World

Legendary Shangri-la Site Found in Kingdom of Mustang

by Barbara McPherson | November 18, 2009 at 10:46 am

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It is possible that the legendary Shangri-la site has been found in the ancient kingdom of Mustang. The ancient kingdom of Mustang is now part of Nepal. Americans, Broughton Coburn and Pete Athans, exploring the isolated cliffs in the Himalaya Mountains discovered a trove of Tibetan artwork and manuscripts as well as human skeletons.

Few have been able to explore the mysterious caves, since Upper Mustang is a restricted area of Nepal that was long closed to outsiders. Today only a thousand foreigners a year are allowed into the region.

In 2007 a team co-led by U.S. researcher and Himalaya expert Broughton Coburn and veteran mountaineer Pete Athans scaled the crumbling cliffs on a mission to explore the human-made caves.

Despite damage done over the centuries by weather, looters and unthinking souvenir hunters, the expedition leaders over a two year period managed to salvage important manuscripts. Some of these have been relocated to Mustang's main monastery for safe keeping. The writings show an overlap of the more ancient Bon religion and the Buddist beliefs in the area centuries ago.