Daba (; ) or Danbab () is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

under the administration of Zanda County in the

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

region of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, centred at the Daba village.

Geography

The Daba village is on the bank of the Daba Chu river, a tributary of the

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

. The township of Daba spans both the banks of the Sutlej river, up to the Burang County and the

Manasarovar Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The l ...

region. It stretches to the south until the Indian border. Daba village and township are close to the Indian border. On the Indian side of the border are

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 *Gar ...

and Kumaon regions of India's

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

state. The

Niti Pass Niti Valley is a remote valley located in the northernmost region of Uttarakhand, India at a height of 3, 600 m (11, 811 ft). It is close to the Chinese border and Niti is the last village in the valley before the border with south Tibet. The Niti ...

and the have served as the main historical trade routes. Since 1954, China has disputed the Indian control over the

Barahoti Barahoti (Bara Hoti, Hoti Plain), also called Wu-Je or Wure (), is a sloping plain located in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Chamoli district. It is disputed by China, which also disputes a area surrounding it. The entire disputed area also go ...

region along the border. , the Daba township has two other villages in addition to Daba: * Dongbo Village (, ) * Kyunglung Village (, )

History

In the mid-19th century, Henry Strachey mentioned that Daba Dzong was one of the two dzongs in the

Guge Guge (; ) was an ancient dynastic kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast ...

region of

Ngari Ngari Prefecture () or Ali Prefecture () is a prefecture of China's Tibet Autonomous Region covering Western Tibet, whose traditional name is Ngari Khorsum. Its administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Shiquanhe. History Ngar ...

, the other being

Tsaparang Tsaparang was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Guge in the Garuda Valley, through which the upper Sutlej River flows, in Ngari Prefecture (Western Tibet) near the border of Ladakh. It is 278 km south-southwest of Senggezangbo Town and ...

. The Tibetan governor at Daba was called ''kharpön'', subordinate to the ''garpön'' stationed at

Gartok Gartok (), is made of twin encampment settlements of Gar Günsa and Gar Yarsa (, Wade–Giles: ''Ka-erh-ya-sha'') in the Gar County in the Ngari Prefecture of Tibet. Gar Gunsa served as the winter encampment and Gar Yarsa as the summer encampment ...

. He was also referred to as ''Deba'' or ''Deva'' at other times. British explorer William Moorcroft travelled to Daba in 1812, via the

and then proceeded to

after receiving permission to do so. The surveyor of Garhwal and Kumaon, W. J. Webb, met traders from Daba while surveying the vicinity of the Niti Pass in 1819. He offered to establish a trade mart for Daba traders on the Indian side but was told that it required a permission from the "viceroy of Lhasa". During the Dogra–Tibetan War, Zorawar Singh's forces occupied the Daba Dzong along with all other fortifications in Ngari. They were eventually repulsed by the Tibetan forces and fled to Kumaon. During 17th century,

Fateh Shah Fateh Shah was the Hindu Rajput king of Garhwal, a small kingdom in North India, from 1684 to 1716. Campaigns H. G. Walton states that Fateh Shah led an attack from Dehradun on Saharanpur in 1692. Pundirs and Gurjars were expelled out of Dehra ...

invaded Tibet, where his sword and armour were preserved in the monastery at Daba for a long time. The ruler of Daba refused to pay its taxes to the Fateh Shah so Garhwal again conquered Daba .Some areas of Tibet accepted dominance of Pawar kings of Garhwal.

References

{{reflist

External links

Daba Township
OpenStreetMap, retrieved 29 January 2022. Township-level divisions of Tibet Zanda County Populated places in Ngari Prefecture