CHAPTER TWO

LADAKH

The Ladakhi chronicles, the Ladakh Gyalrabs, compiled in around the seventeenth century, refer to several dynasties of kings, some of which were said to be descended from Gesar, the mythical Tibetan hero (Francke 1998: Ch V; Petech 1977: 16).1 The account of Hye Ch’o, a Korean pilgrim who travelled through the Himalayas between 724 and 727, indicates that Buddhism was already being practised in Ladakh, having probably penetrated along trade routes from Kashmir, even before the Tibetans assumed control of the region in around 663 (Luczanits 2005). With the collapse of the Tibetan empire in 842 the area dissolved into a series of principalities, however, and the chronicles refer to warfare and raiding, which was particularly problematic during the harvest season (Petech 1977: 13). In the tenth century a new state was established in Purang, south of Mount Kailash in western Tibet, by descendants of the central Tibetan monarchy and this came to incorporate a large part of Ladakh. Buddhism re-entered Ladakh under the Dro clan, of elite central Tibetan descent, who established a small principality in Ladakh.2 This then became the basis of the Ladakhi kingdom, as the family extended its influence and local rulers were forced to pay them tribute (Petech 1977: 17-18; Lucza- nits 2005). As Buddhism flourished in central Tibet over the following centuries, its influence in Ladakh increased. King Lhachen Gyalpo is said to have established Likir monastery, probably in the early 12th century (Petech 1977: 18-19), and subsequent Ladakhi kings patronised new monastic establishments. By 1450 the Gelukpa sect, which had been established in Tibet by the great Buddhist teacher Tsongkapa, had penetrated Ladakh, and the monasteries of Spituk, Tikse, Karsha and Puktal, along

1 The chronicles, analysed by Petech (1977) and Francke (1926, 1998), are the best source, albeit not a wholly reliable one, for the period up to the 15th century. 2 In accordance with Ladakhi tradition (e.g. Nawang Tsering Shakspo 1997), Bud- dhism was re-introduced into the region by the great Tibetan teacher Lotsava Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055). However, the earliest surviving Buddhist monuments, such as the temple complex at Alchi, are now attributed to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries (Luczanits 2005). 18 CHAPTER TWO with the Sakyapa monastery of Matho, had all been founded (Howard 1997: 121). An edict carved on a rock at Mulbe, dating from this period, records an order by the king, in the name of Tsongkapa, that animal sacrifices be abolished. However, another inscription on the same rock by the people of Mulbe claims that the order was too hard to execute, for what would the local deity say if the goat were withheld from him? (Francke 1998: 79)3 This tension between the orthodox Buddhism of the religious establishments and more locally-rooted ritual practices is a recurrent theme in the history of Buddhism in both Tibet and Ladakh. Between 1394 and 1416, the Moghuls, who had recently conquered Kashmir, invaded Baltistan and the subsequent history of Ladakh is punctuated by invasions from Kashmir and wars with the Moghuls (Petech 1977: 23, 26-28, 30). The period 1450 to 1550, the interregnum between the Lhachen and the Namgyal dynasties of Ladakhi kings, was particularly troubled (Howard 1997). Baltistan was the first area of greater Ladakh to adopt Islam, probably in the early fifteenth century (Francke 1998: 90), and a number of mosques had been established in Purig and Baltistan by 1500 (Howard 1997: 122). Over the course of several centuries the majority of the population in what is now the Kargil Block adopted Islam. Kashmiri traders also established bases along their routes, bringing Islam to Leh and its surroundings. From the sixteenth century onwards Ladakh flourished under the Namgyal dynasty of kings, who extended their kingdom from Purig, in the east, to Guge, now part of Tibet, in the west (Petech 1977: 28). They were adherents of the Kargyud sect of Tibetan Buddhism and founded a number of monasteries, including Hemis, Phyang, Stakna, Hanle and Chemre. There were subsequent tensions between the Drukpa and Gelukpa monasteries in Ladakh, influenced by relations between the two sects in Tibet. However, Hemis, of the Drukpa Kargyud order, was patronised by the Ladakhi kings and remains the richest and most influential in the region today. The Namgyal kings engaged alternately in warfare and peaceful relations with Balti and Kashmiri rulers, on the one hand, and Tibetan leaders on the other. Jamyang Namgyal, for example, was disastrously defeated by Ali Mir, ruler of Skardu, in the early seventeenth century. Thereafter he patronised Tibetan monasteries and invited the great Drukpa monk Staktsang Raspa to Ladakh, under whose influence several

3 Petech is of the opinion that the reliability of Francke’s record of inscriptions is not great (1977: 3). However, the story probably represents a significant historical tradition.