Come! Join The Caravan Of Yore

By S.Sarwar.Malik

Concluding my last write-up, that found space in these pages on 28 Sep 2024, I had very briefly spoken about an interesting milestone of the 16th Century; stating, that one king  of Ladakh, namely Jamyung Namgial, invaded Chigtan, around 1600, but it was the Askardo-chief, Ali Mir Sher khan, who tasted Victory and King Jamyung was captured. 

About the marriage of this Ladakhi/ Buddhist king with that of a Muslim princess, Ali Mir’s daughter, Gyal Khatoon,(-gone down in history as the famous queen of Ladakh). Also talking about other elements of the story… What led to the marriage of Ali Mir’s daughter, zi zi khatoon, with this Buddhist/ Ladakhi king Jamyung ,(- whose first wife was Tsering Gyalmo)…. the Vision  that a Tiger jumps on her and enters her womb; whereafter the birth of a child, who in Ladakh’s history, came to be known as Senge (lion)Namgyal, unsurpassed by successors, i mean, achievement-wise. [ For me such things lend a somewhat necessary  flavour to the story, and above all it is an interesting episode, caricatured by history.]. 

The ladakhi’s reconciled themselves  to their Balti queen by recogn̈izing in her an incarnation of Buddhist goddess- the white Tara (–Dolma). Jamyung relieved his Buddhist subjects of taxation. From 1590-1615 Gyal Khatoon acted as regent. Some say that in 1594 AD, land for the first Leh- Mosque was alloted by her. Some years later we hear that Senge Namgial turned to the Tsan kingdom of Tibet; in one more interesting piece of information that I would like to share is that writers say by destroying Guge and weakening Tsang, at a most crucial time, Seng Namgial all unwittingly prepared the way for the final eclipse  of Ladakh. From Kashmir and Baltistaan the Moghuls entered pressure. Senge thus failed to foresee his real foes—Turko-Mongols from Central Asia, Balti’s from Baltistan  and also rulers of kashmir. Around 1639 there were battles at Kharbu with Mughals. 

On 25 Oct 1631 Father Francesco de Azevedo and Giovani visited ladakh and met king Senge-Namgial; described him as “ a man of tall stature…wore a string of skull bones around his neck”.

At one point in history, that is around the late 15th century, two kingdoms existed in Ladakh; namely Leh-kingdom and Basgo kingdom. A man of calibre,namely  Lha-chen- Bhagen, (1470-1500), founded the New Dynasty, after reuniting the aforementioned areas and took the surname of Namgials ( = victorious).

This Bhagen had two sons, Lha-Chen-Lhawang reNamgyalg and Bkra-sis (Tashi ) rnam-rgyal. Elder brother Lhawang had Three sons; Tsewang, Gonpo and Jamyang.

One Interesting piece of information: Leh,  for the first time, became the royal residence at the beginning of the 16th Century. Prior to that Shey was the capital. The Present palace that we see today, above the Leh-city, didn’t exist then. King Tashi Namgyal only built a fortified castle on the precipitous peak, called as tsemo. Tashi built the guardian temple (Gon-khang) above the Maitreya temple, on the peak after repelling a Turk invasion; built the Red sect Phyiang Gompa/ Monastery- 18 kms west of Leh; got the holy scriptures, (kangur & sTan-gur copied; erected many chortens; renovated Alchi chosker (-70 kms from Leh)–where his inscription exists. It was king Tashi who made the rule according to which every Buddhist family must send a male child to become a Lama.

In 1532 Turko-mongol expedition (- instigated and also partly led by the khan of kashgar, Sultan Sayeed Khan), was ‘ a holy war against Buddhist infidels’. King Tashi was killed. Mirza Haider Dughlat established himself at Shey, attacked Zanskaar in 1535.

Tsewang Namgial died In 1555, he was followed by his eldest son. 1n 1538 Ladakh was attacked by Sultan Sayeed Khan of kashghar. Enough of kings for today.

There existed a number of trade routes that connected Ladakh with Baltistan; e:g  from Hanu to Skardu; kharul  of Kargil to Skardu and from North Ladakh to Baltistan, along the Shyok river; just to name a few.  Above all, dear reader, underline my next sentence: MEN OF THOSE TIMES WERE WELL CONSCIOUS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF TRADE So ALL EYES WERE SET, ALMOST, DAILY, ON THE ROADS THAT LED TO CENTRAL ASIA.

It is said that out of the five main trade routes two main ones for caravans were Leh-Srinagar and Leh-kulu; and Major centres like Mandi Hoshiapur, Amritsar too were roped in; also Leh-yarkand (chinese- Turkistan), Leh-Lahasa, Leh-Shimla were much thronged places, besides Srinagar. Items of trade were: Dried Apricots, pashmina, goat-skin. rice, sugar, opium, almonds, saffron, silk carpets, silver jewellery, silk, rice, etc. Leh and Srinagar etc were big trade centres. Speaking of 1845 Alexander Cunningham saw 60 merchants from Kashmir readying for road journeys. In 1894, as per Godfrey-survey trade per year of Ladakh alone, was to the tune of sixty lac rupees. In 1950’s nearly Six dozen ladakhi traders, including some Argoan traderstraded with Tibet, alone. Ladakh had become a great Central Asian trade-player. Baltis visited Leh and kargil. Very frequently.  Dried Apricots is said to have been one of the main items for trade, propagation of its tree-stock is said to have been carried by the Guru padmasambhava. 

Earlier in 7th & 8th centuries, the Tibetan army went to war through Zangskaar, Baltistaan. Traders of Central Asia were called Hor; those of Chinese Turkistan as yarkandi’s. As per Dr.A.H.Francke(1907)  the famous fresco in Namgyal Tsemo of leh depicting a court scene clearly shows the influence of Central Asia, especially in terms of dress. During 1984-86,somewhere in Leh, the family head of a Ladakhi friend told me that the famous pass of ladakh, Daulat Beg Oldee, got its name from a rich Yarkandi trader.///

[[ Large part of the material has been derived from his personal notes, besides the columnist book ‘JEWEL IN THE LOTUS–Ladakh’.]]

• The author is a Srinagar based Penman, Columnist & Poet, who has been contributing non-political writeups to newspapers & literary journals, from over two decades

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