SAMINA ALI

 

Kargil that is called Purig as its real name, is situated on both sides of river Suru and river Drass, the whole area is called Purig. As people came from to and fro and started living there, called Purigpa. Purigpa was not a race but the people from Gilgit, Tibet, Baltistan, and Kashmir.

Since the beginning, Darad from Dardistaan, Mons from Himachal Pradesh, Mongols from Tibet began to settle in Purig at various places. It is believed that the early people started living in Purig before second or third century BC., which can be ascertained from their folk songs, traditions and other sources of their history, although there is no any genuine documental proof found.

 

The early life of Darad who settled in Purig was quite different from their modern life style. Before telling anything about the life of modern Purig, it is important to throw light on Darad of early time of the area, because the ancient and modern history of Purig is based on the early Darad that had a great influence on the history of Ladakh, Baltistan and Purig.

 

Dr Frankie writes that in western Tibet (Purig and Ladakh) the Mon race settled first, beside preaching their religious ideologies they also got settled in some villages and towns. However, there was a large portion of land that had remained uncultivated.

 

Darad became aware of this and they also came to Purig and began to settle there. The Darad had to face no difficulty and obligations from Mons and Tibetan nomads because there were enough pastures in the valley.

 

It is quite difficult to say as to which place was initially inhabited in Ladakh, Purig and Baltistan. Since Baltistan was fertile and hotter among these places so it is believed that, they first began to settle in Baltistan and thereafter they came to Purig, Zanskar, and Ladakh.

 

When the Purig peninsula was settled, an exiled prince of Gilgit probably from Abugami dynasty named as Tha-Tha Khan came to Purig. He subjugated the whole Darad. At that time Mongols had already been to Ladakh. Since Tha-Tha Khan himself was a Darad, the Darad population easily cooperated with him and they became his follower. Tha-Tha Khan was a shepherd and then he rose to become Darad chief and occupied Soth, Shakar-Chiktan and whole of upper and lower portion of Indus.

 

After that, he conquered Kargil, Minji, Phokar, and some portion of Suru. After Tha-Tha Khan, following princes succeeded Purig one by one.

Boni Khan, Sati Khan, Horithen, Rem Khan, Zagir Mant, and Muzair Baig. Nothing about them is found in texts but it is thought that they ruled with great zeal and enthusiasm. After Muzair Baig, Jadim Baig ascended the thrown; he annexed Ladu, Takmachik, Lamayuru, Botkharbu, Wanla, Kanji, Photoksar, and Lingshet.

 

Jadeem Baig was succeeded by his son Abdaal Khan who conquered Drass, which is said to have been sway of Drass. Now Tha Tha Khan dynasty was extended from Zojila to Khaltsi Bridge including Sott and Shakar-Chiktan.

 

Abdaal Khan was succeeded by Nasir Baig and Nasir Baig was succeeded by his son Chos-Zangcho. During the reign of Chos-Zangcho, Lama Renchen Losawa Zangpo came to Purig from India having completed his studies, and he began to preach Buddhism until the religion spread in Purig.

Chos-Zangcho cooperated with him to build many Gompaas, La-khangs and Manays. The famous statue of Chamba Devi of Mulbek was build at that time. After Chos-Zangcho, many rulers came to rule Purig and during the dynasty of Amrod-Cho, Syed Ali Hamdani came to Purig from Khurasaan via Kashmir and began to preach Islam.

 

Amrod-Cho and his family embraced Islam and was renamed as Mureed Khan and his son as Habib Cho.

 

After Mureed-Khan, Doro-Cho became ruler but he was very weak and inefficient and taking advantage of his weakness, the king of Ladakh snatched all the portion of his kingdom.

King of Ashtor, Shah Sultan captured Drass and an exiled prince of Tibet Rgeyal-Bomrday captured Suru Karchey. Now the kingdom of Tha Tha Khan was limited upto Soth and Shakar-Chiktan. Doro-Cho was defeated by his younger brother Habib-cho.

 

Habib-Cho tried to get his lost portion of the land from the king of Ladakh but failed. During the time of Habib-Cho Mir Shams-din Iraqi who came to Purig via Kashmir started preaching Islam and the whole of Purig accepted Islam as the religion. Habib-Cho was succeeded by his son Ahmad-Malik Khan.

 

The most important event happened in his reign was that the Turkish invaded king of Kashgar, Sultan Syed Khan. Sultan reached Purig in winter and Ahmad Malik Khan welcomed him. In spring, Sultan marched towards Baltistan via Hanu-la. He also deputed his younger son Prince Sikandar and commander in chief Mirza Gorkhan to visit Kashmir.

 

After Ahmad-Malik Khan, his son Khokro Bakram became ruler of Purig. He deputed his younger son Tsering Malik to Shakar-Chiktan as Kalon (governor) and kept his elder son Rgeyal Malik with him at Soth. After the death of Khokro-Bakram, Tsering-Malik declared himself the ruler of Chiktan with the support of Ladakh Gayapo who was his father-in-law. Tsering Malik was very greedy person and he began to encroach and attack on other kingdoms. He attacked Pashkum that was under the rule of Tramapa and annexed Pashkum with Chiktan. When Sultan Malik king of Soth became aware of the rudeness of Tsering Malik, he feared attack on his territory so he made a sudden attack on Chiktan.

 

Tsering Malik and his young son were killed in battle and Chiktan was again part of Soth, and the two children Adam Malik and Chozang Malik were arrested. However, they were released and their kingdom restored on the request of Raja Ali Sher Khan of Skardo. After Sultan Malik, Mirza Sultan, Mirza Baig, Aziz Bhatt, Changez Bhatt, Behram Baig, ruled over Sott respectively.

Yehya Khan was succeeded by his son Salam Khan during the reign of Salaam Khan of Sott and Muhammad Ali Khan of Chiktan and Pashkum, the commander in chief of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu, Wazir Zorawar Singh attacked Purig and Ladakh. Muhammad Ali Khan was killed in battle while Salam Khan was taken to Jammu. Thus, Purig along with Ladakh and Baltistan came under kingdom of Maharaja Gulab Singh. The Dogra ruled over Purig from 1841-1947 when India got independence, Purig also become independent along with Jammu and Kashmir, but remained part of the state.

 

Culture:

 

Purig was very rich in its culture.

Culture of Purig like its race and language is mixture of three different tribes Mons, Mongols, and Aryans. In ancient times, they migrated from different parts of Asia having different types of culture. That is why the culture of Purig is mixture of these three, when we see it minutely; we find different influences of the above-mentioned tribes on Purig culture. It is obvious that this frame of culture was evolutionary not revolutionary.

 

Tibetan influence:

 

As we know that Ladakh and Purig were rationally, politically, and linguistically connected with Tibet, therefore its culture is naturally harmonious with Tibet. To understand this fact we must know the ancient connections of Purig and Ladakh with Tibet.

 

Geographical Influence:

 

Ladakh and Purig are wholly and solely a part of Tibet, which is equal to Indo-Pak in area, therefore, its culture and civilization is not different from Tibet. The geographical features like, high peak mountains, rivers, lakes, springs, glaciers, valleys, fields, woods, wild animals, birds etc. which is also found in Ladakh and Purig and these things also influenced on the culture of Ladakh and Purig. Like geographical alikeness, their way of living and language also influenced with Tibet. Therefore, the diet, dress, custom, and traditions of Ladakh, Purig, and Tibet are more alike.

 

Religious influence:

 

The culture of Purig was also influenced by Tibetan religion. Before the introduction of Buddhism, Bonism was prevailing in Purig, Tibet, and Ladakh. The founder of this religion was Shenrab Miwo from Gogay; this religion was introduced in Tibet first, the followers of this religion used to worship god and goddesses, moon, stars and natural sceneries. Their basic principles were found in their books, written documents, and local folk songs and stories. In addition, in sixth or seventh century, the downfall of influence of Bonism started and Buddhism was introduced. With the passage of time, this religion came to Ladakh and Purig via Tibet and 95 per cent of the population adopted the philosophy of Buddhism.

Aryan influence:

 

Beside Buddhism, Purig culture was influenced by Aryans. The Aryan race such as Darad and Mons came to Purig, Ladakh, and Zanskar with their own culture, and they had to face Tibetan tribes. Although the Tibetan population was very small at that time as compared to Aryans, but it gradually increased and became powerful. Accordingly, with the passage of time, the Aryan culture was influenced by Tibetan culture; therefore, Aryans especially Darad had to give up their gypsy life, began to live their life according to Tibetan way of life, and adopted agriculture as their profession. These changes gave a way to intermarriages and a new race, which was a mixture of Mongol and Aryan, came into being and was called Purig-pa. Now with the amalgamation of these two races Mongols and Aryans a new society came into existence. On these basis although the language was dominated by Aryan culture, the dialect remained Tibetan. In other words, the structure of language was Tibetan but it was decorated with Aryan language, Aryans has provided more vocabularies and change the shape of language but the structure has remained same as Tibetans. However, in customs, traditions, festivals, sports, and literatures Aryans and Tibetans were having equal contributions, and whenever they got an opportunity, they pushed forward their ancestral traditions.

 

Mons influence:

 

Because of some historical reasons Mons were considered low cast, so they were assigned the profession as musician, and they were considered as professional musician, their services used for singing purpose everywhere. Moreover, in marriage ceremonies, festivals, their presence were considered important. With the passage of time Darad, musicians were also known as Mons. Mons gave a good deal of improvement and progress to Ladakhi folk songs and kept the tradition alive. The Tibetan musical instruments were Daf, Sitar, Tambura, Rgaling, Murli, etc. while the Darad or Aryan musical instruments where Dholl, Damang and Surna1. Mons where very expert in playing these instruments and in present society these instruments where considered as memories of Mons. Beside these, Mons left some sign and symbols of their traditions, such as, Monskat (an ancient language of Mons) some typical words and proverbs.

 

Muslim influence:

 

In 14th century, Islam came in Purig, and Baltistan, and in a very short period, the whole area of Baltistan and 80 per cent of population of Purig became Muslims. The value of old culture began to change and many old customs, traditions and Melas vanished. Now in religious matters, instead of Tibet and Ladakh, Purig begin to approach Arab, Iran, and Kashmir, and in place of Buddhist language Arabic and Persian language were introduced in Baltistan and Purig. In literature the poetries were recited like Arabian and Persian pattern instead of Buddhist one. The Tibetan styled Gompas, Manays, and Lakhangs were converted into Imambaras, mosques. This way, many things changed. Beside these, the culture of Turkistan, Kashmir, and India also influenced the culture of Purig.

 

[Greater Kashmir]

 

[Note: Kargil is one of the two  districts in the Ladakh province subdivision that has a Muslim majority. The town and district of Kargil falls  in the U.N. recognised disputed state  of  Jammu and Kashmir. The town lies on the Line of Control (LOC), the defacto border for the two nations (India & Pakistan), located 120 km (75 miles) from Srinagar, facing the Northern Areas.

 

The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir. The cause of the war was the attack  of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, which serves as the de facto border between the two nations.]

 

Posted on 21 Feb 2008 by Webmaster