The Journey To Mount Kailash

Robert Leach

This is a travelogue - a love story, poetry and song, myths, legends, history and politics. Mount Kailash is the Indian Olympus, where the gods dwell. Two people seek renewal, a new destiny, what Indian people call their dharma. They travel through India from Kerala in the far south towards the holy mountain of Kailash in the Himalayas, through the hills, cities, mangrove swamps and deserts of the subcontinent. They encounter people, festivals, myths and history as they learn about living and performing life. It’s an epic journey, told in a virtuoso variety of poetic forms and styles, reflecting the vividness of Indian poetic traditions. As the pair travel, they gradually discover they are re-performing the ancient shadowy myths of Lord Shiva and the goddess Kali, and in a climactic scene in the erotically-carved temples of Khajuraho, their coupling seems to reawaken poetry itself. The journey draws to its end: the way becomes harder, the path steeper, the air thinner. Is their dharma simply the journey itself, or will its end reveal something more?

What they are saying about The Journey To Mount Kailash

A dazzling fusion of modes and genres.

Poetry, travelogue, diary, love story all unravel for the benefit of the reader like a rich tapestry that charts the encounter with another country; an encounter at once strange and familiar.

Together with the author we are amazed, delighted, sometimes infuriated and bewildered by this encounter and with him we experience both a personal journey and the journey of India from colonial rule to contemporary politics. And the fabric which brings all this together is one seeped in colours, textures and flavours, one that appeals to our body, soul and mind.
Olga Taxidou, Reader in English Literature, University of Edinburgh

I just loved it … it’s whole, it’s complete, it’s brilliantly written.
It’s very accessible, very warm, very vivid.
I love the way it begins – very Byronic … The journey, the quest, is such a marvellous theme. We sink into south India, and it’s so rich and sensuous. I loved the way it used colour and spices.

I thought the different verse forms were very effective – the lyrics, the short snappy quatrains, the ballads for the Europeans, and the lovely myths and legends.
My favourite part of the whole poem is in Delhi, and the diary of the poet – we really live those delightful poets, so well evoked – all swallowed up suddenly and violently in the Mutiny. It’s shattering!

The whole thing is so good, I’m really stunned by it.
Angela Bull, prize-winning children’s author

… a beautiful and compelling piece of writing.
It’s the right blend of poetry and prose, myth and reality, subjectivity and objectivity. The illustrations/photos belong, too.
I love the sensuous detail which only a poet can really provide – the plant and animal life, the people, food.
Tom Bryan, Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow, York University

I particularly admired the ways in which it draws the reader into a very different culture and exploits the tremendous range of literary forms employed, often vituosically.
For someone who knows next to nothing about India, it was informative, humane and, often, immediate: beggars, poverty and yet gods and immanence.
John Topping, Head of Performing Arts, University of Cumbria