Nubra, also called Dumra, is a historical region of Ladakh, India[1] that is currently administered as a subdivision and a tehsil in the Leh district. Its inhabited areas form a tri-armed valley cut by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. Its Tibetan name Dumra means "valley of flowers".[2] Demands have been raised and BJP has hinted at creation of Nubra as a new district.[3]Diskit, the headquarters of Nubra, is 120 km north of Leh, the capital of Ladakh.
The Shyok River meets the Nubra River (or Siachan River) to form a large valley that separates the Ladakh and Karakoram Ranges. The Shyok river is a tributary of the Indus river. The average altitude of the valley is more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) above the sea level. The most common way to access this valley is to travel over the Khardung La pass from Leh.
Nubra (Tibetan: ནུབ་ར, Wylie: nub ra, THL: nup ra) means "western" in Ladakhi, thus referring to the "western valley", perhaps distinguishing it from the thinly-populated eastern Shyok river valley. The traditional name of the region is Dumra (Tibetan: ལྡུམ་ར, Wylie: ldum ra, THL: dum ra), meaning "valley of flowers".[2]
Geography
The region of Nubra is drained by the Shyok and Nubra rivers
Alexander Cunningham listed Nubra as one of the five natural and historical divisions of Ladakh.[5] Nubra occupies the northeastern portion of Ladakh, bordering Baltistan and Chinese Turkestan in the north, and the Aksai Chin plateau and Tibet in the east. In Cunningham's conception, Nubra includes all the region drained by the Nubra and Shyok rivers. it is 128 miles long and 72 miles wide, making up an area of 9,200 square miles. It extends south till the Pangong Lake.[6]
In modern nomenclature, the Nubra region is divided into "Diskit Nubra" in the north and the "Darbuk region" in the south, both of which are regarded as tehsils and subdivisions of the Leh district.[7] The Diskit Nubra region includes the Turtuk block populated by Balti people, which became a part of Indian-administered Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, and the unpopulated Siachen Glacier region.[8]
The populated part of Nubra is often described as a "tri-armed valley",[9]
the three arms being:[10]
the Nubra River Valley (divided into three sections called Yarma, Tśurka and Farka),[a]
Gyen, the upper Shyok valley from its southern bend till the confluence with the Nubra River, and
Shama, the lower Shyok valley from the confluence till the Chorbat area.[10]
The eastern Shyok valley is mostly unpopulated, even though it has numerous camping sites that have been used by trade caravans. Murgo is a village on the tributary called Murgo Nala.
Topography
The topography of Ladakh
Like the rest of the Tibetan Plateau, Nubra is a high altitude cold desert with rare precipitation and scant vegetation except along river beds. The villages are irrigated and fertile, producing wheat, barley, peas, mustard and a variety of fruits and nuts, including blood apples, walnuts, apricots and even a few almond trees. Most of Nubra is inhabited by Nubra dialect or Nubra Skat speakers. The majority are Buddhists. In the western or lowest altitude end of Nubra near the Line of Control i.e. the Indo-Pak border, along the Shyok River, the inhabitants of Turtuk are Balti of Gilgit-Baltistan, who speak Balti, and are Shia and Sufia Nurbakhshia Muslims.
Siachen Glacier lies to the north of the valley. The Sasser Pass and the famous Karakoram Pass lie to the northwest of the valley and connect Nubra with Uyghur (Mandarin : Xinjiang). Previously much trade passed through the area towards western China's Xinjiang and Central Asia. The people of Baltistan also used the Nubra valley for passage to Tibet.[11]
Places
Diskit town in the valley have become the congregation centre for people of the region. Diskit is the headquarters of Nubra and thus has lot of government offices with basic facilities. It is also connected by road with Leh.
Along the Nubra or Siachan River lie the villages of Sumur, Kyagar (called Tiger Hill by the Indian Army), Tirith, Panamik, Turtuk and many others.
Travel routes
Historical trade routes through Nubra and Aksai Chin (Sketch map by Henry Trotter, 1878)
The main road access to Nubra is over Khardung La which is open throughout the year. The highest elevation of Khardung La is 5,359 m (17,582 ft), its status as the highest motorable road in the world is no longer accepted by most authorities.[12] An alternative route, opened in 2008, crosses the Wari La from Sakti, to the east of Khardung La, connecting to the main Nubra road system via Agham and Khalsar along the Shyok River. There are also trekkable passes over the Ladakh Range from the Indus Valley at various points. Routes from Nubra to Baltistan and Yarkand, though historically important, have been closed since 1947 and 1950 respectively.
Tourism
Tourists riding Bactrian camels in HundarSand Dunes of Nubra valley.
The Nubra valley was open for tourists up to Hunder (the land of sand dunes) until 2010. The region beyond Hunder gives way to a greener region of Ladakh because of its lower altitude. The village of Turtuk which was unseen by tourists till 2010 is a virgin destination for people who seek peace and an interaction with a tribal community of Ladakh. The local Balti people follow their age old customs in their lifestyle and speak a language which oral and not yet written. For tourists Turtuk offers serene camping sites with environment friendly infrastructure.
Panamik is noted for its hot springs. Between Hundar and Diskit lie seven kilometres of sand dunes, and (two-humped) Bactrian camels graze in the neighbouring "forests" of seabuckthorn. Non-locals are not allowed below Hundar village into the Balti area, as it is a border area.
Monasteries
Maitreya - 33 metre symbol of peace facing West. Nubra Valley
The 32-metre Maitreya Buddha statue is the landmark of Nubra and is maintained by the Diskit Monastery. On the Shyok River, the main village, Diskit, is home to the dramatically positioned Diskit Monastery which was built in 14th century. Hundar was the capital of the erstwhile Nubra kingdom in the 17th century, and is home to the Chamba Gompa.
Samstanling Monastery is between Kyagar and Sumoor villages. Across the Nubra or Siachan River at Panamik, is the isolated Ensa Gompa.
Yarma Gompa, between Saser and Siachen Base Camp, is one of the large monastery belonging to the Drukpa Kagyu lineage and it manages the following village gompas, Tong-sted, Nyung-sted, Dungsa, Khemi, Tsang-lung-ka, Sarsoma, Aarunuk, Ayi, Kovet, Tangsa & Murgo. The senior to lower hierarchy of gompa administration is Lopon, Gye-nyen, Geylong, Gye-tsul, and cun-zung.[13]
The valley has been secluded as has been most of the exterior parts of Ladakh. Almost all of the region has been facing problems to get good quality education. There have been initiatives in the past by the government but extreme weather conditions and vicinity to the borders have been a major hurdle in implementing a solid education base. There is also migration of the population that gets exposed to the big cities of India and hence the people do not get benefitted out of their local learned population. There are very few Non-Government organizations active in Nubra region.
^Yarma is the upper part of the valley above Panamik, Tsurka is the right bank of the valley below Panamik, while Yarma is the left bank.
References
^Shakabpa, Oe Hundred Thousand Moons (2009), pp. 583–584 harvp error: no target: CITEREFShakabpa,_Oe_Hundred_Thousand_Moons2009 (help): "The Tibetan soldiers pursued the remaining troops as far as a place called Dumra,[10: These days, Dumra is called Nupra] just one day’s journey from Leh, where the Tibetan army pitched their camp."
^Cunningham, Ladak (1854), p. 18: "The natural divisions of the country are: 1st, Nubra on the Shayok; 2nd, Ladak Proper, on the Indus; 3rd, Zanskar, on the Zanskar river; 4th, Rukchu [Rupshu], around the lakes of Tshomo Riri [Tso Moriri] and Tsho-Kar; 5th, Purik, Suru, and Dras, on the different branches of the Dras river; 6th, Spiti, on the Spiti river: and 7th, Lahul, on the Chandra and Bhaga, or head-waters of the Chenab. These also are the actual divisions of the country, for the natural boundaries of a mountainous district generally remain unaltered, in spite of the changes wrought by war and religion. Ladak is divided politically between Maharaja Gulab Sing and the East-India Company. To the former belong all the northern districts, to the latter only the two southern districts of Lahul and Spiti."
Shakspo, Nawang Tsering (1999), "The Foremost Teachers of the Kings of Ladakh", in Martijn van Beek; Kristoffer Brix Bertelsen; Poul Pedersen (eds.), Recent Research on Ladakh 8, Aarhus University Press, pp. 284–, ISBN978-87-7288-791-3
Vohra, Rohit (1990), "Mythic Lore and Historical Documents from Nubra Valley in Ladakh", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Akadémiai Kiadó, 44 (1/2): 225–239, JSTOR23658122
External links
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