Deep in the folds of the mighty Himalayas, a little distance away from the KuluValley and the mighty BeasRiver, exists a small village called Malana. The village consists of about two hundred stone houses, couple of temples, a Council House, Lower Court and a High Court. The people of this village call it the Republic of Malana. I assure you that I have not lost my marbles. Nor this is an imaginary State made up by me a la Sarkhan created by Messers.William Lederer and Eugene Burdick (their book Ugly American is more famous)

I came across this place during my trek in the Kulu and ParbatiValleys in the Himalayas. The trek organized by YHAI has laid out camps for the trekkers to spend the night and one such camp was located near this place. This republic is said to be the oldest democracy in the world. It has its own laws and a caste system rigorously enforced. Entry of outsiders is controlled and their activity inside the village is strictly monitored. The Malanese consider all others as inferior and so outsiders are not even allowed to touch the walls of the temple, let alone enter it. Even the walls of the Courts are considered sacred. Penalty for transgression would entail a fine and or imprisonment. So we were asked to assemble and walk past the village in single file keeping well away from the walls of the buildings under the watchful eyes of the locals. Photography is frowned upon and the only photo I have was clicked clandestinely. It is one of the temples in the village. Dont miss the solar panel installed in the lamp post! Years back, this village had solar power!

A story claims that the citizens of this republic are descendants of Greek soldiers who deserted Alexanders army during his aborted attempt to invade India. This seems slightly far-fetched as this place is too far East from where Alexander tried to enter India. The other thing is, the language spoken by Malanese called Kanashi, does not belong to the Indo-European tree. The theory that they are a tribe of Rajputs seems more plausible. Whatever the origin, they are an extremely closed community. They do not socialize outside the village and inter-community marriage is taboo and is very strictly enforced.. We did not see a single woman during our walk past the village. They are not allowed to see strangers. There are stories doing the circuit that the villagers grow and trade in charas and ganja and that they maintain the isolation to shroud their illegal activities.

Their God called Jamlu Devta is actually Sage Jamdagani, father of Parasurama. There is also a separate temple for Renuka, wife of Jamdagani. Their village is very strategically located on a plateau, with only one approach, that too after crossing the raging Malana Nulla. Then a very steep climb had to be negotiated before one can actually see the village. But the whole place is very picturesque with the nulla in the background, snow-capped peaks all around, water-falls trickilng down - it is really picture postcard scenery.

The air of mystery surrounding the village is tremendous and beyond description. But what I find really incredible is that Malana with own civil and criminal laws still exists! But then in India anything is possible. If a religious community can have their own civil laws though they live amidst other communities following a common law, why not Malana??

Lesotho is a country within a country. It is completely surrounded by South Africa but then it is a sovereign nation but a republic within a republic?!!