The Importance of Being Ladakhi: Affect and Artifice in Kargil

Ladakh often tends to be associated predominantly with its Tibetan Buddhist inhabitants in the wider public imagination both in India and abroad. It comes as a surprise to many that half the population of this region is Muslim, majority belonging to the Twelver Shi‘i sect and live in Kargil district. This article will discuss the importance of being Ladakhi for Kargili Shias through an ethnographic account of a journey I shared with a group of cultural activists from Leh to Kargil. A view of the landscape, natural and cultural, through their eyes provided a different, more eclectic portrayal of the region that ran counter to several historical depictions in the accounts of colonial explorers and travellers. I argue that the invocation and projection of Kargil’s Ladakhiness by these cultural activists has an element of artifice built into it. Yet this packaging of regional ‘culture’ signals an emergent cultural consciousness that spills beyond the politics of identity to an emotionally and intellectually charged process of self-definition that is underway. Riddled with debates as to what constitutes ‘regional culture’, the journey also lends insight into some aspects of contemporary cultural politics within Kargil

Танц, време и космогония в устната традиция на общността брогпа в Ладакх, Индия

В настоящата статия проследявам някои аспекти на танца в религиозните и празнични традиции на етнолингвистичната общност брогпа в Ладакх, Индия. Тя една от малкото индоарийски групи в региона, успели да съхранят различни елементи от своите архаични предбудистки и предислямски религиозни традиции. В този контекст разглеждам връзката на танца като културна практика с култа към божествата от класа лха, част от пред будистката народната религия, разпространена в целия тибетски културен ареал. Фокус тук са основни аспекти на концептуалното значение на танца, които могат да бъдат отнесени към дардските религиозни традиции на общността. Разгледана е устойчивата поява на танца като централен мотив в местната космология, празнични обичаи и устна традиция.In the present article, I outline some aspects of dance in the religious and festive traditions of the ethnolinguistic community Brogpa in Ladakh, India. It is one of the few Indo-Aryan groups in the region have that managed to preserve various elements of their archaic pre-Buddhist and pre-Islamic religious traditions. In this context, I explore the relationship of dance as a cultural practice to the cult of deities lha, part of the pre-Buddhist folk religion spread throughout the Tibetan cultural area. The focus here is on key aspects of the conceptual meaning of dance that can be traced back to the Dardic religious traditions of the community. The persistent presence of dance as a central motif in local cosmology, festive customs and oral tradition is examined

Ethnobotany of Juniperus polycarpos C. Koch (Cupressaceae) in the Himalayan cold desert of Union Territory of Ladakh, India

Union Territory of Ladakh is phytogeographically Trans-Himalayan region located in the northernmost part of India and known for unique biological, cultural diversity and rich traditional knowledge. The report presents first ethnobotanical survey on the traditional usage of a gymnosperm plant commonly known as ‘Himalayan Pencil Cedar’ or ‘Turkistan Juniper’ (Juniperus polycarpos C. Koch, syn. J. excelsa subsp. polycarpos (C. Koch) Takht). Many ethnobotanical trips were made to collect ethnobotanical information in the year 2015-16 in different villages where habitats of J. polycarpos were present. The survey revealed that J. polycarpos is deeply rooted in the cultural, religious practices of the locals and considered as one of the most sacred trees among the Buddhist. The study showed that J. polycarpos has been used as raw material for aromatic incenses preparation, timber in construction of Buddhist monasteries, medicinal plant by local healers, fuel wood and fodder, making of household articles and for decoration of Lha-thos in Ladakh region. The plant is classified under least concern (LC) category by IUCN but reported as declining in its natural habitat. The paper gives an account that such an extensive use is the key causal factor for its decline and therefore conservation required

Ethnobotany of Juniperus polycarpos C. Koch (Cupressaceae) in the Himalayan cold desert of Union Territory of Ladakh, India

83-90Union Territory of Ladakh is phytogeographically Trans-Himalayan region located in the northernmost part of India and known for unique biological, cultural diversity and rich traditional knowledge. The report presents first ethnobotanical survey on the traditional usage of a gymnosperm plant commonly known as ‘Himalayan Pencil Cedar’ or ‘Turkistan Juniper’ (Juniperus polycarpos C. Koch, syn. J. excelsa subsp. polycarpos (C. Koch) Takht). Many ethnobotanical trips were made to collect ethnobotanical information in the year 2015-16 in different villages where habitats of J. polycarpos were present. The survey revealed that J. polycarpos is deeply rooted in the cultural, religious practices of the locals and considered as one of the most sacred trees among the Buddhist. The study showed that J. polycarpos has been used as raw material for aromatic incenses preparation, timber in construction of Buddhist monasteries, medicinal plant by local healers, fuel wood and fodder, making of household articles and for decoration of Lha-thos in Ladakh region. The plant is classified under least concern (LC) category by IUCN but reported as declining in its natural habitat. The paper gives an account that such an extensive use is the key causal factor for its decline and therefore conservation required

Recent Bhutanese Scholarship in History and Anthropology

http://www.bhutanstudies.org.bt/publications/journal-of-bhutan-studies/International audienc

SER no.038; Index

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When glaciers vanish : nature, power and moral order in the indian Himalayas

La présente thèse est une étude ethnographique qui examine le savoir en tant que pratique située au Ladakh, dans l’Himalaya indien. Elle analyse les implications socioculturelles des deux moteurs de changement en jeu au Ladakh: l’un est d'origine socio-économique et lié à la production du Ladakh en tant que zone frontalière, tandis que l’autre est de nature environnementale et entrainé par les changements climatiques. Alors que le Ladakh est demeuré hors de la portée de l’État bureaucratique pendant l’administration coloniale britannique, la région s’est trouvée reconfigurée en zone frontalière stratégique après l’indépendance de l’Inde des suites des guerres successives avec le Pakistan et la Chine. L’Indépendance a mené à la partition de l’Inde et du Pakistan en 1947; cette thèse examine la portée à long terme des évènements traumatisants de la partition tels qu’ils se sont déroulés au Ladakh et comment les Ladakhis établissent des liens entre ces évènements et les changements climatiques. L’État indien s’est produit dans la région à travers une volonté de dominer les montagnes, principalement par le développement d’infrastructures et par l’intégration du savoir local des Ladakhis dans l’appareil militaire. La militarisation a restructuré l'économie du Ladakh, redéfini la structure des ménages, contribué à l’exode rural, déplacé la centralité des activités agropastorales et, tel que la dissertation le soutient, altéré de manière significative la connexion de la population locale avec l'environnement. La rationalisation croissante de la perspective sur l’environnement aujourd'hui contribue à la fragmentation des liens qui unissent les domaines naturels et humains dans la cosmologie locale de même qu’à l'abandon des pratiques rituelles connexes. Parallèlement, la région est touchée par des effets distincts des changements climatiques, en particulier la récession des glaciers. La thèse juxtapose l'expérience subjective de ces vastes changements dans la vie quotidienne des villageois de la Vallée de Sham avec les faits historiques environnementaux, démontrant ainsi que les événements historiques locaux influent sur les perceptions des changements environnementaux. L'analyse démontre qu’un phénomène objectif tel que la récession des glaciers est interprété à travers des réalités locales. Plus précisément, selon la conception du monde locale, un glacier en retrait est une figure rhétorique d’une transformation de la condition humaine. Comme le fait valoir la dissertation, l’interprétation culturelle ne constitue pas un obstacle à l'objectivité de l'histoire naturelle de la cosmologie locale. L’interprétation culturelle et l'expérience empirique s’avèrent par ailleurs essentielles à la vitalité des connaissances locales sur l'environnement et à la performance des pratiques associées.The dissertation presents an ethnographic study that examines knowledge as a situated practice in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas. It analyzes the sociocultural implications of two drivers of change at play in Ladakh: one is of socioeconomic origin and linked to the production of Ladakh as a border area, while the other is environmental and driven by climate change. Ladakh, which remained outside the scope of the bureaucratic state during the British colonial administration, found itself refashioned into a strategic border area following India’s independence and successive wars with Pakistan and China. Independence led to the partition of Indian into India and Pakistan in 1947; the dissertation examines the long-term, traumatic events of the partition in Ladakh, tracing connections to current perceptions of climate change. The independent Indian state has produced itself in the region through the taming of its mountains, primarily through infrastructure development and the co-optation of Ladakhi knowledge of the environment by the military apparatus. Far-reaching militarization has restructured Ladakh’s economy, consequently redefining household structure, contributing to village depopulation, displacing the centrality of agro-pastoralist activities and, as the dissertation argues, significantly altering the local population’s engagement with the environment. The increasing rationalization of the outlook on the environment today contributes to the fragmentation of links between the natural and human realms within the local cosmology and the abandonment of related ritual practices. Concurrently, the region is impacted by distinct effects of climate change, in particular glacier recession. The dissertation juxtaposes both the subjective experience of wide-ranging environmental changes and changes in everyday village life with historical facts, showing that local historical events influence perceptions of glacier recession and the depletion of natural resources. The analysis demonstrates that objective phenomena such as glacier recession are interpreted through local realities. Specifically, in the local worldview, a vanishing glacier is a trope for changes in the human condition. Yet, as the dissertation further argues, such cultural framing does not preclude the objectivity of natural history in local cosmology. Moreover, cultural framing and empirical experience, therefore, are shown to be essential to the vitality of local knowledge about the environment and to the performance of associated landscape practices

Notions of Lha among the Brogpa of Ladakh

This paper explores the different conceptual meanings and connotations of the term lha among an ethnolinguistic community called Brogpa in Ladakh, India, which provides a focused religious context. It addresses the notion of lha in light of Brogpa’s cosmology, religious celebrations, local deity embodiment practice, and, last but not least, personal accounts of experiences of the divine. A key aspect outlined in this study is the possible link between local lha and the cult of pari among neighbouring culturally or linguistically related groups in the region of Gilgit–Baltistan