Ladakh, the land of high mountain passes, is nestled between the tallest mountains of the world – the Himalayas and the Karakoram Range. Here, eternity is never beyond the vision of man. Life is difficult in this high-altitude desert. There is almost no rainfall here, as the winds coming from the south lose their moisture while ascending to cross the Himalayas. Oxygen is scarce in the air and visitors to this region, coming from the plains, have to rest fully for a day or two so that their bodies can acclimatise to the thinner air. The Buddhist faith imbues the lives of the people here with patience and understanding.
There is a well-known treasure of early Buddhist art and several art-historians like myself have spent decades traversing this region to document Buddhist paintings and sculpture. While doing so, we have often noted and sometimes photographed prehistoric etchings carved on rock surfaces. However, these have remained in the realm of academicians and have not been known to art lovers and the general public. Here is where Ahtushi Deshpande has recently made a significant contribution through her book Speaking Stones: Rock Art of Ladakh. Through excellent photography and inspired writing, she takes us on an enchanted journey through the numerous petroglyphs in Ladakh carved thousands of years ago.
Speaking Stones: Rock Art of Ladakh, Ahtushi Deshpande, Pragati Offset, 2024
The book is thoroughly researched and gives the reader a good introduction to the geography and history of Ladakh. The cultural similarities and interactions of this region with Central Asia, Mongolia and Siberia are well brought out. It is well known to us that artistic and cultural exchanges across this vast region have occurred through Buddhism, but the book reveals that this sharing of ideas may well have taken place since a few thousand years before that.
Deshpande travels extensively in the extremely difficult terrain of Ladakh, with its high-altitude conditions and harsh environment. It is her wonderful photography of the physical landscape and of the art, which brings alive this subject before the reader. This is not an easy task, as most readers are not accustomed to perusing an entire book on rock etchings. The writing is evocative and eloquent. It exemplifies a true meeting of historical research and a deep passion for the subject, which carries the reader through this journey.
Above all, the book transports the readers to a magical land – a cold desert where there is scarcely any vegetation. The landscape is stark and the rugged mountains reach for the skies. In the midst of these barren stretches, a few sia (wild rose) bushes rise out of nowhere and spread their heady fragrance in the breeze. Deshpande treks through this vast region, crossing many high mountain passes, to photograph the exquisite and vital art of a few thousand years ago – truly a labour of endurance and passion. The text and captions are extremely informative and help us to share her journey.
I hope this book will whet the appetite of readers to travel to Ladakh and visit not just the main tourist attractions, but also the vast expanses of mountains – where the extremes of nature have created a canvas beyond comparison and where the people still have a vision which is borne out of the love of all creation, a vision which always looks to the eternal.
Benoy K Behl is a film-maker, art-historian and photographer.
