Niti Valley is a remote valley located in the northernmost region of

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

, India at a height of 3, 600 m (11, 811 ft). It is close to the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

border and Niti is the last village in the valley before the border with south

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, ...

. The Niti Pass was an ancient trade route between India and Tibet, and it was sealed after the

1962 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 Tibe ...

. Since then, the border has remained sealed. The villages in the valley include Lata, Kaga, Dronagiri, Garpak, Malari, Bampa, Gamshali and Niti. They are mostly inhabited by

Bhotiyas of Uttarakhand Bhotiyas are people of presumed Tibetan heritage that live along the Indo-Tibetan border in the upper reaches of the Great Himalayas, at elevations ranging from to . In Uttarakhand, they inhabit seven river valleys, three in the Garhwal divi ...

of Chamoli district ,namely Marchas, a community of

Mongoloid Mongoloid () is an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. In the past, other terms ...

origin, and Tolcchas, both known as

Rongpa The Bhotiya, also called Rongpa (in Uttarakhand ), are located in the trans-Himalayan region of India. Rongpa communities are some of the oldest and native of the upper belt of the Himalayas, close to the border of Tibet in Garhwal. It was once bel ...

. The language spoken by Marchas is mix of Tibetan and Garhwali , while Tolcchas speak Garhwali Rongpa . Due to adverse weather conditions in the winter, the villages in the valley are only hospitable for about six to eight months. Villagers migrate to lower regions during the winters. Various medicinal plants and herbs grow in the valley that have been mentioned in the ''

Charak Samhita The ''Charaka Samhita'' (, “Compendium of ''Charaka''”) is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the ''Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancien ...

'', an ancient treatise on

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 ...

Shiva Temple

Between the villages of Gamshali and Niti, there is a cave temple dedicated to

Lord Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

known as Timmersain Mahadev.

References

{{coord, 30.778, 79.841, display=title Valleys of Uttarakhand Tourism in Uttarakhand

Shiva Temple

See also

References