Author: Kuhu Singh
Publication: The Indian
Express
Date: July 9, 2000
One of the most spectacular
of nature's wonders, the Grand Canyon of Arizonaand Utah states in the
US, has another wonder attached to it: in the form ofIndian (not native
American) names bestowed on some of the rigid peaks andpinnacles of the
canyon by the early pioneers who discovered the105-miles-long nature's
carvings in the earth's belly.
Names such as Brahma,
Vishnu, Shiva, Manu, Buddha and Zoroastra immediatelycatch the eye as well
as the senses (for the objects thus named are a sightfit for the heavens,
thus believed one such early explorer John WesleyPowell(1834-1902), the
one-armed major of the Civil War era, who led theGrand Canyon expeditions
in 1869 and 1872 that explored, mapped and obtainedgeological data on the
Colorado river, which greatly helped in opening upthe West for the Americans
after the Great War.
But while Powell is credited
to have named the landscape ``Grand'', thecredit for the Hindu names of
some of the major plateaus and rock formationsgoes to his associate who
accompanied him on his second expedition, ClarenceEdward Dutton, captain
of ordinance in the US Army, geologist-poet and aYale man who was deeply
influenced by the philosophies of the East.
It was he who likened
the snow-covered peaks of the canyon walls to thepagodas of the Orients.
That would explain the Buddha temple. But others?According to Professor
Stephen J. Pyne, professor of history at the ArizonaState University
and author of the book, How the Canyon Became Grand, thereis ``no explicit
explanation for naming the peaks after Hindu gods, onlyimplicit''.
He likens the christening of the peaks to the historical fact ofthe time
``when there was a growing awareness and respect in the West,particularly
Europe, towards the Eastern philosophies, not economics of thepast.''
The names given were
impromptu, without much thought, based on what the eyesfirst saw and the
senses first experienced. Therefore, there was a mixing ofthe Orient
(Confucius Temple) and the Indian, the European with the Latin.Later expeditions
even churned out names based on the mileage to the river``when they ran
short of grand names,'' Pyne explains, who himself ledseveral expeditions
to the canyon in recent years. Some rock formations bearthe names
of the early pioneers who helped discover the canyon like thePowell Peak
and the Dutton Plateau. And the rest have Native American namessuch
as Yuma and Kaibab. There's even a Hindu Amphitheatre which Duttonlikened
to the ``profusion and richness which suggests an Orientalcharacter''.
Thus, the fantastic shapes
of the many buttes or rock formations in thecanyon led to their fanciful
names. Brahma Temple was named after the firstof the Hindu Triad,
the Supreme Creator, to correspond with the ShivaTemple: ``Shiva the destroyer,
Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu the preserverof men against evil and misfortune,''
as Dutton later wrote. Dutton foundthe Shiva Temple ``the grandest
of all buttes, and most majestic inaspect...All around it are side gorges
sunk to a depth nearly as profound asthat of the main channel...In such
a stupendous scene of wreck, it seemed asif the fabled 'Destroyer' might
find an abode not wholly uncongenial.''
The Grand Canyon, a product
of erosion, is a gorge 217 miles in lengththrough which runs the mighty
Colorado River. Actually, the Grand Canyon iscomposed of many canyons
with a composite of thousands of gorges, where eachwall is a composite
structure, a wall composed of several walls but never arepetition.
What constitutes the
canyon are layers of limestones and sandstones that canreach great heights
and lowest depths and are topped with the Aubreylimestone, 1,000 feet in
thickness. This has great beds of alabaster thatare pure white putting
in sharp contrast, the limestones below with towersand pinnacles, covered
with snow during winters.
``The heavens constitute
a portion of the facade...the earth and the heavenare blended in one vast
structure...and...when the clouds play in thecanyon, as they often do in
rainy season, the heavens seem to bealive...lending infinity to the walls.
The glories and the beauties of form,colour and sound unite in the Grand
Canyon. It is a region more difficult totraverse than Alps or the
Himalayas, but is strength and courage aresufficient for the task, a concept
of sublimity can be obtained never to beequalled on the hither side of
paradise,'' thus wrote Powell in his book TheExploration of the Colorado
River and its Canyons.
It was this grandeur
that led to the borrowing of the Eastern names.
