 Why is it for us mortals? The essence of old beginning somehow always lies wrapped in a legend. Legends, especially about lands. Myth or reality, fact or fiction. Legends refuse to be held hostages to facts in our lives. They remain alive in our collective memories, with each generation inheriting them as part of a legacy and bequeathing them to the next, till the legends become as tangible in our midst as these stones, which are strewn across the landscape of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Stones which carry within their lairs secrets of times gone by, much like the patient stone. It had seen Lake Satisar being drained and Kashmir being born. Many a mighty empire's rise and fall, it had silently observed. It saw King Gonanda, the first, assume power 20 years before the Mahabharata and fight alongside the Kauravas. It saw many other kings come and go. Their lives and antics faithfully recorded by poet Kalhana in his Rajatalangini, the River of Kings. Some left footprints deeper than others, like Emperor Ashoka, who built Srinagar, the city of his dreams, dedicated to Goddess Sri or Lakshmi, ensuring eternal prosperity for the city. Then, as in other parts of India, came Buddhism, bringing with it a new sensibility, grace and beauty, visible till today in the murals of Ajanta and Elora and also at Alchi in Ladakh. These world-renowned paintings adorning the walls at the Choskore at Alchi are one of the few remaining examples of pre-Tibetan Buddhist art in Ladakh today. Artists from Central India had come to make these beautiful images. They, however, were not the only ones who came. Others, too, came to adorn the monasteries and temples being made in the name of Buddha, like the craftsmen of chilling. Legend has it that the ancestors of the present inhabitants of chilling were invited by the then king of Ladakh from Nepal to come and make the sacred metal statues and utensils for prayers required in the monasteries. They chose chilling as their new home. And green, two distinct colors representing two distinct fates, Hinduism and Islam. But in these places of worship in Jammu and Kashmir, for centuries the two had lived, not in acrimony but in perfect harmony, a truth which would color any decision taken by the people or the politicians. Lalde had said, Shiva abides in all that is everywhere. Then why discriminate between Hindu and Muslim? Wisdom lies in knowing thine own self.