WRITTEN IN STONE

A journey of connection and reflection amidst the elusive petroglyphs of Ladakh

- Ahtushi Deshpande

As an adventurer and lover of the mountains, my sojourns have profoundly shaped my understanding of our bond with nature. In these remote corners of the world, I've felt a deep connection to the Earth's pulse, where each trek through rugged terrain mirrored a journey through the landscape of my own being. These revelations unfolded in mysterious and profound ways alongside my documentation of Ladakh's rock art, and became a profound awakening, one that continues to echo within me and grow to this day.

Ladakh, in the trans-Himalayas, with its vast, uninhabited landscapes and stunning vistas, has captivated me since my first visit 20 years ago. In 2011—my fifth time in Ladakh—the region's rugged beauty held an entirely different pull—one that seemed to hum with an ancient energy, a force I hadn't noticed before. Lost in plain sight, embedded in the very bones of the land—its stratified rock—lay a collection of prehistoric imprints known as petroglyphs. These engravings, created with stone tools, turned out to be the only remnants of prehistoric human presence in the area. In the same way that nature utilizes accretion and erosion to craft the landscape into a magnificent artistic spectacle, our ancestors chiselled, pecked, and engraved into these very rocks, liberating forms captive within the recesses of their minds.