Zanskar: The river of two lives

Day 26 and last day of the "virtual (digital) tour" of places known for unusual customs, practices, mysterious phenomena. This post is part of the A to Z Challenge and Blogchatter A2Z 2026 

Thank you to everyone who dropped by, read my posts, and keyed in comments. Though I haven't replied to them all, I have made a note of them. In the coming days, I shall visit your blogs and catch up on the posts that I have missed. A 'Reflections' post will come up next week.

If you missed some of my earlier posts, you can find the links at the end of this post.  

In the high-altitude desert of Ladakh in the northern border of India, is a waterway that defies the conventional definition of a river. 

The Zanskar River, the first major tributary of the Indus, is a raging white-water torrent in the summer and a silent, frozen highway in the winter. 

This dramatic seasonal shift is just one of the many unusual aspects of a river that has kept the Zanskar valley isolated for centuries.

GRAND CANYON COMPARISON

During the warmer months, the Zanskar is a destination for the world’s daring adventurers. It is home to world-class white-water rafting. The river passes by a landscape so dramatic it is often compared to the Grand Canyon, with soaring walls, rock spires, and a stunning palette of natural colours. 

Image courtesy: Neelima Vallangi / BBC

THE 'CHADAR'

The most unusual characteristic of the Zanskar River is its winter metamorphosis. As temperatures plummet to as low as -40°C, a 100-km-long "blanket" of ice known locally as the Chadar is created. 

For the inhabitants of "road-less" villages on the river’s fringes, this frozen surface becomes their only escape and lifeline to the outside world. While during the summer road is buried under snow, the river provides an alternative ice passage to reach schools in larger towns like Leh or Kargil.

WALKING ON ICE

Traversing the Chadar is not simple; it is a high-stakes skill. The ice is ever-changing, constantly breaking, toppling, and resettling due to the pressure of fast-flowing water beneath the surface. 

Zanskaris have mastered the "art of reading the ice," allowing them to glide across the surface with agility.

AN ERA COMING TO AN END

The unique nature of the Zanskar River is currently under threat from two major forces. 

Climate change is causing rising temperatures that prevent the ice from fully forming, sometimes forcing villagers to wade through freezing water instead of walking on solid ice. 

Furthermore, a new all-weather road is being blasted into the heart of the canyon. While this will provide much-needed modern connectivity, it will eventually render the legendary Chadar trek obsolete. 

As commercialisation and mass tourism also begin to impact the sensitive ecosystem, the centuries-old tradition of the frozen highway may soon live on only as the stuff of legends.

(Information sources: BBC, Outlook Traveller, Wikipedia)

Links to all the posts in the A to Z Blogging Challenge:

Asur	Bhangarh	Channapatna
Dhinga Gavar	Edakkal caves	Floating stones
Ghost lights	Hakki Pikki	Idu Mishmi
Jatinga	Kodinhi	Living root bridges
Malana	Nidhivan	Om Banna Temple
Piplantri	Qila Raipur	Roopkund
Sati handprints	Thimithi	Umngot River
Vettuvan Koil	Whistling village	Xenoglossy
Yana ‘Caves’	Zanskar River

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Yana 'caves'

Day 25 of the "virtual (digital) tour" of places known for unusual customs, practices, mysterious phenomena. This post is part of the A to Z Challenge and Blogchatter A2Z 2026

Yana lies within the forests of the Sahyadri mountain range in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka.

While most caves are underground, the "caves" of Yana are actually two massive, needle-sharp black limestone monoliths that tower over the jungle floor. 

They are the 390-foot (120-metre) Bhairaveshwara Shikhara and the 300-foot (90-metre) Mohini Shikhara. 

They are composed of solid black, crystalline Karst limestone. Geologists attribute their dark colour to the presence of iron, manganese, and silica.

The rock formations.
Image courtesy: The News Minute

According to legend, the demon Bhasmasura obtained a boon from Lord Shiva that allowed him to turn anyone into ashes by placing his hand on their head. When he tried to use this power on Shiva himself, Lord Vishnu intervened by transforming into the seductive dancer, Mohini. 

She challenged Bhasmasura to a dance and tricked him into placing his hand on his own head, reducing him to a heap of ashes. Devotees believe the heat from this event was so intense it blackened the limestone formations, and they point to the loose black soil scattered around the area as the actual remains of the demon. 

Nearby, the Vibhooti Waterfalls is also named after these "sacred ashes".

Adding to the mystery are the innumerable beehives that cling to the overhanging rocks. Temple authorities and locals believe these wild bees act as guardians of the cave’s sanctity, reportedly attacking only those who disturb the serenity of the site.

(Information sources: Karnataka Tourism, Deccan Herald, The News Minute)

Previous posts in the series:

Asur	Bhangarh	Channapatna
Dhinga Gavar	Edakkal caves	Floating stones
Ghost lights	Hakki Pikki	Idu Mishmi
Jatinga	Kodinhi	Living root bridges
Malana	Nidhivan	Om Banna Temple
Piplantri	Qila Raipur	Roopkund
Sati handprints	Thimithi	Umngot River
Vettuvan Koil	Whistling village	Xenoglossy
Y	Z

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Xenoglossy, when past speaks through present

Day 24 of the "virtual (digital) tour" of places known for unusual customs, practices, mysterious phenomena. This post is part of the A to Z Challenge and Blogchatter A2Z 2026

Imagine waking up one day and speaking a language you have never learned. 

This rare and startling phenomenon is known as xenoglossy, the ability to speak or write a real language that is entirely unknown to the individual in their ordinary state of consciousness. 

While it is often confused with glossolalia (the "speaking in tongues" common in religious practices, which typically consists of meaningless but phonologically structured utterances), xenoglossy involves the use of a natural, identifiable language.

Among the most meticulously documented cases in the history of parapsychology is that of Uttara Huddar, a woman whose life became a living laboratory for the study of consciousness.

EMERGENCE OF SHARADA

Uttara Huddar was born on 14 March 1941, in Nagpur, India, into a Marathi-speaking family. She was a highly educated woman, with a double M.A. degree. 

In 1974, at the age of 32, her personality underwent a radical shift. Following a period of intense meditation and breathing exercises, a new personality calling herself Sharada suddenly emerged.

When Sharada took control, Uttara’s normal personality disappeared. Sharada could not speak or understand Marathi, Uttara's native tongue; instead, she spoke fluent Bengali. 

Even more striking was Sharada's behaviour. Though Uttara was unmarried, Sharada behaved like a shy, married Bengali woman of the early 19th century. She did not recognise Uttara’s parents or friends and viewed them as strangers.

The personality known as Sharada claimed to have lived in Bengal between 1810 and 1830.

A representative AI image

HISTORICAL TIME CAPSULE

What makes the case of Uttara Huddar so compelling to researchers like Ian Stevenson and Satwant Pasricha is the specific nature of the language used. 

Sharada’s Bengali was not the modern version taught in schools during Uttara's time. Instead, it was an archaic form of Bengali that was free of the English loanwords common in the 20th century. Her vocabulary contained a higher percentage of Sanskrit-derived words, consistent with the speech patterns of the early 1800s.

Sharada provided extensive details about a life in Bengal between 1810 and 1830. She named obscure villages, described specific temples like the Hansheshwari Temple at Bansberia, and provided a detailed genealogy of a family named Chattopadhaya. 

When researchers travelled to West Bengal to verify these claims, they discovered a real genealogy that matched Sharada’s descriptions almost perfectly, a family tree that Uttara, living hundreds of miles away in Nagpur, could not have realistically accessed.

SEEKING EXPLANATION

The case of Uttara-Sharada presents a real challenge to our understanding of the mind. Researchers have proposed some theories:

• The data suggests the possibility that Sharada was a previous incarnation of Uttara, with memories and linguistic skills lying dormant until triggered in adulthood.
  
  
• Some researchers considered the case as a form of possession, where a discarnate entity (Sharada) temporarily dominated Uttara’s body.
  
  
• Skeptics often point to cryptomnesia, suggesting the subject may have picked up the language through forgotten childhood exposure. However, in Uttara's case, her "responsive xenoglossy", the ability to carry on complex, spontaneous conversations, far exceeded what could be explained by merely reciting forgotten fragments of speech.

INEXPLICABLE CONNECTIONS

The Sharada phases continued intermittently at least until 1979, lasting anywhere from a single day to several weeks. 

While science continues to debate the origins of xenoglossy, the case of Uttara Huddar remains a landmark because of its linguistic depth and verified historical accuracy. 

Uttara-Sharada's case shows that everything that one experiences can't be fully, conclusively and scientifically proved. And, secondly, it's quite possible that our inner consciousness might have connections with time, people and places far beyond our immediate and current experiences. Not easy to define or explain.

(Information sources: University of Virgnia, Institute of Noetic Sciences, Encyclopedia.com, The Hindustan Times)

Previous posts in the series:

Asur	Bhangarh	Channapatna
Dhinga Gavar	Edakkal caves	Floating stones
Ghost lights	Hakki Pikki	Idu Mishmi
Jatinga	Kodinhi	Living root bridges
Malana	Nidhivan	Om Banna Temple
Piplantri	Qila Raipur	Roopkund
Sati handprints	Thimithi	Umngot River
Vettuvan Koil	Whistling village	X
Y	Z

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