Etymology of Ladakh Wazarat (Pakistan/India)
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The first glimpse of political history is found in the Kharosthi inscription of "Uvima Kavthisa" discovered near the K'a-la-rtse (Khalatse) bridge on the Indus, showing that in around the 1st century, Ladakh was a part of the Kushan Empire. A few other short Brahmi and Kharosthi inscriptions have been found in Ladakh. "Ladakh" is derived from Persian: ladāx.[1][2] the Farsi transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags; which means ("Land of High Passes") on the borderland of extreme Pakistan and China that connected the Ancient Silk trade route (CPEC). Ladakh has been described as ‘The Mysterious Land of the Mystic Lamas’, ‘The Broken Moonland’, or ‘The Last Shangri-La’ for its unique landscape and exquisite culture. One sees no horizon here but only mountain peaks soaring up to 5 to 6 km high, the River Indus, the “National River of Pakistan” runs through this “Upper Indus Valley Region of Pakistan”, Occupied by India. In the prehistoric period Ladakh formed a Great Lake perhaps the last remnants of the Ancient Tethys Sea, when India was a full continent. Even at present the region has some of the largest and most beautiful fresh water lakes, Pangong and the Tsomoriri Lakes. It is a repository of indigenous myriad cultural and religious influences from the Tibetan Plateau, Indian subcontinent and Turkic Central Asia respectively. Medieval Islamic scholars called Ladakh the "Great Tibet" (derived from Turko-Arabic Ti-bat, meaning "highland"); Baltistan and other trans-Himalayan states in Kashmir's vicinity were referred to as "Little Tibets".[3][4][lower-alpha 1]
The Himalayan region was previously known as Maryul; Mar-yul has been interpreted in Tibetan sources as lowland (of Ngari),.[6] Scholars suspect that it was a proper name that was in use earlier, even before Ladakh was Tibetanised. For instance, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang referred to it as Mo-lo-so, which would lead to a reconstructed name such as *Malasa, *Marāsa, or *Mrāsa.[7][8] The Annals of Tun‐Huang state that the Tibetan government carried out a census of Zan-zun and Mar(d) in 719 CE.[9] The Persian text Hudud al-Alam (c. 982) refers to a "wealthy country of Tibet", with a tribe named Mayul.[10] These facts suggest that Mar-yul ("land of Mar") might have been a proper name of the country.
The name was in use at least until the 16th century. Mirza Haidar Dughlat referred to it as Maryul and named a region called "Ladaks" that was apparently distinct from Maryul.[11] It was also used by the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Francisco de Azevedo when he visited Ladakh in 1631 AD.
The newer name La-dwags ལ་དྭགས (Historically transliterated as La-dvags) means "Land of High Passes". Ladak is its pronunciation in several Tibetan districts, and Ladakh is a transliteration of the Persian spelling.[12]
It has also been called Ma-Lo-Pho (by Hiuen Tsang) or Lal Bhumi. Names in the local language include Kanchapa (Land of snow) and Ripul (Country of mountains).[13]
Ladakh has a long history with evidence of human settlement from as back as 9000 B.C. It has been a crossroad of high Asia for thousands of years and has seen many cultures, empires and technologies born in its neighbours. As a result of these developments Ladakh has imported many traditions and culture from its neighbours and combining them all gave rise to a unique tradition and culture of its own.
The Himalayan Kingdom was founded by Lhachen Palgyigon, during the rule of his father Kyide Nyimagon, in c. 930.[14] It stretched from the Zoji La at the Jhelum Valley internal border of Kashmir to Demchok in the southeast, and included Rudok and other areas presently in Tibet.[15][16] The Kingdom came under the control of the Namgyal dynasty in 1460, eventually acquiring the name "Ladakh", and lasted until 1842. In that year, the Dogra general Zorawar Singh, having conquered it, made it part of the would-be princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1926), Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Volume II, Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing Press, pp. 93–, ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9 Quote: Ladakh, the Persian transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags, is warranted by the pronunciation of the word in several Tibetan districts. The terminal gs has the sound of the guttural gh or even kh in various Tibetan dialects. (Volume II, page 93)
- ↑ Art and Architecture in Ladakh: Cross-cultural Transmissions in the Himalayas and Karakoram, BRILL, 2014, pp. 3–, ISBN 978-90-04-27180-7 Quote: The single most important source [of Ladakhi history] is the La dvags rgyal rabs, the royal chronicle of Ladakh, which dates back to the 17th century.
- ↑ Petech, Luciano (1977), The Kingdom of Ladakh, c. 950–1842 A.D. (PDF), Instituto Italiano Per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, p. 22 – via academia.edu[dead link]
- ↑ Pirumshoev, H. S.; Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2003), "The Pamirs, Badakhshan and the Trans-Pamir States" (PDF), in Chahryar Adle; Irfan Habib, History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. V — Development in contrast: From the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, UNESCO, pp. 238–239, ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1, archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2013, retrieved 9 November 2020 Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help): "Under Aurangzeb (1659–1707), Mughal suzerainty was also acknowledged by Ladakh ('Great Tibet') in 1665, though it was contested in 1681–3 by the Oirat or Kalmuk (Qalmaq) rulers of Tibet." - ↑ Bogle, George; Manning, Thomas (2010), Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet: And of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa, Cambridge University Press, p. 26, ISBN 978-1-108-02255-2
- ↑ Strachey, Capt. H. (1853), "Physical Geography of Western Tibet", The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Volume 23, Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), p. 13: "Maryul signifies in Tibetan the Low Country, a term appropriate to the character of its inhabited valleys as contrasted with Nari-Khorsum"
- ↑ Petech, The Kingdom of Ladakh (1977), pp. 7–8.
- ↑ Howard & Howard, Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley (2014), p. 86.
- ↑ Petech, The Kingdom of Ladakh (1977), p. 8.
- ↑ Howard & Howard, Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley (2014), pp. 86–87.
- ↑ Howard & Howard, Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley (2014), p. 88.
- ↑ "Ladakh, the Persian transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags, is warranted by the pronunciation of the word in several Tibetan districts." Francke(1926) Vol. I, p. 93, notes.
- ↑ Mann, R.S. (2002). Ladakh Then and Now: Cultural, Ecological, and Political. Mittal Publications. p. 15. ISBN 978-81-7099-838-9. Retrieved 8 March 2024. Search this book on
- ↑ Petech, The Kingdom of Ladakh (1977), p. 17: "it seems that his father bequeathed him a theoretical right of sovereignty, but the actual conquest was effected by dPal-gyi-mgon himself."
- ↑ Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground (1963), p. 19: "The Ladakhi chronicles state that the eldest son, Pal-gyi-gön (Dpal-gyi-mgon), received Ladakh and the Rudok area;..."
- ↑ Francke, Antiquities of Indian Tibet (1992), p. 94.
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