Prof. (Dr) R.D. Gupta
Tourism has been officially recognized as an industry and it, therefore, has to be managed accordingly. Entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, extending from the subtropical plains of Jammu in the south to the temperate valley of Kashmir in the north and the cold desert of Ladakh in the north across the mighty Himalayas, possesses immense tourism potential.
Ladakh province of Jammu and Kashmir State, geographically located between, 32o 15′ to 36o 01′ north latitude and 75o 15′ to 80o 34′ east longitude, constitutes about 70 per cent of the total area of the state. It is the highest inhabited territory in India and second highest in the world. However, this region of Jammu and Kashmir is sparsely populated. Its population was 2 lakhs according to 2011 census. The state of affairs of the inhabitants is such that the inhabitants living from 2800 m to 5000m are carefree, hardworking and stout, though they are living in one of the world’s worst scourged areas.
Ladakh is the only considerable territory in this land of Buddha, where still the Buddhists dwell in predominantly. Its Buddhists culture, its Lamas and Gompas (monks and the monasteries), have made it favourable with tourists from all over the world ever since it was opened to tourists in 1974. In 1979, Ladakh was divided into two administrative districts of Leh and Kargil, Leh and Zanskar are predominantly Buddhists, while Kargil has Muslim majority of Shia.
The land of Lamas and Gompas is a place of immense attraction for the tourists whose number swelled from 500 in 1974 to above 8,500 till August 2011. Due to militancy in Kashmir Valley, the tourist influx in this part of the state has increased year after year. To develop this cold desert region as an ideal tourist area, the State Government has started organizing annual Ladakh festival for the last couple of years which attracted a large number of domestic and foreign tourists. A week long fair (mela) is organized in the 3rd week of August every year by the Tourism Department. In order to promote tourism, a number of Hotels and paying guest houses have come up in the private sector. The humble guest houses are the heros of Ladakh tourism. A bulk of the tourists coming to Leh prefer to stay in them. There are about 185 registered guest houses in the district. Every year a large number of foreign and home tourists visit the land of Lamas which still has a vast tourism potential. Tourists especially from Europe, United States, Japan, Mangolia Srilanka and Buddhists countries come here in good number. Gompas are the main attraction of these tourists.
Ladakh, as a matter of fact, is emerging as one of the major tourist attractions in the country and has carved out a niche on the world tourist map. The tourism industry is gaining momentum in this region due to its distinct landscape and unique cultural heritage. Ladakh which was almost devoid of tree cover in the past is now full of tall lush green trees, all over. Efforts by the Forest Department are a foot to plant such species which are of fast growing.
Ladakh has a number of Gompas like Hemis Gompa, Mulbukh, Alchi, Bazgo, Shay, Thisky, Shankar, Lamaguru. However, Hemis Goimpa is the biggest and the richest Gompa of Ladakh. This monastery came to fore about 399 years ago. It was restructured in 1822 by the king of Ladakh. Hempis Gompa is well known for its annual fair (mela) which attracts a large number of visitors both domestic and outsiders. This is the only festival which is held during summer, while festivals and fairs of all over monasteries are celebrated in winter.
Ladakh has now become favourable destination among the domestic tourists in the country. People associated with the tourism industry in Leh were claiming that 2011 year, has remained number one tourism destination in the country and ranked 20th in Asia on the basis of search on Google Search Engine. A record of number of tourists about 80,000 including 70 per cent from within the country visited Leh till the mid of July (Dolma, 2011). The tourism industry is now expecting that arrival of tourists will cross more than a lakh which would be a new record.
To promote tourism, the Jammu and Kashmir Government is also organizing annual festival on the bank of the river Indus which has been named as Sindhu Darshan at Leh besides a separate festival at the Kargil for alluring more and more tourists. The main features of the festival are polo-matches, mask dance, archery competition, music concert, famous exhibition, river rafting and photo exhibition etc.
The river Indus is the gift of Ladakh which gushes through diverse types of rocks and its majestic flow has added charm to the tourists who visit the Ladakh.
Of the lesser known worth seeing places of Ladakh, Leh palace is one of them, which was constructed in 17th century as a royal residence for the King Singh Namgyal. It is nine stories high and provides spectacular view of the snow clad mountains and landscape. It displays an excellent example of medieveal Tibetan architecture. The palace is open to the tourists on all seven days of the week and imparts a panoramic view of Leh town.
The Nubra valley with its Bactrian camels and the sand dunes are very fascinating for the tourists. Shyok valley is another attracting place for the tourists. Nubra and Shyok valleys are important part of the famous trade route from Kashmir to Yarkhand which was a branch of the famous silk route.
Like other regions of India, Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir is also a cultural gold mine. It is rich in various forms of dances and these dances have been passed from one generation to another. Traditionally 360 variants of dances existed in early times but now a days only few of them are preserved and are in vogue. While Ladakhis are performing dances, the tourists enjoy a lot. It is point to mention that some of the tourists start to dance with Ladakhi dancers.
Karsha monastery is the largest in Zanskar region. It is on a hill side with commanding views of the entire valley and main Himalayas to the south. The monastery attracts monks from many villages and at any one time 100 monks may be in attendance. This site was founded in 10th century. The tourist complex at Padum provides well furnished rooms for staying of tourists.
Zanskar is one of the favourite destination of foreign tourists especially those of Europe. A number of tourists who once visited particularly Chaddar Road, the life line of Zanskar, they always praise the beauty of Zanskar valley and always express their longing to visit again. Zanskar, infact, is well known as Chaddar Road. Chadder here means an ice sheet on the river channel during winter, which flows southward of Zanskar river only to join the Indus river at Leh near Nimoo village. This river is formed by two tributaries one called Stod river originating from the huge Drangdrung glacier and the other Tserap river which possesses its source from Shingkulla. These two rivers flow opposite to each other until join together near Karsha village to form the mighty zanzkar river. Then it enters a narrow gorge passing along Zangla and Pishu villages. Thereafter, it joins the river Indus at Nimoo popularly known as “Confluence” of the Zanskar and the Indus river which has now become a tourist attraction spot for the tourists.
Zanskar is a tri-armed valley located between the Great Himalayan Range and Zanskar mountains, the three arms radiating star-like towards the west north and south from a wide central expanse. It sprawls over an estimated geographical area of 5,000 Km of mountainous territory. Once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Zanskar, Padum is the present day administrative centre of Zanskar subdivision of Kargil district. Its older section, comprising of interconnected with Adobe houses and several high rise shortens, surround a boulder strewn hillock, site of the erstwhile palace and fort.
Pangong Tso lake is another popular tourist attraction in Leh. The lake offers awesome site for camping and is the current hotspot for all people visiting Ladakh. It is remarkable to note that Pangong Tso lake is the best breath-takingly beautiful water body from 3 Idiots where Kareena Kapoor confessed her love. Apart from this, Ladakh is one of the alluring place for the geologists, botanists, zoologists and environmentalists due to the occurrence of various kinds of rocks, flora and fauna as well as wide difference of physical and biological environments. Above all, the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir harbours a number of medicinal herbs. A brief description of such plant species and their therapeutic uses has been compiled and tabulated (Sharma and Mir, 2003).
(The author is ex Associate Dean Cum Chief Scientist KVK, SKUAST, Jammu)
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