Life at 11000 feet High

LADAKH

Presentation by : Vishal Chaudhary

About• Ladakh "land of high passes“ is a region of Jammu and

Kashmir and lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent. It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir.

• Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture. It is sometimes called "Little Tibet" as it has been strongly influenced by Tibetan culture.

• Ladakh is the highest plateau of state of Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley.

ON MAP

How to get there

By Flight : From Delhi & Srinagar - Indian Airlines

& Jet airways.

By Road : Srinagar to Leh via Kargil ( 2-3 days) Manali to Leh (2 - 3 Days) These are the most beautiful &

breathtaking road journey’ on the worlds highest road, crossing passes as high as 15000 ft & even more..

Government run busses ply on these roads, or else you can hire taxi / jeeps or maybe ride your own way on motor-cycles.

Visits in Ladakh Leh City

Pangong Lake

Tso-moriri

Zanskar

Khardungla

Nubra valley

Kargil

Gompas in Ladakh

LEH CITYLeh, was the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, now the Leh District in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Leh, with an area of 45,110 km2, is the second largest district in the country (after Kutch, Gujarat) in terms of area.

Leh is at an altitude of 3524 metres (11,562 ft), and connects via National Highway 1D connects it to Srinagar in the southwest and to Manali in the south via Leh-Manali Highway.

Leh was an important stopover on trade routes along the Indus Valley between Tibet to the east, Kashmir to the west and also between India and China for centuries. The main goods carried were salt, grain, pashm or cashmere wool, charas or cannabis resin from the Tarim Basin, indigo, silk yarn and Banaras brocade.

PANGONG LAKE Pangong Tso is an endorheic lake in the Himalayas situated at a height of about 4,350 m (14,270 ft).

It is 134 km (83 mi) long and extends from India to Tibet. 60% of the length of the lake lies in China. The lake is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its broadest point.

All together it covers 604 sq. km. During winter the lake freezes completely, despite being saline water.

The brackish water of the lake has very low micro-vegetation. Guides report that there are no fish or other aquatic life in the lake, except for some small crustaceans.

TSO MORIRITsomoriri or Lake Moriri (official name: Tsomoriri Wetland Conservation Reserve), in the Changthang (literal meaning, northern plains) area, is a High Altitude Lake (HAL) with an altitude of 4,595 m (15,075 ft) in Ladakh, India and is the largest of the High Altitude Lakes in the Trans-Himalayan biogeographic region, entirely within India.

The lake formerly had an outlet to the south, but it has contracted considerably and has become land locked; as a result; the water is now brackish to saline.

ZANSKARZanskar is a sub district or tehsil of the Kargil district, which lies in the eastern half of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The administrative center is Padum. Zanskar, together with the neighbouring region of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kingdom of Guge in Western Tibet.The Zanskar Range is a mountain range in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that separates Zanskar from Ladakh. Geologically, the Zanskar Range is part of the Tethys Himalaya.It also separates Kinnaur District from Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. The highest peaks of Himachal are in Zanskar range.

Group of Zanskari women and children.

A White Yak in Zanskar Range

KHARDUNG LA

Khardung La (Khardung Pass, la means pass in Tibetan) is a high mountain pass located in Ladakh region.

The pass on the Ladakh Range lies north of Leh and is the gateway to the Shyok and Nubra valleys. The Siachen Glacier lies partway up the latter valley.

Local summit signs claim that its elevation is 5,602 m (18,379 ft) metres high and that it is the world's highest motorable pass

NUBRA VALLEY

Nubra Valley is about 150 km north of Leh, the capital town of Ladakh, India. Local scholars say that its original name was Ldumra (the valley of flowers).The Shyok River meets the Nubra or Siachan River to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and the Karakoram Ranges. The average altitude of the valley is about 10,000 ft. above the sea level. The common way to access this valley is to travel over the Khardung La from Leh. Non-locals require an Inner Line Permit (obtainable in Leh town) to enter Nubra.

KARGIL• Kargil, the only town in the Suru valley, is the second most important town in Ladakh

• It was an important staging post on the routes of the trade caravans before 1947, being more

or less equidistant, at about 230 kilometres from Srinagar, Leh, Skardu and Padum.• Kargil was an area of conflict in the wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971 and the focal point of a

potential nuclear conflict during the Kargil War in 1999.

• The Ladakh region was bifurcated into the Kargil and Leh districts in 1979. In 1989, there were violent riots between Buddhists and Muslims.

• Kargil has an average elevation of 2,676 metres (8,780 feet), and is situated along the banks of the Suru River (Indus).

THE LAND OF GOMPAS

As you drive into Leh and after the odyssey of a long drive, comes a fairy-tale ending. A fort, a palace and a monastery stand out against the sky, amidst an avenue of poplars. This is Leh. The journey has just begun. As the Buddhists say:`When you are ready, the teacher will appear

The Gompas ‘Monasteries’

Like many other religious establishments all over the world,  the gompas too have been gifted lands, by the ex-rulers of Ladakh. It is  from these lands and public donations that the gompas  derive their income.  Cultivation on gompa land is done by the labourers and not by the lamas, for ploughing by lamas is considered inauspicious.

It  is  believed that in the olden days the gompas stood  on  the trading  route  to Tibet and offered sanctuary to  travelers  and traders. All  the  thirteen  important gompas of  Ladakh  celebrate  their annual  festivals in winter,  except the Hemis Gompa which celebrates  it  in June or July, lasting three  days.  Ladakhis  gather enthusiastically  for  these gay festivals and witness  folk  and religious masked dances.

HEMIS GOMPA

The Hemis Gompa was built in 1620 by the king-architect Singe Namgyal who was a great patron of Buddhism, This  is  the biggest gompa of Ladakh.  It is situated 44 kms from Leh on the Leh-Manali  road. For a visit to this place one has to travel 8 kms via Karu, after crossing the river Indus. Hemis Gompa  is  not visible from the road.  There are several  temples here,  which contain stupas and precious images made of gold. The art  pieces  glitter with precious stones.  There is  a  valuable store  of thankas in this gompa including the biggest in  Ladakh. It is displayed once in eleven years and the next display will be in  1992. However, they were soon to be in a  pitiable plight for Zorawar Singh had reached the Hemis Gompa after  plundering  and destroying the other gompas on his  route. The  manager of the Hemis Gompa skillfully saved his monastery  by surrendering before any more damage could be done.  In 1956,  the chief lama of the gompa disappeared never to be seen again. His absence led to the deterioration of the condition of the Hemis Gompa.  A twelve-year-old lama was enthroned in 1976.

The  lamas of Ladakh respect other religions also. In this  gompa important  posts like that of the motbir (manager) were given  to Kadir  Sheikh  and  Akhon Abdul Hussain  who  were  Muslims.  The kitchen of this gompa is unique. There is a huge vessel of copper whose diameter is 12 m, capable of cooking rice or thuppa for 500 people at a time. Buddhist visitors donate money to the kitchen.

There  is is a courtyard in front of the gompa which is 60 m long and 18 m wide. In this courtyard four long poles are stuck in the ground  at  equal distances and four different  banners  fly  atop these  poles.  A big worn-out thanka is hung in front of the temple, on which the picture of Chapgon Gyalshas, the founder of the Hemis Gompa, is painted. Three-fourths of the area of the courtyard  is  left for religious dances.  The rest of  the  place  is normally full of spectators on such occasions.

Thikse Gompa

This  gompa  is situated about 19 kms away from from Leh on  Leh-Manali road.  It stands on a hilltop in the desert and is visible from  a  distance.  The houses of the lamas are situated  on  the slopes of the hill.  The gompa is especially interesting from  the point  of  view of its architectural beauty.  There  are  several temples  in this gompa containing images,  stupas and  wall paintings. The wall paintings of the main temple are exquisite.

Shankar Gompa

Sankar Gompa is a subsidiary of Spitok gompa, having the same head lama. Sankar is easily visited on foot from Leh, lying as it does in Leh's suburbs. About 25 lamas of the yellow-hat sect are attached to Sankar but only a few live here permanently. Thus, it is only open to the public from 7 to 10 am and from 5 to 7 pm. Sankar gompa is about 90 years old but is located on the site of a small temple that was built about 500 years ago.

From the street one enters the gompa's front yard. To the right are a few steps climbing up to the double doors that open onto the Dukhang or main assembly hall. The entrance porch has paintings of the Guardians of the Four Directions on either side of the entry door. On the left wall of the veranda is a "Wheel of Life" held by Yama, the deity that determines a person's future fate after death. The wall on the right depicts the Old Man of Long Life.

Spituk GompaAbout 7km from Leh on the right bank of the river Indus, this gompa  is visible from afar,  standing quite prominently on  the top of a mountain.  A new temple has been built here and  the old one renovated. There are some fine "thankas" in this gompa. The  main  temple  contains many icons of the  Buddha.  There  is temple of Mahakal that is about 900 years old. This temple was built  by  King  Takspa  Bung  .  It  has  a  images  of  Mahakal (yamantak) & others. The  awe-inspiring image of Mahakal has 35 arms on each side. It has 8  legs on  one side. The face of the Mahakal is covered  throughout  the year & is shown to spectators only at the annual function in  the month  of  January. The walls of the temple  are  decorated  with beautiful  paintings. One of the wall paintings has human  skeletons on it.  In  this  temple there is a collection  of  16  ancient masks of different animals, gods & goddesses. The temple also has a collection of antique arms.In  a  room  adjacent to Mahakal's  chamber,  a  big  curtain  is stretched between two long poles. People attach their photographs & currency to the cloth for the fulfillment of their wishes.

Festivals

Most festivals in Ladakh are religious and take place at the gompas. Unfortunately for the tourist, most of these festivals occur in the winter months. Ladakhi winter is extremely harsh and most social activities like weddings, visiting friends and family, indoor handicraft work and participating in religious festivals is postponed till the summers.

Traditionally, only Hemis gompa held a big summer festival but in 1983, Thiksey gompa held its festival in the summer for the first time. In addition to the religious festivals, there are small harvest thanksgiving festivals in the autumn. In 1983, Leh held its first Tourist Festival, in the first week of August.

That’s Ladakh- Ju leh

Thanks and have a lovely day…