist Rudyard Kipling in his book ‘Kim’ describes Spiti as a world within a world,” a place where the gods live’ -something that holds true to the present day.