Langza Village

“Fossil village of India”, Langza is located at an altitude of 14500 feet or 4420 meters. Langza village is divided in two parts, the lower part is known as Langza Yongma. The upper part is known as Langza Gongma.

Langza village is surrounded by green pastures, snow-capped mountains and barren landscapes which make Langza one of the most beautiful villages in the Spiti valley.

Langza : Fossil Village of India

I heard a lot about Langza being the fossil village of India, so I did some research before visiting it. The idea of visiting Langza and to see those fossils with my own eyes, topped me off with so much of excitement.

So from Komic we took a shared taxi to reach Langza at ₹100 each. Upon reaching there we took a Homestay and decided to rest for few hours. During lunch time, I was talking to my host and asking him about the fossils. He told me that there is a trail down the canyon at the entrance of the village which have some black mud, there you can find few fossils. Also on the river bed deep down the valley the bottom of the mountains also has black mud and that’s the best place to find fossils.

Search for Fossils

After taking few pointers from my host regarding the search of fossils. I left my homestay and on reaching mentioned place I did find some black mud and there I decided to go deep down in the valley. There was no fixed path to go there, but I decided to follow a small dry water stream and within 3o mins I was at the bottom of the valley. I stayed there for about 4-5 hours all alone by myself. After searching for hours I found few things was not sure whether they were fossils or not, but they were very much similar to that.

Below are few facts w.r.t fossils:-

• The Himalayas were formed due to a collision between the Indian and Eurasian tectonics plates around 50 million years ago.

• Tethys Sea was there in between the Indian and Eurasian plates.

• Due to the collision both the plates move closer to each other due to which the Tethys sea was closed.

• The fossils found today in Spiti valley were most probably of marine animals of Tethys sea.

NOTE:-

• Locals sell the fossils to tourist and this thing is increasing every year.

• Fossils are getting extinct day by day due to such activities.

• Apart from their archaeological significance, they’re the part of the heritage.

• Taking them back might become a threat to the geological history of our subcontinent.

• So it is advisable not to purchase the fossils from locals.

Lord Buddha Statue

After searching for fossils, I was back at my homestay and it was getting dark at that time. So we decided to visit the Lord Buddha statue the very next morning. Langza village is primarily dominated by the statue of Lord Buddha, overlooking the entire village. One can see the statue from a km away while approaching from Kaza. The villagers believe that the Lord Buddha is looking at the entire village and protected them from all sought of evils.

The Lord Buddha statue was standing at the top and all the houses were below it. The face of the statue is painted with golden color.

I visited the statue early in the morning and did prayers to seek some blessings from Lord Buddha. The surroundings were so peaceful and calm that I wanted to sit there for hours, maybe for the entire day but the time didn’t permit that. I left Langza with some beautiful memories in my heart and with a promise to visit it again.