The Arghons are a small community of descendants of immigrants from

Yarkand Yarkant County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous ...

and

Kashmir Kashmir () is the 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 Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

that have intermingled with the local Ladakhi community, residing mainly in

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

and

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in Ja ...

towns of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. They are Sunni Muslims. They first arrived as traders and merchants from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and

in the 17th century and were among the first Muslims to settle in the Buddhist Kingdom. Most were traders but some included religious people. Most central Asian merchants returned home at the end of the caravan season. Those who remained and settled in Ladakh married ladakhis and are now known as Arghons. Today they are merchants although some, a very few, have taken to agriculture. Most of them today speak the

Ladakhi language The Ladakhi language is a Tibetic language spoken in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is the predominant language in the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh. Though a member of the Tibetic family, Ladakhi is not mutually intelligible wi ...

but are also conversant in Turkic and Tibetan. 000-2005-Abst-PDF/T%20&%20T-03-1-001-013-2005-036-Bhasin-V/T%20&%20T-03-1-001-013-2005-036-Bhasin-V- Full-Text.pdf
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{{Turkic peoples Social groups of Pakistan Nomadic groups in Eurasia Central Asian people Social groups of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim communities of India

See also

References

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