হিমালয় ৫

হিমালয় #5

by Shanku Maharaj

Himalaya is the tallest mountain range in world and the youngest of all the mountains. Starting in the westernmost peak of Nanga Parbat it extends over 2400 Km to the easternmost peak of Namchabarwa, in the South Eastern Tibet. Shanku Maharaj have written many a books on the different parts of Himalayas in his unique style. The writings are not merely travelogues or novel. This is something in deeper with the land, geographical flora and fauna, the people, the religion, culture and history and philosophy. The travelogues are published in five parts of the series of the Himalayas. The present part includes the three regions, in the western extreme in Kashmir Himalayas, “Amartirtha Amarnath,” in the Garwahl Kumaoon range “Nil Durgam.” This book is based on first successful Indian Expedition on the Nilgiri Mountain range by Indian team, the second summit bid after Franc S. Smythe. The book ends with “Ganga Jamunar Deshe.” This story as toldby the author is an extension of his novel “Bigalita Karuna Janhavi Jamuna.”

434 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

About the author

Shanku Maharaj, or Jyotirmoy Ghosh Dastidar is a very renowned name in modern Bengali Literature, especially in the field of travelogues. Total number of travelogues written is more than forty. The best creation of the author is in the area of Himalayas. In personal life is also one qualified mountaineer and participated in quite a number of Himalayan expeditions and trekking.
Himalayas present a never ending attraction in the romance of travelogues, exploration, novels and high adventures. There are quite a large number of books and travelogues we find on this subject starting from the early nineteenth century reports or novels. However only a few writers succeeded to secure a “forever” position in Bengali Literature on the Himalayas. Amongst the few thename of Shanku Maharaj is undoubtedly coming in the top few.

Reviews

[Santanu Dutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I have written in my last progress review, this book ended as a very good read in itself.
The first novel "Amartirtha Amarnath" is written on author's own pilgrimage to the shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir.

The second book, "Nil Durgam" is based on a tough Himalayan peak Nilgiri in the Garwahl Himalayas. This is the summit attempt of 1962 by Indian climbers and the first successful climb after that of Sir Francis Younghusband in 1937 as is described in his famous book "The Valley of flowers." Interestingly I got attracted to the old books on Himalayas after reading the books by Shanku maharaj and another Bengali Travel writer, Sri Prabodh Kumar Sanyal. In the book "Nil Durgam" the nature of Himalayan "Valley of Flowers" is coming upo alive in front of me. The local people the beliefs and the mountaineers and there summit bid is coming up alive.

The third book "Ganga Jamunar Deshe" is another good one in itself that was based on author's own journey in 1970 as a part in the shooting team to shoot the Bengali movie "Bigalita Karuna Janhavi Jamuna" based on his own novel under the same name. This book however is not having the appeal up to the level at least to me, since I have read the book "Bigalita Karuna Janhavi Jamuna" dates back for couple of times.