10 JO 40 jo 04 - 00 - 345-5 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries https://archive.org/details/altaihimalayatraOOroer ALTAI -HIMALAYA ALTAI- HIMALAYA A Travel Diary By NICHOLAS ROERICH WITH TWENTY REPRODUCTIONS FROM PAINTINGS FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY NEW YORK MCMXXIX Copyright, 1929, by CORONA MUNDI, INTERNATIONAL ART CENTER, INC. All Rights Reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA —— PUBLISHER’S NOTE Zuloaga, visiting the Roerich Museum in New York, in an interview for the press, said: “In the creative art of Roerich, I see that which I have always felt. Here is evidence that from Russia some force is coming to the world—I cannot measure, I cannot impart what it is—but I realize its approach: Roerich great artist, great worker; his creation expresses proud and lofty sentiments.” Boris Grigorief has said: “His name is on the lips of the entire world. Before me is the magazine, Studio, dedicated to our great artist, and I am proud when I think that Roerich is so able to arouse the human soul.” In the Foreword (1925), Serge Whitman, valuing the inter- national significance of the last work of Roerich, wrote: “We who search the paths of international understanding and the structure of universal peace, must look upon Roerich as the apostle and forerunner of this new world of all nations.” Ivan Narodny, in a recent article, “Prophet of Universal Beauty,” said: “Leonardo da Vinci was at the same time a painter, an architect and an engineer. The same can be said of Roerich he is not only a towering painter, but a profound philosopher and a distinguished scientist.” An extensive literature has been dedicated to Nicholas Roerich. Information of his life and works up to 1916, may be had in the monographs of A. Rostislavov (1918); A. Mantl (1910); A. Gui- doni (1915); N. Selivanova (1923); in articles of A. Benois (1916); S. Makovsky (1906-16); S. Yaremitch (1916); L. Andreyef (1918); A. Remisoff (1916); M. Voloshin, G. Bottom- ley, S. Gorodetzky, W. Baltrushaitis, I. Lazarevsky, I. Takeuchi, [v] V. Pica, L. Vauxelles, Arsene Alexandre, A. Koiransky, B. Grigorief, O. Dymoff, M. Fokine, Denis Roche, Sir Claude Phillips, Leo Feigenberg, O. M. Sayler, C. Brinton, V. Ritter, M. Martin and others. Special issues of magazines were dedicated to Roerich’s art by Mir lss\ustva; lss\ustvo; Vessi; Zolotoye Runo; L’Art Decoratif, Paris; Studio, London; The Touchstone, New York; Colour, London; Gazette des Beaux Arts, Paris; Volne Smeri, Prague; Dilo, Prague; Art and Archceology, Washington; and many others. Information about his various foreign works is strewn in many series of editions: Studio, London; International Studio, New York; Emporium, Milan; Les Arts et les Artistes, Paris; Volne Smeri and Dilo, Prague; Deutsche Kunst, Darmstadt; The Review, Calcutta; and many other Hindu, Japanese and Ameri- can magazines. The large monograph, “Himalaya,” published by Brentano’s, New York (1926), gives 100 reproductions of Roerich’s paintings of 1923-25. The monograph published by Corona Mundi, Inter- national Art Center, in 1923, also “Nicholas Roerich,” published by Editions de la Revue du Vrai et du Beau, as well as Roerich’s works “Adamant” (1923) and “Paths of Blessing” (1925), ac- quaint us with his consciousness in all its phases. For four and a half years, Roerich in an unrepeatable circle, encompassed Central Asia. Starting in the Himalayas so beloved of him, he courageously brought his Expedition through all obstacles again to the same place in the foothills of these highest mountains of the world. The entire series of paintings which he made on that mem- orable journey and the published works of the members of the Expedition will reflect its valuable results. Now the opportunity is offered to read Roerich’s travel notes, those “thoughts upon horseback and in the tent,” induced by the contemplation of lofty [vi] PUBLISHER’S NOTE mountains and boundless deserts wrapped in the inviolable secrecy of the East. What is this book? Is it a scientific treatise? Obviously not, because such a work is still to be written. Is it the diary of a geographer or an ethnologist? No. It is the Symphony of Asia. Some such phrase would characterize it best. In conclusion it may not be amiss to quote a fragment of one of Roerich’s letters sent from Little Tibet, to Corona Mundi, International Art Center, in 1925, in which he indicates his program and purpose: “Friends, it would have been far easier for me to have set down the entire journey in all its fairy-tale of ‘fantasy,’ which colors every peak and every desert space with unprecedented truth. But then some will be incredulous, as he who sleeps in dark- ness does not believe in the sun. Is it possible that the sun is already rising? Facts are needed. I am writing only facts. I am setting down fragments of the thoughts as they now live in the East. I am setting down distances and tales, as they are now related. But even in facts, the Sunrise comes from the .” East. As the first news from the Roerich American Expedition, after its lengthy wanderings in Tibet, came this telegram on May 24, 1928: “Roerich American Expedition after many hardships has reached Himalayas. Thus ended big Central Asiatic Expedition. Many artistic and scientific results. Already sent several series of paintings to New York. Hope last sending from Mongolia safely reached you. Many observations regarding Buddhism. “Expedition started in 1924 from Sikhim through Punjab, Kashmir, Ladak, Karakorum, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr, Ur- umchi, Irtysh, Altai Mountains, Oyrot region, Mongolia, Central Gobi, Kansu, Tsaidam, Tibet. [vii] PUBLISHER’S NOTE “Peaceful American flag encircled Central Asia. Everywhere warmly greeted except Khotan and Lhasa Governments. Further movement Expedition from Khotan assisted by British Consul at Kashgar. On Tibetan territory have been attacked by armed robbers. Superiority of our firearms prevented bloodshed. In spite of Tibetan passports Expedition forcibly stopped by Tibetan authorities on Oct. 6, two days north of Nagchu. With inhuman cruelty Expedition has been detained for five months at altitude of 15,000 feet in summer tents amidst severe cold about 40 degrees below Centigrade. “Expedition suffered from want of fuel and fodder. During stay in Tibet five men, Mongols, Buriats and Tibetans died and ninety caravan animals perished. By order of authorities all letters and wires addressed to Lhasa Government and Calcutta British authorities seized. Forbidden to speak to passing cara- vans. Forbidden to buy foodstuffs from population. Money and medicines came to an end. The presence of three women in caravan and medical certificate about heart weakness not taken into consideration. With great difficulties on March 4, Expedi- tion started southward. All nine European members of the Expedition safe. Courageously bore hardships of exceptionally severe Winter. Greetings.” [viii] CONTENTS PAGE Publisher’s Note v Introduction by Claude Bragdon xiii PART I. India (1924) 1 II. SlKHIM (1924) 31 III. Pir-Panzal (1925) 69 IV. Ladak (1925) 83 V. Lamayuru-Hemis (1925) 100 VI. Leh—Karakorum—Khotan (1925) 125 VII. Khotan (1925-1926) 160 VIII. Takla Makan—Karashahr (1926) 193 IX. Karashahr—Dzungaria (1926) 255 X. Altai (1926) 334 XI. Mongolia (1926-1927) 351 XII. Tibet (1927-1928) 366 Glossary 395 [lx] ILLUSTRATIONS Reproductions from Paintings by Nicholas Roerich in the Roerich Museum , New Yor/^ Portrait of Nicholas Roerich by Sviatoslaw Roerich . Frontispiece FACING PAGE Commands of Rigden Japo 2 Tibetan Lama 26 Sanctuaries and Citadels 58 Confucius the Just ( Banners of the East Series ) 88 Lamayuru Monastery ( Lada\ ) ( Maitreya Series ) 104 Leh, Ladak ( Maitreya Series ) 120 Karakorum Pass 140 Signs of Maitreya ( Maitreya Series ) 168 Guardian of the Entrance 190 Sacred Caves ( Maitreya Series ) 236 Tibetan Woman 264 Mongolian Lama 298 Oirot, Messenger of the White Burkhan ( Banners of the East Series ) 336 Tenpei-Jal-Tsin Baishin, City of the Ja-Lama in the Central Gobi 356 Tsam in Mongolia 366 Sharugen Kham, Tibet 376 Chatu Gompa on the Brahmaputra 378 Chungtu Royal Monastery Near Saskya 380 Shekar Dzong (Near Shigatse) 390 [xi] — INTRODUCTION On May 8, 1923, Nicholas Roerich left America for India, and he has been wandering about in remote, dangerous and seldom- visited parts of Asia ever since. “Altai-Himalaya” is the record of his mission, just as his series of pictures “Tibetan Paths,” “Banners of the East,” “His Country,” are records in terms of paint. But “Altai-Himalaya,” though penned on horseback and in the tent, under conditions the most difficult, is as much more, and as much richer than the ordinary diary of travel, as his paintings of the Himalayas are more than a literal transcription of some of the earth’s most magnificent scenery. For in whatever medium Roerich works, or in whatever he is expressing, there shines forth not only the artist, but the embodied intelligence the man, the whole character of the man. Though sincere and simple, it is a character compounded of such unusual elements as to be on its esoteric side uncomprehended. Now, “esoteric” is to most ears either a meaningless or a hateful word: what do I mean by it in this connection? I should per- form for Roerich an ill service if I failed to answer such a ques- tion, because it would be to avoid mentioning what seems to me the very raison d’etre of his journey, his art, his life. And yet how is it possible to make intelligible or even plausible what I have in mind? Without attempting to elucidate, explain or justify it, therefore, I shall simply say that there is a tenable point of view from which one may regard Roerich as an envoy of those powers which preside over the life and evolution of humanity in the same sense that gardeners preside over a garden: that he journeys into desolate and forbidden lands for the fulfillment of a mission the purpose of which will increasingly reveal itself.