Myths about the Hunzakuta people: is there really a tribe of long-livers in the Himalayas

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Life up to 150 years, long youth and complete absence of diseases. A simple peaceful life at the foot of the highest mountain peaks, a meager but healthy, almost vegetarian diet and spiritual harmony. This is how the representatives of a small tribe living in the north of India are described in numerous publications and books. The same information can be found in fairly serious publications devoted to a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition.

Khunza (or Burishi) is a small ethnic group living in the north of Kashmir. Their territory has been the subject of disputes between India and Pakistan since time immemorial. The number of this people is small - only a few tens of thousands of people. The local language, Burushaski, has no written language, and until recently, most of the population here was illiterate. The main religion in these remote areas is Islam. Incredibly beautiful places at the foot of the Himalayas, harsh living conditions - lack of water and wood, rocky soil, large temperature drops and the absence of even minimal benefits of civilization made local residents strong and hardy, but do they really live almost twice as long as Europeans and never get sick? ?

The information about the tribe circulated on the net is surprising and delightful. The main reason for the unique indicators is considered to be the special diet of local residents. First, it is very sparse and includes intermittent fasting during which people eat virtually nothing. Secondly, vegetables and fruits are the basis of the diet. These places are famous for their incredibly tasty apricots, which, when dried, form the basis of food in winter. Thanks to such food, hunzakuts are incredibly hardy - they can make many kilometers of transitions, climb mountains and not get tired at all. They do not know any diseases at all, at 40 they look young, and women continue to give birth to children right up to 60. The average age of life for them is 120 years, and some representatives live up to 160, without suffering from the usual old man's diseases. Moreover, their community is a territory of peace and harmony. No one commits crimes here, so prisons are unnecessary. Living in close communities, people never quarrel, maintain optimism and good spirits in the face of constant hunger and difficult living conditions.

In order to figure out where nutritionists and distributors of vegetarian ideas got this information, you will have to turn to history. It is believed that he was the first to describe these places and people at the beginning of the 20th century. Such a person really existed, though his name was Robert McCarrison. This military physician and nutritionist has spent over 30 years in India studying the dependence of disease on diet. At the end of his life, he even received a knighthood and was appointed Honorary Doctor of the King.

However, in the case of the Hunza people, according to modern researchers, he was let down by the English conceit. Arriving in a remote area, he worked as a surgeon in Gilgit from 1904 to 1911 and, according to him, did not find digestive disorders, stomach ulcers, appendicitis, colitis or cancer in the Hunzakuts. His statistics did not include many other diseases, and he most likely simply did not see the patients themselves due to the huge distances, lack of transport and mistrust of a doctor of a different faith from the invading army. However, it was with his light hand that the myth of a people free from disease, happy in their meager world and living much longer than ordinary people was born.

In 1963, a French medical expedition was sent to investigate the long lifespan of the Hunzakuts in the Himalayas. She conducted a population census, which just showed an average life of 120 years. However, here too lies a deception. The fact is that in a remote and area characterized by total illiteracy, no documentary records of the birth, of course, were kept until recently. And according to the ideas of the hunzakuts, age is definitely not the number of years lived. They have always defined him more on the merits of a person. Those. the respected owner of the family with a biological age of about 50 years was considered an honored centenary sage and had every right to indicate this very age when communicating with Europeans.

The myth of the complete vegetarianism of a small people has also been dispelled by more serious research. They eat meat, and how, only with that poor existence, they rarely manage to do it. Goats, sheep, cows and horses and yaks are bred here. Usually the summer months are really vegetarian for residents, but in the cold winter, the diet is enriched with fatty and protein foods. In the old days, the lack of roads and transport, as well as the most difficult weather conditions led to the fact that researchers saw the world of the Hunza only in the warm season, and hence the myth of their vegetarianism.

The spring months are a very difficult period for peoples living by the fruits of their labor. Food and supplies are running out, so fasting at this time is a necessary measure, and it is hard for people. Numerous diseases occur and mortality rises. In general, those who dream of finding the mysterious and happy land of Shangri-La in the Hunza region will have to disappoint: this is definitely not the right place. Life in the Himalayas is hard, the inhabitants are constantly struggling for existence, and due to the scarcity of food and lack of vitamins, they have enough diseases. Subsequent researchers found a complete set of problems among the mountaineers, some of which, by the way, have already been forgotten by more civilized peoples. The most common diseases are dysentery, ringworm, impetigo, cataracts, eye infections, tuberculosis, scurvy, malaria, ascariasis, caries, goiter, bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, infections, rheumatism, rickets. In these areas, the mortality rate is very high. Eye diseases are progressing due to very wild living conditions. A few decades ago, the main housing in these places was stone houses, which are heated "in black", ie. the smoke just goes out into the hole in the roof. Because of burning and poor lighting, of course, the eyes are the first to suffer.

So, unfortunately, the myth of the happy existence of absolutely healthy people living in beautiful mountain villages turns into a not very attractive picture of difficult daily survival with all the ensuing health consequences. True, the crime rate in those places is really very low, and the nature is uniquely beautiful. Therefore, today the areas between India and Pakistan survive mainly due to tourists who really want to find the lost Shambhala here.