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Superando la catena dell'Annapurna, l'etnologo francese Michel Peissel penetra nel 1964 per nel Mustang, dove per secoli l'ingresso agli stranieri era proibito. Una delle ultime regioni sconosciute della Terra, il minuscolo regno himalayano, incuneato nel Tibet e posto a un'altezza di 5.000 metri, venne annesso al Nepal nel 1789, conservando però una notevole autonomia. Solamente nel 1959, dopo l'occupazione del Tibet da parte della Cina e la fuga del Dalai Lama in India, il governo nepalese ha reso ufficiali i suoi confini, temendo di essere assorbito dalle armate maoiste, e ha deciso di presidiare con le proprie forze armate l'intera regione.
Michel Peissel è stato fra i primi autorizzato a vivere nel Mustang. Grazie alla sua conoscenza della lingua tibetana, ha potuto inserirsi nella vita degli abitanti del luogo, studiando gli usi e i costumi di un paese in cui si ignora che la terra e rotonda e dove si pratica la poliandria. Il suo libro segna una tappa importante nell'esplorazione delle regioni himalayane.
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An excellent book detailing Peissel's travels in the Kingdom of Mustang, an isolated area of Nepal bordering on Tibet. Peissel gives a fantastic description of the individuals he encounters, the travel difficulties and the scenery. This book ranks up there with other Peissel works such as The Secret War In Tibet and is leaps and bounds better than his later work, The Last Barbarians.
Mustang lies on "the roof of the world", north of Nepal and surrounded on three sides by Chinese-held Tibet. Foreigners were forbiddne to enter the territory and virtually nothing was known about its people and their civilisation until in 1964 Michel Peissel obtained permission to make a long stay there. To reached the walled capital, Lo Mantang, his small caravan of yaks and porters had to make their way for fifteen days across the Himalayas. In Mustang found a medieval world preserved from modern technology, in which the wheel was not used, the earth was believed to be flat and polyandry practised; but a land with beauty and happiness in spite of hardships.
"Real treat for the armchair traveler" - New York Times Book Review.
"Well written account" - Kerry Moran, Nepal Handbook (Moon Publications)
"Presents an account of a journey in 1964 to Mustang, a Tibetan kingdom which had been a tributary of Nepal since the 18th century and which at the time of the author's visit was normally closed to outsiders. A straightforward narrative is interspersed with material on local customs. There is an account of a meeting with King Angun Tenzing Trandul and his son and later successor, Jigme Dorje Trandul. A background theme is the tension created by the recent Chinese subjugation of Tibet, and the resistance of the Khampa guerrillas using Mustang as a base." - John Whelpton, Nepal (Clio Press)
Anthropologist, explorer and author of 18 books (published in 16 countries) he has devoted his life to exploring the farthest recesses of the Tibetan world. Pioneering Tibetan anthropological field studies, his 29 expeditions have led him to the far corners of Central Asia where he was the first to explore the Kingdom of Mustang, to cross Bhutan, and Zanskar. |
Mustang, un regno tibetano proibito
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