The article first appeared in The scroll in on October 8, 2024
On a visit in 1924, the Russian artist was taken in by the majestic Himalayan peaks, ancient Buddhist monasteries and the warm-hearted people of the kingdom. “Evokingly and sharply the arrows whistle across the gully from out the bamboo grove,” Nicholas Roerich wrote in the opening lines of a chapter on Sikkim in his travelogue Altai-Himalaya. “The Sikkimese remember their favourite ancient pastimes. One says: ‘The arrow is better than a bullet. It sings as it strikes, while the bullet screeches as it flies outward.’”