Ladakh ()
is a region administered by
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 ...
as a
union territory which constitutes a part of the larger
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 ...
region and has been the subject of dispute between India,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
, and
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 ...
since 1947.
[ (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir, state of India, located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the vicinity of the Karakoram and westernmost Himalayan mountain ranges. From 1947 to 2019, Ladakh was part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947."][ Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has borders with Pakistan and China."] Ladakh is bordered by the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...
to the east, the Indian state of
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
and the Pakistan-administered
Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...
to the west, and the southwest corner of
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
across the
Karakoram Pass
The Karakoram Pass () is a mountain pass between India and China in the Karakoram Range. It is the highest pass on the ancient caravan route between Leh in Ladakh and Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. 'Karakoram' literally means 'Black Gravel' in ...
in the far north. It extends from the
Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...
in the
Karakoram
The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...
range to the north to the main Great
Himalaya
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 planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
s to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of the ...
plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese control since
1962
Events January
* January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
* January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism.
* January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...
.
In the past, Ladakh gained importance from its strategic location at the crossroads of important trade routes,
but as Chinese authorities closed the borders between Tibet Autonomous Region and Ladakh in the 1960s, international trade dwindled. Since 1974, the
Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
has successfully encouraged
tourism in Ladakh
Tourism is one of an economic contributor to the union territory of Ladakh in Northern India. The union territory is sandwiched between the Karakoram mountain range to the north and the Himalayas to the south and is situated at the height ...
. As Ladakh is strategically important, the
Indian military
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by th ...
maintains a strong presence in the region.
The largest town in Ladakh is
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 ...
, followed by
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 ...
, each of which headquarters a district. The
Leh district
Leh district is a district in the union territory of Ladakh, India. With an area of 45,110 ''km'2'', it is the second largest district in the country smaller only to Kutch. It is bounded on the north by Gilgit-Baltistan's Kharmang and Gha ...
contains the
Indus
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
,
Shyok
The Shyok River is a tributary of the Indus River that flows through northern Ladakh and enters Gilgit–Baltistan, spanning some .
The Shyok River originates at the Rimo Glacier, one of the tongues of Siachen Glacier. Its alignment is very ...
and
Nubra
Nubra, also called Dumra, is a historical region of Ladakh, India that is currently administered as a subdivision and a tehsil in the Leh district. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name ...
river valleys. The
Kargil district contains the
Suru,
Dras
Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...
and
Zanskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...
river valleys. The main populated regions are the river valleys, but the mountain slopes also support the pastoral
Changpa
The Changpa or Champa (Changthang: ཆངཔ) are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh, India. A smaller number resides in the western regions of the Tibet Autonomous Region and were partially relocated for ...
nomads. The main religious groups in the region are
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
(mainly
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
) (46%),
Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(mainly
Tibetan Buddhists
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
) (40%), and
Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
(12%) with the remaining 2% made of other religions.
Ladakh is one of the most sparsely populated regions in India. Its culture and history are closely related to that of
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, ...
.
Ladakh was established as a union territory of India on 31 October, 2019, following the passage of the
Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is an act of the parliament of India containing provisions to reconstitute the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Indian-administered union territories (UTs) called Jammu and ...
. Prior to that, it was part of the
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
state. Ladakh is both the
largest
Large means of great size.
Large may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics
* Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers
* Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (or ...
and the
second least populous union territory of India.
Names
The classical name in means the "land of high passes". ''Ladak'' is its pronunciation in several Tibetan dialects. The English spelling ''Ladakh'' is derived from fa, script=latn, ladāx.
[
Quote: Ladakh, the Persian transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags, is warranted by the pronunciation of the word in several Tibetan districts. The terminal ''gs'' has the sound of the guttural ''gh'' or even ''kh'' in various Tibetan dialects. (Volume II, page 93)
]
The region was previously known as
Maryul
Maryul (also called ''Mar-yul'' of ''mNgah-ris''), later the Kingdom of Ladakh, was a west Tibetan kingdom based in modern-day Ladakh and Tibet. The kingdom had its capital at Shey.
The kingdom was founded by Lhachen Palgyigon, during the rul ...
.
Medieval Islamic scholars called Ladakh the Great Tibet (derived from Turko-Arabic ''Ti-bat'', meaning "highland");
Baltistan
Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...
and other trans-Himalayan states in Kashmir's vicinity were referred to as "Little Tibets".
History
Ancient history
![Kushanshas-Hepthalites 565ad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Kushanshas-Hepthalites_565ad.jpg)
Rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh indicate that the area has been inhabited from
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
times.
Ladakh's earliest inhabitants consisted of nomads known as ''Kampa''. Later settlements were established by ''Mons'' from
Kullu
Kullu is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Va ...
and
Brokpas who originated from
Gilgit
Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...
. Around the 1st century, Ladakh was a part of the
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...
.
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the 2nd century. The 7th-century Buddhist traveller
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
describes the region in his accounts. Xuanzang's term of Ladakh is ''Mo-lo-so'', which has been reconstructed by academics as ''*Malasa'', ''*Marāsa'', or ''*Mrāsa'', which is believed to have been the original name of the region.
For much of the first millennium, the western Tibet comprised
Zhangzhung
Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies ...
kingdom(s), which practised the
Bon religion
''Bon'', also spelled Bön () and also known as Yungdrung Bon (, "eternal Bon"), is a Tibetan religious tradition with many similarities to Tibetan Buddhism and also many unique features.Samuel 2012, pp. 220-221. Bon initially developed in ...
. Sandwiched between Kashmir and Zhangzhung, Ladakh is believed to have been alternatively under the control of one or other of these powers. Academics find strong influences of Zhangzhung language and culture in "upper Ladakh" (from the middle section of the Indus valley to the southeast). The penultimate king of Zhangzhung is said to have been from Ladakh.
From around 660 CE, Central Tibet and China started contesting the "four garrisons" of the
Tarim Basin
The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...
(present day
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
), a struggle that lasted three centuries. Zhangzhung fell victim to Tibet's ambitions in and disappeared for ever. India's
Karkota Empire
The Karkota Dynasty (c. 625 − 855 CE) ruled over the Kashmir valley and some northern parts of the Indian subcontinent during 7th and 8th centuries. Their rule saw a period of political expansion, economic prosperity and emergence of Kashmir ...
and the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
too joined the contest for Xinjiang soon afterwards. Baltistan and Ladakh were at the centre of these struggles. Academics infer from the slant of Ladakhi chronicles that Ladakh may have owed its primary allegiance to Tibet during this time, but that it was more political than cultural. Ladakh remained Buddhist and its culture was not yet Tibetan.
Early medieval history
![The Empire of King Nyimagon with three divisions about 975 A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/The_Empire_of_King_Nyimagon_with_three_divisions_about_975_A._D.-_1000_A.D..jpg)
In the 9th century, Tibet's ruler
Langdarma
Darma Udumtsen (), better known by his nickname Langdarma (, "Mature Bull" or "Dharma the Bull") was most likely the last Tibetan Emperor who most likely reigned from 838 to 841 CE. Early sources call him Tri Darma "King Dharma". His domain e ...
was assassinated and Tibet
fragmented.
Kyide Nyimagon
Kyide Nyimagon () (), whose original name was Khri-skyid-lding, was a member of the Yarlung dynasty of Tibet and a descendant of emperor Langdarma. He migrated to Western Tibet and founded the kingdom of Ngari Khorsum ("the three divisions o ...
, Langdarma's great-grandson, fled to West Tibet , and founded a new West Tibetan kingdom at the heart of the old Zhangzhung, now called
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 ...
in the Tibetan language.
Nyimagon's eldest son,
Lhachen Palgyigon
Lhachen Palgyigon () () was the founding king of the Kingdom of Maryul, based in modern Ladakh.
Palgyigon was a son of Kyide Nyimagon, a descendant of the Old Tibetan dynasty, who unified the Western Tibet (Ngari) during the Tibetan Era of Fragm ...
, is believed to have conquered the regions to the north, including Ladakh and
Rutog. After the death of Nyimagon, his kingdom was divided among his three sons, Palgyigon receiving Ladakh, Rutog,
Thok Jalung
Thok Jalung was a Gold mining, goldfield in Tibet that gained international attention upon its discovery by the west."Progress of Modern Discovery", ''Queanbeyan Age'', 13 May 1869, p. 4."Gold-Digging in Thibet", ''Westport Times'', 8 May 1869.
...
and an area referred to as
Demchok Karpo
Demchok (),
KNAB Place Name Databse, retrieved 27 July 2021.
previously called New Demchok,
and called Parigas () by the ...
(a holy mountain near the present day
Demchok village). The second son received
Guge–Purang (called "Ngari Korsum") and the third son received
Zanskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...
and
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 Tibe ...
(to the southwest of Ladakh). This three-way division of Nyimagon's empire was recognised as historic and remembered in the chronicles of all the three regions as a founding narrative.
He gave to each of his sons a separate kingdom, viz., to the eldest ''Dpal-gyi-gon'', ''Maryul'' of ''Mngah-ris'', the inhabitants using black bows; ''ru-thogs'' utogof the east and the Gold-mine of ''Hgog'' ossibly Thok Jalung nearer this way ''Lde-mchog-dkar-po'' emchok Karpo ...
The first West Tibetan dynasty of Maryul founded by Palgyigon lasted five centuries, being weakened towards its end by the conquests of the Mongol/Mughal noble
Mirza Haidar Dughlat
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg (Persian: میرزا محمد حیدر دولت بیگ c. 1499/1500 – 1551) was a Chagatai Turco-Mongol military general, governor of Kashmir, and a historical writer, He was a Turkic speaking Dughlat prince ...
. Throughout this period the region was called "Maryul", possibly from the original proper name ''*Mrasa'' (Xuangzhang's, ''Mo-lo-so''), but in the Tibetan language it was interpreted to mean "lowland" (the lowland of Ngari). Maryul remained staunchly Buddhist during this period, having participated in the second diffusion of Buddhism from India to Tibet via Kashmir and Zanskar.
File:Alchi Rajputs.jpg, Ladakh horsemen, depicted in Alchi Monastery
Alchi Monastery or Alchi Gompa (also Alci) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, known more as a monastic complex (chos-'khor) of temples in Alchi village in the Leh District, under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Ladakh Unio ...
, circa 13th century CE
File:The 9 Stupas.jpg, The nine stupas at Thiksey Monastery
Thikse Gompa or Thikse Monastery (also transliterated from Ladakhi as Tiksey, Thiksey or Thiksay) is a gompa (Tibetan-style monastery) affiliated with the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It is located on top of a hill in Thiksey approximately e ...
File:Likir Buddha.jpg, Statue of Maitreya
Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...
at Likir Monastery
Likir Monastery or Likir Gompa (Klud-kyil) is a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, Northern India. It is located at 3700m elevation, approximately in the west of Leh. It is picturesquely situated on a little hill in the valley, in Likir village nea ...
, Leh district
Leh district is a district in the union territory of Ladakh, India. With an area of 45,110 ''km'2'', it is the second largest district in the country smaller only to Kutch. It is bounded on the north by Gilgit-Baltistan's Kharmang and Gha ...
Medieval history
![Leh Palace and Jama Masjid minarets](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Leh_Palace_and_Jama_Masjid_minarets.jpg)
Between the 1380s and early 1510s, many Islamic missionaries propagated
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and proselytised the Ladakhi people.
Sayyid Ali Hamadani,
Sayyid Muhammad Nur Baksh and
Mir Shamsuddin Iraqi
Mir Shams-ud-Din Muhammad Arāqi (; CE), also known as ''Mir Syed Muhammad Musavi Isfahani'', was an Iranian Sufi Muslim saint. Araqi was part of the order of Twelver Shia Sufis in Jammu and Kashmir who greatly influenced the social fabric ...
were three important Sufi missionaries who propagated Islam to the locals. Mir Sayyid Ali was the first one to make Muslim converts in Ladakh and is often described as the founder of Islam in Ladakh. Several mosques were built in Ladakh during this period, including in Mulbhe,
Padum
Padum (also known as Padam) is a town named after Padmasambhava. It is the only town and the administrative centre in Zanskar, Kargil district of Ladakh, India. It was historically one of the two main capitals of the Zanskar Kingdom, the other ...
and
Shey
Shey is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Leh tehsil, 15 km from Leh towards Hemis.
Shey was founded as the capital of Ladakh (then called Maryul), by the king Lhachen Palgyigon in the 10th century. It w ...
, the capital of Ladakh.
His principal disciple, Sayyid Muhammad Nur Baksh also propagated Islam to Ladakhis and the
Balti people rapidly converted to Islam.
Noorbakshia Islam
Noorbakhshia is a school of Islamic jurisprudence that emphasizes the Muslim Unity. Its very foundations rests on the belief in Allah, Angels, Prophets, Day of Judgement, the Quran and other Islamic Scriptures revealed upon previous Prophets. Whi ...
is named after him and his followers are only found in Baltistan and Ladakh. During his youth,
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
Zain-ul-Abidin
, spouse =
, issue = Haider Shah
, issue-link =
, issue-pipe =
, house = Shah Mir dynasty
, father = Sikandar Shah Miri
, mother =
, birth_date = 25 November 1395
, birth_place = Kashmir, Shah M ...
expelled the mystic
Sheikh Zain Shahwalli for showing disrespect to him. The sheikh then went to Ladakh and proselytised many people to Islam. In 1505, Shamsuddin Iraqi, a noted Shia scholar, visited Kashmir and Baltistan. He helped in spreading Shia Islam in Kashmir and converted the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Baltistan to his school of thought.
![Ladakh Monastery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Ladakh_Monastery.jpg)
It is unclear what happened to Islam after this period and it seems to have received a setback.
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg (Persian: میرزا محمد حیدر دولت بیگ c. 1499/1500 – 1551) was a Chagatai Turco-Mongol military general, governor of Kashmir, and a historical writer, He was a Turkic speaking Dughlat prince w ...
who invaded and briefly conquered Ladakh in 1532, 1545 and 1548, does not record any presence of Islam 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 ...
during his invasion although Shia Islam and Noorbakshia Islam continued to flourish in other regions of Ladakh.
King
Bhagan
Lhachen Bhagan was a Basgo king who united Ladakh in 1460 by overthrowing the king of Leh. He took on the surname Namgyal (meaning victorious) and founded the Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh.
Founding of the Namgyal dynasty
According to the ''Ladakh ...
reunited and strengthened Ladakh and founded the
Namgyal dynasty (''Namgyal'' means "victorious" in several Tibetan languages). The Namgyals repelled most Central Asian raiders and temporarily extended the kingdom as far as Nepal.
During the Balti invasion led by
Raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
Ali Sher Khan Anchan
Ali Sher Khan Anchan ( Balti: علی شیر خان انچن) (also called Ali Rai, Ray Alī, Alī Rai, Raja Sher Ali Mir, Mir Ali, Sher Ali and Ali Zad; 1590–1625) was a famous Balti king. He was a Maqpon dynasty king who unified Baltistan an ...
, many Buddhist temples and artefacts were damaged. Ali Sher Khan took the king and his soldiers as captives. Jamyang Namgyal was later restored to the throne by Ali Sher Khan and given the hand of a Muslim princess in marriage. Her name was Gyal Khatun or Argyal Khatoom. She was to be the first queen and her son was to become the next ruler. Historical accounts differ upon who her father was. Some identify Ali's ally and Raja of
Khaplu
Khaplu (Urdu: ) and ( Balti: ཁཔ་ལུ།), also spelt Khapalu, is a city that serves as the administrative capital of the Ghanche District of Gilgit-Baltistan, in northern Pakistan. Lying east of the city of Skardu, it was the second-lar ...
Yabgo Shey Gilazi as her father, while others identify Ali himself as the father. In the early 17th century efforts were made to restore the destroyed artefacts and ''gonpas'' by
Sengge Namgyal
Sengge Namgyal (''Sen-ge-rnam-rgyal'', c. 1570–1642) was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty King of Ladakh, India from 1616 to his death in 1642. A Buddhist, he was noted for his immense work in building monasteries, palaces and shrines in Ladakh ...
, the son of Jamyang and Gyal. He expanded the kingdom into
Zangskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...
and
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 Tibe ...
. Despite a defeat of Ladakh by the
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, who had already annexed Kashmir and Baltistan, Ladakh retained its independence.
Islam begins to take root in the Leh area in the beginning of the 17th century after the Balti invasion and the marriage of Gyal to Jamyang. A large group of Muslim servants and musicians were sent along with Gyal to Ladakh and private mosques were built where they could pray. The Muslim musicians later settled in Leh. Several hundred Baltis migrated to the kingdom and according to oral tradition many Muslim traders were granted land to settle. Many other Muslims were invited over the following years for various purposes.
In the late 17th century, Ladakh sided with
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
in its dispute with Tibet which, among other reasons, resulted in its invasion by the
Tibetan Central Government. This event is known as the
Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal war
The Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War of 1679–1684 was fought between the Central Tibetan Ganden Phodrang government, with the assistance of Mongol khanates, and the Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh with assistance from the Mughal Empire in Kashmir.
Back ...
of 1679–1684. Kashmiri historians assert that the king converted to Islam in return for the assistance by Mughal Empire after this, however, Ladakhi chronicles do not mention such a thing. The king agreed to pay tribute to the Mughals in return for defending the kingdom. The Mughals, however, withdrew after being paid off by the
5th Dalai Lama
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...
. With the help of reinforcements from
Galdan Boshugtu Khan
Erdeniin Galdan (1644–1697, mn, Галдан Бошигт хаан, , ), known as Galdan Boshugtu Khan (in Mongolian script: ) was a Choros Dzungar- Oirat Khan of the Dzungar Khanate. As fourth son of Erdeni Batur, founder of the Dzungar Kha ...
,
Khan
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
of the
Zungar Empire, the Tibetans attacked again in 1684. The Tibetans were victorious and concluded a treaty with Ladakh then they retreated back to
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...
in December 1684. The Treaty of Tingmosgang in 1684 settled the dispute between Tibet and Ladakh but severely restricted Ladakh's independence.
File:View of the Lakir Monastery.JPG, Likir Monastery
Likir Monastery or Likir Gompa (Klud-kyil) is a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, Northern India. It is located at 3700m elevation, approximately in the west of Leh. It is picturesquely situated on a little hill in the valley, in Likir village nea ...
, Ladakh
File:Phyang Monastery 01.jpg, Phyang Gompa, Ladakh
File:Hemis Monastery Ladakh 1876.jpg, Hemis Monastery
Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan Buddhist monastery (''gompa'') of the Drukpa Kagyu, Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, it was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festiv ...
in the 1870s
Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir
![Kashmir map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Kashmir_map.svg)
In 1834, the
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
Zorawar Singh Zorawar Singh may refer to:
* Zorawar Singh (Dogra general), general of Raja Gulab Singh
* Zorawar Singh (Sikhism), third son of Guru Gobind Singh
* Kanwar Zorawar Singh, Indian Army general
{{Hndis, Singh, Zorawar ...
, a general of
Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, invaded and annexed Ladakh to Jammu under the suzerainty of the
Sikh Empire
The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...
. After the defeat of the Sikhs in the
First Anglo-Sikh War
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of ...
, the state of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
was established as a separate
princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
under British
suzerainty
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
. The Namgyal family was given the ''
jagir
A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...
'' of
Stok, which it nominally retains to this day. European influence began in Ladakh in the 1850s and increased. Geologists, sportsmen, and tourists began exploring Ladakh. In 1885, Leh became the headquarters of a mission of the
Moravian Church
The Moravian Church ( cs, Moravská církev), or the Moravian Brethren, formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohem ...
.
Ladakh was administered as a ''wazarat'' during the Dogra rule, with a governor termed ''wazir-e-wazarat''. It had three tehsils, based at Leh,
Skardu
, nickname =
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan
, pushpin_label_position ...
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 ...
. The headquarters of the ''wazarat'' was at Leh for six months of the year and at
Skardu
, nickname =
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan
, pushpin_label_position ...
for six months. When the legislative assembly called ''Praja Sabha'' was established in 1934, Ladakh was given two nominated seats in the assembly.
Ladakh was claimed as part of Tibet by
Phuntsok Wangyal
Phüntsok Wangyal Goranangpa (2 January 1922 – 30 March 2014), also known as Phüntsog Wangyal, Bapa Phüntsok Wangyal or Phünwang, was a Tibetan politician. A major figure in modern Sino-Tibetan relations, he is best known for being the fou ...
, a Tibetan
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
leader.
Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
At the time of the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
in 1947, the Dogra ruler
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
Hari Singh
Maharaja Sir Hari Singh (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmir.
Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, followi ...
signed the
Instrument of Accession to India. Pakistani raiders from
Gilgit
Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...
had reached Ladakh and military operations were initiated to evict them. The wartime conversion of the pony trail from
Sonamarg
Sonamarg () or Sonmarg (), known as Sonamarag (; ) in Kashmiri, is a hill station located in the Ganderbal District
The Ganderbal district, or more formally District Ganderdal, is a district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, I ...
to
Zoji La
Zoji La (sometimes Zojila Pass) is a high List of mountain passes#India, mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is in the Government of India, Indian Union territory of Ladakh, Kargil district, Kashmir. Located in the Dras, Drass, the pass connec ...
by army engineers permitted tanks to move up and successfully capture the pass. The advance continued.
Dras
Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...
, Kargil and Leh were liberated and Ladakh cleared of the infiltrators.
[Menon, P.M & Proudfoot, C.L., ''The ]Madras Sappers
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, 1947–1980'', 1989, Thomson Press, Faridabad, India.
In 1949, China closed the border between
Nubra
Nubra, also called Dumra, is a historical region of Ladakh, India that is currently administered as a subdivision and a tehsil in the Leh district. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name ...
and
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, blocking old trade routes. In 1955 China began to build roads connecting Xinjiang and Tibet through the
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of the ...
area. The Indian effort to retain control of Aksai Chin led to the
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...
of 1962, which India lost. China also built the
Karakoram highway
The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...
jointly with Pakistan. India built the
Srinagar-Leh Highway
National Highway 1 (NH 1) in India runs between the States and territories of India, union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. It comprises parts of old National Highway 1A (India, old numbering ...
during this period, cutting the journey time between Srinagar and Leh from 16 days to two. The route, however, remains closed during the winter months due to heavy snowfall. Construction of a tunnel across Zoji La pass is under consideration to make the route functional throughout the year.
![Srinagar Leh National Highway No 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Srinagar_Leh_National_Highway_No_1.jpg)
The
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...
of 1999, codenamed "Operation Vijay" by the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
, saw infiltration by Pakistani troops into parts of Western Ladakh, namely Kargil, Dras,
Mushkoh, Batalik and Chorbatla, overlooking key locations on the
Srinagar-Leh highway
National Highway 1 (NH 1) in India runs between the States and territories of India, union territories of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. It comprises parts of old National Highway 1A (India, old numbering ...
. Extensive operations were launched in high altitudes by the Indian Army with considerable artillery and air force support. Pakistani troops were evicted from the Indian side of the
Line of Control
The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...
which the Indian government ordered was to be respected and which was not crossed by Indian troops. The Indian government was criticised by the Indian public because India respected geographical co-ordinates more than India's opponents: Pakistan and China.
[Bammi, Y.M., ''Kargil 1999 – the impregnable conquered.'' (2002) Natraj Publishers, Dehradun.]
The Ladakh region was divided into the Kargil and Leh districts in 1979. In 1989, there were violent riots between Buddhists and Muslims. Following demands for autonomy from the
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
-dominated state government, the
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council was created in the 1990s.
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 ...
districts now each have their own locally elected Hill Councils with some control over local policy and development funds. In 1991, a
Peace Pagoda
A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace. Most, though not all, peace pagodas built since World War II ...
was erected in Leh by
Nipponzan Myohoji.
There was a heavy presence of Indian Army and
Indo-Tibetan Border Police
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a border patrol organization of India deployed along its borders with Tibet Autonomous Region. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the Sino-Indian ...
forces in Ladakh. These forces and
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
forces from China have, since the 1962 Sino-Indian War, had frequent stand-offs along the Ladakh portion of the
Line of Actual Control
The Line of Actual Control (LAC), in the context of the Sino-Indian border dispute, is a notional demarcation lineAnanth KrishnanLine of Actual Control , India-China: the line of actual contest, 13 June 2020: "In contrast, the alignment o ...
. Out of the border in Ladakh, only is the International Border, and the remaining is the Line of Actual Control. The stand-off involving the most troops was in September 2014 in the disputed
Chumar
Chumar or Chumur () is a village and the centre of nomadic grazing region located in south-eastern Ladakh, India. It is in Rupshu block, south of the Tso Moriri lake, on the bank of the Parang River (or ''Pare Chu''), close to Ladakh's border wit ...
region when 800 to 1,000 Indian troops and 1,500 Chinese troops came into close proximity to each other.
Ladakh Division
On 8 February 2019, Ladakh became a separate
Revenue and Administrative Division within Jammu and Kashmir, having previously been part of the
Kashmir Division
The Kashmir division is a revenue and administrative division constituting of the Kashmir Valley of the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It borders Jammu Division to the south and the union territory of Ladakh to the ea ...
. As a division, Ladakh was granted its own
Divisional Commissioner and
Inspector General of Police
An Inspector General of Police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most se ...
.
Leh was initially chosen to be the headquarters of the new division however, following protests, it was announced that Leh and Kargil will jointly serve as the divisional headquarters, each hosting an Additional Divisional Commissioner to assist the Divisional Commissioner and Inspector General of Police who will spend half their time in each town.
Union territory of Ladakh
![J,K and L - Indian Union Territories](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/J%2CK_and_L_-_Indian_Union_Territories.jpg)
The people of Ladakh had been demanding Ladakh to be constituted as a separate territory since 1930s, because of perceived unfair treatment by Kashmir and Ladakh's cultural differences with predominantly Muslim
Kashmir valley
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...
, while some people in Kargil opposed union territory status for Ladakh.
The first organized agitation was launched against Kashmir's "dominance" in the year 1964. In late 1980s, a much larger mass agitation was launched to press their demand for
union territory status.
In August 2019, a
reorganisation act was passed by the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
which contained provisions to reconstitute Ladakh as a union territory, separate from the rest of Jammu and Kashmir on 31 October 2019.
Under the terms of the act, the union territory is administered by a
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
acting on behalf of the Central Government of India and does not have an elected legislative assembly or chief minister. Each district within the union territory continues to elect an
autonomous district council
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India allows for the formation of autonomous administrative divisions which have been given autonomy within their respective states. Most of these autonomous district councils are located in North Ea ...
as done previously.
The demand for Ladakh as separate union territory was first raised by the parliamentarian
Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Kushok Bakula Rinpoche () is nowadays the head of Pethup Gompa in Spituk, Ladakh, India. According to his followers he is an emanation of the Buddha Amitabha and was one of the 16 disciples of Buddha (Naytan Chudrug, or the Sixteen Arhats). The ...
around 1955, which was later carried forward by another parliamentarian
Thupstan Chhewang
Thupstan Chhewang (born 1 September 1947) is an Indian politician who was a member of the 14th and 16th Lok Sabha representing the Ladakh constituency in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Early life
He was born in Shey to Shey Lonpo ...
.
[One year of union territory status: Ladakh brims with hope]
, Times of India, 3 August 2020. The former
Jammu and Kashmir state
Jammu and Kashmir was a region formerly administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019, constituting the southern and southeastern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India, Pakistan an ...
use to obtain large allocation of annual funds from the union government based on the fact that the large geographical area of the Ladakh (comprising 65% of total area), but Ladakh was allocated only 2% of the state budget based on its relative population.
[ Within the first year of the formation of Ladakh as separate union territory, its annual budget allocation has increased 4 times from 57 ]crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
to 232 crore.[
]
Geography
Ladakh is the highest plateau in India with most of it being over . It extends from the Himalayan to the Kunlun
The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the bro ...
Ranges and includes the upper Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
valley.
Historically, the region included the Baltistan
Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...
( Baltiyul) valleys (now mostly in Pakistani administered part of 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 ...
), the entire upper Indus Valley
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...
, the remote Zanskar
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...
, Lahaul and Spiti to the south, much 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 ...
including the Rudok
Rudok, also spelt Rutok and Rutog, more properly Rudok Dzong (), is a town that served as the historical capital of the Rudok area in Western Tibet on the frontier with Ladakh. In the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, it is described as being "pict ...
region and 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 ...
in the east, Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is a region administered by China as part of Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. It is claimed by India to be a part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory. It is a part of the ...
in the northeast, and the Nubra Valley
Nubra, also called Dumra, is a historical region of Ladakh, India that is currently administered as a subdivision and a tehsil in the Leh district. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name ' ...
to the north over Khardong La in the Ladakh Range. Contemporary Ladakh borders 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, ...
to the east, the Lahaul and Spiti regions to the south, the Vale of Kashmir, Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...
and Baltiyul regions to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
across the Karakoram Pass
The Karakoram Pass () is a mountain pass between India and China in the Karakoram Range. It is the highest pass on the ancient caravan route between Leh in Ladakh and Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. 'Karakoram' literally means 'Black Gravel' in ...
in the far north. The historic but imprecise divide between Ladakh and the Tibetan Plateau commences in the north in the intricate maze of ridges east of Rudok
Rudok, also spelt Rutok and Rutog, more properly Rudok Dzong (), is a town that served as the historical capital of the Rudok area in Western Tibet on the frontier with Ladakh. In the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, it is described as being "pict ...
including Aling Kangri and Mavang Kangri, and continues southeastward toward northwestern Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. Before partition, Baltistan
Baltistan ( ur, ; bft, སྦལ་ཏི་སྟཱན, script=Tibt), also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet ( bft, སྦལ་ཏི་ཡུལ་།, script=Tibt), is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilg ...
, now under Pakistani control, was a district in Ladakh. Skardu was the winter capital of Ladakh while Leh was the summer capital.
The mountain ranges in this region were formed over 45 million years by the folding of the Indian Plate
The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began mov ...
into the more stationary Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
. The drift continues, causing frequent earthquakes in the Himalayan region. The peaks in the Ladakh Range are at a medium altitude close to the Zoji-la
Zoji La (sometimes Zojila Pass) is a high mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is in the Indian Union territory of Ladakh, Kargil district, Kashmir. Located in the Drass, the pass connects the Kashmir Valley to its west, with the Drass an ...
() and increase toward southeast, culminating in the twin summits of Nun-Kun
Nun Kun is a mountain massif of the greater Himalayan range, located on the border of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in northern India. It consists of two main peaks: Nun () and Kun (),Figures for Kun's elevation vary between 7,035 m and 7,086 ...
().
The Suru and Zanskar valleys form a great trough enclosed by the Himalayas and the Zanskar Range
Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...
. Rangdum
Rangdum is a village located in the Suru Valley in the union territory of Ladakh in Northern India. On one side are the colourful hills while on the other side are rocky mountains and glaciers, notably Drang-drung.
Rangdum is located midway ...
is the highest inhabited region in the Suru valley, after which the valley rises to at Pensi-la
Pensi-la (Pensi Pass) is a mountain pass in the Ladakh union territory of India, which is known as the Gateway to Zanskar. Pensi La is above sea level and connects the Suru Valley region to the Zanskar Valley region. The summit at this end of ...
, the gateway to Zanskar. Kargil, the only town in the Suru valley, is the second most important town in Ladakh. It was an important staging post on the routes of the trade caravans before 1947, being more or less equidistant, at about 230 kilometres from Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
, Leh, Skardu and Padum
Padum (also known as Padam) is a town named after Padmasambhava. It is the only town and the administrative centre in Zanskar, Kargil district of Ladakh, India. It was historically one of the two main capitals of the Zanskar Kingdom, the other ...
. The Zangskar valley lies in the troughs of the Stod and the Lungnak rivers. The region experiences heavy snowfall; the Pensi-la is open only between June and mid-October. Dras
Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...
and the Mushkoh Valley form the western extremity of Ladakh.
The Indus River is the backbone of Ladakh. Most major historical and current towns – Shey
Shey is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Leh tehsil, 15 km from Leh towards Hemis.
Shey was founded as the capital of Ladakh (then called Maryul), by the king Lhachen Palgyigon in the 10th century. It w ...
, Leh, Basgo
Basgo or Bazgoo, is a village situated on the bank of the Indus river in Leh district, Ladakh, India. It was once an important cultural and political centre and is frequently mentioned in the ''Ladakhi Chronicles''. It is known for its gompas s ...
and Tingmosgang
Tingmosgang is a fortress in Temisgam village, on the bank of the Indus River in Ladakh, in northwestern India. It is 92 km west of Leh, near Khalatse, and north of the present main road. The town has a palace and the monastery over a hil ...
(but not Kargil), are close to the Indus River. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, the stretch of the Indus flowing through Ladakh became the only part of this river, which is greatly venerated in the Hindu religion and culture, that still flows through India.
The Siachen Glacier
The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...
is in the eastern Karakoram Range in the Himalaya Mountains along the disputed India-Pakistan border. The Karakoram Range forms a great watershed that separates China from the Indian subcontinent and is sometimes called the "Third Pole." The glacier lies between the Saltoro Ridge immediately to the west and the main Karakoram Range to the east. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas. It falls from an altitude of above sea level at its source at Indira Col
, other_name = Indira Col West, Main Indira Col
, photo =
, photo_caption =
, elevation_m = 5764
, elevation_ref =
, traversed =
, location = On the border between Chinese-controlled Trans-Karakoram Tract and Indian-controlled Siachen G ...
on the China border down to at its snout. Saser Kangri
Saser Kangri (or Sasir Kangri) is a mountain in India. It is the highest peak in the Saser Muztagh, the easternmost subrange of the Karakoram range. Sasir Kangri is located within Ladakh, the northernmost union territory in India.
Saser Kangr ...
is the highest peak in the Saser Muztagh, the easternmost subrange of the Karakoram Range in India, Saser Kangri I having an altitude of .
The Ladakh Range
The Ladakh Range is a mountain range in central Ladakh in India with its northern tip extending into Baltistan in Pakistan. It lies between the Indus and Shyok river valleys, stretching to 230 miles (370 km). Leh, the capital city of Lad ...
has no major peaks; its average height is a little less than , and few of its passes are less than . The Pangong range __NOTOC__
The Pangong Range is a mountain range in the northern Indian region of Ladakh that runs parallel to the Ladakh Range about 100 km northwest from Chushul, along the southern shore of the Pangong Lake
Pangong Tso or Pangong Lak ...
runs parallel to the Ladakh Range for about northwest from Chushul
Chushul is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Durbuk tehsil, in the area known as "Chushul Valley", south of the Pangong Lake and west of the Spanggur Lake. The Line of Actual Control with China runs about 5 mi ...
along the southern shore of the Pangong Lake
Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake (;
; hi, text=पैंगोंग झील) is an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh and West Tibet situated at an elevation of . It is long and divided into five sublakes, called ''Pangong Tso'', ''Tso ...
. Its highest point is about and the northern slopes are heavily glaciated. The region comprising the valley of the Shayok and Nubra rivers is known as Nubra. The Karakoram Range in Ladakh is not as mighty as in Baltistan. The massifs to the north and east of the Nubra–Siachen line include the Apsarasas Group (highest point at ) the Rimo Muztagh
__NOTOC__
The Rimo Muztagh is one of the most remote subranges of the Karakoram range. The southern part of Rimo Muztagh is in the Ladakh portion of far northwestern India, also claimed by Pakistan. The northern half, including the Rimo massi ...
(highest point at ) and the Teram Kangri
__NOTOC__
The Teram Kangri group is a mountain massif in the remote Siachen Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range. The high point of the group, and of the Siachen Muztagh, is Teram Kangri I. The peak lies on the boundary between disputed ...
Group (highest point at ) together with Mamostong Kangri
Mamostong Kangri or Mamostang Kangri, surveyed as K35, is the highest peak in the remote Rimo Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram range in Ladakh union territory of India. It is located about 30 km east-southeast of the snout of the Siac ...
() and Singhi Kangri (). North of the Karakoram lies the Kunlun. Thus, between Leh and eastern Central Asia there is a triple barrier – the Ladakh Range, Karakoram Range, and Kunlun. Nevertheless, a major trade route was established between Leh and 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 ...
.
Ladakh is a high altitude desert as the Himalayas create a rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
, generally denying entry to monsoon clouds. The main source of water is the winter snowfall on the mountains. Recent flooding in the region (e.g., the 2010 floods
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
) has been attributed to abnormal rain patterns and retreating glaciers, both of which have been found to be linked to global climate change. The Leh Nutrition Project, headed by Chewang Norphel
Chewang Norphel ཚེ་དབང་ནོར་འཕེལ། (born 1935) is an Indian civil engineer from Ladakh, who has built 15 artificial glaciers. He has earned the nickname ''Ice Man''.
Early life and career
Coming from a middle-c ...
, also known as the "Glacier Man", creates artificial glaciers as one solution for retreating glaciers.
The regions on the north flank of the Himalayas – Dras, the Suru valley and Zangskar – experience heavy snowfall and remain cut off from the rest of the region for several months in the year, as the whole region remains cut off by road from the rest of the country. Summers are short, though they are long enough to grow crops. The summer weather is dry and pleasant. Temperature ranges are from in summer and minimums range from in winter.
Zanskar is the main river of the region along with its tributaries. The Zanskar gets frozen during winter and the famous Chadar trek takes place on this magnificent frozen river.
Flora and fauna
Vegetation is extremely sparse in Ladakh except along streambeds and wetlands, on high slopes, and irrigated places. About 1250 plant species, including crops, were reported from Ladakh. The plant '' Ladakiella klimesii'', growing up to above sea level, was first described here and named after this region. The first European to study the wildlife of this region was William Moorcroft in 1820, followed by Ferdinand Stoliczka
Ferdinand Stoliczka (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 herpetology. He died of ...
, an Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
-Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
palaeontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, who carried out a massive expedition there in the 1870s. There are many lakes in Ladakh such as Kyago Tso
Kyagar Tso or Kyagar Lake is a small brackish lake surrounded by mountains situated in the Ladakh region of the northern Indian Union Territory of Ladakh in India. From afar, it can be spotted by its turquoise (color), turquoise colour.
Geography ...
.
The bharal
The bharal (''Pseudois nayaur''), also called the blue sheep, is a caprine native to the high Himalayas. It is the only member of the genus ''Pseudois.'' It occurs in India, Bhutan, China (in Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia), ...
or blue sheep is the most abundant mountain ungulate in the Ladakh region, although it is not found in some parts of Zangskar and Sham areas. The Asiatic ibex
The Siberian ibex (''Capra sibirica''), also known as the Altai ibex, Central Asia(n) ibex, Gobi ibex, Himalayan ibex, Mongolian ibex or Tian Shan ibex, is a species of ibex that lives in central Asia. It has traditionally been treated as a subsp ...
is a mountain goat that is distributed in the western part of Ladakh. It is the second most abundant mountain ungulate in the region with a population of about 6000 individuals. It is adapted to rugged areas where it easily climbs when threatened. The Ladakhi Urial is another unique mountain sheep that inhabits the mountains of Ladakh. The population is declining, however, and there are not more than 3000 individuals left in Ladakh. The urial is endemic to Ladakh, where it is distributed only along two major river valleys: the Indus and Shayok. The animal is often persecuted by farmers whose crops are allegedly damaged by it. Its population declined precipitously in the last century due to indiscriminate shooting by hunters along the Leh-Srinagar highway. The Tibetan argali or Nyan is the largest wild sheep in the world, standing at the shoulder with the horn measuring . It is distributed on the Tibetan plateau and its marginal mountains encompassing a total area of . There is only a small population of about 400 animals in Ladakh. The animal prefers open and rolling terrain as it runs, unlike wild goats that climb into steep cliffs, to escape from predators. The endangered Tibetan antelope
The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...
, known as ''chiru'' in Indian English, or Ladakhi ''tsos'', has traditionally been hunted for its wool (''shahtoosh
Shahtoosh (from Persian شاهتوش 'king of wools'), also known as Shatoush, is a wool obtained from the fur of the chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'', also called Tibetan antelope). Also, shawls made from the wool of the chiru are called shahto ...
'') which is a natural fibre of the finest quality and thus valued for its light weight and warmth and as a status symbol
A status symbol is a visible, external symbol of one's social position, an indicator of economic or social status. Many luxury goods are often considered status symbols. ''Status symbol'' is also a sociological term – as part of social and soci ...
. The wool of chiru must be pulled out by hand, a process done after the animal is killed. The fibre is smuggled into Kashmir and woven into exquisite shawls by Kashmiri workers. Ladakh is also home to the Tibetan gazelle
The goa (''Procapra picticaudata''), also known as the Tibetan gazelle, is a species of antelope that inhabits the Tibetan plateau.
Description
The goa is a relatively small antelope, with slender and graceful bodies. Both males and females sta ...
, which inhabits the vast rangelands in eastern Ladakh bordering Tibet.
The kiang
The kiang (''Equus kiang'') is the largest of the ''Asinus'' subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau, where it inhabits montane and alpine grasslands. Its current range is restricted to the plains of the Tibetan plateau; Ladakh; and north ...
, or Tibetan wild ass, is common in the grasslands of Changthang, numbering about 2,500 individuals. These animals are in conflict with the nomadic people of Changthang who hold the Kiang responsible for pasture degradation. There are about 200 snow leopard
The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...
s in Ladakh of an estimated 7,000 worldwide. The Hemis High Altitude National Park
Hemis National Park is a high-elevation national park in Ladakh, India. Globally famous for its snow leopards, it is believed to have the highest density of them in any protected area in the world. It is the only national park in India that is ...
in central Ladakh is an especially good habitat for this predator as it has abundant prey populations. The Eurasian lynx
The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...
, is another rare cat that preys on smaller herbivores in Ladakh. It is mostly found in Nubra, Changthang and Zangskar. The Pallas's cat
The Pallas's cat (''Otocolobus manul'', also known as the manul, is a small wild cat with long and dense light grey fur. Its rounded ears are set low on the sides of the head. Its head-and-body length ranges from with a long bushy tail. It is ...
, which looks somewhat like a house cat, is very rare in Ladakh and not much is known about the species. The Tibetan wolf
The Himalayan wolf (''Canis lupus chanco'') is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic gray wolf, genetically the same wolf as the ...
, which sometimes preys on the livestock of the Ladakhis, is the most persecuted amongst the predators. There are also a few brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
s in the Suru Valley and the area around Dras. The Tibetan sand fox
The Tibetan fox (''Vulpes ferrilata''), also known as the Tibetan sand fox, is a species of true fox endemic to the high Tibetan Plateau, Ladakh plateau, Nepal, China, Sikkim, and Bhutan, up to elevations of about . It is listed as Least Concer ...
has been discovered in this region. Among smaller animals, marmot
Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...
s, hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
s, and several types of pika
A pika ( or ; archaically spelled pica) is a small, mountain-dwelling mammal found in Asia and North America. With short limbs, very round body, an even coat of fur, and no external tail, they resemble their close relative, the rabbit, but wi ...
and vole
Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-c ...
are common.
Flora
Scant precipitation makes Ladakh a high-altitude desert with extremely scarce vegetation over most of its area. Natural vegetation mainly occurs along water courses and on high altitude areas that receive more snow and cooler summer temperatures. Human settlements, however, are richly vegetated due to irrigation.
Natural vegetation commonly seen along watercourses includes seabuckthorn
''Hippophae'' is the genus of sea buckthorns, deciduous shrubs in the family Elaeagnaceae. The name sea buckthorn may be hyphenated to avoid confusion with the unrelated true buckthorns (''Rhamnus'', family Rhamnaceae). It is also referred to as ...
(''Hippophae'' spp.), wild roses of pink or yellow varieties, tamarisk (''Myricaria'' spp.), caraway
Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
Etymology
The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...
, stinging nettles
''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Ori ...
, mint, ''Physochlaina
''Physochlaina'' is a small genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, found principally in the north-western provinces of China (and regions adjoining these in the Himalaya and Central Asia) ...
praealta'', and various grasses.
Administration
Under the terms of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 is an act of the parliament of India containing provisions to reconstitute the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Indian-administered union territories (UTs) called Jammu and ...
, Ladakh is administered as a union territory without a legislative assembly or elected government. The head of government is a Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
appointed by the President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
who is assisted by civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service
The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...
.
Districts
Ladakh is divided into two districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
:
Autonomous District Councils
Each district of Ladakh is administered by an autonomous district council
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India allows for the formation of autonomous administrative divisions which have been given autonomy within their respective states. Most of these autonomous district councils are located in North Ea ...
, they are:
*Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil (LAHDC Kargil), is an Autonomous District Council that administers the Kargil District of Ladakh, India.
History
In October 1993, the central Government of India and the state Government of ...
*Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh (LAHDC Leh) is an Autonomous regions of India, Autonomous District Council that administers the Leh district of Ladakh, India.
History
The council was created under the Ladakh Autonomous Hi ...
The two autonomous district councils work with village panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...
s to take decisions on economic development, healthcare, education, land use, taxation, and local governance which are further reviewed at the block headquarters in the presence of the chief executive councillor and executive councillors. The government of Jammu and Kashmir looks after law and order, the judicial system, communications and the higher education in the region.
The two autonomous district councils continue to exist following the formation of the union territory of Ladakh on 31 October 2019.
Law enforcement and justice
Ladakh is under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The se ...
. The union territory of Ladakh has its own police force
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
headed by a director general of police
Director general of police (DGP) is a rank in the Indian Police Service, held by the highest ranking police officer in a State or a Union Territory of India, typically heading the state or the UT police force. The DGP is appointed by the cabin ...
.
Ladakh in the Parliament of India
Ladakh sends one member (MP) to the lower house of the Indian parliament
The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...
the Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
. The MP for the Ladakh constituency in the current Lok Sabha is Jamyang Tsering Namgyal
Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (born 4 August 1985) is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament from Ladakh, India's largest parliamentary seat geographically. Namgyal was elected, on 9 November 2018, to be the youngest and 8th Chief Executive Co ...
from the Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
(BJP).
Economy
The land is irrigated by a system of channels which funnel water from the ice and snow of the mountains. The principal crops are barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
and wheat. Rice was previously a luxury in the Ladakhi diet, but, subsidised by the government, has now become a cheap staple.
Naked barley (Ladakhi: ''nas'', Urdu: ''grim'') was traditionally a staple crop all over Ladakh. Growing times vary considerably with altitude. The extreme limit of cultivation is at Korzok
Karzok or Korzok is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located close to Nyoma, in the Rupshu region and block, on the shores of the Tso Moriri lake. It is among the highest towns in the world and the highest settlement in In ...
, on the Tso-moriri lake, at , which has what are widely considered to be the highest fields in the world.
A minority of Ladakhi people were also employed as merchants and caravan traders, facilitating trade in textiles, carpets, dye
A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...
stuffs and narcotics
The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
between Punjab and Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. However, since the Chinese Government closed the borders between Tibet Autonomous Region and Ladakh, this international trade has completely dried up.
Indus river flowing in the Ladakh region is endowed with vast hydropower potential. Solar and wind power potentials are also substantial. Though the region is a remote hilly area without all-weather roads, the area is also rich in limestone deposits to manufacture cement from the locally available cheap electricity for various construction needs.
Since 1974, the Indian Government has encouraged a shift in trekking and other tourist activities from the troubled Kashmir region to the relatively unaffected areas of Ladakh. Although tourism employs only 4% of Ladakh's working population, it now accounts for 50% of the region's GNP
The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...
.
This era is recorded in Arthur Neves ''The Tourist's Guide to Kashmir, Ladakh, and Skardo'', first published in 1911.
Transportation
There are about of roads in Ladakh of which are surfaced. The majority of roads in Ladakh are looked after by the Border Roads Organisation
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring ...
. There are two main roads that connect Ladakh with the rest of the country, NH1 connecting Srinagar to Kargil and Leh, and NH3 connecting Manali to Leh. A third road to Ladakh is the Nimmu–Padam–Darcha road, which is under construction.
There is an airport in Leh, Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport
Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport is a domestic airport serving Leh, the capital of Ladakh, India. It is the 23rd highest commercial airport in the world at above mean sea level. The airport is named after 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, an In ...
, from which there are daily flights to Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and weekly flights to Srinagar and Jammu. There are two airstrips at Daulat Beg Oldie and Fukche
Fukche Advanced Landing Ground is an airfield in the Demchok sector of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It was built shortly before the 1962 Sino-Indian War and was revived in 2008. It is located adjacent to Koyul, 34 km northwest of Demc ...
for military transport. The airport at Kargil, Kargil Airport
Kargil Airport is a military airfield in Kargil district away from Kargil and from Leh. It is one of two airports in the union territory of Ladakh. The airport will be expanded for operation of commercial jets by the end of 2019.
(Dzongkha ...
, was intended for civilian flights but is currently used by the Indian Army. The airport is a political issue for the locals who argue that the airport should serve its original purpose, i.e., should open up for civilian flights. Since past few years the Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
has been operating AN-32 air courier service to transport the locals during the winter seasons to Jammu
Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...
, Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
and Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
. A private aeroplane company Air Mantra
Air Mantra was a regional airline headquartered in New Delhi, India, that operated domestic flights between July 2012 and April 2013.
History
Air Mantra was founded in 2011 by Indian conglomerate Religare Group (which had operated an air cha ...
landed a 17-seater aircraft at the airport, in presence of dignitaries like the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
Omar Abdullah (; born 10 March 1970) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
He became the 11th and the youngest Chief Minister of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, after forming a governme ...
, marking the first ever landing by a civilian airline company at Kargil Airport.
Demographics
The sex ratio for Leh district declined from 1011 females per 1000 males in 1951 to 805 in 2001, while for Kargil district it declined from 970 to 901. The urban sex ratio in both the districts is about 640. The adult sex ratio reflects large numbers of mostly male seasonal and migrant labourers and merchants. About 84% of Ladakh's population lives in villages. The average annual population growth rate from 1981 to 2001 was 2.75% in Leh District and 2.83% in Kargil district.
Religion
The Dras
Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...
and Dha-Hanu
Dah (also known as Dha) and Hanu are two villages of the Brokpa of the Leh District of the Indian union territory of Ladakh. Until 2010, these were the only two villages where tourists were allowed to visit out of a number of Brokpa villages. ...
regions are habitated by Brokpas, who are predominately followers of Islam while small minorities follow Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
and Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
. The region's population is split roughly in half between the districts of 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 ...
. 76.87% population of Kargil is Muslim (mostly Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
), with a total population of 140,802, while that of Leh is 66.40% Buddhist, with a total population of 133,487, as per the 2011 census.
An increasing number of Muslim men and Ladakhi Buddhist women are marrying each other following a decline in the population of Buddhist men in Ladakh, leaving more Buddhist women without a spouse.
Language
The predominant mother-tongue in Leh district is Ladakhi (also called Bauti), a Tibetic language
The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries).Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptiv ...
. Purkhi, sometimes considered a dialect of Balti, is the predominant mother-tongue of Kargil district. Educated Ladakhis usually know Hindi, Urdu and often English. Within Ladakh, there is a range of dialects, so that the language of the Chang-pa people may differ markedly from that of the Purig-pa in Kargil, or the Zangskaris, but they are all mutually comprehensible. Most Ladakhi people (especially the younger generations) speak fluently in English and in Hindi too, due to the languages education at school. Administrative work and education are carried out in English.
Culture
Ladakhi culture is similar to Tibetan culture
Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local i ...
.
Cuisine
Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food, the most prominent foods being ''thukpa
Thukpa (Tibetan: ཐུག་པ ; ne, थुक्पा; IPA: /tʰu(k̚)ˀ˥˥.pə˥˥/ ) is a Nepali and Tibetan noodle soup, which originated in the eastern part of Tibet. ''Amdo thukpa'' (especially ''thenthuk'') is a famous variant among ...
'' (noodle soup) and ''tsampa
Tsampa or Tsamba (; ) is a Tibetan and Himalayan staple foodstuff, particularly prominent in the central part of the region. It is glutinous meal made from roasted flour, usually barley flour and sometimes also wheat flour. It is usually mixed ...
'', known in Ladakhi as ''ngampe'' (roasted barley flour). Edible without cooking, ''tsampa'' makes useful trekking food. Strictly Ladakhi dishes include ''skyu'' and ''chutagi'', both heavy and rich soup pasta dishes, ''skyu'' being made with root vegetables and meat, and ''chutagi'' with leafy greens and vegetables. As Ladakh moves toward a cash-based economy, foods from the plains of India are becoming more common. As in other parts of Central Asia, tea in Ladakh is traditionally made with strong green tea, butter, and salt. It is mixed in a large churn and known as '' gurgur cha'', after the sound it makes when mixed. Sweet tea (''cha ngarmo'') is common now, made in the Indian style with milk and sugar. Most of the surplus barley that is produced is fermented into ''chang'', an alcoholic beverage drunk especially on festive occasions.
Music and dance
The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music
The music of Tibet reflects the cultural heritage of the trans-Himalayan region centered in Tibet, but also known wherever ethnic Tibetan groups are found in Nepal, Bhutan, India and further abroad. The religious music of Tibet reflects the p ...
, often involves religious chanting
A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...
in Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals. ''Yang'' chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables. Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis monastery
Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan Buddhist monastery (''gompa'') of the Drukpa Kagyu, Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, it was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festiv ...
, a leading centre of the Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former. Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms.
Sport
The most popular sport in Ladakh is ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
, which is played only on natural ice generally mid-December through mid-February. Cricket is also very popular.
Archery is a traditional sport in Ladakh, and many villages hold archery festivals, which are as much about traditional dancing, drinking and gambling, as they are about the sport. The sport is conducted with strict etiquette, to the accompaniment of the music of ''surna'' and ''daman'' (shehnai
The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.[Gilgit
Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...]
, and was probably introduced into Ladakh in the mid-17th century by King Singge Namgyal, whose mother was a Balti princess.
Polo, popular among the Baltis, is an annual affair in Drass region of Kargil district.
The Ladakh Marathon
The Ladakh Marathon is a marathon held in Leh, a town in the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh. It claims to be the highest marathon in the world, held at a height of . The seventh edition of the Ladakh Marathon was held in 2018 and its ninth ed ...
is a high-altitude marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
held in Leh every year since 2012. Held at a height of , it is one of the world's highest marathons.
Social status of women
A feature of Ladakhi society that distinguishes it from the rest of the state is the high status and relative emancipation enjoyed by women compared to other rural parts of India. Fraternal polyandry
Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives" ...
and inheritance by primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
were common in Ladakh until the early 1940s when these were made illegal by the government of Jammu and Kashmir. However, the practice remained in existence into the 1990s especially among the elderly and the more isolated rural populations. Another custom is known as ''khang-bu'', or 'little house', in which the elders of a family, as soon as the eldest son has sufficiently matured, retire from participation in affairs, yielding the headship of the family to him and taking only enough of the property for their own sustenance.
Traditional medicine
Tibetan medicine
Traditional Tibetan medicine (), also known as Sowa-Rigpa medicine, is a centuries-old traditional medical system that employs a complex approach to diagnosis, incorporating techniques such as pulse analysis and urinalysis, and utilizes behavior ...
has been the traditional health system of Ladakh for over a thousand years. This school of traditional healing contains elements of Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...
and Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...
, combined with the philosophy and cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
of Tibetan Buddhism. For centuries, the only medical system accessible to the people have been the '' amchi'', traditional doctors following the Tibetan medical tradition. '' Amchi'' medicine remains a component of public health, especially in remote areas.
Programmes by the government, local and international organisations are working to develop and rejuvenate this traditional system of healing. Efforts are underway to preserve the intellectual property rights of ''amchi'' medicine for the people of Ladakh. The government has also been trying to promote the sea buckthorn
''Hippophae'' is the genus of sea buckthorns, deciduous shrubs in the family Elaeagnaceae. The name sea buckthorn may be hyphenated to avoid confusion with the unrelated true buckthorns (''Rhamnus'', family Rhamnaceae). It is also referred to as ...
in the form of juice and jam, as some claim it possess medicinal properties.
The National Research Institute for Sowa-Rigpa in Leh is an institute for research into traditional medicine and a hospital providing traditional treatments.
Education
According to the 2001 census, the overall literacy rate in Leh District is 62% (72% for males and 50% for females), and in Kargil District 58% (74% for males and 41% for females). Traditionally there was little or nothing by way of formal education except in the monasteries. Usually, one son from every family was obliged to master the Tibetan script
The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Brahmic scripts, Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese language, Sikkimese, Ladakhi language, Ladakhi, Jire ...
in order to read the holy books.
The Moravian Mission opened a school in Leh in October 1889, and the ''Wazir-i Wazarat'' (''ex officio'' Joint Commissioner with a British officer) of Baltistan and Ladakh ordered that every family with more than one child should send one of them to school. This order met with great resistance from the local people who feared that the children would be forced to convert to Christianity. The school taught Tibetan, Urdu, English, Geography, Sciences, Nature study, Arithmetic, Geometry and Bible study. It is still in existence today. The first local school to provide western education was opened by a local Society called "Lamdon Social Welfare Society" in 1973. Later, with support from Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
and some international organisations, the school, now known as Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School, has grown to accommodate approximately two thousand pupils in several branches. It prides itself on preserving Ladakhi tradition and culture.
Schools are well distributed throughout Ladakh but 75% of them provide only primary education. 65% of children attend school, but absenteeism of both students and teachers remains high. In both districts the failure rate at school-leaving level ( class X) had for many years been around 85%–95%, while of those managing to scrape through, barely half succeeded in qualifying for college entrance (class XII). Before 1993, students were taught in Urdu until they were 14, after which the medium of instruction shifted to English.
As of January 2022, there were 904 Government run schools in Ladakh and 113 publicly run private schools in Ladakh
In 1994 the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh
The Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh is an Indian non-governmental organisation based in Ladakh, India.
History
The Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) is an organisation founded in 1988 aimed at ...
(SECMOL) launched Operation New Hope (ONH), a campaign to provide "culturally appropriate and locally relevant education" and make government schools more functional and effective.
The University of Ladakh
University of Ladakh (UOL) or Ladakh University, is a public university located in Indian Union territory of Ladakh. It was established on 16 December 2018 by ''The University of Ladakh Act, 2018 (Governor Act No. LVI of 2018)'' of Govern ...
with its two campuses (One each in Kargil & Leh) and its constituent colleges enables students to pursue higher education without having to leave Ladakh. A central University has also been approved to be set up in Ladakh by the Union Cabinet. The Indian Astronomical Observatory
The Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) is a high-altitude astronomy station located in Hanle, India and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics. Situated in the Western Himalayas at an elevation of 4,500 meters (14,764 ft), the ...
is located in Hanle and is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), with its headquarters in Bengaluru,is an autonomous Research Institute wholly financed by the department of Science and Technology, Government of India. IIA conducts research primarily in the areas of ...
.
In December 2019, the union minister of state for home affairs Mr G Kishan Reddy, in a written response has stated in Parliament that the Government of India has approved to establish a Medical College and National Research Institute for Sowa-Rigpa in the district of Leh.
In August 2021, the Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
amended the Central Universities Act to establish a central university in Ladakh named "Sindhu Central University".
Media
The government radio broadcaster All India Radio
All or ALL may refer to:
Language
* All, an indefinite pronoun in English
* All, one of the English determiners
* Allar language (ISO 639-3 code)
* Allative case (abbreviated ALL)
Music
* All (band), an American punk rock band
* ''All'' (All a ...
(AIR) and government television station Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
have stations in Leh that broadcast local content for a few hours a day. Beyond that, Ladakhis produce feature films that are screened in auditoriums and community halls. They are often made on fairly modest budgets. On 14 December 2021, the first FM radio station in Ladakh was established 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 ...
.
There are a handful of private news outlets.
* ''Reach Ladakh Bulletin'', a biweekly newspaper in English, is the only print media published by and for Ladakhis.
* ''Rangyul'' or ''Kargil Number'' is a newspaper published from Kashmir covering Ladakh in English and Urdu.
* ''Ladags Melong'', an initiative of SECMOL, was published from 1992 to 2005 in English and Ladakhi.
* ''Sintic Magazine'', a lifestyle and tourist magazine of Ladakh, was started in 2018 in English.
Some publications that cover Jammu and Kashmir as a whole provide some coverage of Ladakh.
* ''The Daily Excelsior
The ''Daily Excelsior'' is an English-language newspaper published in Jammu, a city in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It was established by S. D. Rohmetra. The newspaper has been in publication since 1 January 1965. Its cu ...
'' claims to be "The largest circulated daily of Jammu and Kashmir".
* ''Epilogue'', a monthly magazine covering Jammu and Kashmir.
* ''Kashmir Times
''Kashmir Times'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kas ...
'', a daily newspaper covering Jammu and Kashmir.
Gallery
File:Pensi La-Stod.JPG, Pensi La
File:Lake-on-shingo-la.jpg, Shingo La
File:Shanti Stupa, Leh, 20180814.jpg, Shanti Stupa, Leh
File:Front of the Thiksey Monastery.jpg, Front of the Thiksey Monastery
File:Likir (224).jpg, Likir Monastery
File:Himalayan Backdrop near Leh.jpg, Trees nestled in front of the Himalayas near Leh
File:Nubra Valley view with Reflection.jpg, Nubra Valley view with reflection
File:Mune wall col.jpg, Carved stone tablets, each with the inscription "Om Mani Padme Hum
' ( sa, ॐ मणि पद्मे हूँ, ) is the six-syllabled Sanskrit mantra particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. It first appeared in the Mahayana ''Kāraṇ ...
" along the paths of Zanskar
See also
* Balti language
Balti (Nastaʿlīq script: , Tibetan script: སྦལ་ཏི།, ) is a Tibetic language natively spoken by the ethnic Balti people in the Baltistan region of Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan, Nubra Valley of the Leh district and in the Karg ...
* Ladakh Buddhist Association
Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) is an organization in Ladakh, India concerned with interests of Buddhists in Ladakh. It was founded in 1933 by King Jigmet Dadul Namgyal, Kalon Tsewang Rigzin, Kalon Bankapa Morup Gyaltsan and Munshi Sonam Tse ...
* Ladakh (Lok Sabha constituency)
Ladakh Lok Sabha seat is the only Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is the largest such constituency in India, in terms of area, with a total area of . The number of electors (voters) in the con ...
* Ladakh Police
Ladakh Police is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the Union territory of Ladakh, India. It came into existence on 31 October 2019.
History
The union territory of Ladakh was formed on 31 October ...
* Ladakh Scouts
The Ladakh Scouts is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, nicknamed the "Snow Warriors" or "Snow Leopards". The regiment specialises in mountain warfare, and its primary role is to guard India's borders in the high altitudes of the Union ...
* Ladakh Union Territory Front
* Emblem of Ladakh
The Emblem of Ladakh is the symbol used to represent the government of Ladakh, a region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent currently administered by India as a union territory. It was adopted following the creation of the union t ...
* Polyandry in Tibet
Polyandry is a marital arrangement in which a woman has several husbands. In Tibet, those husbands are often brothers; "fraternal polyandry". Concern over which children are fathered by which brother falls on the wife alone. She may or may not s ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**
**
*
*
Further reading
* Allan, Nigel J. R. 1995 ''Karakorum Himalaya: Sourcebook for a Protected Area''.
IUCN
* Cunningham, Alexander. 1854. ''Ladak: Physical, Statistical, and Historical; with notices of the surrounding countries''. Reprint: Sagar Publications, New Delhi. 1977.
* Desideri, Ippolito (1932). ''An Account of Tibet: The Travels of Ippolito Desideri 1712–1727''. Ippolito Desideri. Edited by Filippo De Filippi. Introduction by C. Wessels. Reproduced by Rupa & Co, New Delhi. 2005
* Drew, Federic. 1877. ''The Northern Barrier of India: a popular account of the Jammoo and Kashmir Territories with Illustrations.'' 1st edition: Edward Stanford, London. Reprint: Light & Life Publishers, Jammu. 1971.
* Francke, A. H. (1914), 1920, 1926. ''Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Vol. 1: Personal Narrative; Vol. 2: The Chronicles of Ladak and Minor Chronicles, texts and translations, with Notes and Maps''. Reprint: 1972. S. Chand & Co., New Delhi.
Google Books
* Gielen, U. P. 1998. "Gender roles in traditional Tibetan cultures". In L. L. Adler (Ed.), ''International handbook on gender roles'' (pp. 413–437). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
* Gillespie, A. (2007)
Time, Self and the Other: The striving tourist in Ladakh, north India
. In Livia Simao and Jaan Valsiner (eds) ''Otherness in question: Development of the self''. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
* Gillespie, A. (2007)
In the other we trust: Buying souvenirs in Ladakh, north India
. In Ivana Markova
Ivana Marková FBA (born 1938) is a British social psychologist known for her work on language and the constructs of communication.
She was born in Czechoslovakia and studied philosophy and psychology at Charles University in Prague. In 1967 ...
and Alex Gillespie (Eds.), ''Trust and distrust: Sociocultural perspectives''. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
* ''The Road to Lamaland'' by Martin Louis Alan Gompertz
* ''Magic Ladakh'' by Martin Louis Alan Gompertz
* Gordon, T. E. 1876. ''The Roof of the World: Being the Narrative of a Journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian Frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir.'' Edinburgh. Edmonston and Douglas. Reprint: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company. Tapei. 1971.
* Ham, Peter Van. 2015. '' Indian Tibet Tibetan India: The Cultural Legacy of the Western Himalayas''. Niyogi Books
Niyogi Books is an independent publishing house based in New Delhi, India, that focuses on illustrated non-fiction books across art, architecture, travel, history, food, and culture. It was founded in 2004 by Bikash De Niyogi, and started off p ...
. .
* Halkias, Georgios (2009) "Until the Feathers of the Winged Black Raven Turn White: Sources for the Tibet-Bashahr Treaty of 1679–1684", in ''Mountains, Monasteries and Mosques'', ed. John Bray. Supplement to Rivista Orientali, pp. 59–7
Until the Feathers of the Winged Black Raven Turn White: Sources for the Tibet-Bashahr Treaty of 1679–1684
* Halkias, Georgios (2010). ''The Muslim Queens of the Himalayas: Princess Exchange in Ladakh and Baltistan.'' In Islam-Tibet: Interactions along the Musk Routes, eds. Anna Akasoy et al. Ashgate Publications, 231–252
The Muslim Queens of the Himalayas: Princess Exchanges in Baltistan and Ladakh
* Harvey, Andrew. 1983. ''A Journey in Ladakh''. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.
* Pandit, K. N. (1986). ''Ladakh, life & culture.'' Srinagar, Kashmir, India: Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University.
* Knight, E. F. 1893. ''Where Three Empires Meet: A Narrative of Recent Travel in: Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries''. Longmans, Green, and Co., London. Reprint: Ch'eng Wen Publishing Company, Taipei. 1971.
* Knight, William, Henry. 1863. ''Diary of a Pedestrian in Cashmere and Thibet''. Richard Bentley, London. Reprint 1998: Asian Educational Services, New Delhi.
* Moorcroft, William and Trebeck, George
George Trebeck (1800–1825) was born in Middlesex, England in the year 1800. He moved to Calcutta, West Bengal circa 1815 with his father Charles Trebeck and brother of the same name. George Trebeck, who was trained as a solicitor, was recrui ...
. 1841. ''Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara ... from 1819 to 1825'', Vol. II. Reprint: New Delhi, Sagar Publications, 1971.
* Norberg-Hodge, Helena
Helena Norberg-Hodge is founder and director of Local Futures, previously known as the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC). Local Futures is a non-profit organization "dedicated to the revitalization of cultural and biological ...
. 2000. ''Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh''. Rider Books, London.
* Peissel, Michel. 1984. ''The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas''. Harvill Press, London.
* Rizvi, Janet. 1998. ''Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia''. Oxford University Press. 1st edition 1963. 2nd revised edition 1996. 3rd impression 2001. .
* Sen, Sohini. 2015. ''Ladakh: A Photo Travelogue''. Niyogi Books. .
* ''Trekking in Zanskar & Ladakh: Nubra Valley, Tso Moriri & Pangong Lake, Step By step Details of Every Trek: a Most Authentic & Colourful Trekkers' guide with maps 2001–2002''
* Zeisler, Bettina. (2010). "East of the Moon and West of the Sun? Approaches to a Land with Many Names, North of Ancient India and South of Khotan." In: ''The Tibet Journal'', Special issue. Autumn 2009 vol XXXIV n. 3-Summer 2010 vol XXXV n. 2. "The Earth Ox Papers", edited by Roberto Vitali, pp. 371–463.
External links
Government of Ladakh official website
{{Authority control
Ladakh,
States and territories established in 2019
Union territories of India
North India, *
History of the Republic of India
2019 establishments in India
Territorial disputes of Pakistan
Territorial disputes of China
Disputed territories in Asia
States and union territories of India