DISCOVER LADAKH
About Ladakh

GEOGRAPHY
Ladakh is the largest province within the state of Jammu & Kashmir with 2 sub divisions of Kargil and Ladakh dominated by Muslims and Buddhists respectively. It is surrounded and bisected by some of the highest mountain ranges in the world. Running in a generally northwest to southwest direction through Ladakh, the great Himalayan Range separates the Vale of Kashmir from Ladakh. Further east, and running in the same direction, the Zanskar Mountains enclose the Zanskar River Valley. Still further east is the Ladakh range, forming the Indus River Valley, while to the North east the Karakoram Mountains forms the eastern boundary of Nubra Valley.

The height of these ranges prevents rain clouds from crossing into Ladakh and as a result, Ladakh receives only about 2 inches (5cm) of rain per year. The aridity of the area is immediately apparent to the visitor, with long vistas of stark mountains and valleys with only a few oases of green.

The Indus river runs through Ladakh. The 50 kilometer stretch of the Indus River Valley between Spitok gompa (near Leh airport) and Hemis gompa is the heartland of Ladakh where some of the finest gompas in the region are located, as is the town of Leh, the capital of Ladakh. This valley lies at an altitude of about 11,350 feet (3500 metres) and some of the surrounding peaks reach 22,500 feet (7000metres).

PEOPLE
Ladakhis are Tibeto-Mongloid in appearance although Kashmiri Moslem influence can also be seen. Traditionally, the men's dress was a goncha, a long maroon brown gown of heavy wool tied with bright pink sash slightly below the waist although many men now wear western clothes.

Women do not wear western dress as frequently, their goncha is slightly more fitted than the men's version, gathered into small pleats near the waist and worn with a brocade cape or goatskin (fur side turned towards the wearer) on the back. Alternatively, women wear a buckoo, a sleeveless wrap around dress, although this is more typical of the Tibetans than Ladakhis. Their hat called kantop, is a sort of top hat with part of the front cut out. Traditionally women wear their hair in two long braids.

HISTORY
Very little is known for certain prior to the seventh century. It is most likely, that early in its history Ladakh was settled by the Mon and Dard groups of people.

The Mon, a term applied by Tibetan-speaking people to valley-dwellers, are probably the builders of many of the castles found in Ladakh, particularly those found in the Zanskar Valley. The Mon were early Buddhists who derived their religion directly from India, thus, their form of Buddhism does not show Chinese or Tibetan Tantric influences so prevalent in the later monasteries of Ladakh. Today the Mon remain as the musicians in many Ladakhi villages, providing the necessary musical accompaniment to secular occasions such as parties or marriage ceremonies.

The Dards, also agriculturalists like the Mon, similarly arrived in Ladakh sometime before the 7th century and settled primarily in the Dras Valley. Having converted to Islam in the 17th century, little remains of their prior religious practices.

In the 7th and 8th centuries the Tibetanisation of Ladakh began. Still existent chronicles refer to the area of Ladakh as part of Tibet. Ladakh was also influenced by Kashmir. At the time a Buddhist region. Kashmiri artistic influence can still be seen in the wood carvings of the early gompas at Lamayuru and Alchi, and early Kashmiri Buddhist bronze statues are found in several Ladakh monasteries.

At the end of the 9th century, central Tibetan culture began to heavily influence the history culture and religious development of Ladakh. Thus, in order to understand Ladakh's development, it is necessary to first review the events occurring in Tibet.

Beginning in the 7th century and continuing into the 9th century, Tibet became an increasingly important military power in Central Asia. The rulers of Tibet, known as the Yarlung Dynasty, steadily expanded Tibet's borders, being strong enough to place a puppet emperor on the Chinese throne in 768 AD. Only when the Islamic kingdom to Tibets west allied itself with China was Tibet forced to stop its military expansionism. During this period, increasing tension developed between the followers of Buddhism and those of Tibets earlier religious belief, known as Bon or Bon Shamanism.

Ralpacan, a strong king and devout Buddhist, initiated measures to support Buddhism, such as levying taxes to support Buddhist institutions. His assassination in 836 led to his brother, Lang Darma becoming king. Although Lang Darma was anti -Buddhist, Buddhism had already gained a large following in Tibet. Lang Darma was himself assassinated in 842 AD by a Buddhist monk. Buddhism declined as a state sponsored religion concurrently with the decline of a strong central monarchy in Tibet.

With the decline of Tibet's central government, Ladakh became an independent kingdom under local rulers of whom little is known. In the 10th century, a direct descendant of Lang Darma, Lha Chen Palgyi-Gon conquered Ladakh and began the rule known as the Lha Chen Dynasty, Ladakh's first texts on Tibetan Buddhism were produced and Buddhism became the state religion. As Such, it was protected and propagated by the monarchy. In order to better understand and implement Buddhism, Ladakh turned toward Tibet and sent its novice monks to Tibetan monasteries for studies. It was this practice that resulted in the tibetanisation of Ladakhi Buddhism. However, Ladakh has never consolidated both religious and secular powers in one ruler, as Tibet did when it began the rule of the Dalai Lama in the 16th century.

Tsong Kha Pa, a commentator on Buddhism (1357-1419) became the founder of Gelukpa or yellow hat sect of Buddhism in the 14th century. It was his followers who came to Ladakh at the end of the 15th century and established Spituk, the first Gelukpa gompa in Ladakh. Other gompas already established in Ladakh began to follow this new order.

In 1533 AD, new rulers, who became the Namgyal Dynasty, conquered Ladakh. The Namgyal line originated with Chovang Namgyal, a descendant of the Tibetan royal family. The most important of his successors was Singe Namgyal who ruled during a period of relative peace in the 17th century. This ruler engaged in the extensive building and renovation of many of Ladakh's gompas.

Singe Namgyal built Hemis Gompa on behalf of his Tibetan monk protégé, Stagshang Raspa and later in his reign founded both Stakna and Chemre gompas. Leh Palace now undergoing restoration work also constructed by Singe Namgyal. The ubiquitous mani walls found in Ladakh were introduced to the area during the king's reign.

At his death Singe Namgyal's kingdom was divided and the area currently known as Ladakh eventually passed to his grandson Deldan Namgyal (ca 1675-1705). This ruler erected the golden Buddha at Shey, the largest Buddha statue in Ladakh until Thiksey gompa installed a larger one in the 1970s. Today however the Buddha statue recently installed at the Likir Monastery is the largest one in the entire Ladakh.

Deldan Namgyal became involved in alternating wars and alliances with both the Tibetan government and the Moslem kings of Kashmir (Kashmir having previously converted from Buddhism to Islam). In return for Kashmiri assistance against Tibet, Deldan Namgyal promised among other things, to build a mosque in Leh. The king kept his promise and the mosque, at the end of Leh's main street, is still in use.

During, the 18th and early 19th centuries, Ladakh engaged in internal consolidation under a series of weak kings. Tibetan influence produced some innovations: primogeniture was introduced to determine succession to the Ladakhi throne, and younger brothers of the king were sent to monasteries.

In the early 18th Century, the king began appointing village elders to assist in ruling. This practice was probably the basis of the village headman that is still current. Printing presses to produce religious texts were also introduced at this time. All religious texts are still written in Tibetan: further testimony to Tibetan influence in Ladakh.

In the 18th century Sikh rule was established over Jammu and Kashmir. A general in the Jammu Army, Zorawar Singh invaded Ladakh in what became known as the Dogra invasion of 1834. Leh Palace was heavily damaged and the King of Ladakh retreated to his Palace at Stok, where the present rulers of Ladakh still live (the most recent king was coronated in September 1992).

With the coming of the British Raj, Ladakh was placed in the newly created State of Jammu and Kashmir under the supervision of the Maharajah of Kashmir and the Ladakhi King became a vassal of the Maharaja. With Indian independence in August 1947, Ladakh became a part of India. Several transformations have taken place in Ladakh in the last 50 years of India independence. In 1974 foreign tourists were first allowed into Ladakh and this has opened this erstwhile closed community to western influences. The Indian army has played a significant role in the lives of the peace loving Ladakhis who have had to come to terms with their strategic location flanked by China and Pakistan. Today Ladakh has its own Autonomous Hill Council which gives its people a say in its governance and does not have to rely entirely on its state Government or the Central government in New Delhi.

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