1.
Nepal
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Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Canyon
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A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. A canyon may also refer to a rift between two peaks, such as those in ranges including the Rocky Mountains, the Alps. Usually a river or stream and erosion carve out such splits between mountains, examples of mountain-type canyons are Provo Canyon in Utah or Yosemite National Park in Californias Sierra Nevada. Canyons within mountains, or gorges that have an opening on one side are called box canyons. Slot canyons are very narrow canyons, often with smooth walls, steep-sided valleys in the seabed of the continental slope underwater are referred to as submarine canyons. Unlike canyons on land, submarine canyons are thought to be formed by turbidity currents, the word canyon is Spanish in origin, with the same meaning. The word canyon is used in North America while the words gorge and ravine are used in Europe and Oceania, though gorge. In the United States, place names generally use canyon in the southwest and gorge in the northeast, in Canada, a gorge is usually narrow while a ravine is more open and often wooded. The military-derived word defile is occasionally used in the United Kingdom, most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau or table-land level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion, Canyons are much more common in arid than in wet areas because physical weathering has a more localized effect in arid zones. The wind and water from the combine to erode and cut away less resistant materials such as shales. The freezing and expansion of water also serves to help form canyons, water seeps into cracks between the rocks and freezes, pushing the rocks apart and eventually causing large chunks to break off the canyon walls, in a process known as frost wedging. Canyon walls are formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Sometimes large rivers run through canyons as the result of geological uplift. These are called entrenched rivers, because they are unable to alter their course. In the United States, the Colorado River in the Southwest, Canyons often form in areas of limestone rock. As limestone is soluble to an extent, cave systems form in the rock. When these collapse, a canyon is left, as in the Mendip Hills in Somerset and Yorkshire Dales in Yorkshire, England
4.
Gandaki River
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The Gandaki River is one of the major rivers of Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. In Nepal the river is notable for its gorge through the Himalayas. It has a catchment area of 46,300 square kilometers. The basin also contains three of the worlds 14 mountains over 8,000 metres, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri is the highest point of the Gandaki basin. It lies between the similar Kosi system to the east and the Karnali system to the west, the Kali Gandaki river source is at the border with Tibet at an elevation of 6,268 metres at the Nhubine Himal Glacier in the Mustang region of Nepal. The headwaters stream on some maps is named the Chhuama Khola and then, nearing Lo Manthang, in Kagbeni a major tributary named Johng Khola, Kak Khola or Krishnaa descends from Muktinath. If one measures the depth of a canyon by the difference between the height and the heights of the highest peaks on either side, this gorge is the worlds deepest. The portion of the river directly between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I,7 kilometres downstream from Tukuche), is at an elevation of 2,520 metres, the river is older than the Himalayas. As tectonic activity forces the mountains higher, the river has cut through the uplift, south of the gorge, the river is joined by Rahughat Khola at Galeshwor, Myagdi Khola at Beni, Modi Khola near Kushma and Badigaad at Rudrabeni above Ridi Bazaar. The river then turns east to run along the edge of the Mahabharat Range. The largest hydroelectricity project in Nepal is located along this stretch of the river, the Gandaki then crosses the outermost foothills of the Himalayas—Sivalik Hills—into the Terai plains of Nepal. From Devighat, the river flows southwest of Gaindakot town, the river later curves back towards the southeast as it enters India where it is called the Gandak. Below Gaindakot the river is known as the Narayani or Sapt Gandaki and these are the Kali Gandaki, the Trishuli River, and the five main tributaries of the Trishuli known as the Daraudi, Seti, Madi, Marsyandi and Budhi. The entry point of the river at the Indo–Nepal border is also the confluence called Triveni with rivers Pachnad, pandai river flows into Bihar from Nepal in the eastern end of the Valmiki Sanctuary and meets Masan. The Gandak flows southeast 300 kilometres across the Gangetic plain of Bihar state through West Champaran, Gopalganj, Saran and it joins the Ganges near Patna just downstream of Hajipur at Sonepur. Its drainage area in India is 7,620 square kilometres, from its exit from the outermost Siwaliks foothills to the Ganges, the Gandak has built an immense megafan comprising Eastern Uttar Pradesh and North Western Bihar in the Middle Gangetic Plains. The megafan consists of sediments eroded from the rapidly uplifting Himalaya, the rivers course over this structure is constantly shifting. It is said that the river has shifted 80 kilometres to the east due to tectonic tilting in the last 5,000 years, the Gandaki river basin is reported to contain 1025 glaciers and 338 lakes
5.
Himalayas
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The Himalayas, or Himalaya, form a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The Himalayan range has the Earths highest peaks, including the highest, the Himalayas include over a hundred mountains exceeding 7,200 metres in elevation. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia – Aconcagua, in the Andes – is 6,961 metres tall. The Himalayas are spread across five countries, Bhutan, India, Nepal, China, the Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia, many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. Lifted by the subduction of the Indian tectonic plate under the Eurasian Plate and its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, is just west of the bend of the Tsangpo river. The range varies in width from 400 kilometres in the west to 150 kilometres in the east, the name of the range derives from the Sanskrit Himā-laya, from himá and ā-laya. They are now known as the Himalaya Mountains, usually shortened to the Himalayas, formerly, they were described in the singular as the Himalaya. This was also previously transcribed Himmaleh, as in Emily Dickinsons poetry and Henry David Thoreaus essays. The mountains are known as the Himālaya in Nepali and Hindi, the Himalaya or The Land of Snow in Tibetan, the Hamaleh Mountain Range in Urdu, the flora and fauna of the Himalayas vary with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice, the amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the southern front of the range. This diversity of altitude, rainfall and soil conditions combined with the high snow line supports a variety of distinct plant. The extremes of high altitude combined with extreme cold favor extremophile organisms, the unique floral and faunal wealth of the Himalayas is undergoing structural and compositional changes due to climate change. The increase in temperature is shifting various species to higher elevations, the oak forest is being invaded by pine forests in the Garhwal Himalayan region. There are reports of early flowering and fruiting in some species, especially rhododendron, apple. The highest known tree species in the Himalayas is Juniperus tibetica located at 4,900 metres in Southeastern Tibet, the Himalayan range is one of the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consists mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock
6.
Annapurna Massif
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Annapurna is a massif in the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes one peak over 8,000 metres, thirteen peaks over 7,000 metres, and sixteen more over 6,000 metres. The massif is 55 kilometres long, and is bounded by the Kali Gandaki Gorge on the west, the Marshyangdi River on the north and east, at the western end the massif encloses a high basin called the Annapurna Sanctuary. Annapurna I Main is the tenth highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres above sea level, the entire massif and surrounding area are protected within the 7,629 square kilometres Annapurna Conservation Area, the first and largest conservation area in Nepal. The Annapurna Conservation Area is home to several world-class treks, including the Annapurna Circuit, by March 2012, there had been 191 summit ascents of Annapurna I Main, and 61 climbing fatalities on the mountain. This fatality-to-summit ratio is the highest of any of the eight-thousanders, in particular, the ascent via the south face is considered, by some, the most difficult of all climbs. In October 2014, at least 39 people were killed as a result of snowstorms and avalanches on and around Annapurna, Annapurna is a Sanskrit name that literally means full of food, but is normally translated as Goddess of the Harvests. According to Devdutt Pattanaik, Annapoorna devi is, without her there is starvation, a universal fear, This makes Annapurna a universal goddess. Her most popular shrine is located in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River and her association with the giving of food led her in time to be transformed into Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition led by Herzog, ichac made a documentary of the expedition, called Victoire sur lAnnapurna. Its summit was the highest summit attained for three years, until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest and they were, however, beaten to the second ascent of Annapurna by a matter of days by a British Army expedition led by Colonel Henry Day. In 1978, the American Womens Himalayan Expedition, a team led by Arlene Blum, the first summit team, composed of Vera Komarkova and Irene Miller, and Sherpas Mingma Tsering and Chewang Ringjing, reached the top at 3,30 pm on October 15,1978. The second summit team, Alison Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz and Vera Watson, died during this climb, in 1981 Polish expedition Zakopane Alpine Club set a new route on Annapurna I Central. Maciej Berbeka and Bogusław Probulski reached the summit on May 23,1981, the road called Zakopiańczyków Way was recognized as the best achievement of the Himalayan season in 1981. On 3 February 1987, Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer made the first winter ascent of Annapurna I, the first solo ascent of the south face was made in October 2007 by Slovenian climber Tomaž Humar, he climbed to the Roc Noir and then to Annapurna East. The ratio of 34 deaths per 100 safe returns on Annapurna I is followed by 29 for K2 and 21 for Nanga Parbat, gangapurna was first climbed in 1965 by a German expedition led by Günther Hauser, via the East Ridge. The summit party comprised 11 members of the expedition, Annapurna South was first climbed in 1964 by a Japanese expedition, via the North Ridge. The summit party comprised S. Uyeo and Mingma Tsering, Hiunchuli is a satellite peak extending east from Annapurna South, Hiunchuli was first climbed in 1971 by an expedition led by U. S. Mount Machhapuchchhre, named after its resemblance to a fish-tail, is another important peak, Mount Machhapuchchhre and Hiunchuli are prominently visible from the valley of Pokhara
7.
Thakali people
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The Thakali are an ethnolinguistic group originated from the Thak Khola region of the Mustang District in the Dhaulagiri zone of Nepal. Thak-sat-se is the area of the Thakali community, which lies in the salt trading zone on the south of Tukuche mountain. According to 2001 census, Thakalis population of around 13,000 constitute only 0. 06% of Nepals population, there are around 30,000 Thakali in Nepal, of which are Buddhist, Hindus and some both. The Thakalis are some of Nepals most successful businessmen and they trade in places like Tukuche and Thaksatse. Furthermore, many are owners of Nepals hotels and motels, however, due to extensive trade all over Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet, many Thakalis have resettled in Pokhara, Kathmandu and in southern Nepal. You will also see good number of them in Japan and in England these days, due to this, the Thakalis outside their homeland follow a form of Tibetan Buddhism, Thakalis in southern Nepal practice Buddhism with bit Hindu flavor. Those in Mustang remain much more traditionally Buddhist, the Thakalis are a strictly endogamous group, distinctly divided into four exogamous clans. Thus, a member of the Thakal community is expected to marry another Thakali, the four clans are equal in status socially and ritually. However, on the basis of precedence in worship, the Sherchan/Serchan usually comes first, followed by Gauchan, Bhattachan and Tulachan. Each clan group has a distinct clan god represented by a totem, such as dragon, elephant, snow leopard, and yak for Gauchan, Tulachan, Sherchan/Serchan. The Thakalis are very organized people and they have neat kitchens and keep tidy houses. Lhafewa, Tornala and Falo are the festivals of the Thakali. Dhnom is the title of the Thakali priest who works as the local shaman, madaal, Khaprang, and Thamken are their main musical instruments. Three types or varieties of Thakali exist in the Thakkhola valley, Three village Thakali called as Tin Gaule Thakali, Marphali Thakali also known as PUNEL, among the Yhulkosompaimhi they are also divided into subgroup. The Thakali have their own Thakali language and their own culture regarding birth, marriage and they have their own festivals like Tungla and Fala. Untersuchungen zur Sprache des Dorfes Marpha im Oberen Kali-Gandaki-Tal/Nepal, Nepal Mustang District Dhaulagiri The Thak Archive
8.
Graben
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In geology, a graben is a depressed block of the Earths crust bordered by parallel faults. Graben is German for ditch or trench, the plural form is either graben or grabens. A graben is a valley with an escarpment on each side caused by the displacement of a block of land downward. Graben often occur side-by-side with horsts, horst and graben structures indicate tensional forces and crustal stretching. Graben are produced from parallel normal faults, where the displacement of the wall is downward. The faults typically dip toward the center of the graben from both sides, horsts are parallel blocks that remain between graben, the bounding faults of a horst typically dip away from the center line of the horst. Single or multiple graben can produce a rift valley, in many rifts, the graben are asymmetric, with a major fault along only one of the boundaries, and these are known as half-graben. The polarity of the bounding faults typically alternates along the length of the rift. The asymmetry of a half-graben strongly affects syntectonic deposition, comparatively little sediment enters the half-graben across the main bounding fault because of footwall uplift on the drainage systems. The exception is at any offset in the bounding fault. Most of the sediment will enter the half-graben down the hanging wall side. S. Central Graben, North Sea Viking Graben, North Sea Fossa
9.
Dhaulagiri
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The Dhaulagiri massif in Nepal extends 120 km from the Kaligandaki River west to the Bheri. This massif is bounded on the north and southwest by tributaries of the Bheri River, Dhaulagiri I is the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres above sea level. It was first climbed on May 13,1960 by a Swiss/Austrian/Nepali expedition, the mountains name is धौलागिरी in Nepali. This comes from Sanskrit where धवल means dazzling, white, beautiful, Dhaulagiri I is also the highest point of the Gandaki river basin. Annapurna I is 34 km. east of Dhaulagiri I, the Kali Gandaki River flows between the two in the Kaligandaki Gorge, said to be the worlds deepest. The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center, in 1808 A. D. survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed. This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga took its place, followed by Mount Everest in 1858, Dhaulagiri Is sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled. It rises 7,000 m from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast, the south and west faces rise precipitously over 4,000 m. The south face of Gurja Himal in the massif is also notably immense. Most ascents have followed the northeast ridge route of the first ascent, as of 2007 there had been 358 successful ascents and 58 fatalities. Between 1950 and 2006,2. 88% of 2,016 expedition members and staff going above base camp on Dhaulagiri I died. On all 8,000 metre peaks in Nepal the death rate was 1. 63%,1950 – Dhaulagiri I reconnoitered by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. They do not see a feasible route and switch to Annapurna, 1953–1958 – Five expeditions attempt the north face, or Pear Buttress, route. 1959 – Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec makes the first attempt on the northeast ridge. 1960 – Swiss-Austrian expedition led by Max Eiselin, successful ascent by Kurt Diemberger, P. Diener, E. Forrer, A. Schelbert, Nyima Dorje Sherpa, Nawang Dorje Sherpa on May 13. First Himalayan climb supported by an aircraft, which eventually crashed in Hidden Valley north of the mountain during takeoff and was abandoned. 1969 – American team led by Boyd Everett attempt southeast ridge, seven team members,1970 – second ascent, via the northeast ridge by a Japanese expedition led by Tokufu Ohta and Shoji Imanari. Tetsuji Kawada and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa reach the summit,1973 – American team led by James Morrissey makes third ascent via the northeast ridge
10.
Shaligram
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Shila, or Shaligram refers to a fossilized shell used in South Asia as an iconic symbol and reminder of the God Vishnu as the Universal Principle by some Hindus. Shaligrams are usually collected from river-beds or banks such as the Gandaki river in Nepal and they are considered easy to carry and popular in certain traditions of Vaishnavism, as an aniconic representation of the divine. They are typically in the form of spherical, black-coloured Ammonoid fossils, although Hinduism has many anthropomorphic murtis of gods, aniconism is equally represented with such abstract symbols of God such as the Saligrama and Shiva lingam. Historically, the use of Shaligrama Shilas in worship can be traced to the time of Adi Shankara through the latters works, the largest and heaviest Shaligrama can be seen at the Jagannath Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, at Puri in Orissa. The main ISKCON temple in Scotland, called Karuna Bhavan is famous for housing the largest number of Shaligram Shilas outside of India, a Shaligrama – which has the marks of a shankha, Chakra, gada and padma arranged in a particular order – is worshiped as Keshava. With the change in the order of the four symbols, the name of the Shaligrama stone is also different, the various orders and names are given for the twenty four permutations. These are well known names, which are the different names by which Lord Vishnu is known in the Hindu pantheon, the various versions of the Saligrama Shilas or stones vis-a-vis the order of the four symbols are, Shiva linga Dzi bead Ammonite fossils www. shalagram
11.
Vishnu
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Vishnu is one of the principal deities of Hinduism, and the Supreme Being in its Vaishnavism tradition. Along with Brahma and Shiva, Vishnu forms a Hindu trinity, however and his avatars most notably include Krishna in the Mahabharata and Rama in the Ramayana. He is also known as Narayana, Jagannath, Vasudeva, Vithoba and he is one of the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism. In Hindu inconography, Vishnu is usually depicted as having a dark, or pale blue complexion and having four arms. He holds a padma in his left hand, Kaumodaki gada in his lower right hand, Panchajanya shankha in his upper left hand. A traditional depiction is Lord Vishnu reclining on the coils of Ananta, accompanied by his consort devi Lakshmi, yaska, the mid 1st-millennium BCE Vedanga scholar, in his Nirukta, defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā, one who enters everywhere. He also writes, atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati, that which is free from fetters, the medieval Indian scholar Medhātithi suggested that the word Vishnu has etymological roots in viś, meaning to pervade, thereby connoting that Vishnu is one who is everything and inside everything. Vishnu is a Vedic deity, but not a prominent one when compared to Indra, Agni, just 5 out of 1028 hymns of the Rigveda, a 2nd millennium BCE Hindu text, are dedicated to Vishnu, and he finds minor mention in the other hymns. Though a minor mention and with overlapping attributes in the Vedas, he has important characteristics in various hymns of Rig Veda and he is also described in the Vedic literature as the one who supports heaven and earth. In the Vedic hymns, Vishnu is invoked alongside other deities, especially Indra and his distinguishing characteristic in Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 refer to Vishnu, in section 7.99 of the Rgveda, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra. In the Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is Surya or Savitr, in hymn 7.99 of Rigveda, Indra-Vishnu are equivalent and produce the sun, with the verses asserting that this sun is the source of all energy and light for all. In other hymns of the Rigveda, Vishnu is a friend of Indra. In the Yajurveda, Taittiriya Aranyaka, Narayana sukta, Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being, the first verse of Narayana Suktam mentions the words paramam padam, which literally mean highest post and may be understood as the supreme abode for all souls. This is also known as Param Dhama, Paramapadam or Vaikuntha, Rig Veda 1.22.20 a also mentions the same paramam padam. In the Atharvaveda, the mythology of a boar who raises goddess earth from the depths of cosmic ocean appears, in post-Vedic mythology, this legend becomes one of the basis of many cosmogonic myth called the Varaha legend, with Varaha as an avatar of Vishnu. Several hymns of the Rigveda repeat the mighty deed of Vishnu called the Trivikrama and it is an inspiration for ancient artwork in numerous Hindu temples such as at the Ellora Caves, which depict the Trivikrama legend through the Vamana avatar of Vishnu. Trivikrama refers to the three steps or three strides of Vishnu
12.
River source
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The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the furthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. As an example of the definition above, the USGS at times considers the Missouri River as a tributary of the Mississippi River. But it also follows the first definition above in using the combined Missouri - lower Mississippi length figure in lists of lengths of rivers around the world. This definition, from geographer Andrew Johnston of the Smithsonian Institution, is used by the National Geographic Society when pinpointing the source of rivers such as the Amazon or Nile. A definition given by the state of Montana agrees, stating that a source is never a confluence but is in a location that is the farthest, along water miles. Under this definition neither a lake nor a confluence of tributaries can be a river source. Likewise, the source of the Amazon River has been determined this way, when not listing river lengths, however, alternative definitions may be used. In the case of the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark would have had to travel to the east. to reach the source. Sometimes the source of the most remote tributary may be in an area that is more marsh-like, for example, the source of the River Tees is marshland. The furthest stream is often called the headstream. Headwaters are often small streams with cool waters because of shade and they may also be glacial headwaters, waters formed by the melting of glacial ice. Headwater areas are the areas of a watershed, as opposed to the outflow or discharge of a watershed. The river source is often but not always on or quite near the edge of the watershed, for example, the source of the Colorado River is at the Continental Divide separating the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean watersheds of North America. A river is considered a geographic feature, with only one mouth. For an example, note how the Mississippi River and Missouri River sources are officially defined, U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Mississippi River, Length,2,340 miles, Source, 47°14′22″N 95°12′29″W U. S. For example, The River Thames rises in Gloucestershire, the White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. The word source, when applied to lakes rather than rivers or streams, refers to the lakes inflow
13.
Tibet
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Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
14.
Ganges
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The Ganges, also Ganga is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through the nations of India and Bangladesh. It is the third largest river in the world by discharge, the Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus. It is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and it is worshipped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It has also important historically, with many former provincial or imperial capitals located on its banks. The Ganges was ranked as the fifth most polluted river of the world in 2007, pollution threatens not only humans, but also more than 140 fish species,90 amphibian species and the endangered Ganges river dolphin. The levels of fecal coliform from human waste in the waters of the river near Varanasi are more than 100 times the Indian governments official limit. The main stem of the Ganges begins at the confluence of the Bhagirathi, the Bhagirathi is considered to be the source in Hindu culture and mythology, although the Alaknanda is longer, and, therefore, hydrologically the source stream. The headwaters of the Alakananda are formed by snowmelt from such peaks as Nanda Devi, Trisul, although many small streams comprise the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest and their five confluences are considered sacred. The six headstreams are the Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini, the five confluences, known as the Panch Prayag, are all along the Alaknanda. After flowing 250 km through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges emerges from the mountains at Rishikesh, the Ganges follows an 800 km arching course passing through the cities of Kannauj, Farukhabad, and Kanpur. Along the way it is joined by the Ramganga, which contributes an annual flow of about 500 m3/s. The Ganges joins the Yamuna at the Triveni Sangam at Allahabad, at their confluence the Yamuna is larger than the Ganges, contributing about 2,950 m3/s, or about 58. 5% of the combined flow. Now flowing east, the river meets the Tamsa River, which flows north from the Kaimur Range, after the Tamsa the Gomti River joins, flowing south from the Himalayas. The Gomti contributes an annual flow of about 234 m3/s. Then the Ghaghara River, also flowing south from the Himalayas of Nepal, the Ghaghara, with its average annual flow of about 2,990 m3/s, is the largest tributary of the Ganges. After the Ghaghara confluence the Ganges is joined from the south by the Son River, the Gandaki River, then the Kosi River, join from the north flowing from Nepal, contributing about 1,654 m3/s and 2,166 m3/s, respectively. The Kosi is the third largest tributary of the Ganges, after the Ghaghara and Yamuna. Along the way between Allahabad and Malda, West Bengal, the Ganges passes the towns of Chunar, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Patna, Bhagalpur, Ballia, Buxar, Simaria, Sultanganj, and Saidpur
15.
Brahmaputra River
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The Brahmaputra (/ˌbrɑːməˈpuːtrə/ is one of the major rivers of Asia, a trans-boundary river which flows through China, India and Bangladesh. As such, it is known by names in the region. It is also called Tsangpo-Brahaputra, and the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, the Manas River that runs through Bhutan joins it at Jogighopa, in India. It is the tenth largest river in the world by discharge, and it flows southwest through the Assam Valley as Brahmaputra and south through Bangladesh as the Jamuna. About 1,800 mi long, the Brahmaputra is an important river for irrigation and transportation, the average depth of the river is 124 ft and maximum depth is 380 ft. The river is prone to flooding in spring when the Himalayan snows melt. The average discharge of the river is about 19,300 m3/s and it is a classic example of a braided river and is highly susceptible to channel migration and avulsion. It is also one of the few rivers in the world exhibit a tidal bore. It is navigable for most of its length, the basin, especially south of Tibet, is characterized by high levels of rainfall. Kangchenjunga is the peak above 8,000 m, hence is the highest point within the Brahmaputra basin. The Brahmaputras upper course was long unknown, and its identity with the Yarlung Tsangpo was only established by exploration in 1884–86 and this river is often called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra river. The lower reaches are sacred to Hindus, while most rivers on the Indian subcontinent have female names, this river has a rare male name, as it means son of Brahma in Sanskrit. Assam govt is set to celebrate the beauty of the mighty river as Namami Brahmaputra- this international event will be organised across 21 districts of Assam from 31 March to April 42017. The Brahmaputra River, called Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan language, originates on the Chemayungdung Glacier located on the side of the Himalayas in Burang County of Tibet.73 million km2. From its source, the runs for nearly 1,100 km in a generally easterly direction between the main range of the Himalayas to the south and the Kailas Range to the north. Throughout its upper course, the river is known as the Tsangpo, it is also known by its Chinese name. In Tibet, the Tsangpo receives a number of tributaries, the most important left-bank tributaries are the Raka Zangbo, which joins the river west of Xigazê, and the Lhasa, which flows past the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and joins the Tsangpo at Qüxü. The Nyang Qu River joins the river from the north at Zela, on the right bank, a second river called the Nyang Qu meets the Tsangpo at Xigazê
16.
Drainage divide
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A drainage divide, water divide, divide, ridgeline, watershed, water parting, is the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins. In hilly country, the divide lies along topographical ridges, and may be in the form of a range of hills or mountains. In flat country—especially where the ground is marshy—the divide may be harder to discern, a valley floor divide is a low drainage divide that runs across a valley, sometimes created by deposition or stream capture. Settlements are often built on valley-floor divides in the Alps, examples are Eben im Pongau, Kirchberg in Tirol and Waidring. Extremely low divides with heights of less than two metres are found on the North German Plain within the Urstromtäler, for example, between Havel and Finow in the Eberswalde Urstromtal. In marsh deltas such as the Okavango, the largest drainage area on earth, or in large areas, such as the Finnish Lakeland. Another case is bifurcation, where the watershed is effectively in the river bed, in pre-industrial times, water divides were crossed at portages. Later, canals connected adjoining drainage basins, a key problem in such canals is ensuring a sufficient water supply, category, Drainage basins List of watershed topics European watershed Scottish watershed River source
17.
Upper Mustang
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Mustang, formerly Kingdom of Lo, is a remote and isolated region of the Nepalese Himalayas. Tibetan culture has been preserved by the isolation of the region from the outside world. The Upper Mustang comprise the northern two-thirds of Mustang District of Dhawalagiri Zone, the southern third of the district is called Thak and is the homeland of the Thakali, who speak the Thakali language, and whose culture combines Tibetan and Nepalese elements. Life in Mustang revolves around tourism, animal husbandry and trade, Mustangs status as a kingdom ended in 2008 when its suzerain Kingdom of Nepal became a republic. The influence of the world, especially China, is growing and contributing to rapid change in the lives of Mustangs people. Upper Mustang has a climate which is cool and semi-arid with precipitation in the range of 250–400 mm. It is in the shadow of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges. The population of the whole Mustang District in 2001 was 14,981, the inhabitants are either Thakalis, Gurung or, in traditional Mustang, primarily Tibetan. Most of the population of Mustang lives near the Kali Gandaki River, the tough conditions cause a large winter migration into lower regions of Nepal. The administrative centre of Mustang District is at Jomsom which has had an airport since 1962 and has become the main tourist entry point since Mustang was opened to tourism in 1992. The main hydrographic feature of Mustang is the Gandaki River, the river runs southward towards Nepal Terai, bisecting Mustang. Routes paralleling the river served as a major trade route between Tibet and India, especially for salt. Part of the valley in the southern Mustang District forms the Kali Gandaki Gorge. Upper Mustang is on an ancient trade route between Nepal and Tibet exploiting the lowest 4,660 metres pass Kora La through the Himalaya west of Sikkim and this route remained in use until Chinas annexation of Tibet in 1950. China eventually decided to trade and in 2001 completed a 20 kilometres road from the international border to Lo Manthang. Across the TAR border is Zhongba County of Shigatse Prefecture, China National Highway 219 follows the valley of the Yarlung Tsangpo River some 50 kilometres north of the border. Meanwhile, road-building from the south was inhibited by difficulties along the Kali Gandaki Gorge to the south, in 2010, a 9 kilometres gap remained but the road was completed before 2015 and is suitable for high clearance and 4 WD vehicles. Currently, the easiest and only widely used road corridor, from Kathmandu to Lhasa—named Arniko Highway in Nepal and this is some 465 metres higher than Kora La
18.
Lo Manthang
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Lo Manthang was the walled capital of the Kingdom of Lo from its founding in 1380 by Ame Pal who oversaw construction of the city wall and many of the still-standing structures. After the Shahs of Gorkha forged Nepal out of petty kingdoms in the 18th century, Lo became a dependency. This arrangement continued as long as Nepal remained a kingdom, until republican government began in 2008, more prosaically, Lo Manthang is a Village Development Committee in Mustang District, Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. The 1991 Nepal census counted 876 people living in 178 households, recently a series of at least twelve caves were discovered north of Annapurna and near the village, decorated with ancient Buddhist paintings and set in sheer cliffs at 14,000 feet elevation. The paintings show Newari influence, dating to approximately the 13th century, Lo Manthang is 20 kilometres by unpaved road from a border crossing into Zhongba County of Shigatse Prefecture, TAR. This road continues about 50 kilometres from the border to China National Highway 219, Nepal is building a road north along the Kaligandaki River, to within 9 kilometres of Lo Manthang as of 2010. There are also scheduled flights from Kathmandu to Jomsom Airport,50 kilometres south of China, the village is noted for its tall white washed mud brick walls, gompas and the Rajas or Royal or Kings Palace, a nine-cornered, five story structure built around 1400. Even though foreign visitors have been allowed in the kingdom since 1992, tourism to Upper Mustang remains limited, Gandaki River Kali Gandaki Gorge Kali Gandaki River Jomsom Airport Mustang Caves Mustang District Upper Mustang Maïe Kitamura, La cité fortifiée de Lo Manthang, Mustang, Nord du Népal. UN map of the municipalities of Mustang District The Himalayan Cultural Conservation Campaign Nepal Restoring a temple on Nova Lo-manthang Photo Gallery
19.
Kagbeni, Mustang
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Kagbeni is a village in the Upper Mustang of the Himalayas, in Nepal, located in the valley of the Kali Gandaki River. Administratively, Kagbeni is a Village Development Committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal, at the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 1200 people residing in 260 individual households. It lies on the trail from Jomsom to the royal capital Lo Manthang, Jomsom Airport Kali Gandaki River Mustang District Upper Mustang UN map of the municipalities of Mustang District
20.
Jomsom
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Jomsom, also known as Dzong-Sampa or New Fort, is a town located at an altitude of about 2700 m in Mustang District, Nepal. It extends over both the banks of the Kali Gandaki River, along the banks of Kali Gandaki river, we can find the black rocks or stone which is called shaligram in the hindu culture and take it as the form of God Vishnu. This type of stone is found in this Kali Gandaki River but people are unknown about it so. The soaring peaks of Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri form a backdrop, a company of the Nepalese Army is stationed here. Nearby is Jomsom Airport from where there are regular flights, a trail passes through the Lower Mustang region of Nepal, ending at the village of Kagbeni, a Tibetan influenced village filled with prayer wheels, chortens and a Buddhist monastery. The trail follows the Kali Gandaki River which forms the deepest ravine in the world, on one side lies the Annapurna mountain range, between the two ranges, there are views of 8 of the 20 highest mountains in the world. The Kali Gandaki is a quarter of a wide river bed, during the winter the river will be dry. The scenery of the ranges from forests of bright Rhododendrons to rocky cliffs. The culture along the track is a rich Combination of Hindu, the trails highest point is Muktinath at 3800 m, a holy site of temples sacred to both Buddhists and Hindus for centuries. A Jomsom trek reveals Nepals spectacular diversity at its finest, the deep valleys and high mountains encircling the giant Annapurna Himal embrace a wide range of peoples and terrain, from subtropical jungle to a high, dry landscape resembling the Tibetan Plateau. The Annapurna region is the most the popular trekking area in Nepal with plenty of trekking places and its also among the tamest areas, with excellent lodges lining the main routes. A modern FM radio broadcasting station was built in Jomsom in September,2013 and it is equipped with one radio studio, one main control room and the transmission tower along with the community center and camping site for Annapurna trekkers. The station was built and contributed by a major Korean broadcaster, MBC, Lafuma and KOICA for the wellbeing, the town was only slightly affected by a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. However, 15-20 buildings along the bank were damaged by a slowly progressing landslide after the earthquake. No injuries were reported in the town, upper Mustang Jomsom travel guide from Wikivoyage
21.
Marpha
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Marpha is a village development committee in Mustang District in the Dhawalagiri Zone of northern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 1630 people living in 434 individual households, the name itself reflects the mar meaning hard working and pha meaning people. Tourism and mule rearing are the means of survival of the people of this place, the village is the apple capital in the nation, with Marpha brandy and jams produced from local fruits. The village is an overnight halt on the Annapurna Circuit, less crowded. Marpha is a pretty stone lined village which has survived the transition to the current time, by catering to trekkers, although it has an original Safe Water Drinking station, it now also sports numerous guest houses and small hotels. Dominating the village is the Nyingma monastery from there are good views of the village. Above the monastery is a chorten painted onto the cliff face, legend saya that the villagers became afflicted with leprosy and all attempts to control it had failed. A local monk, originally from Tukuche, south of Marpha, advised the villagers to build the chorten, since that time the leprosy stopped and Marpha flourished once more. On the southern outskirts of Marpha, on the bank of the Gandaki River is a Tibetan refugee camp and Chhairo gompa. Many of the shops in Marpha are run by residents of the Tibetan refugee camp. UN map of the municipalities of Mustang District
22.
Beni, Dhaulagiri
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Beni is a Municipality and the district headquarters of Myagdi District in Dhaulagiri Zone, Nepal. Municipality was announced by merging the then Ratnechaur, Jyamrukot, Arthunge, Ghatan, Pulachaur, beni is located at the confluence of the Kali Gandaki River and Myagdi River at an altitude of 899 meters. Being the northernmost of the Tri-cities area of Nepal, it is located 12 km to the north of Zonal headquarters Baglung and it is mainly divided into two parts by the Kali Gandaki River. The Western Part lies in Myagdi District and the main offices lie there, the other part lies in Parbat District and is relatively small. Beni meaning the place where two rivers meet was the headquarters of Parvat Rajya. It was on the Tibet-Nepal trading route before the invasion of Parvat Rajya, UN map of the municipalities of Myagdi District Municipalities in Nepal, their Websites, Official Facebook Page & ICT
23.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
24.
Pokhara
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Pokhara is a metropolitan and the largest city of Nepal in terms of Area, which was announced after merging it with Lekhnath municipality and other neighbouring VDCs. It is the headquarter of Gandaki Zone and Kaski District and it is located 200 kilometres west of the capital Kathmandu. Despite being a smaller valley than Kathmandu, its geography varies dramatically within just few kilometres from north to south. The altitude varies from 827 metres in the part to 1,740 metres in the north. Additionally, the Annapurna Range with three out of the ten highest mountains in the world — Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu — are within approximately 15 –35 miles of the valley. Due to its proximity to the Annapurna mountain range, the city is also a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit through the ACAP region of the Annapurna ranges in the Himalayas, Pokhara is home to many Gurkha soldiers. It is the most expensive city in the country, with an index of 150. Pokhara is in the corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the midland region of the Himalayas. In this region the mountains rise very quickly, and within 30 kilometres, as a result of this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates in the country. The Seti Gandaki is the river flowing through the city. The Seti Gandaki and its tributaries have created several gorges and canyons in and around Pokhara that gives intriguingly long sections of terrace features to the city and these long sections of terraces are interrupted by gorges that are hundreds of metres deep. The Seti gorge runs through Pokhara from north to south and then west to east, in the north and south, the canyons are wider. In the south, the city borders Phewa Tal at an elevation of about 827 metres above sea level, Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. Three 8, 000-metre peaks can be seen from the city, the Machhapuchhre with an elevation of 6,993 metres is the closest to the city. The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favours the formation of caves, in the south of the city, a tributary of the Seti flowing out of the Phewa Lake disappears at Patale Chhango into an underground gorge, to reappear 500 metres further south. To the southeast of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, an established town in the Pokhara valley. The city has a subtropical climate, however, the elevation keeps temperatures moderate. Summer temperatures average between 25 and 33 °C, in winter around -2 to 15 °C, Pokhara and nearby areas receive a high amount of precipitation
25.
Muktinath
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Muktinath is a sacred place for both Hindus and Buddhists located in Muktinath Valley at an altitude of 3,710 meters at the foot of the Thorong La mountain pass in Mustang, Nepal. The site is close to the village of Ranipauwa, which is mistakenly called Muktinath. Within Hinduism, it is called Mukti Kshetra, which means the place of liberation or moksha. This temple is considered to be 106th among the available 108 Divya Desam considered sacred by the Sri Vaishnava sect, the ancient name of this place in Sri Vaishnava literature, before Buddhist origin, is Thiru Saligramam. This houses the Saligrama shila, considered to be the naturally available form of Sriman Narayana – the Hindu Godhead and it is also one of the 51 Shakti peethams. The Buddhists call it Chumig Gyatsa, which in Tibetan means Hundred Waters, although the temple has a Vaishnava origin, it is also revered in Buddhism. For Tibetan Buddhists, Muktinath is an important place of dakinis, goddesses known as Sky Dancers. They understand the murti to be a manifestation of Avalokiteśvara, who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas, Muktinath is one of the most ancient Hindu temples of God Vishnu. The murti is of gold and is enough to compare with a man. The prakaram has 108 bull faces through which water is poured, the worship is conducted by Buddhists, with a Buddhist monk present. A local nun manages the pujas in the temple, pilgrims who go there are expected to offer a prasad to the deity. The Muktinath Temple is considered to be a Shakti Peetha for a yatra, Shakti Peethas are sacred abodes of Shakti, formed by the falling of body parts of the corpse of Sati Devi, when Lord Shiva carried it and wandered. There are 51 Shakti Peethas revered by Shaktism, connecting them to the 51 alphabets in Sanskrit, each Shakti Peetha has a Shakti shrine and a Bhairava shrine in its temple. The Shakti of Muktinath is addressed as Gandaki Chandi, and the Bhairava as Chakrapani, Sati Devis temple on the forehead is believed to have fallen here. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition states that Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava and this temple is praised by many saints of Hindu tradition. The scripts narrating the importance of temple are available in Vishnu Purana with the Gandaki Mahathmya. The waterway downstream from Muktinath along Kali Gandaki is the source of all Silas or Shaligrams that are required to establish a temple of Vishnu and it is considered to be one of the holiest places of pilgrimage for Hindus and Buddhists. It has 108 water springs, a number which carries great significance in Hindu philosophy, as an example of the mystery surrounding the number 108, in Hindu astrology, there are mentions of 12 zodiacs and 9 planets, giving a total of 108 combinations
26.
Sven Hedin
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Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO, was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer, and illustrator of his own works. During four expeditions to Central Asia, he made the Transhimalaya known in the West and located sources of the Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej Rivers. He also mapped lake Lop Nur, and the remains of cities, grave sites, in his book Från pol till pol, Hedin describes a journey through Asia and Europe between the late 1880s and the early 1900s. While traveling, Hedin visited Constantinople, Caucasus, Tehran, Mesopotamia, lands of the Kyrgyz people, India, China, Asiatic Russia, the posthumous publication of his Central Asia Atlas marked the conclusion of his life’s work. At 15 years of age, Hedin witnessed the return of the Arctic explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld after his first navigation of the Northern Sea Route. From that moment on, young Sven aspired to become an explorer, upon his return to Stockholm in 1909 he was received as triumphantly as Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. In 1902, he became the last Swede to be raised to the nobility and was considered one of Sweden’s most important personalities. As a member of two academies, he had a voice in the selection of Nobel Prize winners for both science and literature. Hedin never married and had no children, rendering his family line now extinct, Hedins expedition notes laid the foundations for a precise mapping of Central Asia. He was one of the first European scientific explorers to employ indigenous scientists, although primarily an explorer, he was also the first to unearth the ruins of ancient Buddhist cities in Chinese Central Asia. However, as his main interest in archaeology was finding ancient cities, Hedin, in addition to Nikolai Przhevalsky, Sir Francis Younghusband, and Sir Aurel Stein, was an active player in the British-Russian struggle for influence in Central Asia, known as the Great Game. Their travels were supported because they filled in the spaces in contemporary maps. President Theodore Roosevelt 1915 and subsequently by Hindenburg 1929 and 1935 by Chiang Kai-shek 1935,1939,1940 by Adolf Hitler, Hedin was and remained a figure of the 19th century who clung to its visions and methods also in the 20th century. This prevented him from discerning the fundamental social and political upheavals of the 20th century and aligning his thinking, concerned about the security of Scandinavia, he favored the construction of the battleship Sverige. In World War I he specifically allied himself in his publications with the German monarchy and he instead traveled through Mongolia by car and through Siberia aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway. He also concluded a contract which guaranteed freedom of travel for this expedition which, because of its arms,300 camels, however, the financing remained Hedins private responsibility. Nevertheless, the expedition was a scientific success, the archaeological artifacts which had been sent to Sweden were scientifically assessed for three years, after which they were returned to China under the terms of the contract. When he ran out of money to pay printing costs, he pawned his extensive and valuable library and this destroyed his reputation and put him into social and scientific isolation
27.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
