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Gallery One: Nature
- The University Press of Kentucky
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3 Opposite: Ganges headwaters, Bhagirathi River Valley, India, 2004. Geographers refer to mountains as high-energy environments due to the restless powers of tectonic uplift, gravity, and erosion. Working together in a geological cycle, these forces give rise in Tibet and the Himalaya to some of the planet’s grandest architectures—a vast tableau of crystalline peaks, valleys, and sedimentary plateaus. The soaring topography blocks moist air circulating from the tropical ocean to produce seasonally intense precipitation along the southern flanks of the Himalaya, causing landslides and floods that threaten human life but also producing fertile farms at the low elevations and vast glaciers in the highlands. The varied terrain and hydrology of Tibet and the Himalaya, in turn, produce a kaleidoscope of natural habitat—with each adjustment in the repose of the land is yet another distinctive ecological setting that supports an astonishing array of native plant and animal life. More than 50 million persons live within the seismic folds of the Himalaya. Their religions equate natural elements in the landscape with the emanation of deities and endow certain places with spiritual qualities. It is as if such designations recognize the inherent energetics of the natural world and channel it for religious effect. This could be understood in the case of a sacred summit such as Shivling in India, whose verticality might seem to connect Earth and heaven; of a holy river source—the headwaters of the Ganges, for instance, where water spouts directly from the snout of a receding glacier; of a spring bursting forth from the land itself; of a cave penetrating deep into the Earth’s crust, such as those found in the Yerpa Valley of Tibet; or of a grove of ancient trees whose ecological processes conduct the flow of energy through a connective web of plant and animal life. Religious practice imposes order onto the natural features to fit broader supernatural reckonings of the world. A holy lake, for instance, might be filled with demons that must be placated, or a mountain peak might be the residence of a god worthy of worship. Some hidden lands, called beyul, are believed to contain hidden spiritual treasures left behind by a great saint. These places are the holy of holies. The upper Yolmo Valley in Nepal enjoys such a designation. In myriad ways, the physical landscape expresses an animated cosmology. To sanctify nature, though, is also to placate wilderness, to make it known and accessible, and to demarcate boundaries that distinguish sacred from profane space. Ironically, the very idea of sacred geography is both transcendent and reductive: it provokes inquiry into the place of a person in the world and transforms a natural place into a sanctified realm, but it also harnesses the wild and inexplicable aspects of nature to cultural matters of faith and ritual practice. Gallery One Nature 4 Stupa, Khumbu, Nepal, 2004. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 5 Yilhun Lhatso, Tibet (Sichuan, China), 2006. 6 Alchi, Ladakh, India, 2004. 7 Alchi, Ladakh, India, 2004. 8 Kawagebo (Kawa Karpa), Tibet (Yunnan, China), 2006. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 9 Trongsa Dzong, Bhutan, 2004. 11 Ruins, Drukgyel, Bhutan, 2004. 12 Pha-chu Valley, Tibet (Sichuan, China), 2006. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 13 Lake shrine, Pokhara, Nepal, 2008. 14 Altar rock, Kulu Valley, India, 2004. 15 Check post, Namtso Lake, Tibet, 2010. 16 Bhairav Kunda, Nepal, 2008. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 17 Sacred confluence, Nepal, 2008. 18 Ice cave, source of Ganges, India, 2004. 19 Nojin Kangtsang, Tibet, 2010. 20 Bhagirathi Peak and Gangotri glacier, India, 2004. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 21 Half-moon rise, Drak Yerpa, Tibet, 2010. 22 Yarlung Tsangpo River, Tibet, 2009. 23 Lamayuru, Ladakh, India, 2004. [44.203.219.117] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:54 GMT) 25 Dukhang, Alchi Temple complex, Ladakh, India, 2004. 26 Wheel of Samsara, Bhutan, 2004. 27 Headless Buddha statue, Nepal, 2008. 28 ...