The name Roerich does ring a bell to all the people interested in art. Some more adept with the names of artists might think about Svetoslav Roerich. Those who have had some association with Tibetan culture or Tibetology perhaps might think of George De Roerich. Well, this article pertains to Nicholas Roerich, the father of Svetoslav and George.
The word Kanchenjunga (the five treasures of snow in Sikkimese) reminds one of the world's third highest mountain, India's highest mountain nestled on the border between the Indian state of Sikkim and the Taplejung district of the Koshi Gandaki province of Nepal. The area has garnered a lot of publicity now but was not so well known about a hundred years ago when Nicholas Roerich had traversed the area. When it comes to the foreign explorers who had visited Sikkim during the time of Himalayan explorations in the late 1800s, early 1900s ,1910s and 1920s, those of us acquainted with their work would probably think of H.H Risley, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Margaret .D. Williamson or maybe Giuseppe Tucci, the famed Italian Tibetologist whose name abound in my house as my grandfather's uncle, Mr. Shrish Bhattacharyya, the then financial advisor to the king of Sikkim, Sir Tashi Namgyal from 1947 till 1962 had lived in the same bungalow as Tucci which was also where my grandfather stayed when he moved to Sikkim in the early months of 1959. The name of Roerich does get overshadowed in the background.
Until recently, I had thought that Roerich was somebody who had mostly explored the western Himalayas and I had never known about the Sikkimese connection to Roerich. Hailing from the picturesque town of Gangtok, Sikkim, I have always had a curiosity regarding the Himalayan explorations in the area prior to Sikkim becoming a part of India. This curiosity had been fostered by my maternal grandfather who himself owns a vast collection of rare books written by legendary mountaineers such as Heinrich Harrer, Bill Tilman etc. The name Roerich had only been mentioned fleetingly.
To all the readers, I would like to mention something. Wherever, I stay, I have a tendency to remember my hometown underneath the snow clad Himalayas shrouded by the mist and fog. In times of stress, it becomes my mental escapade as I think of the mountains. Likewise, about a week back, I was waiting underneath the shade of a tree under the blazing sun in front of the laboratory for practical class. The sun was high above the horizon and I was perspiring. I was glancing at my phone, all the while thinking about the arrival of autumn in Gangtok. That's when I started thinking about Kanchenjunga. It had been quite a few years since when I last saw the glistening peak of the mountain as during our last few visits, the rains had set in as a result of which there were overcast days. While I continued ruminating on these, I stumbled upon an article on Nicholas Roerich's paintings.
I saved the article and later read it that evening. I was astonished that Nicholas Roerich had done an entire series of paintings of Mt.Kanchenjunga at different times of the day at different times of the year with each painting differing from the other in perspective and the pallet of colours used. I had searched on paintings of Kanchenjunga before and had rarely found any. This was quite a surprise. As I read on, the article quoted some of his viewpoints about Sikkim and how he described the beauty of the place. The charm of Sikkim had cast a spell on him. He had even taken the tumultuous trek to the famed Tashiding monastery which today is accessible via a motorable road. Reading his thoughts on Tashiding was sort of a revelation to me as we had taken a road trip to the same place a couple of years back. To think that the same path had been trodden on by an artist hailing from St. Petersburg a hundred years ago when the landscape was even more tranquil seemed sublime to me.
His description of two worlds separated by a layer mist referring to the lush green alpine and sub-alpine forests in the lower and middle reaches of the Himalayas and the treacherous grandeur of the glacial peaks towering above in the upper reaches of the Himalayas perhaps touched me the most. They truly are two different worlds with one teeming with all forms of bio-diversity conceivable while the other soaring towards the sky where forms of life diminish but never fail to inspire the onlooker.
I read on and began to contemplate on how a person hailing from the city of St. Petersburg, who lived different parts of life in the Americas and Egypt was charmed by Sikkim. There is something to it. Its a spell perhaps unexplainable but something which can totally be experienced. It was this very spell which made my grandfather move all the way from Kolkata to Sikkim when the city of Kolkata was thriving and terming it his adopted homeland. It perhaps is this very Sikkimese charm which makes me reminisce about my hometown despite having spent only my early years there. This is also the very charm which makes my parents long to visit the place every year despite having lived in different parts of the world.
To wind up, this quote by Roerich in his chapter on Sikkim in his travelogue, "Altai-Himalaya" probably best sums up this quintessential Sikkimese charm which people have experienced in the bygone times and continue to do so.
"Do not record the things which can be read in books but those which are related to you in person; for those thoughts are the living ones. Not by the book but by the thought shall you judge life. Understand the sparks of the primordial bliss."
Mt. Kanchenjunga as seen from Gangtok on a clear day in November.
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