Journey to Roopkund: Tracing the Footsteps of Mysterious Skeletons

The Himalayas are known for their Distinct nature. It has enclosed many wonders, Beauties, and Mysteries within its vastness. Each peak, each glacier, each valley of the Himalayas tell a different story. They are indeed Divine but Dangerous as well. There are many aspects of the Himalayas which are yet to be discovered. There are many stories which are yet to be re-told. There are many questions that are yet to be Answered. One such mystery that lies within the Ranges of Himalaya is “The Roopkund”.

The Roopkund lake lies at a height of around 5000 meters above sea level on the slopes of the Trishul mountain in the state of Uttarakhand. The Roopkund is now a famous Trek spot. This Lake has an average depth of 3 meters, the mystery of the Roopkund revolves around the thousands of abandoned Human skeletons that lie on the shores of Roopkund. There are many theories, Believes related to these Skeletons, each one of which tells different stories.

Initial Discovery

In 1942, Indian Forest officer H K Madhaval, stumbled upon the piles of skeletons mysteriously lying on the banks of Lake. The surprised officer alerted the British Government. Since it was the time of World war -2, the government thought those were skeletons of Japanese Soldiers, who had secretly camped in the Himalayas. Upon further investigation it was declared that the skeletons seemed too old and were not of Japanese Soldiers. When inquired about this in the nearby Villages, they were already aware of the Lake and its situation.

Theories and Believes According to Local Legend once, The king of Kanauj, Raja Jasdhawal and his Pregnant wife Queen Balampa along with their servants and troops, went on a Pilgrimage to Nanda Devi

. It is said that they had camped near the Roopkund for a night. And that night they were caught in the heavy storm and the whole troop died, Locals believe that this was the wrath of Goddess Nanda since they Polluted the sacred lake by their Stay. This story started to spread all over the world because this was the only possible and logical explanation that could be provided. Some believe that this was the result of mass suicide/murder during some local Pandemeic. There are many such theories which are neither completely accepted nor discarded

Research.

Along with the skeletons researchers have found leathers, Iron Spearheads, wooden artifacts. Upon research it was also found that there are skeletons of both men and women which discards the fact that they were not the result of any fight or war. National Geographic, During their expedition in the area,they recovered over 30 skeletons some of which still had flesh attached to it. This shows that some of the skeletons are young.

In 2019 a group of Scientists and researchers directed by Ayushi Nayak, Douglas J. Kennett, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, David Reich, Niraj Rai published a paper related to the Skeletons of Roopkund. They had conducted several research on DNA, Radiocarbon dating of those skeletons. And concluded that these skeletons belong to three different sections of Ethnicity and divided them as Roopkund_A, B, C.

Roopkund_A believed to be of South Asian Ethnicity (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Srilakan etc.,) they believed these skeletons were around 10,000 years old and were deposited in multiple events, i.e. all these individuals did not die together. Group B belonged to the Greek region, and Group C belonged to South East Asia(Thailand, Indonesia etc.,) These skeletons were around a few 100 years old and both were deposited around the same timeline.

Conclusion Every skull obtained had a similar injury which concludes that they all died from the head injury the possible way would be due to heavy hailstorms. Also, there’s no ancient or recent trade routes which go via Roopkund. But, this Roopkund lies on the famous pilgrim route called Nanda Devi Jat Yathra,which originated from Nanda Devi Sanctuary terminates at the homkund,which is around 7kms from Roopkund. This may conclude that all those South Asian Travelers might be the part of nanda Devi Jat Yathra or some pilgrims going to nanda devi. These conclusions are somewhat related to the local legend as told earlier. But the real question arises is about the Greek and south east Asian travelers. There are no texts, articles which mention their arrival even though the Localities have no knowledge about them. The actual MYSTERY and Answers for these questions are lost with time!

Now Roopkund has become a Tourist attraction and hundreds of People go on trekking to witness the skeletal lake. But it is feared that years later, these skeletons will be completely vanished from Roopkund, since tourists take few skeletons along with them and there won't be any skeletons left behind if this continues.