The Indian Himalayan town of Naggar is indistinct from the hundreds of other towns that dot the Himalayan valleys, all of which feature more or less the same theme: verdant hills rolling along mighty rivers, surrounded by towering icy massifs that pierce through clouds, soaring as high as the eye can see. If you were traveling through the Kullu Valley—say, from Chandigarh or Delhi or Gurgoan—you might drive past Naggar, without bothering to stop. That would be a mistake.
Naggar is the former home of the most famous artist, philosopher, writer, explorer, Nobel Prize-nominated peacemaker you’ve probably never heard of: Nicholas Roerich.
I first heard of Roerich and his wife Helena in 2007 on New Year’s Day. I was in the earliest stage of my three-month travels through the Indian Himalayas. I was alone, in Kalimpong, the closest Indian town to Bhutan’s western border. Community comes easily for westerners in so many of India’s destinations—Mysore, Pune, Rishikesh, Bombay, Goa, Delhi, Kerala, Dharamsala. But not Kalimpong. A mere three days into my journey and I was already regretting my choices.
I distracted myself from loneliness by toting an AlphaSmart Neo (neither the iPad, MacBook Air, nor netbook were born yet) with me everywhere, including restaurants. I noted my observations: the Bollywood crew filming “Take 5” at Kalimpong’s stately Himalayan Hotel, the lead actress smoking cigarettes, accompanied always by a chaperone, the only other tourists staying at the hotel: a group of 10 Italian speakers whose ages ranged from mid-20s to late-60s. They seemed to be having fun. When one of the group broke away from the others, it was because he or she needed alone time, because he or she was part of a community. I watched with longing as they ate together, laughed, shared bottles of wine. I wanted desperately to be part of their group.
My wish came true when one of the Italians noticed my funny-looking computer and asked to take a closer look. Conversation ensued. The evening ended with an invitation to join the group at Kalimpong’s Crookety Mansion, where Helena Roerich spent the last eight years of her life.
The Roerichs were among the first Westerners to travel the Himalayas, to travel throughout Central Asia. While Helena’s favorite spot was reputed to have been Kalimpong, with its majestic views of Kanchenjunga, India’s highest mountain and the third highest mountain in the world, Nicholas favored the western Himalayan town Naggar.
Born in St. Petersburg in 1874, Nicholas Roerich, like his contemporary Marc Chagall, designed sets and costumes for the ballet in addition to his other works as a painter. After the revolution, Roerich and wife Helena left Russia for Finland, then London, and then a tour of the U.S., which landed him first in Santa Fe, and eventually in New York City. In 1925, the Roerichs, their son George, and six friends embarked upon a five-year Asian expedition that started in Sikkim (which at that time was an independent kingdom before becoming an Indian state), and traveled through, in Roerich’s words, “Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, the Karakoram Mountains, Khotan, Kashgar, Qara Shar, Urumchi, Irtysh, the Altai Mountains, the Oryot region of Mongolia, the Central Gobi, Kansu, Tsaidam, and Tibet.“
Roerich’s paintings, almost childlike in their simplicity, yet refined in his complex use of color, focus largely on the Himalayas, often with mystical overtones. According to legend, Nicholas and Helena, students of eastern mysticism, were tasked by a Tibetan lama they met in London with returning a portion of the Chintamini Stone—a stone, which bestows immortal powers upon humans—to Shambhala, the Utopian paradise tucked away in Tibet.
That’s a lot to take in, I know.
I’ve been grappling about how best to tell Roerich’s story since January 2, 2007. I’ve been fascinated with the idea of Shambhala since I first read James Hilton’s Lost Horizon (published in 1933) when I was 11 years old. Hilton’s Shangri-La and Roerich’s Shambhala are essentially the same.
According to legends about the Chintamani Stone, a band of spiritual warriors in Shambhala, which exists in a different dimension than our world—both of this world and apart from it—will wage a final war against all the ills that plague humanity, and paradise will reign on earth.
If Shambhala exists, Roerich most likely didn’t reach it during his travels. If he had, he would have had the good sense to stay there, unlike Hilton’s fictional hero Hugh Conway, who found Shangri-La and then left. Roerich was a genius; clearly Conway was not.
After returning from their expedition, the Roerichs settled in the Indian Himalayas. Their former home in Naggar is now a museum preserved with artifacts from Roerich’s life and a spattering of his paintings. Maintained by a Russian grant, India’s state government of Himachal Pradesh squabbles with the Russian agency responsible for overseeing the Roerich Museum. Each allege the other has stolen paintings and other valuables from the museum.
In New York City, at 107th Street and Riverside Drive, another Roerich Museum operates free of controversy and drama. A few weeks ago, I was the only patron visiting the three-story townhouse filled with Roerich’s paintings. The museum shop features books written by Helena and Nicholas Roerich, who together founded the Agni Yoga Society, which culls spiritual wisdom from numerous eastern philosophies, most notably Tibetan Buddhism.
In Naggar, visitors to the Nicholas Roerich Museum slip paper covers over their shoes to stroll through the Roerich’s home, which features signs warning that handrails are unstable, and visitors should use caution on the second floor where the porch may collapse. In India, artifacts that date back to 8th Century B.C., are left outdoors, unshielded from the elements; museum windows are left uncovered with sun pouring in on centuries-old paintings. Thank God the Roerichs had the foresight to leave the bulk of their work in New York City and St. Petersburg.
This post is the first in a series on Nicholas and Helena Roerich, Agni Yoga, Shambhala, the Chintamani Stone, and the Theosophical Society.
