Kingdom of Ladakh

The Kingdom of Ladakh
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[[]] [[]] Flag of the Kingdom of Ladakh emblem
[[]] map of Ladakh
Capital	Leh
Coordinates	latitude: 39° 08' 43" N longitude: 77° 34' 03" E
Head of State	His Royal Majesty Tenzin Jigme Namgyal
Head of Government
Demonym	Ladakhi
Religions
Official	Bön Buddhism 94%
Other	Krishnaism 4% Sikhism 2%
Languages
Official	Ladakhi 77% Hindi 8% Punjabi 5%
Founding	842
Independence	1842
Area	45,110 km² 17,417 mi²
Population	134,000
Ethnicities	Tibetans 72% Dards 15% Sikhs 8% Hindus 5%
Currency	1 Himalayan Rupee (Rs) = 20 sukaa (s) = 240 paisa (p)
Time zone	UTC +6:00
ISO Code	LD
Telephone Code
Registration
Aviation	LDK
Amateur radio	LDK
Radio prefix	LDK
Organizations	Himalayan Confederacy
Sports
Official
Other

History

Texts in bold print are points of departure.

Rock carvings found in many parts of Ladakh show that the area has been inhabited from Neolithic times. Ladakh's earliest inhabitants consisted of a mixed Indo-Aryan population of Mons and Dards, who find mention in the works of Herodotus, Nearchus, Megasthenes, Pliny, Ptolemy, and the geographical lists of the Puranas. Around the first century, Ladakh was a part of the Kushan Empire. Buddhism spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the second century when much of eastern Ladakh and western Tibet were still practicing the Bön religion. One of the five principal spiritual schools of Tibetan Buddhism, it remains the predominant religion of the kingdom. The seventh century Buddhist traveler Xuanzang also describes the region in his accounts.

In the eighth century, Ladakh was involved in the clash between Tibetan expansion pressing from the east and Chinese influence exerted from Central Asia through the passes. Suzerainty over Ladakh frequently changed hands between China and Tibet.

In 842, upon the dissolution of the Tibetan empire, Nyima-Gon, a Tibetan royal representative, annexed Ladakh for himself and founded a separate Ladakhi dynasty. During this period Ladakh acquired a predominantly Tibetan population. The dynasty promoted the second spreading of Buddhism (the first being the one in Tibet itself), importing religious ideas from northwest India, particularly from Kashmir.

In 912, Nyi-ma-mon, a great-grandson of Langdarma, the last king of the Tibetan Kingdom of Tubo, established a kingdom in Ngari and annexed Purang and Guge. Before dying, he divided his lands into three parts. His eldest son, Dal-gyi-mon, became the ruler of Mar-yul (Ladakh), his second son, Bra-shis-mon, received Guge-Purang, and the third son, Le-tsug-mon, received Zanskar.

Faced with the Islamic intrusions into South Asia in the thirteenth century, Ladakh sought guidance in religious matters from Tibet. For nearly two centuries, until the beginning of the seventeenth century, Ladakh was subject to raids and invasions from neighbouring Muslim states, which led some Ladakhis to convert to Islam who then fled to India.

In 1470, Lhachen Bhagan, the king of Basgo, overthrew the king of Leh, reuniting and strengthening Ladakh. He took the surname Namgyal and founded the Namgyal dynasty which survives to today. The Namgyals repelled raiders from Central Asia and temporarily extended the kingdom as far as Nepal.

In the early seventeenth century efforts were made to restore destroyed artifacts and gompas and the kingdom expanded into Zanskar and Spiti. In 1616, Sengge Namgyal conquered many parts of the Tibetan Plateau to the east. He died in 1642 on his return from an expedition against the Mongols who had occupied the Tibetan province of Tsang and were threatening Ladakh. However, despite a defeat by the Mughals, who had already annexed Kashmir and Baltistan, Ladakh retained its independence.

In the late seventeenth century, Ladakh sided with Bhutan in its dispute with Tibet which resulted in its being invaded by Tibet. During the reign of Delegs Namgyal (1660–1685), the raja of Kashmir, at the time a province in the Mogul Empire, arranged for the Tibetan army to leave Ladakh. As payment for the assistance, the raja made conditions, one of which was to build a large Sunni Muslim mosque in Leh. He also required that the Ladakhi king convert to Islam. The Treaty of Tismogang in 1684 settled the dispute between Tibet and Ladakh, but severely restricted Ladakh's independence, although the king returned to the Bön religion.

In 1839, the Dogras under Zorawar Singh, a general of Ranjit Singh, invaded and annexed Ladakh. In 1842, a Ladakhi rebellion re-established the kingdom's independence and restored the Namgyal king to the throne. During the period of occupation, the deposed king had been given the jagir of Stok. This has remained the personal property of the King of Ladakh.

In 1990, a new constitution was promulgated.

The Yarlung Kings of Ladakh

Name	Relationship	Reign	Died	Notes
Nyima Gon				founds first Ladakh dynasty
1) Palgye Gon	son of Nyima Gon king of Ngari	960-990	990
2) Drogon	son of 1)	990-1020	1020
3) Drakpa De	son of 2)	1020-1050	1050
4) Changchub Sempa	son of 3)	1020-1080	1080
5) Gyalpo	son of 4)	1080-1100	1100
6) Utpala	son of 5)	1110-1140	1140	conquers Kulu, Mustang, and parts of Baltistan
7) Naglug	son of 6)	1140-1170	1170
8) Gebhe	son of 7)	1170-1200	1200
9) Jodor	son of 8)	1200-1230	1230
10) Tashi Gon	son of 9)	1230-1260	1260
11) Kunga Namgyal	son of 10)	1260-1290	1290
12) Jopal	son of 11)	1290-1320	1320
13) Ngodrup	son of 12)	1320-1350	1350
14) Jowo Rinchen	son of 13)	1350-1380	1380
15) Lhachen Sherab	son of 14)	1380-1420	1420
16) Lhachen Tritsug De	son of 15)	1420-1459	1459
17) Lhachen Drakbum De	son of 16)	1420-1460	1460	king of Leh
18) Lhachen Drakpa Bum	son of 16)	1459-1470	1470	king of Rabten Lhatse
19) Lodro Chogden	son of 17)	1460-1500		deposed
20) Lhachen Bhara	son of 17)	1500-1540		king of Rabten Lhatse
21) Lhachen Bhagan	son of 20)	1540-1555
22) Lhachen Lawang Namgyal	son of 21)	1555-1575	1575	deposed
23) Tashi Namgyal	son of 21)	1575-1595	1595	repels Central Asian invaders
24) Tsewang Namgyal I	son of 22)	1595-1616	1616	extends kingdom as far as Nepal
25) Jamyang Namgyal	son of 22)	1616-1623	1623	unsuccessful efforts by Kashmir to convert nation to Islam
26) Senge Namgyal	son of 25)	1623-1624
27) Norbu Namgyal	son of 25)	1624-1642	???
Senge Namgyal	son of 25)	1642-1694	1694	restored; conquers Zanskar and Spiti; defeated by Mughals; defeats Mughals in Baltistan; sides with Bhutan against Tibet; settles dispute with Tibet; independence restricted
28) Deden Namgyal	son of 26)	1694-1729	1729
29) Nyima Namgyal	son of 28)'s son Delek Namgyal	1729-1739	1739
30) Dekyong Namgyal	son of 29)	1739-1753	1753
31) Phuntsok Namgyal	son of 30)	1753-1782	1782
32) Tsewang Namgyal II	son of 31)	1781-1802	1802
33) Tseten Namgyal	son of 32)	1802-1837	1837
34) Tsepal Namgyal	son of 32)	1837		deposed by Jammu
35) Tsewang Rabten Namgyal	son of 34)	1837-1839		co-ruler 1830-1837
Tsepal Namgyal	son of 32)	1842-		to Sikh Kashmir 1839-1842; restored
36) Kunga Namgyal	son of 35)	1842-1877	1877
37) ??? Namgyal	son of 36)	1877-1905	1905
38) ??? Namgyal	son of 37)	1905-1938	1938
39) Jigme Wangchuk Namgyal	son of 38)	1938-1978
40) Tenzin Jigme Namgyal	son of 39)	1978-

Styles

• The ruler of Ladakh has the titles His Majesty Chogyal of Ladakh, King of Basgo and Leh, jagirdar of Stok.
• The wife of the king, the gyalmo, has the style of Her Majesty.
• The heir apparent, the gyalchung, has the style of His Highness.
• The younger sons and daughters of the king have the style of Their Highnesses.

Rule of Succession

Male primogeniture among the legitimate descendants of King Lhachen Bhagan.

Toponymy

The Tibetan name for the region is la-dwags meaning "land of high passes".

Government

Provinces

Province (dzongdey)	Capital	Area	Population	Prefectures (dzongkhag)	Notes
Leh (L)	Leh	45,100 km² 17,413 mi²	117,000	Nubra (LN) Khalsi (LK) Leh (LL) Kharo (LR) Durabk (LD) Nyoma (LM) Diskit (LT)
Kargil (K)	Kargil	14,086 km² 5,439 mi²	119,000	Sarku (KS) Chiktan (KC) Shargole (KG) Taisu (KT) Zanskar (KZ) Drass (KD) Kargil (KK)

Thus, the total area of the kingdom is 59,186 km² (22,852 mi²), somewhat smaller than the American state of West Virginia.

Geography

Borders

Based, as much as possible, on World Map 2001.

Ladakh is bordered by on the:

North: Tibet
East: Tibet
South: Tibet
Southwest: Jammu
West: Jammu, Kashmir

The Kingdom of Ladakh is contiguous with *here's* Ladakh in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, including the Siachen Glacier and the Demchok region. It does not include Aksai Chin.

Climate

• The climate of Ladakh displays great diversity. In the summer there is an average temperature in the range of approximately -3° C to 30° C. *Ladakh experiences extremely cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average temperature in the winter season is somewhere around -20° C to 15° C. The sun's effect is harsher in the winter due to the rarified air.

Demographics

• The original inhabitants of Ladakh were Tibetans who immigrated into the region from the east. They still make up 72% of the population. They brought with them the variety of Buddhism known as Bön. An Indo-European people, known as Dards immigrated from the north. They make up about 15% of the population and have become Bön Buddhists.
• More recent immigrants from the south include Hindus and Sikhs. The Sikhs, 5% of the population, are the remnant of the brief occupation by the Sikh R.S. and are practitioners of the Udasi sect of Sikhism. They live mainly in the northern part of the Province of Kargil, although some live in the capital cities of Kargil and Leh. Most of them work in the business world or are in civil service. Their language Punjabi is one of the official languages of the kingdom.
• The other group of immigrants from the south are the Indians, 8% of the population, who remained behind after the fall of the Moghul Empire. Most of them live in the southern part of the Province of Kargil and work the land. Their language Hindi is one of the official langauges of the kingdom. They are members of the Krishnaite sect of Hinduism.

Culture

• Food
  • Ladakhi culture is similar to Tibetan culture. Ladakhi food has much in common with Tibetan food, the most prominent foods being thukpa (noodle soup) and ngampe (roasted barley flour). Edible without cooking, ngampe makes useful trekking food.
  • A dish that is strictly Ladakhi is sku, a heavy pasta dish with root vegetables.
  • Foods from the plains of India are becoming more common as a result of trade within the Himalayan Confederacy.
  • As in other parts of Central Asia, tea in Ladakh is traditionally made with strong green tea, butter, and salt. It is mixed in a large churn and known as gurgur cha, after the sound it makes when mixed. Sweet tea (cha ngarmo) is common now, made in the Indian style with milk and sugar.
  • Most of the surplus barley that is produced is fermented into chang, an alcoholic beverage drunk especially on festive occasions.

• Architecture
  • The architecture of Ladakh contains Tibetan and Indian influences and monastic architecture reflects a deeply Buddhist approach.
  • The Buddhist wheel, along with two dragons, is a common feature on every gompa, e.g., the gompas of Lamayuru, Likir, Thikse, Hemis, Alchi and Ridzong.
  • Many houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing south and, in the past, were made of rocks, earth and wood, but are now more often concrete frames filled in with stones or adobe.

• Art
  • The music of Ladakhi Buddhist monastic festivals, like Tibetan music, often involves religious chanting in Tibetan or Sanskrit as an integral part of the religion. These chants are complex, often recitations of sacred texts or in celebration of various festivals.
  • Yang chanting, performed without metrical timing, is accompanied by resonant drums and low, sustained syllables.
  • Religious mask dances are an important part of Ladakh's cultural life. Hemis Monastery, a leading centre of the Drukpa tradition of Buddhism, holds an annual masked dance festival, as do all major Ladakhi monasteries. The dances typically narrate a story of the fight between good and evil, ending with the eventual victory of the former.
  • Weaving is an important part of traditional life in eastern Ladakh. Both women and men weave, on different looms. Typical costumes include gonchas of velvet, elaborately embroidered waistcoats and boots and hats.
  • The Ladakh Festival is held every year from September 1 to 15. Performers adorned with gold and silver ornaments and turquoise headgear throng the streets. Monks wear colourful masks and dance to the rhythm of cymbals, flutes and trumpets.
    • The yak, lion and Tashispa dances depict the many legends and fables of Ladakh.
    • Buddhist monasteries sporting prayer flags, displays of thankas, archery competitions, mock marriages and horse polo are some of the highlights of this festival.

• Sports
  • Archery is a traditional sport in Ladakh, and many villages still hold archery festivals, which are as much about traditional dancing, drinking and gambling as about the sport. The sport is conducted with strict etiquette to the accompaniment of the music of surna and daman (shenai and drum).
  • Polo, the other traditional sport of Ladakh is indigenous to Baltistan and Gilgit and was probably introduced into Ladakh in the mid-17th century by King Singge Namgyal, whose mother was a Balti princess.

• Social customs
  • A feature of Ladakhi society that distinguishes it from its Himalayan neighbors is the high status and relative emancipation enjoyed by women. Fraternal polyandry and inheritance by primogeniture were common in Ladakh these were made illegal by King Jigme Wangchuk Namgyal in 1943, although they still exist in some areas.
  • Another custom is known as khang-bu, or 'little house', in which the elders of a family, as soon as the eldest son has sufficiently matured, retire from participation in affairs, yielding the headship of the family to him and taking only enough of the property for their own sustenance.
  • It is the custom in Ladakh, to make presents of ibexes made of flour on the occasion of the birth of a child. There are many pre-Buddhist rock carvings of ibex in Ladakh. The people frequent these places to pray to be blessed with children. The flour ibexes are a thank offering after the birth of a child.

• Medicine
  • Tibetan medicine has been the traditional health system of Ladakh for over a thousand years. This school of traditional healing contains elements of Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, combined with the philosophy and cosmology of Tibetan Buddhism.
  • For centuries, the only medical system which was accessible to the people has been the amchi who are traditional doctors following the Tibetan medical tradition. Amchi medicine is still an important component of public health to this day, especially in remote areas. Efforts are being made to preserve the intellectual property rights of amchi medicine for the people of Ladakh.
  • The royal government has also been trying to promote the seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) in the form of juice and jam, as it is believed to possess many medicinal properties. This would also provide employment to the various self-help groups in rural Ladakh.

• There are many non-governmental organizations actively working to improve the life in Ladakh such as the Ladakh Ecological Development and Environmental Group, the Leh Nutrition Project, and the Women's Alliance. LeDeG has been working actively since 1971 installing hydraulic rams to improve the water supply in the region. It has also been successful in setting up hydropower projects in the otherwise energy-starved region.

National symbols

• National mammal: Markhor (Capra falconeri)
• National bird: Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis]
• National flower: Brahma Kamal (Sausurrea obvallata)
• National tree: Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara)
• National dish: sku (noodle stew, with or without mutton)
• National emblem:
• National aviation roundel:
• National instrument:
• National colors: sky blue and green

Ladakhi public holidays

Date	Name	Notes
28 February 2011; 19 March 2012	Chotrul Düchen	Butter Lamp Festival
5 March 2011; 22 February 2012	Losar	New Year
21 March	The King's Birthday	Father's Day - His Majesty was born in 1950
18 May	Founding of the Kingdom	In 842, Nyima-Gon annexes Ladakh from Tibet and founds a separate Namgyal dynasty
15 June 2011; 4 June 2012	Suga Dawa Düchen	The Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment, and Parinirvana
13 July	The Queen's Birthday	Mother's Day - Her Majesty was born in 1954
14 August 2011; 31 August 2012	Ullambana	Ancestor Day
28 September; 6 October 2012	Dashain	Victory of the Goddess Durga
16 October 2011; 3 November 2012	Diwali	Hindus commemorate the return of Rama from his exile and his vanquishing Ravana; Sikhs celebrate the release from prison of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind
24 October	Independence Day	In 1842, a rebellion against Kashmir re-establishes independence a final time and restores the Namgyal dynasty
8 November	Constitution Day	The constitution was promulgated in 1990
19 December	Coronation Day	His Majesty was crowned in 1978

Flora and fauna

• The fauna of Ladakh has much in common with that of Central Asia in general and that of the Tibetan Plateau in particular. Exceptions to this are the birds, many of which migrate from the warmer parts of India to spend the summer in Ladakh. For such an arid area, Ladakh has a great diversity of birds; a total of 225 species have been recorded. Many species of finches, robins, redstarts (like the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris)) and the Hoopoe (Upupa epops) are common in summer. The Brown-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus) is seen in summer on the river Indus and on some lakes of the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary. Resident water-birds include the Brahminy Duck (Tadorna ferruginea) and the Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus). The Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis), a rare species found scattered in the Tibetan plateau, is also found in parts of Ladakh. Other birds include the Raven, Red-billed Chough (P. pyrrhocorax), Tibetan snowcock (Tetraogallus tibetanus), and Chukar (Alectoris chukar). The lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus) and the Golden Eagle are common raptors here.
• The bharal (Pseudois nayaur) or blue sheep, na, is the most abundant mountain ungulate in the Ladakh region. However it is not found in some parts of the Zanskar and Sham areas.
• The Asiatic ibex (Capra sibirica) is a very elegant mountain goat that is distributed in the western part of Ladakh. It is the second most abundant mountain ungulate in the region with a population of about 6,000 individuals. It is adapted to rugged areas where it easily climbs when threatened.
• The Ladakhi urial (Ovis orientalis vignei) is another unique mountain sheep that inhabits the mountains of Ladakh. The population is declining, however, and presently there are not more 3,000 individuals left in Ladakh. The urial is endemic to Ladakh, where it is distributed only along two major river valleys, the Indus and the Shyok. The animal is often persecuted by farmers whose crops are allegedly damaged by it. Its population has declined precipitously in the last century due to indiscriminate shooting by hunters along the Leh-Srinagar highway.
• The Tibetan argali (Ovis ammon) or nyan is the largest wild sheep in the world, standing 3.5 to 4 feet at the shoulder with the horn measuring 90–100 cm. It is distributed on the Tibetan plateau and its marginal mountains encompassing a total area of 2.5 million sq. km. There is only a small population of about 400 of these magnificent animals in Ladakh. The animal prefers open and rolling terrain as it runs, unlike wild goats that climb into steep cliffs, to escape from predators.
• The endangered Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), the chiru or, in Ladakhi, tsos, has traditionally been hunted for its wool which is a natural fiber of the finest quality and thus valued for its light weight and warmth and as a status symbol. The wool is woven into shawls known by the Persian word (shahtush). The wool of the chiru must be pulled out by hand, a process done after the animal is killed. It is illegal to hunt or kill the chiru in the Kingdom of Ladakh.
• Ladakh is also home to the Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata), or goa, which inhabits the vast rangelands in eastern Ladakh bordering Tibet.
• The kiang (Equus kiang kiang), or Tibetan wild ass, is common in the grasslands of Changthang, numbering about 2,500 individuals. These animals are in conflict with the nomadic people of Changthang who hold the Kiang responsible for pasture degradation.
• There are about 200 snow leopards (U. uncia uncioides) in Ladakh out of an estimated 7,000 worldwide. The Hemis National Park in central Ladakh is an especially good habitat for this predator as there are abundant prey species.
• The Eurasian lynx (L. lynx) is another rare cat that preys on smaller herbivores in Ladakh. It is mostly found in the Nubra, Changthang and Zanskar.
• The Pallas's cat (Otocolobus manul nigripecta), which looks somewhat like a house cat, is very rare in Ladakh and not much is known about the species.
• The Tibetan Wolf (Canis lupus chanco), or chángú, which sometimes preys on the livestock of the Ladakhis, is the most persecuted of the predators.
• There are also a few brown bears in the Suru Valley and the area around Dras. The Tibetan Sand Fox (Vulpes ferrilata) has recently been discovered in this region.
• Among smaller animals, Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana), hares, and several types of pika and vole are common.
• Scant precipitation, hot dry summers and cold winters make Ladakh a high-altitude desert with extremely scarce vegetation over most of its area. Natural vegetation mainly occurs along water courses and on high altitude areas that receive more snow and cooler summer temperatures. Human settlements, however, are richly vegetated due to irrigation.
• Natural vegetation commonly seen along water courses includes seabuckthorn (Hippophae spp.), wild roses of pink or yellow varieties, tamarisk (Tamarix spp.), caraway, stinging nettles, mint, and various grasses.
• Natural vegetation in non-irrigated desert around Leh includes capers (Capparis spinosa), Nepeta floccosa, globe thistle (Echinops cornigerus), ma huang (Ephedra gerardiana), rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum), Tanacetum spp., harmal (Peganum harmala), and several other succulents. Juniper trees (Juniperus recurva) grow wild in some locations and are considered sacred by Buddhists.
• Human settlements are marked by lush fields and trees, all irrigated with water from glacial streams, springs, and rivers. Higher altitude villages grow barley, peas, and vegetables, and have one species of willow (drokchang). Lower villages also grow wheat, alfalfa, mustard for oil, grapes, and a greater variety of vegetables. Cultivated trees in lower villages include apricots, apples, mulberries, walnuts, Simon poplars, Afghan poplars, oleaster, and several species of willow (difficult to identify, and local names vary). Elms and white poplars are found in the Nubra Valley, and one legendary specimen of white poplar grows in Alchi in the Indus Valley.