The Live mummy.

There are so many places in Himachal that are very beautiful and popular among visitors like - Shimla, Kalka, Kinnaur, Dalhousie and so many others, but there are also

some mysterious places in Himachal which are not known to the people. Most people are unaware of these places. Giu is one of them. it is situated in Spiti Valley,

Himachal Pradesh.

Giu is a small village in Spiti valley it is situated at an elevation of around 10,499 feet

above sea level and it is very nearest to the Indo-Chima border. The live mummy is situated here in Giu valley. This village is located at a distance of 80km from Kaza and 430km from the Capital city of Shimla. You can go Giu by car or taxi, there is no surety of a bus plying to the village directly on a daily basis.

“Mummy” This word excite everyone’s curiosity. There is a live mummy in this Giu valley,

yes, it is difficult to believe but it is true The live mummy is here for since last so many years.

                                  

The Live mummy

My own experience

Last year I went on a trip with my family to Spiti. We almost visited all the main places there like Kaza, Kaa, Tabo, Kibber and all. Spiti is famous for its beauty and especially

for the monasteries. Key Monastery, Tabo monastery and Dhankar monastery are the

world's oldest monastery here in Spiti Valley. I went to these monasteries it looks

completely different in reality from how it appears in pictures. I had a great experience

there. The outer view from these monasteries was just amazing. In Spiti, I visited more than 20 monasteries there and each of them was outstanding.

The first day we stayed in Nako and from there we went to Giu. firstly I was not so

interested to go there but later on, when my mom explained to me about The live
mummy in Giu arouses curiosity in me and now, this was really exciting as I had
never seen a mummy before in my life. The first image that formed in my head was that
of Egyptian Mummies, wrapped in white bandages inside coffin but when we finally
reached Giu after 2-3 hours. We saw a monastery on the top of the village it can be easily
seen from anywhere in Village. We went there I was expecting a mummy inside the
monastery but there was a separate home created for the mummy right corner to the
monastery and when they opened the door we were completely surprised.
What we found there inside a glass case was a naturally preserved real mummy, not
wrapped in any white bandage, completely dried up and the teeth, eyes and hair on its
head still intact. I and my family sat there for around 20-30 minutes because it was really a
great feeling to see, The live mummy in front of us. We clicked so many pictures there.
Im is not so sure about bus travel there I visited in my own car and I saw most of the taxis
and personal vehicles there in the parking, Giu. It is situated on the top and this area is a
very dry area and so there is a low oxygen level. Overall my own experience to see this,
The live mummy was amazing.

Giu, Valley

History of the live mummy

When we went to the mummy, there was a person( caretaker) who opened the lock of the
door and showed us a mummy, he explained to us the history of The live mummy.

The ITBP members found this Giu mummy while they were working on a road repairing a
a few years ago. He also said a few days from that repairing a major earthquake has
occurred there and it destructed the oldest monastery and so many other homes there.
After that destruction when repairing work was started they found a mummy there.  A
research team indicated its age to be about 550 years or so. It is believed that it belongs
to the Buddhist lama. It is also indicated from the research that the monk was probably in
his early 40s year of age when he died. Oral tradition says that the name of the monk is
Sangha Tenzin and belonged to the Gelugpa of Buddhism.
It is believed that this place Giu was cursed by an old Buddhist monk so many years ago
and due to that curse, there were so many scorpions in Giu and the survival of humans became
impossible there than Sangha Tenzin started austerity there for so many years to make this
place out of curse and later on, he died due to starvation but his austerity was successful and
this place changed into a normal living place. He was such a great personality.

Giu Monastery, Spiti

Drive to the Giu Valley

After Nako lake we decided to move further and we were going to Tabo it was around

3-4 o'clock when we came out from Nako and then we decided to visit Giu to see
The live mummy comes between Nako and Tabo and we went to Giyu first, it is
situated in the very height, Almost places in Spiti were dry due to lake of rainfall there
and in highly situated areas oxygen level is low. It was a single road and a river flows
with it, it looks beautiful but dangerous too.
And we reached Giu valley within an hour. Firstly we saw a beautiful Monastery on the
top of this small valley which is visible from very far. We asked people living there the
way to the live mummy monastery, they were very nice in behaviour and they showed us
the way and we drove all the way to the monastery. We parked the car in monastery parking.
It was a good and amazing experience. Most of the visitors came through Car, Bikes and
taxies, I didn't saw daily routine buses there. Giu is a very small village but more beautiful
and it is very far from the towns.

Spiti valley.

No doubt this small place is very beautiful and interesting I suggest mysteries, adventure
lovers all to visit there once before it disappears, because of time by the time the live
mummy starting shrinking and if the same thing will remain to continue this mummy will
disappear soon. My mom visited here once before and she believed mummy's size is
different, it is small in size now from how it looks a few years back as when she saw
mummy the first time 4-5 years ago it was large in size and hairs on his head were
completely visible but when we saw the live mummy last year, there were no hairs on
his head and it was sitting in a yogic posture.

                 

Tabo monastery

    

Dhankar monastery