Strategic Ladakh

A Historical Narrative 1951-53 and a Military Perspective

Rajendra Nath

• Publisher: VIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9789385563508
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia militare e marittima

This book is essentially an observation of Ladakh in the early nineteen fifties, after tracing its social evolution from ancient times. The author gives first hand account of his interactions with the local lamas, the elders and the educated amongst the people to trace their roots and habits and culture. Thereafter, the author has given an account of the 1962 war in Ladakh to highlight the continuity in strategic and military importance of this vital region. The author has also touched upon Chinese strategy in this region and its implications on India.

Chapter I

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

It is said that man cannot get away from his past. The same way nations as well as peoples of different territories cannot break away from their past. In order to study the characteristics of any people, their capabilities and their attitude towards this ever changing world, it is essential to study their past history.

The Ladakh valley has been cut off from the rest of India by the lofty Himalayas. The communications between India and Ladakh are very remote indeed due to highly mountainous terrain, yet it is remarkable to note that contact between India and Ladakh has been very ancient. From Ashoka’s time when the first Buddhist’s monk came to Ladakh for spreading Buddhism, India has been in contact with Ladakh. The Buddhist monks from India were responsible for converting the Ladakhis to Buddhists. These monks came to Ladakh via Kashmir. However, Buddhism did not remain prominent in India for long time and Hinduism again became predominant. But while Buddhism gradually disappeared from India as well as Kashmir, it has been and still is the predominant religion of Ladakh. After 10^th century AD, Kashmir started coming under the sway of Islam. Consequently one finds that the cultural relations between Ladakh and rest of India have not been so strong after 11^th century AD. On the contrary Tibet has been a Buddhist country ever since the Indian monks spread Buddhism there dating from Ashoka’s time. The Ladakhi’s after finding that Buddhism has completely disappeared from Kashmir while it no longer occupied any important position in India either, started having closer cultural relations with Tibet after 10^th century AD. The nearness of Tibet might have also been a factor in bringing closer cultural relations between the two regions or nations (as they were then). At present one therefore finds that the present Buddhism of Ladakh has been affected by Lamaism of Tibet. All the Lamas of Ladakh used to go to Tibet for getting their religious education till 1950 when China occupied Tibet and this practice came to an end.

Sources of Information

The sources of information from which one can compile the history of Ladakh are of two kinds; some are foreign and some from Ladakh itself. The latter are of a twofold character. We possess records on stone as well as on paper. Of the former, which cover the period from 200 BC to 1400 AD, only comparatively little has become known up to the present, the reason being that systematic and thorough research in that domain has not yet been made. However, the whole area of Ladakh is full of old remains of ‘Chortens’, ‘Manas’, Monastries and other carvings on the stone that throw ample light on its past history. As regards the records on paper, although what is probably the most important work, the chronicles of Kings of Leh (Ladakh) have been edited, much still remains to be done. However, one finds that from 900 AD onwards, the chronicles of the kings of Leh (Ladakh) throw ample light and one can get continuous chronology of events up to the present times. The character of these chronicles is not the same during the different periods it describes. Its most ancient part can hardly be called a history, nor was it apparently meant to be such. It was begun as a pedigree of the kings of Leh, whose chief intention was to prove their descent from the famous line of the ancient kings of Lhasa. Thus the first portion of the work covering roughly the period of 900-1400 AD does not contain much besides mere names. About the year 1400 the account begins to become fuller. Still these accounts leave much to be desired. The writers were ‘Lamas’, and to them the greatest events during the reign of a king were his presents to ‘Lamas’ and monasteries or his construction of ‘Chortens’ and ‘Mana’ walls. Much ink has been expended on these events, while the campaigns of the kings are treated with extraordinary brevity and of their economic work we hear almost nothing. Thus we see that all these points which go to make a history of the country are missing and yet the native tone of the Ladakhi historians has often a charm of its own.

The other important source is the foreign travellers or writers. Of these Herodotus, Megasthenes, Hieun Tsang and Ctesias are famous and their accounts throw ample light on the past events of Ladakh. Besides the books like Rajatarangini and the accounts of Tsing dynasty of China also help in throwing some light on the past history of Ladakh.

An important question is this; are the accounts accurate and state the actual , or is the account distorted partly or wholly, as it often happens. The best test of the veracity of an historical account is its comparison with other entirely independent documents. Only in a very few cases are we able to compare the Ladakhi account of an event with that of a foreign country. In this connection, of great importance are the many inscriptions on rock and stone which are scattered all over the area and enable us to cross-check the events as enumerated in the various chronicles.

Early Inhabitants

The early inhabitants of Ladakh were undoubtedly nomads, who were not civilized as judged from the present standards. They moved from Ladakh into what is now known as Western Tibet and vice versa. There were no villages and no settled life existed. The people were satisfied by leading their simple life. They kept flocks of sheep and goats and that was their chief means of livelihood. They often hunted wild sheep and goats which were found in plenty in this area at that time. Even now the wild goats and sheep are to be found in many parts of Ladakh. They did not believe in any religion as such which exists in the world today. It is quite reasonable to believe that they believed in their own customs which were very strange and queer as per present standards and norms. Since the people were leading a nomadic life, the customs varied from one tribe to another. They wore clothes made out of the sheep or goat skin, while meat and milk were their chief items of food. They lived in tents of yak-hair and utilized the produce of their numerous herds of yaks in multifarious ways.

Their life probably in no way differed from that of Tibetan nomads of the present day. These ancient people had probably the poetical instinct as strongly marked as their children today, and similar songs to the one given here may have sounded through the valleys and hills of ancient Ladakh. A maiden tending flocks on a mountain side sings across the valley to a youth similarly employed (the translation is mine) :-

“In the meadow, in the meadow, in the higher meadow blows

Oh listen, lad, oh listen to my song

A flower, far the sweetest that in field and garden grows

Oh listen, lad, oh listen to my song

Thou mayest kill the flower, sweet-heart,

Thou mayest kill the tender flower

But thou shalt not grasp it rudely in thy hand

Else it will wither in a moment, it will perish in an hour

If thou, ruthless, dare to seize it in thy hand.”

The Present Inhabitants

The present population of Ladakh is the result of a long process of blending of atleast three distinct peoples, two of which are of Aryan stock, whilst one which is numerically superior to the other two, is of Mongol origin. The Aryan communities located in regions (then nations) are: the Dards of Gilgit, and the Mons of North India (most probably from Kashmir). The Mongolian is of Tibetan Region / nation. The irrigable valleys of Ladakh were brought under cultivation by the Aryan tribes of Mons and Dards, and the latter especially exhibited an extraordinary skill in the construction of water courses along almost inaccessible cliffs. The products of the fields were as welcome to the Ladakhi nomads as were the produce of the flocks to the Dard peasants, and the lively barter which took place between the two tribes apparently led to many matrimonial alliances as well. So a race evolved which combined the agriculturist and the nomad. What is beautiful, to our perspective, in the features of the present Ladakhis is due to their half-Dard origin.

Spread of Buddhism

It is known from tradition that Emperor Ashoka held the third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra in about 250 BC. It was resolved in that council to send Buddhist missionaries to Kashmir, Tibet, and central Asian countries. Buddhism got such a firm hold in Kashmir that the fourth legendary council, under King Kanishka (125-152 AD) is said to have been held at Jalandara in Kashmir. Either after the third or the fourth council, Buddhism must have been carried to Ladakh and Western Tibet. The strongest proof of the colonization of Ladakh area by ancient Indians are inscriptions in Brahmi characters of about 200 BC which are found in Zanskar (now west of Ladakh) area. Among the ruins of Zangskar one discovers imposing remains of ancient Buddhist art, and more and the more one is convinced that the settlements of the ancient Mons in Zangskar and Ladakh area must have had some connection with the pre-Lamaist Buddhism.

It is interesting and important to note that the religious mission of the Buddhist preachers from India was not only to convert the local inhabitants to Buddhists but it was also an economic mission to better their lot and thus civilize the wandering nomads. Hence this mission was a civilizing and colonizing mission as well. It would have been well-nigh impossible to influence the wandering nomads without founding centres of Buddhist teaching with temples and monasteries. The almost empty land attracted more and more colonists, and the religious settlements grew into villages and towns in course of time. This is why that almost all the large villages and towns in Ladakh valley are situated near the monasteries. That is also the main reason as to why Buddhism which is now a form of Lamaism is so deeply rooted among its inhabitants. The conversion of the wandering nomads into settled Buddhists took centuries and was accentuated by the arrival of Mons and Dards.

The Arrival of The Mons

Though the exact date of the arrival of the Mons into Ladakh cannot be given, it is reasonably accurate to estimate the movement started in about 200 BC. The Mons were residents of North India probably ...