Munshi It was and is still believed by most of us that the first occasion of mecanised transport having surmounted the Great Himalaya Range was by a couple of Honey Staurt tanks and few Dodge Weapon Carriers of the 7th light Cavalry of Indian Army at 11,500 ft high Zojilla Pass in the "Relief of Leh" operation on November 4, 1948.
In reality the earliest record of mecanised transport not only having only surmounted but also crossed the Great Himalaya Range was created seventeen years earlier by two half tracks named Golden Scratch and Silver crescent of the "Citrogen-Harrdt Trans Asiatic Expedition" by crossing the 14,00 ft.
high Burzil Pass of the Great Himalaya Range in July 1931.
In an era of glorious expeditions of 1930's there was hardly any undertaken expedition more splendid than the 1931-32 Citrogen Harrdt Trans Asiatic Expedition.
During 1920s George Harrdt had traversed the Sahara in half track vehicles designed by Andre Citrogen.
Harrdt set off from Beirut with seven new specially designed half track vehicles built by Citrogen from Beirut on April 4, 1931 in an attempt to reach Yellow Sea roughly following Morcopolo's journey about seven centuries earlier.
The expedition was supposed to cross Asia from Beirut Beinging avoiding the Pamirs through Soviet Turkish republics in one set of half tracks but because of Soviet refusal to permit the expedition through their territory , the expedition had to be divided; one set of seven half tracks moved east from the Mediterranean sea through Syria,Iraq, Iran,Afganistan to India covering a distance of 5,581 kilometers from Beirut to Srinagar in 81 days between April 4 to June 23, 1931 and another set of half tracks assembled on the eastern coast of China and moved west.
The half tracks performed very well in deserts as well as river fordings on their own power.
Despite expert opinions at Srinagar that half tracks would have never been able to negotiate mule track up to Gilgit the expedition left Srinagar on 12th July 1931 with only two of its half tracks supplemented by ponies, mules and porters for transporting of equipments, including spares for vehicles, fuel supplies and other necessities.
Going was smooth from Srinagar to Gurez but beyond Gurez crossing of waterways and ascending the Burzil Pass in waist deep snow and talus and scree covered slopes on the northern face of the Himalayas, especially between Godoi and Bunji where fresh landslides had eliminated the track.
At places the half tracks were hauled with ropes to prevent side slipping and at other places cars were dismantled and carried in parts on porters across small bridges on unfordable streams and tracks destroyed by landslides.One of the vehicles near Astor was left stranded on its front wheels and right track, while the road under the left track collapsed andwas finally retrieved by almost a miracle.
Beyond Gilgit between Nomal and Chalt the limit of half tracks had been reached and with the time at the disposal of the half tracks were abandoned , the expedition proceeded with only mules, ponies-the only means of transport aftrer crossing the Karakorams .The expedition members used 60 double humped camels about 80 ponies and mules for the journey to Aksu and reached Kashgar (Kasi) in Sinkiang (Xinjiang) on September 19, 1931.
Half tracks coming from the east coast of China met them on Oct 24, 1931.
The eastward journey was resumed in seven half tracks and expedition reached Peking (Beinging) on Feb.
12, 1932.The expedition eventually travelled to Vietnam unfortunately losing its leader George Harrdt in Hongkong.
Hanuman And Sanjeevani Herb In Ramayana By Dhananjaya Bhat There is no devotee of Lord Rama greater than the monkey-god Hanuman and the greatest service he did to Lord Rama, was in bringing the Sanjivani herb from the Himalayas to save the life of Lakshmana, Lord Rama's brother.
One researcher on Hinduism found that out of pictures/statues of Hanuman in our homes/temples, ninety percent would be that of him bringing back on his hands, the Dronagiri mountain of Himalayas, where the herb was growing .
Sanjivani or Sanjeevani is a (mythical?) magical herb which has the power to cure any malady.
It is believed that medicines prepared from this herb can even revive a dead person.
During the battle with Ravana, Lakshmana was wounded and was rendered unconscious by Ravana's son Indrajit who used, what could be surmised as 'astras' a sort of radio active weapons.
Vibhishna asked Hanuman to kidnap Ravana's chief physician Sushena and under duress, Sushena told the monkey god, that the only cure for the trauma was an herb called Sanjivani found in the Himalayas and also warned that the medicine much be given to Lakhsmana before sunrise the next day.
According to Berkeley professor R P Goldman, a scholar, who made an intense study of Hindu mythological texts like the Ramayana, Hanuman must have flown at 660 km per hour to reach the Himalayas 2000 kilometres away.
Upon reaching his target, Hanuman was unable to identify the herb as there were many herbs like "Sanjivani".
The confused Hanuman, immediately lifted hill known as Dronagiri, with all the herbs in his right hand and flew back to Lanka battlefield.
According to legends, that even as Hanuman arrived, Lakshmana revived on merely breathing the air now miraculously fragrant with the herb! Strangely enough the Dronagiri mountain seems to have shed some of its bulk over South India (as Hanuman flew carrying it) creating hillocks full of medicinal herbs.
One is the Sanjeevani hill at Nilakottai about one hundred kilometers of modern Trichinopoly and another a small hill called Maruthvazhmalai which lies along the National Highway, 6 km short of Kanyakumari.
Ayurvedic experts find these two hillocks full of medicinal herbs, not available in other nearby peaks of the western ghats.
Ramayana must have taken place nearly 7000 years ago, as Rama's date of birth has been fixed at January 10, 5114 BC, according to the famous Indian astrologer Shri Saroj Bala.
During these 7000 years, Indian Ayurvedic specialists and of lately western scientific investigators have tried to find out as to the exact nature of the herb Sanjivani.
They have got some success, but still the real Sanjeevani has eluded them.
One problem is that Ramayana only mentions that Lakhsmana was unconscious due to the magical weapon used by Ravana's son Indrajit and that he was revived on smelling the Sanjeevani laden air.
Did Lakshmana suffer from any radiation hazard or any loss of blood is not known.
Secondly the portion of Himalayas from where the mountain growing the herb was plucked has been disputed, some scholars claiming it to be Kashmir and others that it was at Sikkim.
Sixty years ago on ayurvedic expert, writing in Calcutta's Amrita Bazar Patrika claimed that he found a herb in Sikkim, which when used, cured fractures of the bone within a very short time.
He opined that it was Sanjeevani.
Western scientists have identified 'Sanjivani' (scientific name Selaginella Bryopteris) as belonging to the Pteridophyta group of ferns, a lythophytic plant with medicinal properties.
While some references in scientific literature list Selaginella bryopteris as the Sanjeevani mentioned in Hindu mythology, a search of ancient texts currently underway in Government of India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories.
But these researches have so far not revealed any plant that can be totally certified as Sanjeevani.
A group of Indian scientists researching on the subject found in 2005, that Indian herb 'Sanjeevani' (Selaginella bryopteris) can promote growth and protect against heat shock and apoptotic activities of ultra violet and oxidative stress.
(Journal of Bioscience, 30,499-505).
Again there is another claimant to the magical properties of the Sanjivani! These days, the Indian Army endorses the healing and energising qualities of seabuckthorn, a fruit found in the Himalayan peaks of the Ladakh region.which is also mythically believed to be the Sanjivani Buti (Sanjivani herb), that finds reference in The Ramayana.
The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) of the Government of India, has recommended a ration of 300ml of seabuckthorn fruit juice for each soldier a day, which helps check respiratory problems and fatigue due to a high level of vitamin K found in the fruit.
The fact that this is the only fruit juice that does not freeze at even minus 40 degrees centigrade also works in its favour.
DRDO, under its Charak research programme, is evaluating the efficacy of seabuckthorn for radioprotection against lethal ionising radiation during a nuclear attack.
''The berry has shown potential of protection against the lethal 60 Co (Cobalt) gamma radiation.
Since the plant has a safety record in Tibetan, European, Chinese and Russian systems of medicine, the radioactive formulations developed from this plant are likely to find widespread applications in radioprotection as well,'' said a paper submitted by the Division of Radiopharmaceuticals and Radiation Biology.
Many scientists opine that what Ramayana states to be the predicament of Lakhshmana has all the signs of heat shock and apoptotic activities of ultra violet and oxidative stress and the findings of DRDO and the Journal of Bioscience might lead us to the fabulous Sanjeevani herb.
