Dah (or Dha, Da; ) is a
panchayat village in the
Leh district
Leh district is a district in Indian-administered Ladakh in the 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:T ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
.
It is the most prominent of all the
Brokpa settlements, other than Dah, it has six hamlets: Biama(or phunder) , Baldes, Sannit, Pardos, Lastyang and Dundur It is located east of
Batalik in
Aryan Valley (
Dah Hanu valley) of
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 the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the dis ...
river of Ladakh in the
Khalsi tehsil
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...
.
Geography
Dah village is a frontier part of Ladakh, located on the right bank of the Indus River in Ladakh. It is in on the left side of lower valley of the Dah stream that flows from the Yaldor nullah to drain into the Indus River. The Yaldor nullah gets its water from two mountain streams, one from the north-west (Yaldor West or Gragrio Nullah) and one from the north-east (Yaldor East or Junk Lungnal), which meet in a Y shape at Yaldor village.
Lastyang is a small tributary valley located north of the Indus and northeast of Dha. Baldes is a small pasture valley located on the Baldes stream, across from Lastyang, on the left bank of the Indus River.
Biama (also known as Phunder) is located between Hanu and Dah, at a river junction where the Heniskot stream meets the Danjak. Sannit is a small side valley located north of the Indus and northeast of Dah.
The village and its
hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
are built into the side of a high mountain wall on a slope above the fields. The alleys are used as irrigation canals, with water flowing into the fields on a regular basis. The hamlets are sparsely populated. There are five snowmelt nallah, and a river that serves as a water source. They are located between or near cultivated fields strewn with fruit trees, which are especially concentrated near the stream and water canals. All of the residents of these hamlets have ancestral homes in the Dah village.
Traveling up the Dah stream, there are several summer habitations, which the inhabitants of Dha occupy for a short time or longer depending on their elevation. While descending, the first areas to appear are Dunder, Cilgiadi, and Cumavcings, which has cultivated fields. The valley stretching along the Dah stream to its source is a large area. In ancient times, this area was the Minaro summer pasture Nirda. The Nirda pasture is a lovely location. Brokpa worship a large juniper tree festooned with prayer flags as Chilligi Deuha, a shrine (juniper shrine).
Flora and fauna
Dah village is located on a narrow, extremely green ledge above the otherwise barren Indus River gorge. It has dense vegetation with a wide range of herbs, shrubs, and trees such as shukpa, stagpa, umbu, seva, skyrepa, spenme, kangtakari, askuta, garma, yuled, and kumout. The foliage is dense, and light filters through the grapevine and tree lattice. The houses are dispersed and surrounded by farmland. Apricots, walnuts, willows, and poplars are plenty in the area.
Demographics
The inhabitants of these village are Buddhist Dards known to outsiders as Brokpa, speaking Brokskat language. According to the
2011 census of India, Dah has 103 households. The effective literacy rate (i.e. the literacy rate of population excluding children aged 6 and below) is 58.95%.
See also
*
Geography of Ladakh
*
Tourism in Ladakh
References
External links
* Jitaditya Narzary
Into The Brokpa Country: Dah, Hanu, & Beama Travelling Slacker (blog), 27 October 2018.
* Jitaditya Narzary
Dah Village: The Citadel of Brokpas Travelling Slacker (blog), 14 January 2019.
{{Leh district
Villages in Khalsi tehsil