April 26, 1999
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THE
SEARCH FOR SHANGRI-LA Mountain Magic When the sight of a 'lost city' makes grown men cry. By Tahir Shah THE SEARCH FOR SHANGRI-LA
So the idea of venturing to the most sacred, exotic plateau on earth in search of a lost kingdom ought to be toe-curling stuff. But enter Charles Allen, who's perhaps the only man skilful enough to triumph with what might normally be a gut-wrenching theme. The Search for Shangri-La begins with us being told (somewhat bleakly) by a now middle-aged Allen that his previous work on the region (A Mountain in Tibet) had actually missed the point. The point being, why a holy mountain in Tibet should be revered equally by Buddhists, Hindus and Jains. The answer, Allen says, is the ancient civilisation that preceded these religions. Recent scholarship into the region's history has unearthed a treasure trove of texts. Many of these describe the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet, known simply as Bon. Centred on the Tibetan Plateau, the mysterious kingdom of the Bon people was called Shang-shung. Until the '60s, few Westerners had ever heard of the Bon religion; and most of those considered it to be little more than a perverted Satanic cult. With misconceptions running deep, the true story of Bon society is only now percolating through. It's a tale of profound importance: for it was from the Bon kingdom of Shang-shung that we get the myth of Shambhala, and from that which we derive our notion of lost paradise -- Shangri-La, made famous by James Hilton's Lost Horizon. Realising library research had its limitations, Allen snapped his books shut, pulled on his boots, gathered up five male friends and headed to Kathmandu on the start of a journey in search of the Bon kingdom. Arriving in the Nepalese capital in the "fourth month of the Iron Mouse" (1996 to you and me), the party bought some pot and headed north-west to the border with Tibet. Crossing the Chinese border into western Tibet, with its indomitable regime of bureaucracy, Allen is certain that he will be near the "bones of Tibet's earliest civilisation still waiting to be discovered ... the origins of the legend of Shangri-La". So moved is he that he begins to weep. The party presses on, through the V-shaped valleys where the Peacock Mouth river flows to the Precious Snow Mountain and the Nine Stacked Swastikas Mountain, into the Kingdom of Prester John. Sorting out the truth of the Bonpo -- the Bon people -- from the propaganda and misinformation of subsequent religions is no easy matter. Allen postulates that the Bon religion is a synthesis of various other religions and religious concepts, mostly of Iranian origin. Suggesting the first Bonpo originated from the "high steppes of Tajik", he goes on to say that Tibetan culture of today owes much to the Bon. After returning to London, and two subsequent journeys to the region, Charles Allen once again ventured to Tibet in June 1998. Trekking up the Garuda Valley, over the Tsaldot Pass, and fording the Sutlej he reached a small village called Kyunglung. On a small knoll overlooking the village, he came upon a Gelugpa monastery, which pointed the way to an extensive complex of ruins. Numerous small temples and dome-shaped stupas lay half a mile to the east of the village. Above the site -- itself located among the ravines and ridges of the valley's edge -- he found a number of caves. After inspecting the area, Allen became convinced that the ruins were the remains of Kyunglung Ngulkar -- the Silver Castle of the Garuda Valley, the original capital of Shang-Shung, otherwise known as Shangri-La. Allen's skill as a story-teller is consummate. He is part travel writer, part observer, part archaeologist and part philosopher. His account is a magnificent gateway into the greatest kingdom of the East. |
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Tibet has long been the ultimate jewel in the
travel writer's crown. With a handful of others -- Timbuktu, Patagonia, Easter Island --
it's the Sacred of Sacreds: only to be handled with the greatest care and attention.
Unfortunately, when writers apply for visas to such exotic destinations they're generally
waved on through -- when they should be given a dire warning. The Holiest of Holies tends
to make for the most clich d travel books. Indeed, the only theme more hackneyed than a
jaunt to such places is that of the search for a lost city. El Dorado, Atlantis,
Shambhala, or Shangri-La -- another quest into the unknown -- it's usually enough to make
your stomach churn. 
