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).
PEOPLELadakhis
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.
Nandadevi 
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