Mud (also known as Mudh and Muth) is a small village in the cold desert region of

Spiti Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Located at an altitude of on the left bank of the Pin River, a right bank tributary of the

Spiti River Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

, the village is nestled at the base of the Parbati range that towers almost vertically above. Mud is near the boundary of the

Pin Valley National Park Pin Valley National Park is a National park of India located in the Spiti Valley of Lahaul and Spiti district and Bhaba Valley of Kinnaur district, in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located in far northern India. It is part of Cold D ...

and is a convenient base for treks in the park, and to the neighbouring districts of Kullu and Kinnaur. It is the last village on the Spiti side of the Pin Parbati trek to

Kullu Kullu () is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Valley about north of the airport ...

and the Pin Bhaba trek to

Kinnaur Kinnaur district () is a mountainous district located in the northeast part of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Kinnaur district borders Tibet (China) to the east, the state of Uttarakhand to the south, Shimla district to the southwest, Ku ...

. Mud became famous among geologists in the 1860s when the Moravian geologist

Ferdinand Stoliczka Ferdinand Stoliczka (Czech language, Czech written Stolička, 7 June 1838 – 19 June 1874) was a Moravian palaeontologist who worked in India on paleontology, geology and various aspects of zoology, including ornithology, malacology, and herpe ...

discovered a major geological formation in the Himalayas that he named the ''Muth Succession'', after Mud. This spurred many geologists to do fieldwork in the Pin Valley. The Muth Formation, as it is now known, has a thickness of . Consisting of white

quartz arenite A quartz arenite or quartzarenite is a sandstone composed of greater than 90% detrital quartz. Quartz arenites are the most mature sedimentary rocks possible, and are often referred to as ultra- or super-mature, and are usually cemented by sil ...

, it is resistant to weathering and readily visible.

History

Mudh Tara Up Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7086

Mud was mentioned by

in a paper in the ''Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India'', 1866. Stoliczka was a Moravian paleontologist who joined the Geological Survey of India in 1862. He made Mud the base for his fieldwork on the geology of the

Western Himalayas The Western Himalayas are the western half of the Himalayas, in northwestern India and northern Pakistan. Four of the five tributaries of the Indus River in Punjab ( Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, and Ravi) rise in the Western Himalayas; while the fi ...

and named an important geological rock layer stretching from

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

through

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

in the Western Himalayas, calling it the Mudh (Mud) Series. This remote village at the upper end of the Pin River Valley, surrounded by inhospitable mountains, thus attained prominence. Spurred by Stoliczka's publication, other geologists visited Mud for fieldwork during the remainder of the 19th century. These included C. L. Griesbach (1880s), C. Diener (1890s), and H. H. Hayden (1899). Their research and publications confirmed the prominence of Mud in geology. Hayden renamed the Mudh Series to the Mudh Formation, a name that is still in use today. G. Fuchs wrote: "The pioneering work by Stoliczka, Griesbach, Von Krafft, Dlener, and Hayden has made Spiti famous as a classical geological area of the Himalaya, particularly of the Tethys or Tibetan Zone." After a gap of many decades after Hayden's 1899 visit, in July – September 1978, an Indo-Austrian expedition led by G. Fuchs ( Geological Survey of Austria) and D.K. Bhatt (

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

) did fieldwork on the Mudh Formation in Mud and nearby places. In 1997–98, Erich Draganits, a PhD student at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

did his fieldwork in Mud. Subsequently, Indian geologists Parcha and Pandey from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology,

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, visited in about 2011. These recent studies succeeded in firmly establishing the origins and age of the Mudh Formation.

Geography

Mudh Towering Range Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7095

Mud is located on the left bank of the Pin River, which is a right bank tributary of the

. The village is at the base of the towering Pin Parbati range that separates Spiti from

Kullu district Kullu () is a List of districts in India, district in Himachal Pradesh, India. It borders Shimla district to the south, Mandi district, Mandi and Kangra district, Kangra districts to the west, Kinnaur district, Kinnaur to the east and the Lahau ...

. It is the first inhabited place encountered by travelers coming from

Kullu valley Kullu Valley is a broad open valley in Himachal Pradesh, India, formed by the Beas River between Manali and Larji. This valley is famous for its temples, beauty and its majestic hills covered with pine and deodar forest and sprawling apple or ...

via the Pin Parbati Pass and from

via the Pin Bhaba Pass. The village is at a distance of from Kaza, Spiti. This is the route on NH-505 from Manali. From Tabo, en route on NH-505 from

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

, the distance is . The village covers an area of .

Climate

Spiti is a cold desert region with an annual rainfall of about . The weather is mild from April to October. From May to June, the temperatures range between . During the winter, the temperature may drop to .

Geology

is a high-altitude semi-desert. Over millennia, the

and its tributaries such as the Pin River, have cut deep gorges in the sedimentary strata uplifted during the formation of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. With little rain or snow there is not much weathering of the steep valley sides. As vegetation is sparse, the rock strata in the steep cliffs are easily visible to the geologist, without excavation or drilling. These favourable conditions for observation attracted geologists to the Pin Valley starting with Stoliczka in the 1860s. In the mountain sides near Mud, Stoliczka identified a number of layers or successions, one of which he named as the ''Muth succession''. This was later renamed as the ''Muth System'' by Hayden (1908) and as the ''Muth Formation'' by Srikantia (1981). Other formations, visible near Mud, that occur above and below the Muth Formation are given in the table. The Muth Formation is readily observed in the Farakah Section, north-west of Mud village. It is also very well exposed in

Zanskar Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is the southwestern region of Kargil district in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre of Zanskar is Padum. Zanskar, together with the rest of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kin ...

Lahaul The Lahaul and Spiti district is a high-altitude district in Himachal Pradesh, north India. This entirely mountainous district consists of two geographically distinct as well as formerly separate political-administrative units, called Lahaul ( ...

Garhwal Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom *Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India * Ga ...

and in the Nepal Himalayas. It consists mostly of hard, white or slightly greenish

thick, with an thick layer of dolomite near the top. The white colour and resistance to weathering make it easy to observe. It exhibits

current bedding In geology, cross-bedding, also known as cross-stratification, is layering within a stratum and at an angle to the main bedding plane. The sedimentary structures which result are roughly horizontal units composed of inclined layers. The original ...

ripple marks In geology, ripple marks are sedimentary structures (i.e., bedforms of the lower flow regime) and indicate agitation by water ( current or waves) or directly by wind. Defining ripple cross-laminae and asymmetric ripples * ''Current ripple ...

and burrows. These indicate that it originated from coastal sediments deposited in a wave-dominated

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

system in the

Tethys Sea The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...

. The sedimentary rock was transformed by

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

into quartz during the

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

collision. The quartz arenite rock strata were formed under high temperatures and/or pressures. Hence, body fossils did not survive. Only inchnofossils (i.e. fossil traces such as burrows and tracks), are found. The neighbouring formations, Pin (lower, i.e. older) and Lipak (upper, i.e. younger), have body fossils that are accurately dated. The trace fossils in the Mudh Formation and the dates of the neighbouring formations have been used to approximately date the Mudh Formation to the

Early Devonian The Early Devonian is the first of three Epoch (geology), epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian Series (stratigraphy), series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pr ...

(419 – 393 mya).

Demographics and amenities

Yellow-billed chough Pin Valley Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7201

The population as of the 2011 Census was 213 (females: 113 (53%), males: 100 (47%)), with 45 households. The literacy rate among females is 54% and among males is 81%. The majority of the population are Scheduled Tribes comprising 96.2%, while Scheduled Castes comprise 1.88%. The language spoken in Spiti is Bhoti. Mud is a village in the Sagnam Gram Panchayat. A government primary and middle school caters to children of the village. The village has a branch post office. The nearest full-service sub post office including international speed post is located at Sagnam, a distance of .

Places of interest

Map Mudh Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7077

Mud is a convenient base for visiting the

. Trails from Mud head north and west to the National Park, west to

via the Pin Parbati Pass, and south to

Kinnaur district Kinnaur district () is a mountainous district located in the northeast part of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Kinnaur district borders Tibet (China) to the east, the state of Uttarakhand to the south, Shimla district to the southwest, K ...

via the Pin Bhaba Pass. The Pin Valley is a cold desert with alpine pasture or dry alpine scrub forest. Located at a high altitude with the upper reaches being largely unexplored, the area is home to several endangered species including the

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

. About 20 species of birds and animals are found in the

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

, some of which may be seen in the Pin valley near Mud. These include

Ibex An ibex ( : ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa. T ...

, Chhumurthi horse,

Bharal The bharal (''Pseudois nayaur''), also called the blue sheep, is a Caprinae, caprine native to the high Himalayas. It is the monotypic taxon, only member of the genus ''Pseudois.'' It occurs in Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and in Ch ...

Red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

Marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

Weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

Pika A pika ( , or ) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal native to Asia and North America. With short limbs, a very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative the rabbit, but with short, rounded ears. ...

Snow Cock The snowcocks or snowfowl are a group of Aves, bird species in the genus ''Tetraogallus'' of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are ground-nesting birds that breed in the mountain ranges of southern Eurasia from the Caucasus to the Himalayas ...

Bearded vulture The bearded vulture (''Gypaetus barbatus''), also known as the lammergeier and ossifrage, is a very large bird of prey in the Monotypic taxon, monotypic genus ''Gypaetus''. The bearded vulture is the only known vertebrate whose diet consists of ...

, Chukor,

Golden Eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

, Griffon, Yellow-billed Chough, Raven etc. Mud has two Buddhist nunneries, meditation caves and shelters. These belong to the

Nyingma Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. ...

pa school, the oldest of the four major schools of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

. These are located on the Killung Nala, a small stream that meets the Pin River at Mud. Mud is the last village on the trekking trails to the

and to

. Both routes start along the left bank of the Pin River. After about the trail reaches Chhochhden Camp at the confluence of 3 nallahs. The ruins of Lyungti Khar, a fort built by the Kullu Rajas, is nearby. One trail heads west towards the Pin Parbati Pass (elev. and down the Parbati valley to

Manikaran Manikaran is a town located in the Parvati Valley on river Parvati River (Himachal Pradesh), Parvati, northeast of Bhuntar in the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is at an altitude of 1760 m and is located 4 km from Kasol, about 45 ...

and

. This trek usually takes 5 to 7 days. The other trail continues south from Chhochhden Camp to the Pin Bhaba Pass (elev. and on to Kaphnu in Kinnaur, a total distance of . Kaphnu is from NH 5 which runs along the Satluj River to

. This trek takes 4 to 5 days for the distance. Harish Kapadia reported that local people traveling to Shimla for business or studies would prefer the short trek over the Pir Bhaba Pass to the uncertain road journey via Tabo.

Transport

During the summer, public buses and private vans ply regularly from

Kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

to Mikkim and Mud in the Pin valley. During the winter, buses do not ply to the Pin valley. Then, the approach to Mud is via private vehicle and foot from Attargo bridge off NH-505, a distance of . In early 2022, the

Government of Himachal Pradesh The Government of Himachal Pradesh also known as the State Government of Himachal Pradesh, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It consists of an executive branch, led by th ...

approved construction of a new road connecting the Satluj Valley,

Kinnaur District Kinnaur district () is a mountainous district located in the northeast part of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Kinnaur district borders Tibet (China) to the east, the state of Uttarakhand to the south, Shimla district to the southwest, K ...

to the

Spiti Valley Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

via Mud. The new road will run from Kafnu ( NH-5) in Kinnaur to Mud, connecting to NH-505 near Atargu Bridge on the

Spiti river Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

. The new bypass will reduce the distance from

by . This will open up the

, Mud and the

to tourism.

Accommodation

There are a few home stays in Mud, the oldest being Tara House Home Stay.

Gallery

File:Road Mudh Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7071.jpg, Road from Kaza entering Mud File:Nyingma Monastery Mudh Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7065.jpg, Nyingma monastery, Mud File:Pin Valley Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7092.jpg, View down the Pin valley to Mud File:Right Bank Pin Mudh Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7114.jpg, Right bank of Pin river looking towards Mud, Jun '18 File:Hikers Pin To Mudh Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7183.jpg, Hikers approach Mud on left bank of Pin File:Horses in a field in Mudh, Himachal Pradesh, India.jpg, Chhumurthi horses near Mud File:Yellow Wildflowers Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7097.jpg, Sparse alpine vegetation, Jun '18 File:White Wildflowers Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7109.jpg, Sparse Alpine vegetation, Jun '18 File:Brandts Mtn Finch Pin Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7179.jpg, Brandt's Mountain finch, Jun '18 File:Pea Plants Mudh Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7222.jpg, Field of peas in Mud village, Jun '18 File:Map Passes Trails Kullu Spiti Himachal Jun18 D72 7078.jpg, Trail from Mud to Kullu via the Pin Parbati Pass

References

External links

Lahaul and Spiti District website
* {{Commons category inline, Mud village, Spiti Villages in Lahaul and Spiti district