Author with a traditionally dressed Brok-pa girl
The trek back was uneventful. As there is no electricity at Beema, I read Rohit's book, cover to cover, in candle light, in order to discover the hidden world of the Aryans. German anthropologists had evinced interest in this pure Aryan race and a few had even visited and stayed with them. This book traces the ancestry of the present day Aryans to the pure Aryans who lived on the banks of the Indus, 5000 years ago. Presently there are about 1000 descendants of these pure Aryans, who live scattered around Gilgit, Hunza, Kargil and Leh. They are nature worshippers and believe in Brog pa traditions and celebrate the Bononah (Nature) festival and are strict vegans. These pure Aryans observe taboos against cows and hens and eat neither their flesh nor eggs or drink milk or consume any milk products. Hens and cows are not kept. This minuscule community bars both their men and women from marrying non-Aryans (to maintain their racial purity) and polygamy and polyandry is common. Couples who do not conceive are free to choose other partners to give them a better chance of producing an offspring. 80% Aryans marry in their own villages, while 20% marry from neighbouring villages. These pure Aryans are nature worshippers and worship the Juniper tree (Cilgi Deuha). Two, five hundred year old Juniper trees crown the village of Dah, which is the venue of the tri-annual Bononah festival (to be held on a full moon night during October) The Aryans, symbolically draw energy from these ancient Juniper trees by hugging them after a ceremonial dance. They also respect the swastika symbol (clockwise) and OM (symbolising energy).