Revisiting Kardo Hills - III

Strange but true - the Shiva Linga in the Kardo Hills is said to be mentioned in the 1893 edition of Shiva Purana.

Shiva Purana was compiled by Sage Veda Vyas and is one of the eighteen important sacred Hindu texts. What lends credence to the claim of Kardo Hills connection with the Shiva Purana is that the discovery of a giant Linga in the Himalayas is predicted in the sacred book. As can be read in the third line from the bottom in the picture, the name Arunachal is mentioned in the text.


Whatever the fact, the site attracts different kinds of visitors and some permanent inhabitants like the pigeon here.

Revisiting Kardo Hills - II

An onlooker on the way to Kardo Hills. A bit tired.

Samples of floral diversity in the area.


A donation box donated by a believer.

Looking around.


Discover something new everytime you visit the Lord Shiva in the Kardo Hills.

Revisiting Kardo Hills - I

The Shiva Linga in the Kardo Hills continue to attract visitors. Apart from the religious ones, even nature lovers take a stroll on the trek for good reason.


Among the things one enjoy are some man-made ones like these:


And the nature has never been far behind. Here are some of its immaculate creations:


Welcome to Kardo Hills again.

Clay pots

December is a time for frantic house constructions in the Apatani valley. It is time also for sacrificing of pigs reared so carefully throughout the year. For children, it is time for keeping an ear for the shrieks of the pigs so as to get a small share of boiled blood in the clay pots. One has, of course, to be from the same clan as the family sacrificing the pig.

Bamin village was known as the place where best quality clay pots were prepared. The art, sadly, seems to be disappearing as clay pots are being replaced by readymade utensils available in the market. We met a not-so elderly woman who recalls seeing clay pots being prepared in the past and nostalgically tried her hand at it. Obviously, the result was not so satisfactory as is evident from the pictures below. One pot is an old one and the other is the one moulded recently.


It is said that the food inside the clay pot loses little of its moisture as it is surrounded by steam, creating a tender and tasty dish. As water evaporates, the dish is not burnt so long as the pot is not allowed to heat until it is completely dry. And unlike boiling, nutrients are not leached out into the water.

The sacred blood of the pigs was, till recently, boiled in clay pots only, but this practice also is being paced out now. One wonders whether the present and future generations of our people will ever miss food cooked in clay pots.

Manure for Plenty

The agricultural production in the Ziro valley is known to be one of the highest when calculated on per square area basis. It is because of the enormous labor inputs plus indigenous techniques of preserving the fertility of the soil. This is one of the techniques - paddy husks spread over the field after the harvest.

Sadly, and contrary to what I have been believing, more numbers of farmers are said to be using chemical fertilizers these days. Looking for short term benefits may result in long term destruction of the soil preserved for decades now.