Crank's Ridge
Encyclopedia
Just outside the village of Kasar Devi is Crank’s Ridge, sometimes called Hippie Hill by children. It is a pine-covered ridge
area located on the way to Kasar Devi temple, above the town of Almora
, Uttarakhand
, India
, the ancient capital of Kumaon
.
Kasar Devi is a temple on the Kashyap Hills, 7 km north from Almora, where Swami Vivekananda once came to meditate in the late 19th century. The place, got its popular name, Crank's Ridge, ever since Timothy Leary
streaked
on the ridge in the 60s, when it became part of the Hippie trail
, during the peak of hippie movement
.
The ridge became a haunt for bohemian artists, writers and spiritual seekers in the 1920s and 30s, including notable western Tibetan Buddhists, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, and Lama Anagarika Govinda
, who in turn was visited by Anandamayi Ma and Neem Karoli Baba
; other early people connected to Crank's Ridge were Earl Brewster
, an American artist, author John Blofeld
and Danish mystic Alfred Sorensen
. In 1934, Alfred Sorensen
who was earlier introduced to Nehru
by Tagore, visited the home of Nehru’s sister
and brother-in-law at their house Khali, Binsar where he stayed and used his horticultural skills in the garden, while still travelling during the summer. It was while staying with the Nehru family that one of their friends offered Sorensen a piece of land where he could live on Crank's Ridge, near Almora
. Around this region, Swami Vivekanand had also visited Kasar Devi.
In the 1960s and 70s, luminaries of the counter-culture, including Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens made pilgrimages to the ridge to visit these established inhabitants. In 1962, Allen Ginsberg
came with Peter Orlovsky
, Gary Snyder
and Joanne Kyger
to visit Lama Govinda. Ginsberg commented in a letter to John Kelley that "Rishikesh and Almora were not unlike the Catskills readily accessible, only more spiritual." In late 1964, Ralph Metzner
visited Lama Govinda on the ridge and was later joined by Timothy Leary
on honeymoon with his wife Nena von Schlebrügge
. Leary wrote much of Psychedelic Prayers, a psychedelic version the Tao Te Ching
composed from nine English translations of the book, on the ridge. Later in the decade Richard Alpert (Ram Dass
), visited the ridge as a part of his own pilgrimage. Scottish psychiatrist, R. D. Laing spent some time there in the early 1970s; as did Robert Thurman
, the Buddhist scholar, who spent six months with his family studying with Lama Govinda as a part of his doctoral dissertation over the summer of 1971. In the mid-seventies Alfred ‘Sunyata’ Sorensen was taken to San Francisco by the Alan Watts
society.
The village of Kasar Devi has now become a cult destination, and has a small community of backpackers
. Participants of the hippie movement settled there ever since the place gained the reputation of being a Power Centre during the 1960s counter-culture. This reputation is due to the alleged gap in the Van Allen Belt above the ridge, a perception arguably strengthened by the free and easy availability of hemp on the slopes. There is also a Buddhist meditation center on the ridge.
Ridge
A ridge is a geological feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for some distance. Ridges are usually termed hills or mountains as well, depending on size. There are several main types of ridges:...
area located on the way to Kasar Devi temple, above the town of Almora
Almora
Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...
, Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, the ancient capital of Kumaon
Kumaon Division
For Kumaoni/Kumauni People see Kumauni PeopleKumaon or Kumaun is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. It includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, and Udham Singh Nagar...
.
Kasar Devi is a temple on the Kashyap Hills, 7 km north from Almora, where Swami Vivekananda once came to meditate in the late 19th century. The place, got its popular name, Crank's Ridge, ever since Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
streaked
Streaking
Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...
on the ridge in the 60s, when it became part of the Hippie trail
Hippie trail
The hippie trail is a term used to describe the journeys taken by hippies and others in the 1960s and 1970s from Europe overland to and from southern Asia, mainly India, Pakistan and Nepal...
, during the peak of hippie movement
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
.
History
Lama Anagarika Govinda
Lama Anagarika Govinda , born Ernst Lothar Hoffman was the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala and an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism, Abhidharma, Buddhist Meditation as well as other aspects of Buddhism...
, who in turn was visited by Anandamayi Ma and Neem Karoli Baba
Neem Karoli Baba
Shri Neem Karoli Baba or Shri Neeb Karori Baba , also known to followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman...
; other early people connected to Crank's Ridge were Earl Brewster
Earl Brewster
Earl Henry Brewster was an American painter, writer, and scholar, best known today for his close friendship with D.H. Lawrence, and for his compilation of the life of the Buddha, first published in 1926 and still in print. He was married to Achsah Barlow Brewster, also an artist.Brewster was born...
, an American artist, author John Blofeld
John Blofeld
John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld was a British writer on Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism.-Early life:Blofeld was born in London in 1913...
and Danish mystic Alfred Sorensen
Alfred Sorensen
Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen , also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturalist and writer who lived in Europe, India and America.- Early life :...
. In 1934, Alfred Sorensen
Alfred Sorensen
Alfred Julius Emmanuel Sorensen , also known as Sunyata, Shunya, or Sunyabhai, was a Danish mystic, horticulturalist and writer who lived in Europe, India and America.- Early life :...
who was earlier introduced to Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
by Tagore, visited the home of Nehru’s sister
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit was an Indian diplomat and politician, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, the aunt of Indira Gandhi and the great-aunt of Rajiv Gandhi, all of whom served as Prime Minister of India.In 1921 she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit, who died on 14 January 1944...
and brother-in-law at their house Khali, Binsar where he stayed and used his horticultural skills in the garden, while still travelling during the summer. It was while staying with the Nehru family that one of their friends offered Sorensen a piece of land where he could live on Crank's Ridge, near Almora
Almora
Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...
. Around this region, Swami Vivekanand had also visited Kasar Devi.
In the 1960s and 70s, luminaries of the counter-culture, including Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens made pilgrimages to the ridge to visit these established inhabitants. In 1962, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
came with Peter Orlovsky
Peter Orlovsky
Peter Anton Orlovsky was an American poet.-Life and work:Orlovsky was born in the Lower East Side of New York City, the son of Katherine and Oleg Orlovsky, a Russian immigrant. He was raised in poverty and was forced to drop out of Newtown High School in his senior year so he could support his...
, Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
and Joanne Kyger
Joanne Kyger
Joanne Kyger is an American poet. Her poetry is influenced by her practice of Zen Buddhism and her ties to the poets of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the Beat generation.-Overview:...
to visit Lama Govinda. Ginsberg commented in a letter to John Kelley that "Rishikesh and Almora were not unlike the Catskills readily accessible, only more spiritual." In late 1964, Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner
Ralph Metzner Ph.D. , is an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert . Dr...
visited Lama Govinda on the ridge and was later joined by Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
on honeymoon with his wife Nena von Schlebrügge
Nena von Schlebrügge
Birgitte Caroline 'Nena' von Schlebrügge is a Mexican former fashion model of the 1950s and 1960s and is now the managing director of Menla Mountain Retreat....
. Leary wrote much of Psychedelic Prayers, a psychedelic version the Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
composed from nine English translations of the book, on the ridge. Later in the decade Richard Alpert (Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
), visited the ridge as a part of his own pilgrimage. Scottish psychiatrist, R. D. Laing spent some time there in the early 1970s; as did Robert Thurman
Robert Thurman
Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman is an influential and prolific American Buddhist writer and academic who has authored, edited or translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair...
, the Buddhist scholar, who spent six months with his family studying with Lama Govinda as a part of his doctoral dissertation over the summer of 1971. In the mid-seventies Alfred ‘Sunyata’ Sorensen was taken to San Francisco by the Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
society.
The village of Kasar Devi has now become a cult destination, and has a small community of backpackers
Backpacking (travel)
Backpacking is a term that has historically been used to denote a form of low-cost, independent international travel. Terms such as independent travel and/or budget travel are often used...
. Participants of the hippie movement settled there ever since the place gained the reputation of being a Power Centre during the 1960s counter-culture. This reputation is due to the alleged gap in the Van Allen Belt above the ridge, a perception arguably strengthened by the free and easy availability of hemp on the slopes. There is also a Buddhist meditation center on the ridge.