Shangri-La or Gyanganj or Siddhashrama

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called Lost Horizon, in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery located high in the mountains of Tibet. This novel is the first contact to western world about Shangri-la . The people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. Many  people think that   "Shangri-La" most probably comes from the Tibet  but Some scholars believe that the Shangri-La story owes a literary debt to shambhala  .

Now forget Tibetan Buddhist tradition , shambhala is Sanskrit word and shambhala  is existed in Hindu puranas before Buddhism . The Sanskrit name is taken from the name of a city mentioned in the Hindu Puranas . The mythological relevance of the place originates with a prophecy in Vishnu Purana . according to which Shambhala will be the birthplace of Kalki , the final incarnation of Vishnu, who will usher in a new Age (Satya Yuga).

Shambhala  commonly  known  as Gyanganj or  Siddhashrama in hindu scriptures . Siddhashrama (literally, the hermitage of the siddhas) is referred to in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas. In Valmiki's Ramayana it is said that Viswamitra has his hermitage in Siddhashrama and it was the erstwhile hermitage of Vishnu, when he appeared as the Vamana Avatar. He takes Rama and Lakshmana to Siddhashrama to exterminate the demons who are disturbing his religious sacrifices. In the Narada Purana (Purva,1.25), Siddhashrama is mentioned as the hermitage of sage Suta .

In modern times Shri Gopinath Kaviraj was the first person to actually find the place. He was a great Sanskrit and Tantra scholar and wrote a complete book making the place popular in modern culture. Siddhabhoomi Gyanganj  was published in Bengali and later translated in many languages.

Kaviraj's main source of information was his own guru, Swami Vishudhananda .Vishudhananda is believed to visited this place  many times and  where he mastered Surya Vigyan or solar science. Paul Brunton in his book  A Search in Secret India  wrote that he not only witnessed Vishudhananda create perfumes, but also bring a dead bird back to life.

Note : i can’t give you all information and historical records about this place in one article , So I  decide to write a  series on this subject