Aryans entered India, and there is no obvious reason
why it should have taken to itself the honour of a preeminently
first place except on account of its surpassing
beauty and striking characteristics. For the Aryans,
following the route generally adopted in every successive
invasion, came from Baktria over the Hindu Kush,
and down the Kabul valley of Afghanistan, until they
finally crossed the Indus. However, from the earliest
times the Himalayas were regarded by Hindus with
awe, and were shrouded with majesty, and it was said
by them that Sanskrit had been preserved in great
purity in these northern regions, especially in Cashmere
and Badrinath. This latter place had already some
centuries before the Christian era acquired a reputation
for sanctity and as a place of learning. The blessed
abode of continual happiness was said to be in these
grand mountains. “ The people are liberal, prosperous,
perpetually happy and undecaying. In their country
there is neither cold nor heat, nor decrepitude, nor
disease, nor grief, nor fear, nor rain, nor sun” (Rama-
yana)|g-a description which Kumaon has taken to itself—
and, the same epic poem adds, “ where the mongoose
sports in a friendly fashion with snakes, and tigers with
deer.” From the earliest times we find that the place
is considered holy ground, the well-loved home of the
gods, containing many places of pilgrimage. Krishna
stood at Badrinath a hundred years with arms aloft,
on one foot, subsisting on air, with his outer garments
thrown off, “ emaciated and with veins swollen,” a
not very unnatural result.
To quote from Atkinson’s “ Himalayan Districts”
again:
“ I t is not difficult to picture the Aryan immigrants
arriving at the Ganges and sending some adventurous
spirits to explore its sources. After traversing the difficult
passes across the snowy range and the inclement
tableland of Tibet, they discovered the group of moun-
EAST PEA K (L E F T ) AND NANDA DEVI (RIGH T ), AS SEEN FROM
THE EASTERN S IDE OF THE MILAM VALLEY
tains called Kailas, and the lakes from which flowed
forth the great rivers to water and give life to the whole
earth. The rugged grandeur of the scene, the awful
solitude and the trials and dangers of the way itself,
naturally suggested to an imaginative and simple
people that they had at length rediscovered the golden