The article doesn't do justice for the Bhat Museum in Kargil. It's really cool seeing the proto-globalization that was increasingly common for us residents in the High Himalayas in the 19th and 20th century.
It also is difficult to describe how unique Inner/Central Asian culture is due to the syncretic nature of trade, as well as the isolation that arises due to valleys being cut off for several months of the year.
This lead to some interesting cultural artifacts such as marrying off daughters outside of your valley (to prevent incest), identifying a person's valley based on their surname, relic populations speaking language isolates, and much older cultural traditons remaining alive while dying out in much more connected and populated neighbors
My great-grandad also had stories like that of Munshi Bhat's of the various mountain trails and paths that connected Jammu, Manali, Leh, Kargil, Skardu, Kashgar, Karglik, Murghab, Changtang plains, etc.
There was a series on MTV India called "Way Back Home" [0]
that showed a lot of these small towns and the interconnections (albeit primarily concentrating on Upper Himachal and Leh).
Also, the old NH1 highway via Zojila is getting deprecated for an all-weather highway via Zanskar. A similar thing happened in neighboring Himachal with the Atal Tunnel connected Kullu Valley with Spiti Valley.
I have some recommendations of good museums and towns/villages to visit on the Indian side (Ladakh, Himachal, Jammu Division) if interested.
> I have some recommendations of good museums and towns/villages to visit on the Indian side (Ladakh, Himachal, Jammu Division) if interested.
Just post them. Somebody will pick it up now or later and non-linearity/network effects will then spread it further to other interested people. It is always illuminating to know more about the past and how things came to be.
The article doesn't do justice for the Bhat Museum in Kargil. It's really cool seeing the proto-globalization that was increasingly common for us residents in the High Himalayas in the 19th and 20th century.
It also is difficult to describe how unique Inner/Central Asian culture is due to the syncretic nature of trade, as well as the isolation that arises due to valleys being cut off for several months of the year.
This lead to some interesting cultural artifacts such as marrying off daughters outside of your valley (to prevent incest), identifying a person's valley based on their surname, relic populations speaking language isolates, and much older cultural traditons remaining alive while dying out in much more connected and populated neighbors
My great-grandad also had stories like that of Munshi Bhat's of the various mountain trails and paths that connected Jammu, Manali, Leh, Kargil, Skardu, Kashgar, Karglik, Murghab, Changtang plains, etc.
There was a series on MTV India called "Way Back Home" [0] that showed a lot of these small towns and the interconnections (albeit primarily concentrating on Upper Himachal and Leh).
Also, the old NH1 highway via Zojila is getting deprecated for an all-weather highway via Zanskar. A similar thing happened in neighboring Himachal with the Atal Tunnel connected Kullu Valley with Spiti Valley.
I have some recommendations of good museums and towns/villages to visit on the Indian side (Ladakh, Himachal, Jammu Division) if interested.
[0] - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sw-6C9zIEdU