As is clear from the previous selection, one of Gendun Chopel’s motivations in writing Grains of Gold was to describe India, both its past and its present, to a Tibetan audience after many centuries of limited cultural contact between Tibet and India. This excerpt from the beginning of chapter 2 is his lyrical description of what India is like.147
THE PLACE is the great land called India. Homage to the Blessed Buddha.
Regarding the general formation [of this land], it is the source of different races, of different regions, and of a variety of different religions and modes of human behavior. From the very tall mountains with peaks reaching to the sky, all the way down to plains as flat as the surface of a mirror, it has ruling classes with the complexion of a lotus who are attractive and happy and lower classes with the color of charcoal who are hungry and destitute. It has the teaching of the compassionate, who avoid harming any living beings, even an ant, and the religion of those who seek salvation through sacrifice with blood from killing the three creatures: humans, horses, and cattle. It has desolate landscapes with mountains and plains that resemble the back of a camel, verdant islands that look like the neck of a peacock, and a variety of things that reside at the limits of good and bad, as checkered as the canvas of an astrological chart.
Now, the general shape of this land is a triangle, the shape of the shoulder blade, with Vajrāsana [Bodh Gayā] roughly at the center. The long corner of the shoulder blade points in the direction of the south. Located near its tip and separated by a sea of just a few yojanas lies the island of Siṅghala [Sri Lanka]. It is triangular with its tip pointed toward Jambudvīpa [India], like the handle of the shoulder blade. The statement in works such as the Tang Annals that the formation [of India] is like this appears to be most accurate.
The base of the Himalayas is at the northern edge of the triangle. The range of the Himalayas or “snow mountains” can be seen without a break, like a curtain of white silk. It stretches from Yunnan in China in the east to Persia in the west, coming down as far as Magadha. Thus, it extends to the regions of India and Tibet, and the lower parts at the center of the northern edge are in our country. Then, to the south, there is a series of many thousands of snow mountains, like pillars of crystal, which form the outer rim of our country. When you cross the snow mountains, there are many mountains and valleys with juniper forests and then, farther on, pine forests like banks of black clouds. As you descend, there are deep green bamboo forests, and when you go farther down, there are forests of sāla, nyagrodha [banyan], aśvattha, and plantain. There is not a hill or valley that is not filled with glittering flowers. Huge flat leaves glistening with dew, like parasols and platters, grow densely on both the right and left sides of the roads. Various little birds that one has never heard before call out. On mountainsides adorned with clusters of forests, the peaks visible through openings in dense white clouds, villages of two or three dwellings are connected. They have a roof of straw and a canopy supported by four bamboo pillars, covered with various flowering vines. At dawn, as I looked up from one such spot, the peaks of the tall snow mountains appeared bathed in early morning light; they shone like refined gold. In the breaks in the massed waves of white clouds that extend for many yojanas, forests and the peaks of great mountains appear like islands. This is renowned everywhere as the “cloud ocean of the Himalayas,” and people come especially to see this sight.
In the lowlands, the great rivers twist back and forth, making thundering sounds. At the fording places, in all directions there are fields and vast expanses of various crops, such as rice, wheat, and lentils, ornamented with many large and small towns and villages with open markets. Most of these are occupied by people who have the fair complexion with a reddish tinge of those from lands where cool and warm weather are well balanced. Just by climbing down or up for a single day, if you wish to be cool, you arrive at a cold land of mountain peaks. If you wish to be warm, you come to the hot flatlands. In other countries, it is not possible for the terrain to change that much from the top to the bottom of a single mountain pass. But in the mountains of India, if you descend just a little from a very cold mountain peak even in the winter, when you have made a half-day’s journey, the temperature changes. All the kinds of trees and flowers that grow there [in the lower part] are completely absent on the mountain summits. Even the birds are different. Then, going down [farther] just the length of time before stopping for tea, everything from before changes; in that single day you feel that you are in a dream. In later times, supervised by the English, iron bridges have been built across the rivers and the roads have been paved with stones. On the slopes of the hills and in the valleys, with all sorts of things like gardens and beautiful mansions, many wondrous things have been created. However, these things are not appropriate to discuss here. In any case, because of the way they have been formed over aeons, this realm of snowy mountains became what is certainly a heaven or a dreamland. It is said that nowhere else does such a beautiful and pleasant region exist, and in fact that is true.
In the months of spring, it is not too cold or too hot. The sky is brilliant, like the color of vaiḍūrya [lapis lazuli], and fragrant winds fill the forests. Around the fourth lunar month, the rain clouds rise from the Arabian Sea and move toward the north, where the snow mountains block them like pillars in the sky. Not venturing too far into the land of Tibet, they bring down great floods of rain continuously for many weeks onto the forested lands to the south. The mountain peaks are encircled in mist; even the houses remain invisible to each other.
Then, when the end of the summer arrives, the master Kālidāsa says, “When the sixth month ends, the clouds lie down at the peak and foot of the mountain. / My mind wonders if these are graceful elephants at play.” As he says, pieces of scattered clouds lie hovering and rise over the riverbanks and at the foot of the hills. Slowly ascending higher and higher, they rest in masses on the turquoise-like mountain peaks. During the three periods of the day the birds exchange their songs with many melodies. Some types of insects make noises that sound like bells. Around sunset, the sun departs into the western mountains, shaped in different forms like the mouth of a lion or the hump of a camel, displaying all sorts of hues. Then, when dusk, the seventh part of the day, arrives, rising from a dark green meadow in an empty plain, the amber moon, like a great drum made of white copper, emerges. From the immaculate hills and valleys, permeated by a white light, flow pearl-like rivers; such marvels are beyond expression.
In winter, on the higher peaks of the hills, a little snow falls as well. Although the wind is not very strong, its sharp coolness can bring shivers, making you wish that you were wearing wool-lined leather clothes. At the foot of the mountains, apart from the changing of the leaves on the trees, the barrenness of the appearance of winter never occurs. In any case, even the mere sight of these pleasing hills and trees of India gives rise to a variety of experiences in your mind. Thus, it is said that in this land an unbroken line of great poets appeared, their throats adorned with an elegance endowed with a hundred flavors.
Starting from the snowy mountains in the north, continuing to the forested hills, reaching down to the southern plains, the group of hills and valleys in general is known as the Himavat or “snowy region.” Because this term has been sometimes translated as “land of snow mountains” and sometimes as “snowy region,” “snowy mountains,” etc., [some people] take this to mean that the lions, birds, and the many medicinal herbs found in the forests live on pure white snow mountains. This seems to be like someone having heard, “This man comes from Sakya [white earth],” takes it to mean that the person emerged from a pit of white earth. The Lalitavistara also speaks of “the snowy regions with a vast variety of peaks.” In the composition inviting the elder of Bhakṣaskandha as well, the growth of pine trees, floating clouds, and stones broken by yaks’ hooves are described as features of the snowy mountains. Furthermore, look at the Indian poems that refer to the snowy region—forests, wild rice, fields of flowers, and so forth are always mentioned. In the story of the physician Jīvaka [in the Divyāvadāna] as well, it is said that various medicinal herbs grow in the snowy mountains, and in the Kāśyapa Chapter (Kāśyapaparivarta), there are extensive statements, such as, “whatever medicinal herbs that grow in the mountains of the snowy region, the king of mountains.” The Sūtra on the Establishment of Mindfulness (Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra) also says, “Beyond that lie various mountain peaks called ‘the snowy region,’ a thousand yojanas long, filled with juniper, lotuses, sāla, tāla, and tamāla,” and “Beyond that is the white Kailash.”
Thus, just as in many regions, there seems to be a tradition of giving a single generic name to a great mountain range, so “Himalaya” is the name of a mountain range, and in this range alone are located the Kongpo region of Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal, Kinnar [Kinnaur], Kāmarūpa [Assam], Kuluta, and Kashmir. However, since “Kailash” is taken to refer simply to the Tisé range, those who say that “Kailash” is the Sanskrit word for “snowy mountain” are wrong. This kind of confusion occurs when one thinks simply on the basis of the meaning of the words “snowy mountain.” This is like the story of the son of the Muslim emperor Shah Jahan, who, upon hearing the name “Crystal Mountain of Yarlung,” sent someone to Tibet to ask for some crystal.