The book

The Himalayas as You’ve Never Seen Them Before

Most books about the Himalayas focus on the mountains themselves, their exploration and conquest. Other books deal with the different peoples who inhabit the region or concentrate on a particular area.

Until now, no book had ever been devoted to the subject of water… Yet the Himalayas are a vital water tower, supplying more than one billion people.

Serge VERLIAT has been studying the Himalayan environment for 30 years. This extensive experience, enriched by his perspective as a geographer and anthropologist, has led him to bring together his knowledge in order to explore this vast subject.

Water, Treasure of the Himalayas offers as comprehensive an overview as possible of the water wealth of this 2,500-kilometre-long mountain range, illustrated by an unprecedented diversity of images of this part of the world.

More than 10,000 slides were taken by Jean PHILIPPE, guided by the author, to pay poetic tribute to the majesty of the Himalayas, the purity of their mountain lakes, the sacred nature of their rivers, and the devotion of the communities living close to the water.

The book is structured around three approaches:

A geographical approach: This takes us on a journey “following the water” along the Himalayan rivers. We begin our journey with those flowing down the Tibetan side of the range, Precious Water. We then continue by following the rivers on the Indian side, Generous Water. Along the way, we become aware of the ecological impact of this mountain range, both as a major climatic barrier and as a spectacular geographical shortcut: within just a few kilometres, Himalayan rivers pass from a polar environment to the tropics.

The second approach focuses on people. It explores the theme of Useful Water, developed throughout the section Generous Water. This perspective allows us, as we follow the geographical journey, to understand the relationship between people and water: from its use in everyday life and agriculture, against a backdrop of increasingly threatening pollution, to today’s challenges, including the new opportunities and issues raised by the mountain range’s tremendous hydroelectric potential.

The final approach, Sacred Water, takes us into the world of imagination and belief of the Himalayan peoples.

The waters of the Himalayas have always embodied the absolute purity of the eternal snows. Here, rivers are deities, and none in the world is more revered than the Ganges. Pilgrims travel from far away to purify themselves in Himalayan waters. This book follows these pilgrims on their quest to return to what truly matters, to the purity of their origins.