Murgo
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Murgo, on "Murgo Nala" near Murgo Hotspring, is a small hilly village which lies near 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 of ...
in Nubra district of the
union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...
of
Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
in India, close to Chinese-controlled
Aksai Chin Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet, and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir regio ...
. It is one of the northernmost villages of
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The Murgo Gompa is a large Buddhist monastery at Murgo. Murgo lies on the Darbuk–Shyok–DBO Road (DS-DBO Road) and Sasser Brangsa-Murgo Road (SBM Road) fork of Sasoma–Sasser La-Saser Brangsa-Gapsam-Daulat Beg Oldi Road (SSSG-DBO Road), both of which connect
Leh Leh () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...
to
Daulat Beg Oldi Daulat Beg Oldi (also Oldie, DBO) is a traditional campsite and current military base located in the midst of the Karakoram Range in northern Ladakh, India. It is on the historic trade route between Ladakh and the Tarim Basin, and is the last c ...
. The village is inhabited by a small civilian population of Baltis, who make a living by apricot farming and yak rearing. The temperature plummets as low as -30 C in the winters. The weather deteriorates frequently with strong icy winds lashing much of Murgo. Murgo has very little vegetation or wildlife.
Telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
at Murgo is only available through
INMARSAT Inmarsat is a British communications satellite, satellite telecommunications company, offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals which communicate with groun ...
satellite phone A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio link through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. Therefo ...
s. The
Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the armed forces, military forces of the India, Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Ar ...
have significant presence in the area.


Etymology

The name "Murgo" means "gateway of hell" in
Tibetic languages The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descending from Old Tibetan.Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptive linguistics of the ...
. Record from the 1840s indicates the Turkic name was Murgai and Tibetan name was Murgo-Chumik. (''Chumik'' means spring.) "The gateway of death" meaning for Murgo is attributed because the route between Murgo and
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 Yarkant County, Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. The name 'Karakoram' comes from ...
is through a dangerous desolate barren gorge at a height of 15,000 ft which frequently experiences snowstorms, gales and blizzards which every year caused deaths of thousands of men and animals of ancient caravans on this route.


History

Murgo was a campsite on the difficult caravan route through
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 Yarkant County, Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. The name 'Karakoram' comes from ...
, the last place with sufficient vegetation for fuel and grass. Czech
paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
and biologist
Ferdinand Stoliczka Ferdinand Stoliczka (Czech language, 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 herpe ...
died here in 1874 during an expedition. A memorial was erected for him in the Moravian cemetery at Leh, which still stands today. He was part of Thomas Douglas Forsyth's Lahore to
Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...
expedition.Harish Kapadia, 1999
Across Peaks & Passes in Ladakh, Zanskar & East Karakoram
p 116.
Murgo has the ruins of an ancient breastwork fortification wall (fortification of earthwork piled up to breast height to provide protection to defenders shooting over it from a standing position), which runs along the high hill to the cliff which drops to the river. It was built nearly 400 years ago by the governor of
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 nam ...
against the "invasions of Tibet" (presumably from Turkestan).. Nearly 100 years later,
Sultan Said Khan Sultan Said Khan (Chagatai language, Chagatai and Persian language, Persian: سلطان سعید خان) ruled the Yarkent Khanate from September 1514 to July 1533. He was born in the late 15th century in Moghulistan, and he was a direct descend ...
(r. 1514-1533) of
Yarkent Khanate The Yarkent Khanate, also known as the Yarkand Khanate and the Kashghar Khanate, was a Sunni Muslim Turkic peoples, Turkic state ruled by the Mongols, Mongol descendants of Chagatai Khan. It was founded by Sultan Said Khan in 1514 as a western of ...
demolished it. Remnants can still be seen.


Geography

Murgo has
Depsang Plains The Depsang Plains, a high-altitude gravelly plain in the northwest portion of the disputed Aksai Chin region of Kashmir, divided into Indian and Chinese administered portions by a Line of Actual Control. India controls the western portio ...
in the north, Depsang Bulge (Burtsa Bulge) in the east,
Chang Chenmo River Chang Chenmo River or Changchenmo River is a tributary of the Shyok River, part of the Indus River system. It is at the southern edge of the disputed Aksai Chin region and north of the Pangong Lake basin in Ladakh. The source of Chang Chenmo ...
in the southeast, Sultan Chusku Caravan site in the south, and Sasser Pass in the west. Murgo, at an altitude of 14,600 ft, is barren land in the valley surrounded with black and brown mountains. It has a fresh mineral water spring. "Murgo Nala" confluences with the Burtsa Nala. The Burtsa Nala, after receiving waters of north-to-south flowing Depsang Nala, flows west to join the west-to-east flowing "Murgo Nala" near Murgo and eventually drains into the
Shyok River The Shyok River (sometimes spelled Shayok) is a major tributary of the Indus River that flows through northern Ladakh in India and into Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. Originating from the Central Rimo Glacier in the eastern Karakoram, it runs f ...
further south.Burtsa Nala basin
OpenStreetMap, retrieved 23 June 2021.
Saser Brangsa to Murgo route along the Murgo Nala is the Sasser Brangsa-Murgo Road (SBM Road) fork of Sasoma–Sasser La-Saser Brangsa-Gapsam-Daulat Beg Oldi Road (SSSG-DBO Road). The present route of SBM Road was traditionally the summer route from Saser Brangsa (and beyond from Gapshan, DBO,
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 Yarkant County, Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. The name 'Karakoram' comes from ...
to Yarkand) to Shyok village, which goes over the Shyok River by crossing it near Saser Brangsa, into the Murgo Nala valley to Chongtash Lake & "Chongtash Camp" near the large boulder brought by the glacier, Murgo, Sultan Chusku and Shyok village. The winter route from Saser Brangsa to Shyok village, goes along the Shyok River without crossing it, to Sultan Chusku and Shyok village. These routes, part of the ancient
silk route The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...
, are littered with the ancient skeletal remains of mules and camels as well as the partially decomposed ancient human bodies. The camels were brought here by the Yarkandi invaders. "Murgo Hotspring" has a local Ladakhi legend, that in a war fought here the Ladakhis pushed the
Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
invaders beyond the Depsang La. To wash their blood soaked hands, the Ladakhi warrior pierced the mountain with an arrow, causing the hot water to gush out.Harish Kohl, 2000
Across the Frozen Himalaya: The Epic Winter Ski Traverse from Karakoram to Lipu Lekh
page 75.
Nearby Burtse area has 40 million years old marine
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
s when this area was under the
Tethys Sea The Tethys Ocean ( ; ), also called the Tethys Sea or the Neo-Tethys, was a prehistoric ocean during much of the Mesozoic Era and early-mid Cenozoic Era. It was the predecessor to the modern Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Eurasia ...
, including the fossils of
gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...
s (snail-like mollusks),
bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...
s (shellfish) and
foraminifera Foraminifera ( ; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are unicellular organism, single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class (biology), class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular Ectoplasm (cell bio ...
(mostly microscopic organisms).Geologist finds marine fossils at icy heights in Ladakh
Hindustan Times, 30 aug 2023.


Murgo Gompa

The Murgo Gompa is a sub-monastery of Yarma Gompa of Drukpa Kagyu lineage. The senior to lower hierarchy of gompa administration is the Lopon, Gye-nyen, Geylong, Gye-tsul, and cun-zung.Prem Singh Jina, 2009
Cultural Heritage of Ladakh Himalaya
p 114.


See also

*
Geography of Ladakh Ladakh is an administrative territory of India that has been under its control since 1947. The geographical region of Ladakh union territory is the highest altitude plateau region in India (much of it being over 3,000 m), incorporatin ...
*
Indo-China Border Roads Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...
*
Tourism in Ladakh Tourism is one of the economic contributors to the union territory of Ladakh in Northern India. This union territory is located between the Karakoram mountain range to the north and the Himalayas to the south, and is situated at a height of ...


References

{{Leh district Villages in Nubra tehsil