Although many countries today are known by their culture, one aspect that can easily be overlooked is that culture’s origin. Some were started by a religion, while others came about as a blend of several different ones. There are few geographic features that have had as monumental of an effect on a nation’s culture as the Himalayas. The Himalayas are a representation of the whole of India through their diversity in everything from plants to religion, and have greatly contributed to Indian culture, even to the present day.
Forming part of the border between India to the south and Nepal and Bhutan to the north, the Himalayas are an imposing sight. As a whole, it is the highest mountain range in the world, and nine of the world’s highest ten mountains are located within, including Mount Everest.[1] 15,000 glaciers make it the largest deposit of snow and ice outside of the poles, and the freshwater provided by these glaciers are the source of the Indus, Yangtze, and Gangta-Brahmaputra rivers. These rivers provide billions of people in Asia with a freshwater source.[2] In addition to affecting people, Bengal tigers, Asian elephants, red pandas, snow leopards, and thousands of other species of wildlife call these mountains home. Some can’t be found anywhere else in the world.[3]
Much like the rest of the Indian subcontinent, the inhabitants of the Himalayas are very diverse. Languages vary by region as a result of a slow infiltration of peoples from every direction, including Central Asians and Iranians from the west, Indians from the south, and Asians from the east and north.[4] Fertile soils that are brought on in part by the many rivers are found at lower elevations, and are fairly densely populated. The harshness of the environment increases with the elevation, and settlements become much more sporadic and less populated. Those that do manage to survive at these elevations do so through subsistence farming or raising cattle. Due to the extreme danger of crossing the mountains, different regions and sometimes even different valleys developed their own culture based on the unique problems they faced in their struggle to survive. In addition, due to a relatively low amount of contact with the outside world and a high degree of self-sufficiency, most of these clans have experienced very little mixing with each other.[5]
Other than a home to wildlife and mountain peoples, the Himalayas were also the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, or the “Buddha.” Born near the foothills as a child of royalty, Gautama was supposed to become the greatest monarch the world had ever seen. However, after seeing the world and its suffering, he came to the realization that life is suffering, which formed the basis for Buddhism. Renouncing his father’s kingdom, he instead lived his life preaching his sermon. Buddhism focused primarily on finding one’s own means to enlightenment, with the goal of eventually reaching nirvana, and his teachings spread through all of India and eventually most of Asia.[6] These teaching were a stark contrast to Hinduism, which was the predominant religion of India at the time.
Few think of a mountain range as anything more than an impressive sight. Few consider any physical feature other than possibly climate when analyzing a region’s culture. However, the Himalayas are much more than that. Even though many of the major changes in the Indian subcontinent share the Himalayas as their place of origin, it is also a representation of the entire Indian subcontinent. There are few regions in the world that can claim a similar degree of diversity. Other than being home to thousands of different species of plants and animals and hundreds of millions of people, it is also the birthplace of Buddhism, which has spread to the entire world. For most, a mountain range is seen as a barrier. In the case of India, however, it has only been a gateway.
Works Cited
Bishop, Barry. “Himalayas (mountains, Asia).” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266037/Himalayas (accessed October 19, 2014).
World Wildlife Fund. “Eastern Himalayas.” WorldWildlife.org. http://www.worldwildlife.org/places/eastern-himalayas (accessed October 19, 2014).
“Living Himalayas.” World Wildlife Fund. ______http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/eastern_himalaya/ (accessed October 19, ______2014).
PBS. “The Himalayas.” PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/the-himalayas/himalayas- facts/6341/ (accessed October 16, 2014).
“Society & Culture | Himalayanvoices.” Society & Culture | Himalayanvoices. http://www.himalayanvoices.org/?q=onlinelib/readings/themes/society (accessed October 19, ______2014).
Lal, Vinay. “The Buddha.” Indian and Its Neighbors. https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Religions/gurus/Buddha.html (accessed October 19, ______2014).