Zanskar is a veritable Shangrila. Surrounded by extremely high mountains on all sides, it could only be accessed through dangerous and high passes with an access window of a few months only, during summer. The passes that ring Zanskar seem to echo out of history..... Umasi la, the Poat la, the Kang la from the Miyar Nala near Udaipur, the Shingola and further to the east the Phirtse la from the Sarchu plains. One of the most popular routes in, is over the Shingola pass. At 17,200 feet on the crest of the actual Great Himalaya range, the Shingo like the other high passes can only be crossed in late summer. The only motor road into Zanskar is across the Pensi la from the Suru valley.
The Pensi on wards the comparative lushness of the Suru gives way to Zanskar's bleak landscape which bye the way is also deceptive. Zanskar is home to myriads of high altitude flower species, all the more striking in the general barrenness of the terrain. This is a comparatively rare species - Aconitum Violacium. Aconite is the common name for perennial herbs of the genus Aconitum and for a preparation derived from them that was formerly used in medicine. The genus, with more than 100 species, belongs to the Buttercup family and is native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.
Aconites contain highly active alkaloids, especially aconitine, and are, inspite of their beauty, poisonous to both humans and animals.
Zanskar, geologically, is a function of two river valleys which join to meet a third. The Doda stream from the Pensi la meets up with the Lugnak near Padam to form the Zanskar river. The Doda valley due to it's glacial origins is a fairly wide valley while the Lugnok for most of it's course is a tremendous gorge
As it's name translates, Zanskar, or Copper Star, was, in centuries past, known throughout Ladakh and Western Tibet for it's whitish copper. This copper comes down through Zanskar's many streams and rivulets and is extracted from the sediments, near the villages of Zangla and Testa. This copper is used primarily for making vessels for religous and domestic purposes.
The mainstay of life in Zanskar is the intense religiosity of the people and their relationship to the monastery. There are 9 major Gompas or monasteries in Zanskar and dozens of smaller village ones. Every Buddhist family is affiliated to some monastery situated near the village. Usually, according to the lamaistic tradition, the youngest son from every family is sent to the monastery as a novice lama.
The ties between the village and the monastery are bound not only by family linkages, but socio-economic ties as well. No function, ceremony or celebration is possible without the religous services of the lamas and even decisions like sowing seeds, harvesting etc, are determined by the lamas, sometimes after consulting the appropriate oracle.
It is in the great Gompas of Zanskar, that the cultural traditions of the people are made manifest, and are preserved . Karsha is the largest Gelugpa monastery in Zanskar, it's foundation attributed to the great translator Rinchen Zangpo. The Gelugpa are the orthodox sect of Tibetan Buddhism owing allegiance to the Dalai Lama.
Some of the best specimens of mural art in all of Zanskar, are found at Karsha. Housed in a large structure called Labrang, access to which is through the roof, they represent five different Buddha manifestations.
This mural depicts the four headed Vairocana
The institutional structure of Tibetan feudalism was carried over to Zanskar and thus the monasteries are substantive landholders. In Zanskar, where arable land is strictly limited, it has made for another powerful link with the villagers, for most of these lands are cultivated by them on behalf of the Lamas. The monastery recieves grain and butter in return.
Butter, for the Trans-Himalayan peoples, has meanings not understandable easily by others. Butter is energy source, as well as light source, for it fuels the countless little lamps, found in all houses, and bigger ones in the monasteries. In the high, cold altitudes that these people inhabit, butter is their most important source of dietary fat. Drunk in tea, a misnomer, for it is more like a soup, with butter and salt, umpteen times a day. Butter is also applied as a salve on wounds, and of course counts as the ultimate gift. The most valued butter is made from Yak milk, which has a very high fat content.
The Zanskar economy still operates within the framework of a barter economy, dairy products like butter being amongst their most valuable trade products.
In winter , the Zanskar river is Zanskar's only access route, when the ice freezes thick on the river, it becomes a highway known as the Chador road, straight to Saspul in the Indus valley.
Zanskar Festival
Zanskar comprises a tri-armed valley system lying between the Great Himalayan Range and the Zanskar mountain; The three arms radiate star-like towards the west, north and south from a wide central expanse where the region's two principal drainage's meet to form the main Zanskar River. It is mainly along the course of this valley system that the region's 10,000 strong, mainly Buddhists population lives. Spread over an estimated geographical area of 5000 sq. kms. High rise, mountains and deep gorges surround Zanskar. The area remains inaccessible for nearly 8 months a year due to heavy snowfall resulting in closure of all the access passes, including the Penzi-la. To-day, Zanskar has the distinction of being the least interfered with microcosms of Ladakh, and one of the last few surviving cultural satellites of Tibet. Within the mountain ramparts of this lost Shangrila stand a number of ancient yet active monastic establishments. Some of these religious foundations have evolved around remote meditation caves believed to have been used by a succession of famous Buddhist saints for prolonged meditation in pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment.
The 240 km long Kargil-Padun road, of which the first 90 km stretch is paved, remains opened from around mid July to early November. In June, the summer is at its height in the region and the climate is ideal for trekking along the route free from vehicular traffic of any kind and when the countryside is freshly rejuvenated into life after months of frigid dormancy.