The 2023/24 collection for Niche Snowboards was inspired by things lost and frozen in time. Designs feature extinct plants and animals, threatened species of varying types, living fossils and more. This season's Crux features the critically endangered markhor.
The Markhor is the largest wild goat in the world. In India, the sub species is found only in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The species is enlisted in Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Near Threatened under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The threats this critically low population species were facing, ranging from loss of habitats due to encroachment, illegal grazing inside Protected Areas, linear infrastructure development, anthropogenic pressures, lack of awareness, lack of manpower for protection, hunting for bush meat, and lack of stringent enforcement of law.
FOIL STAMP COORDINATES: Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam, India
The Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantric practices. The temple is the center of the Kulachara Tantra Marga and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual festival that celebrates the menstruation of the goddess. Kamakhya is worshiped in non-iconic and un-anthropomorphic form of a stone shaped like a yoni and fed by a perennial stream. Kamakhya is mentioned in the Kalika Purana as the most important goddess of Tantric worship, and is referred to in the text as Mahamaya, the "great goddess of illusion", who takes on many forms depending on her mood.
