The Borax Trail

There, beyond the meadow’s edge

Where the route may seem to end,

Lies a trail from long ago,

That the hills now merge and blend

 

It was a trail of merchants past

Who brought borax for trade

Through passes hid in the mountains high

For rice and clothes instead

 

They came from hamlets far away

From the Roof upon the world,

Tibet’s prayer flags of time

On the mountains, once unfurled

 

They came down on the hills this side

With bags of mountain salt,

They also brought romantic tales

From Chin, its silk route vault

 

But time passed by, new nations grew

They came all at a cost,

The borders sealed, the routes emptied

And all the trails were lost

 

All that lives on, even today

Are fragments of these trails,

And dying names that we forgot,

Beyond the hills and vales

 

Nubra, Gartang, Johar, Milam

Names we hardly know

Hundreds of outposts, passes, trails

Through which the trades would flow

 

Outposts of the borax trail,

Frontiers in the snow,

Where human footsteps once would tread

The winds now empty blow

 

But if you chance to pass some day

The routes of salty lore,

You may want to stop and look beyond

At history, maybe more

 

And if you listen carefully,

You may even get to hear,

The tinkle bells of caravan yaks

And shuffling feet so near

 

And merchants talking of their tales

Of the dangers of the wild,

Of Lhasa’s news from far away

Or the north where salt was piled

 

Of the long journeys far from home

When summers snow was thin,

But just like that, they disappear

Unknown, unheard, unseen

 

Though long lost, you will see perhaps

Through hills, a lonely way

Highways of trade, the borax trails

That call from yesterday…

For thousands of years, trade flourished from Tibet to Nepal and India, through the precarious passes of the Himalaya. Trade flourished, nourishing both regions, with rice and grains sought from the Ganges and the Terai, while mountain salt – a precious commodity at a time when salt was yet to be harvested from the sea – was exported from Tibet. There were hundreds of these trails, from Nubra Valley in the north to Nathu La in the east and even beyond. But with time, came science and geopolitics. Tibet was annexed by China, its forbidden borders further sealed while salt came from the seas of the south. Eventually, the famed Silk routes emanating from China faded while these salt trails through the Himalaya choked, leaving the passes empty of merchants and caravans. Frontier villages and monasteries that thrived from the trade died on both sides, closing yet another rich chapter in the history of the Himalayas.

Today, a few of these are being revived, with new opportunities of tourism bringing in curious travellers and hikers to marvel at the tenacity of our mountaineering ancestors and the pioneers of these salt routes, who once brought new leases of life to the cold deserts and passes of the mighty Himalaya.

(The term Borax trail has been coined by the writer and is not a conventionally used term, unlike the Silk Route or the Golden Road)

5^th April, 2025