Tangtse Drangtse | |
---|---|
Village | |
Coordinates: 34°01′49″N78°10′04″E / 34.0301500°N 78.1677300°E | |
Country | India |
Union Territory | Ladakh |
District | Leh |
Tehsil | Durbuk |
Government | |
• Councillor | Tashi Namgyal Yakzee [1] |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 681 |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
Census code | 874 |
Tangtse [2] or Drangtse [3] [lower-alpha 1] (Tibetan : བྲང་རྩེ, Wylie : brang rtse, THL : drang tsé) [11] [12] is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. [6] It is located in the Durbuk tehsil. Traditionally, it was regarded as the border between the Nubra region to the north and the Pangong region to the south. It was a key halting place on the trade route between Turkestan and Tibet. [11] [lower-alpha 2] It was also a site of wars between Ladakh and Tibet.
During the Jammu and Kashmir princely rule, Tangtse was the headquarters of an ilaqa (subdistrict), whose territory included the Pangong Lake area, the Chang Chenmo Valley and the Aksai Chin plateau. Tangtse was also a key halting place on the Chang Chenmo route to Turkestan, via the Chang Chenmo Valley and Aksai Chin, which the British tried to promote for a few decades.
Tangtse is one of the 26 constituencies of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Leh district. Following the 2020 election, the Councillor for Tangste is Tashi Namgyal Yakzee, who is also in the Executive Council. [1]
Tangtse is located at the intersection of two major strands of the Karakoram fault system, called the Tangtse fault and the Pangong fault. The two faults sandwich the Pangong Range, at the northern periphery of which lies the village of Tangtse. [14]
The Tangtse fault is home to the Lung or Long valley, divided into three sections: Long Kongma, Long Parma and Long Yogma (the upper, middle and lower sections). [lower-alpha 3] In modern maps, the entire valley is labelled as Loi Yogma without any division into sections. The Tangtse River (or Lung Chu) flows through the valley, draining the western slopes of the Pangong Range as well as the eastern slopes of the Ladakh Range. It flows past Tangtse to join the Shyok River near Durbuk.
The Pangong fault was once home to a "Pangong River" which flowed through its valley during the pleistocene. But the river has been dammed by tectonic activity and has turned into the present Pangong Lake. The valley of the erstwhile effluent of the lake now houses the Mughlib stream, which joins the Tangtse River near the village of Tangtse. [15] [16] [17] Even though the Ladakhis had no knowledge of the erstwhile "Pangong River" (it having predated the birth of humanity), they preserve a myth that the waters flowing into the Mughlib stream, from a "scanty spring at Wangtong", represent the filtered waters of the Pangong Lake. [18] The Ladakhis thus regard the Tangtse village lying at the northwestern end of the Pangong Lake. [19]
From Tangtse, one is able to travel to Rudok and Gartok in Tibet via a number of routes, while Tangtse is also close to the Central Asian caravan route via Durbuk and the Karakoram Pass. According to Moravian Tibetologist F. A. Peter, there is evidence of the route having been used for centuries between Turkestan and Tibet. [11] Historian Janet Rizvi has also acknowledged that the trade route between Turkestan and Tibet passed through Ladakh. [13]
Tangtse lies at the border between the Nubra region (traditionally called Dumra) and the Pangong region. It played a key role in the two wars between the Ladakhis and Tibetans, the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War (1679–1684) and the Dogra–Tibetan War (1841–1842).
In 1679, the Tibetan forces under the command of Galdan Chhewang fought an advance guard of Ladakhi forces in Guge (West Tibet). After defeating them, they invaded Ladakh itself. The route taken by the Tibetans is believed to have been via Rudok, Chushul and the Lung Chu valley. [20] The Ladakhis joined the battle at Lung-Khung (Long Kongma) and repulsed the attack. [21] [22]
The following year, Tibet sent formidable reinforcements (estimated at 5,000 troops along with several seasoned commanders) and the Tibetans returned. A battle was fought at the "foot of the Chang La pass", which would again indicate the valley between Durbuk and Tangtse. Cunnigham gives the location of the final battle as Balaskya and Petech as dPal-rgyas. [23] [24] The Ladakhis were roundly defeated and withdrew to the fort of Basgo in northern Ladakh. After a three-year siege, they requested assistance from the Mughal forces in Kashmir, who fought off the Tibetans and chased them to the Pangong area. [25]
Rudok and Guge, which were previously under the control of Ladakh, slipped out of Ladakhi hands. In 1684, they agreed to respect the new borders in a Treaty of Tingmosgang.
After the defeat of the Zorawar Singh's forces in West Tibet, the Tibetans were incited by Ladakhi rebels, who wanted to overthrow the Dogras ensconced in Ladakh. Apparently to lend support to them, the Tibetan forces marched to Ladakh and camped at "Dumra". [26] The most likely location of this encampment is in the valley between Tangtse and Durbuk. It is reported that Lhasa dispatched additional 5,000 troops to join them here. [27] The Tibetan accounts say that they established a defence post at "Lung-wu" (Long Yogma), [28] which was described as a place between "Rudok and the Pangong Lake". [29] [30] [lower-alpha 4]
The Ladakhi rebels had declared their minor king Jigmet Senge Namgyal as an independent ruler. He wrote to the Sikh emperor Sher Singh stating that he had submitted to the Chinese emperor and offered truce terms to the Sikhs. [32] No response was received. After the arrival of reinforcements led by Dewan Hari Chand and Wazir Ratanu, the Dogras challenged the Tibetan encampments at Tangtse and the Long Yogma valley. Skirmishes continued for several days with a loss of 300 men for the Dogras. Eventually, the Dogras employed a decisive flooding tactic, following a suggestion from a Nubra chieftain, which dislodged the Tibetans from their trenches and led to a Dogra victory. [33]
Afterwards a 'Treaty of Chushul' was agreed by the two sides, restoring the status quo ante bellum. The Ladakhi ruler was granted privileges appropriate to his rank. Trade and diplomatic missions were restored to their traditional mode.
During the Dogra rule, Tankse was the headquarters of a subdistrict (a kardari, often called an ilaqa), which controlled access to the Chang Chenmo Valley. Phobrang, Chushul, and Durbuk were under its control. [34]
The Chang Chenmo route to Central Asia passed through Tankse, which the British attempted to promote as the main trade route between Leh and Yarkand in the late 19th century. Tankse was described as a large village with 50 houses. It had a rest house and a government supply depot. Travellers were advised to procure their supplies here, to sustain themselves till reaching Sanju, about 350 miles away. [34]
With the eruption of the Sino-Indian border dispute in the late 1950s, the Indian government had ample documents from the time of Dogra administration to demonstrate that the Chang Chenmo Valley and the Aksai Chin plateau belonged to Ladakh. [35] The Kashmir state records classified these regions as part of the Tankse ilaqa and revenue records were available with regular assessments and settlements of revenue. The revenue maps showed the large stretches of uninhabited territories, which are now occupied by China, as part of the Tankse ilaqa. [36]
Tangtse is a well-known and important site of Tocharian, Sogdian, Śārāda and Arabic inscriptions. [37] [38] A Franco-Indian Archaeological Mission in Ladakh called the rock art at Tangste as "the most important" site for rock art in Ladakh, providing information about Ladakh towards the end of the 1st millennium AD. [38] The mission found "about 300 petroglyphs" and "almost 70 rock inscriptions in various scripts". [38] Some authors classify some of the signs here as tamgas. [39] Volutes can be seen on some of the inscriptions of animals. [40] Compositions from Ruthok and Tangtse are noted to be similar. [41]
According to the 2011 census of India, Tangtse has 126 households. The effective literacy rate (i.e. the literacy rate of population excluding children aged 6 and below) is 69.93%. [7]
Total | Male | Female | |
---|---|---|---|
Population | 681 | 356 | 325 |
Children aged below 6 years | 79 | 45 | 34 |
Scheduled caste | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scheduled tribe | 679 | 355 | 324 |
Literates | 421 | 261 | 160 |
Workers (all) | 400 | 198 | 202 |
Main workers (total) | 191 | 123 | 68 |
Main workers: Cultivators | 73 | 40 | 33 |
Main workers: Agricultural labourers | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Main workers: Household industry workers | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Main workers: Other | 111 | 78 | 33 |
Marginal workers (total) | 209 | 75 | 134 |
Marginal workers: Cultivators | 176 | 55 | 121 |
Marginal workers: Agricultural labourers | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Marginal workers: Household industry workers | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Marginal workers: Others | 32 | 20 | 12 |
Non-workers | 281 | 158 | 123 |
A solar power plant in Tangtse provides electricity for five hours every day to about 350 households. Previously, a government diesel generator provided electricity. [42] The area has cellular network connectivity. [43] The Indian Army also has renewable energy infrastructure here including a wind farm. [44] [45] Ground water resources have also been developed here with the help of Indian geologist Ritesh Arya. [46]
Tangtse, in the Ladakh Range, lies on Leh-Karu-Sakti-Zingral-Tangtse-Pangong Lake motorable road. Karu, which lies on Leh-Manali NH-3, connects Tangtse to Leh and the rest of India.
Between Zingral and Tangtse there are two motorable asphalt roads. The shorter router is through Zingral-Ke La pass-Taruk (Tharuk)-Tangtse alignment. The Kela Pass on this route, one of the world's highest motorable road and pass at the height of 5,669.28 m or 18,600.0 ft, provides tourists access to the Lalok region of Ladakh. [47] [48] Other alternate route is through Zingral-Chang La-Durbuk-Tangtse alignment, [47] on which the Chang La pass lies at the height of 5,391.3024 m or 17,688.000 ft. [49] [50]
Parma Valley Advanced Landing Ground or Parma ALG is a proposed aerodrome located in the Parma Valley (Long Parma). [51] [52]
Ladakh is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India and China since 1959. Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north. It extends from the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, but has been under Chinese control.
Kargil district is a district in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir-region. It is one of the two districts comprising the Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh. The district headquarters are in the city of Kargil. The district is bounded by the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the west, the Pakistani-administered administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, Ladakh's Leh district to the east, and the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south. Encompassing three historical regions known as Purig, Dras and Zanskar, the district lies to the northeast of the Great Himalayas and encompasses the majority of the Zanskar Range. Its population inhabits the river valleys of the Dras, Suru, Wakha Rong, and Zanskar.
Kargil or Kargyil is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. </ref> It is the joint capital of Ladakh, an Indian-administered union territory. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located 204 kilometres (127 mi) east of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, and 234 kilometres (145 mi) to the west of Leh. It is on the bank of the Suru River near its confluence with the Wakha Rong river, the latter providing the most accessible route to Leh.
Rudok, also spelt Rutok and Rutog, more properly Rudok Dzong, is a town that served as the historical capital of the Rudok area in Western Tibet on the frontier with Ladakh. In the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, it is described as being "picturesquely situated" on the side of a hill standing isolated in the plain near the east end of Lake Pangong.
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.
Ladakh is an administrative territory of India that has been under its control since 1947. The geographical region of Ladakh union territory is the highest altitude plateau region in India, incorporating parts of the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River and valley.
Zorawar Singh was a military general of the Dogra Rajput ruler, Gulab Singh of Jammu. He served as the governor (wazir-e-wazarat) of Kishtwar and extended the territories of the kingdom by conquering Ladakh and Baltistan. He also boldly attempted the conquest of Western Tibet but was killed in battle of To-yo during the Dogra-Tibetan war. In reference to his legacy of conquests in the Himalaya Mountains including Ladakh, Tibet, Baltistan and Skardu as General and Wazir, Zorowar Singh has been referred to as the "Napoleon of India", and "Conqueror of Ladakh".
Marsimik La or Marsemik La, also called Lankar La, elevation 5,582 metres (18,314 ft) is a high mountain pass in the Chang Chenmo Range in the Indian union territory of Ladakh, 96 km (60 mi) east of Leh as the crow flies. Ladakh's route to the Chang Chenmo Valley traverses the pass.
Minsar or Moincêr is a village and the centre of a township in the Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet region of China. It is legally an enclave of India in Tibet, occupied by China since 1959.
The Kongka Pass or Kongka La is a low mountain pass on the Line of Actual Control between India and China in eastern Ladakh. It lies on a spur of the Karakoram range that intrudes into the Chang Chenmo Valley adjacent to the disputed Aksai Chin region. China claimed the location as its border in a 1956 map, and attacked an Indian patrol party in 1959 killing ten policemen and apprehending ten others. Known as the Kongka Pass incident, the event was a milestone in the escalation of the border dispute between the two countries.
Lhachen Palgyigon was the founding king of the Kingdom of Maryul, based in modern Ladakh.
Maryul, also called mar-yul of mnga'-ris, was the western most Tibetan kingdom based in modern-day Ladakh and some parts of Tibet. The kingdom had its capital at Shey.
The Dogra–Tibetan war or Sino-Sikh war was fought from May 1841 to August 1842, between the forces of the Dogra nobleman Gulab Singh of Jammu, under the suzerainty of the Sikh Empire, and those of Tibet, under the protectorate of the Qing dynasty. Gulab Singh's commander was the able general Zorawar Singh Kahluria, who, after the conquest of Ladakh, attempted to extend its boundaries in order to control the trade routes into Ladakh. Zorawar Singh's campaign, suffering from the effects of inclement weather, suffered a defeat at Taklakot (Purang) and Singh was killed. The Tibetans then advanced on Ladakh. Gulab Singh sent reinforcements under the command of his nephew Jawahir Singh. A subsequent battle near Chushul in 1842 led to a Tibetan defeat. A treaty was signed in 1842 maintaining the status quo ante bellum.
The Khurnak Fort is a ruined fort on the northern shore of Pangong Lake, which spans eastern Ladakh in India and Rutog County in the Tibet region of China. The area of the Khurnak Fort is disputed by India and China, and has been under Chinese administration since 1958.
Demchok , previously called New Demchok, and called Parigas by the Chinese, is a village and military encampment in the Indian-administered Demchok sector that is disputed between India and China. It is administered as part of the Nyoma tehsil in the Leh district of Ladakh by India, and claimed by China as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Durbuk or Darbuk, is a village and the headquarters of the eponymous subdivision and block in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Durbuk tehsil, and falls between Chang La mountain pass and Tangste village on the way to Pangong Tso Lake.
Hot Springs is a campsite and the location of an Indian border outpost in the Chang Chenmo River valley in Ladakh near the disputed border with China. It is so named because there is a hot spring at this location. The Line of Actual Control near Kongka Pass is only 3 kilometres (2 mi) to the east.
Chang Chenmo River or Changchenmo River is a tributary of the Shyok River, part of the Indus River system. It is at the southern edge of the disputed Aksai Chin region and north of the Pangong Lake basin.
The Demchok sector is a disputed area named after the villages of Demchok in Ladakh and Demchok in Tibet, situated near the confluence of the Charding Nullah and Indus River. It is a part of the greater Sino-Indian border dispute between China and India. Both China and India claim the disputed region, with a Line of Actual Control between the two nations situated along the Charding Nullah.
Tashigang (Tibetan: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་, Wylie: bkra shis sgang, THL: tra shi gang, transl. "auspicious hillock"), with a Chinese spelling Zhaxigang , is a village in the Gar County of the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. The village forms the central district of the Zhaxigang Township. It houses an ancient monastery dating to the 11th century.
Until the illegal Chinese occupation of the Aksai Chin in the 1950s there was no direct route linking Chinese central Asia and central Tibet; in fact trade between Yarkand and Lhasa was carried on via the Karakoram route and Leh.