of pashmina goats have been an important part of the Ladakhi economy for hundreds of years
Perhaps the most successful ruler was King Sengge Namgyal (approximately 1590–1620). With the assistance of the Buddhist master Stagsang Raspa he founded many new monasteries, including Basgo, Hemis and Chemrey. He was a follower of the Druk-pa Kagyu-pa order, and also built the nine-storied palace at Leh that remains today. Deldan Namgyal (1620–40) followed; he was a wise and socially adroit ruler. It was during his rule that the Portuguese Jesuit, Antonio de Andrade, travelled to Tsaparang, which gave rise to the decline of the adjacent Guge Kingdom.
When the Mongol hordes took Tibet, the new Ladakhi King Delegs Namgyal retreated to Basgo. He asked Kashmir, then under the great Moghul emperor Shah Jahan, for help. He became a Muslim and the first mosques appeared in Leh (30–50 per cent of the population now follow Islam).
From around 1680 to 1780 there was a great quarrel for power between two branches of family heirs. Rigzin Tsewang Norbu, an emissary of the Dalai Lama, came to Ladakh and resolved matters, with the kings of Zanskar keeping separate power. King Tsestan Namgyal was another wise ruler who played polo and kept the peace. With no heir his brother Tsepal took power, having spent his youthful years in Hemis Gompa, and ruled until 1841. William Moorcroft, the first British subject to explore the land, visited Ladakh from 1820 to 1822. Later the second son of Tsepal took over, but his rule was doomed by the rising power of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh of Lahore, the Dogras of Jammu and the British East India Company.
The Dogra army of Zorawar entered Ladakh from the south, because the Sikhs held Kashmir at the time, but little changed. The Dogras made a brief advance to the north against Muslim Baltistan. In order to cross the rivers, they used ingenious ice and wood bridges constructed by the Dards of the Indus River. King Tsepal’s grandson Jigsmed inherited the throne. Zorawar next set his armies, including Ladakhis, towards Tibet with 6000–7000 men. After his death on the battlefield, peace ensued between Tibet and Ladakh and Jigsmed retired to his palace in Stok.
Under the British, Ladakh remained under Jammu, with monasteries retaining their land and status. The descendants of the royal family continued to live at Stok, but all power resided in Srinagar. In 1947 Ladakh formally became part of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian army retains a strong presence, because of the continuing border disputes with Pakistan and China. Tibet ceased to exercise any sovereign powers after 1959. With political turmoil in Kashmir, Ladakh has gained more independence, with direct air links to Delhi. Tourism has become a major new contributor to the economy.
Trade routes and tourism
Trading caravans have crossed Ladakh for many centuries, only ceasing in the early 1950s (see below). On the east/west route between Tibet and Kashmir pashm – the raw material used in shawls produced in Kashmir from pashmina goats bred in western Tibet – as well as sheep wool were traded. Gold, saffron and textiles were sent to the high lamas of Tibet. Tea was imported from Lhasa via Ladakh – the only source of tea for consumption in the Kashmiri Valley until the early 19th century. Salt, grains and dried fruits were traded too.
The north/south trade route between the Indian Punjab, south of the Himalayas, and the town of Yarkand in Sinkiang, Central Asia, passed through Manali to Leh, much as the modern road does. From Leh it crossed the rugged Khardung La, then went north over the treacherous Karakoram Pass. Luxury goods, like fabrics, carpets, precious stones, jewellery, spices and narcotics, were traded.
These ancient trading routes have all remained closed since just after India’s independence in 1947. To this day, Ladakh’s borders are disputed between India and Pakistan, as is the Aksai Chin region, east of the Pangong Lake area, between India and China. With the building of the airport in Leh and roads into the countryside, Ladakh opened for foreign tourists in the mid-1970s, and numbers have grown rapidly since then. Between 50,000 and 78,000 visitors (Indian and foreign) annually travelled to the region by the end of the first decade of this century, and exceeded 100,000 in 2011. This creates big opportunities for the people of Ladakh, but also poses a danger to the last stronghold of the unique, ancient Tibetan Buddhist culture, that has declined in Tibet itself. Its survival is the responsibility of all visitors into whose hands it is entrusted.
Current population
Some 290,000 people live in Ladakh, a population comparable to a medium-size European city, similar to that of Utrecht in The Netherlands, Bradford in England or Bialystok in Poland. Their ethnic roots are found in the Dards, the Tibetans and some other groups. The Dards are an Indo-Iranian group, but the Tibetans who migrated to the region during the 8th–10th centuries belong to Burmo-Mongolian stock. Other different groups from the south, west and north of Ladakh continually passed through the region over the centuries along old trading routes.
Ladakhi people are predominantly Buddhist, but Muslims (both Shia and Sunni) are an important part of the community too, forming the majority of the population in Kargil District, in the western part of the region. Hindus, Sikhs, Bonpo and Christians are also represented, although not in significant numbers.
Buddhism in Ladakh
The nature of Buddhism in Ladakh is closely enmeshed with the Vajrayana Buddhism of ancient Tibet. It has all the accoutrements that Tantra has brought to Tibetan Buddhism; some of its aspects can be traced far back to the Bon faith of the earliest periods of Tibetan history. Look in any Ladakhi gompa and you will be dazzled by the proliferation of Buddhist artistry and iconography. The sheer number of Buddha figures, bodhisattvas and idols, whether as paintings or statues, is astonishing. Even the most confirmed atheist will surely find something uplifting about Ladakh’s rich and colourful Buddhist heritage.
Mala (Buddhist prayer beads)
Although Buddhism is considered to be a religion, much of its practice is a philosophy for life. Prince Gautama Siddhartha, the earthly Buddha, was born in southern Nepal and first initiated the ideas of Buddhism. The son of a king, his early life was one of luxury and he married the daughter of a neighbouring raja. At the age of 29 he realised that other life existed beyond his palatial confines and, leaving behind his wife and newborn son, he took up the life of an ascetic. He wandered far listening to wise men and Hindu Brahmin priests, but found no solace. After much meditation he found the path to enlightenment around 600BC, choosing to accept that life meant suffering.
The philosophy of Buddhism is based on the four noble truths and the eight noble paths. The four noble truths are the truth of suffering, which occurs through the cycle of rebirth. The second truth is the desire for things that lead to dissatisfaction. Nirvana, or the cessation of desire, is the third truth, and the fourth is the way of the middle path as a solution. The eight ways to attain the path to Nirvana are: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mind and right concentration.
The impermanent nature which is being taught in the ‘Four Noble Truths’ refers to the more subtle aspect of impermanence, which is the transitory nature of existence.
Daily Advice from the Heart Dalai Lama
Principal Buddhist Sects
Across Ladakh each monastery has close associations with the different Tibetan Buddhist schools. The main sects are as follows.
Nyingma-pa
The Nyingma-pa is the oldest Buddhist sect originating in Tibet, known as the Red Hat sect. It developed when the Indian master Santarakshita, and later Padma Sambhava, the Tantric sage, were invited to Tibet to teach Indian Buddhism. The Nyingma-pa postulates that a person can find their own path to enlightenment without the aid of teachers, collective meditations and the reading of scriptures. Padma Sambhava, later known as Guru Rinpoche, is considered to be the founder of Lamaism in Tibet. His consort Yeshe Tsogyal recorded many of the scriptures of her mentor and these were concealed, to be revealed to future masters when appropriate. Today the Nyingma-pa sect is found in Ladakh, Tibet and the Khumbu region of Nepal around Mount Everest.
Kadam-pa
The Kadam-pa developed in the 11th century after a Bon