LADAKH
& ZANSKAR HIMALAYAN TREKS.....The
Ladakh an
d
Zanskar regions of India, although not politically part of Tibet (now
China), lie on the outer regions of the Tibetan plateau. These regions share
a spiritual center in Tibet, and remain among the last outposts of Tibetan
Buddhism. This spiritual connection, coupled with the tremendous isolation
of the area, has created a unique community within the vast democracy of
India.
Yet to view the culture of Ladakh as strictly analogous to
the culture of Tibet would be an over-simplification, albeit one that is
often employed in introducing newcomers to the region. During the "age
of exploration", while Tibet's borders were tightly sealed by
government mandate, Ladakh received a steady stream of visitors, and
consequently, outside influences, due to its strategic position along the
Central Asian Silk Route. The influx of visitors that Ladakh has received
since the Indian government opened the area to tourism in 1974 is not a new
phenomenon. While Buddhists make up a large majority of the region's
residents, the prominent mosque at the very hub of Allah's bazaar has been
an active religious center since its construction during India's Moghul
empire, circa 1661. The Moravian Church also has a mission in Leh, which was
established in 1885.
Outside of Leh, however, eastern Ladakh
remains a more traditionally Buddhist society. Nomads of Ladakh's Changtang
plateau continue to carry on limited trade with their neighbors in Tibet,
despite an official government ban on crossing the border. Gompas, or
Buddhist monasteries, dot the landscape and are central to the life of the
villages.
Yet to view the culture of Ladakh as strictly analogous
to the culture of Tibet would be an over-simplification, albeit one that is
often employed in introducing newcomers to the region. During the "age
of exploration", while Tibet's borders were tightly sealed by
government mandate, Ladakh received a steady stream of visitors, and
consequently, outside influences, due to its strategic position along the
Central Asian Silk Route. The influx of visitors that Ladakh has received
since the Indian government opened the area to tourism in 1974 is not a new
phenomenon. While Buddhists make up a large majority of the region's
residents, the prominent mosque at the very hub of Leh's bazaar has been an
active religious center since its construction during India's Moghul empire,
circa 1661. The Moravian Church also has a mission in Leh, which was
established in 1885.
Outside of Leh, however, eastern Ladakh
remains a more traditionally Buddhist society. Nomads of Ladakh's Changtang
plateau continue to carry on limited trade with their neighbors in Tibet,
despite an official government ban on crossing the border. Gompas, or
Buddhist monasteries, dot the landscape and are central to the life of the
villages.
Ladakh
is a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain
ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram, it lies athwart two other, the
Ladaksh range and the Zanskar range.
In geological terms, this is
a young land, formed only a few million years ago by the buckling and
folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub-continent pushed with
irresistible force against the immovable mass of Asia. Its basic contours,
uplifted by these unimaginable tectonic movements, have been modified over
the millennia
by the opposite process of erosion, sculpted
into the form we see today by wind and water.
Yes, water! Today, a
high -altitude desert, sheltered from the rain-bearing clouds of the Indian
monsoon by the barrier of the Great Himalaya, Ladakh was once covered by an
extensive lake system, the vestiges of which still exist on its south -east
plateaux of Rupshu and Chushul - in drainage basins with evocative names
like Tso-moriri, Tsokar,a nd grandest of all, Pangong-tso. Occasionally,
some stray monsoon cluds do find their way over the Himalaya, and lately
this seems to be happening with increasing frequency. But the main source of
water remains the winter snowfall. Dras, Zanskar and the Suru Valley on the
Himalaya's northern flank receive heavy snow in winter; this feeds the
glaciers whose meltwater, carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in
summer. For the rest of the region, the snow on the peaks is virutally the
only source of water. As the crops grow, the villagers pray not for rain,
but for sun to melt the glaciers and liberate their water. Usually their
prayers are answered, for the skies are clear and the sun shines for over
300 days in the year.
Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about
9,000 feet (2750m) at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the
Karakoram. Thus summer temperatures rarely exceed about 27 degree celcuis in
the shade, while in winter they may plummet to minus degree celcuis even in
Leh. Surprisingly, though, the thin air makes the heat ofthe sun even more
intense than at lower altitudes; it is said that only in Ladakh can a man
sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and
frostbite at the same time!
For
close on 900 years from the middle of the 10th century, Ladakh was an
independent kingdom , its dynasties descending from the king of old Tibet.
Its political fortunes ebbed and flowed over the centuries, and the kingdom,
was at its greatest in the early the century under the famous king Sengge
Namgyal, whose rule extended across Spiti and western Tibet up to the
Mayumla beyond the sacred sites of Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar.
And
gradually, perhaps partly due to the fact that it was politically stable, in
contrast to the lawless tribes further west, Ladakh became recognized as the
best trade route b
etween the Pubjab and Central Asia. For
centuries it was travered by caravans carrying textiles and spices, raw silk
and carpets, dyestuffs and narcotics. Heedless of the land's rugged terrain
and apparent remoteness, merchants entrusted their goods to relays o fpony
transporters who took about two months to carry them from Amritsar to the
Central Asian towns of Yarkand and Knotan. On this long route, Leh was the
half-way house, and developed into a bustling entreport, it bazaars thronged
with merchants from far countries.
The famous pashm (better known
as cashmere) also came down from the high-altitude plateaux of eastern
Ladakh and western Tibet where it was produced, thorough Leh to Srinagar,
where skilled artisans transformed it from a matted oily mass of goat's
underfleece into shawls known the world over for their softness and warmth.
Ironically, it was this lucrative trade, that finally spelt the doom of the
independent kingdom. It attracted the covetous gaze of Gulab Singh, the
ruler of Jammu in the early 19th century, and in 1834, he sent his general
Zorawar Singh to invade Ladakh. Ther followed a decade of war and turmoul,
which ended with the emergence of the British as the paramount power in
north India. Ladakh, together with the neighbouring province of Baltistan,
was incorporated into the newly created State of Jammu & Kashmir. Just
over a century later, this union was disturbed by the partition of India,
Baltistan becoming part of Pakistan, while Ladakh remained in India as part
of the State of Jammu & Kashmir
LADAKH: EXPERIENCE IN
THE MOON LAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ofcourse you are
enthralled and spellbound by the awesome magic of mountains and captivated
by the charming villages you come across during your holidays
But we go one better and offer you in addition some thing that is unique -we
take you into the very core of these villages which have preserved intact
over the centuries their traditions and vivacious customs. Now we make it
possible for you to stay with the villagers……………..
Stay in their houses and dwellings and experience at the first hand their
fascinating day to day activities and join them in their heart warming and
picturesque festivities which happily coincide with your stay in these
villages…
Yet, as you mingle as one with these exceedingly
hospitable people of the mountains, we ensure your comfort by taking care of
all the little details that count for so much - like clean linen , and
hygenic toilets ………
In additon we involve you with every aspect
of life in these seculded mountains meeting with the revered rimpoches in
monastries tantric fortune tellers., and mystic local healers who are
gaininunique ability to cure diverse ailments……g international
attention with their .
All in all more than just a holiday in the
glorious himalayas. It is your one oppurtunity to enter into a world that
beguiles you with its singular charm and quaintness beyond anything you ever
imagined…
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