He is an acknowledged Historian and an award-winning Writer. He literally needs no introduction to Ladakh's literary society. With 14 published books in his baggage with much more unpublished, his works have won him awards, honorarium, and recognition to the extent that his works, originally in Urdu, has been translated into English, Hindi, German, Telegu, Malayalam, Kashmiri, and Bengali. Two of his piece were also included in the syllabus of J&K and Maharashtra Board Examinations.

He is much sought after for his opinions and in-depth knowledge of the history of Ladakh. He is an active member of International Association of Ladakh Studies. He has presented papers on Ladakh and related subject at various international colloquium and symposium at Oxford in England,  Brazil in South Africa,  Bonn in Germany, Bristol in England, Aurhus in Denmark,  Islamabad in Pakistan, Rome in Italy and certainly, Ladakh in India.

More than fifty of his short stories have appeared in different leading Urdu journals in India, He won the best book award of his novel Dil He to Hai. Currently, he is working on a compilation of short stories, which he says is due by the end of the year.

He says: "As a Historian, my biggest challenge is to read the text sources of Ladakhi and Tibetan history since the reliable and most authentic books on Ladakh were written in the Tibetan language. I still regret not studying Tibetan script" and talks about the importance of studying Bhoti language.

Dear readers, let us hear from Abdul Ghani Sheikh, 78, about his story and interesting facts about Ladakh, which will shed some light on our exiguous understanding of the history of Ladakh.

Q. Tell us a brief about yourself,  your childhood and educational background.

March 5, 1936, is the date I have on my birth certificate. When I was a child, like most of them in Ladakh, parents here hardly keep a track of the accurate date of birth of their children, because majority of our elder generation were uneducated. So, keeping the record of DOB wasn’t their priority. I  received my primary to middle education from the Government Middle School, Leh, which was the first governmental school in Ladakh. Fortunately,  during my studies there, in 1950, the school was upgraded with 10th Standard. Thus, I studied till class 10th in the same school.  

After that, my classmates went to Srinagar for higher studies, but I couldn’t as my parents can't afford it. Since I longed to study further, I sat for Adib Fazil exam: a special examination in the Urdu language. The advantage was; one can study BA English (honours) if one got through the said exam. I got through.  I obtained my MA History honors through a correspondent course.

Life was hard; there were no mode of modern transportation and communication and preparing exams were tough as well. Studying was a big challenge. I think, perhaps, I am the first Post Graduate student from Ladakh who obtained the degree privately.

I sat for Civil Service examination called Indian Information Service through Union Public Service Commission.  I qualified. Thus, work with different governmental media: Press Information Bureau, All India Radio and in the field of publicity department.

While I was working with various media departments, I had to undergo media related training. So, I got trained at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication for 6 months. I was the Headmaster for Timisgang School for a year and after four years, I was transferred to Leh for a year.

FAMILY

I belong to Argon tribe. My great grandmother and grandfather were Buddhist.  My ancestors hailed from Kashmir. With trade connection in Ladakh, they came to Ladakh. They got married to Ladakhis and settled here.

Q. You were a Journalist, a teacher and now a Historian and a writer. How do you develop an interest in history and became a Historian?

When I was in school,  I was keenly interested in Literature and Ladakh's history. Even though the English language was in the curriculum, Urdu language was used as a medium of instruction. I will tell you an unfortunate fact: Muslims elders had a wrong perception of Bhoti Language. Instead of Bhoti language, they prefer to study Arabi, which wasn’t that necessary. As a Historian, my biggest challenge is to read the text sources of Ladakhi and Tibetan history, since the best and most authentic books were written in the Tibetan language. I still regret not studying Tibetan script.

During my early days, I was inquisitive and keen to know about the history of Ladakh. I have read many Urdu books written by eminent writers. Those times, there were only two good books written on History of Ladakh. One book was written by Wasir Hashmat Ullah Khan, a scholar who undertook extensive research on History of Ladakh. Other book titled History of Western Tibet by A.S. Francky. But, the book was not available in Ladakh. Later, when I first laid my hand on the history book by Hashmat Ullah Khan, I was so impatient to narrate it to my students in Timisgang. We had a class called Information Class, where teachers share information with students.

There was a research center at Srinagar. During my stay there, I often go there to read books. They would not lend books.  Since copy machines were absent those days, I literally had hand-written and copied around approximately 30-50 books.

S.S.Gergan, a Ladakhi historian (father of E.S.Gergan, principal of Moravian Mission School, Leh) has written books on Ladakh in Bhoti language. He has a good collection of books about Ladakh. I used to visit him occasionally so that I could go through those books. He too wouldn't lend books not only because those books were rare, but he seemingly had a bad experience of people not returning the books. Later on, more books were reprinted. Many wrote about Ladakh. In the 1980s, Lucino Petech wrote 'The Kingdom of Ladakh'. It was one of the most authentic and informative books written on the history of Ladakh. Not only does he visit Ladakh frequently,  in the early 1930s he came to Ladakh for his Ph.D.'s thesis and wrote a dissertation on 'Chronicles of Ladakh' for, he also has good command over the Tibetan language. After that, many Westerners began to doing research on Ladakh and its history. I met researcher friends from Europe and US. They brought me many books written on Ladakh and I get to read them often. Thus, I write up whatever information I gathered from these books.

I have been researching and writing about Ladakh since the 1950s. J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages publishes a literary Urdu journal called  Shiraza, I am regular writer of the journal.

Q. Tell us about your books and other publications.

So far I have written 17 books: 14 of them were published (two English and twelve in Urdu), three books which were not published were supposed to be published by different departments but didn’t happen. On the birth centenary of Gandhiji, the J&K Academy of Art, Language, and Culture department held a competition where contestants had to write about Gandhiji and his philosophy. I won the competition and they were to publish it, but they didn’t. In the 1980s, on International Children Year, the state government invited manuscript for children, I wrote Ladakh ki Seer and Kitaboon ki Duniya which was n’t publish but received awards for the scripts.

The list of published books were: Dil He to Hai(Novel), Wo Zamana (Novel), Zojila Ke Aar Paar (Anthology of short stories), Doraha (Anthology of short stories), Sonam Norbu (a Biography), Forsaking Paradise (collection of short stories in English), Qalam, Qalamkar Aur Kitab (Literary write-up), Ladakh Tehzib-O-Saqafat, Reflections on Ladakh, Tibet and Central Asia, Islam Aur Science, Ladakh After 1947, Ladakh-Muhaqqun or Sayahun  ki Nazar Mein. I can't remember the name of the other two.

I received best book award for Dil He to Hai from J&K Cultural Academy, Srinagar. Two novels were translated and published in English by Dr. Ravina Aggarwal, who was an Assistance Professor in a US college. Ladakh-Muhaqqun or Sayahun ki Nazar Mein was published by National Book Trust of India. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India published Qulam, Qulamkar Aur Kitab. More than fifty short stories have appeared in different leading Urdu journals in India, twelve of which were translated into English, the same number to Hindi, two in German, one each in Telegu, Malayalam, Bengali, and Kashmiri. One such story is included in the syllabus of J&K Board of Higher Secondary Education. Extracts of the short stories were also included in Maharashtra Board of Higher Secondary Education. I received an honorarium for that story.

At present, I am working on the fourth 'Collection of short stories', which hopefully will be published by coming March or maybe earlier.

Q. You were a member of the International Association of Ladakh Studies, tell us about society.

John Bray is the founding President of IALS. Every third year, a conference is held. So far, most of them were held in Europe. Many scholar and researchers come together and present their paper on various topics related to Ladakh. At the end of it, those papers were compiled into a book called Recent Research on Ladakh. The books come out without any error, since, many eminent foreign scholars were part of the society, it goes through many evaluations and proof readings. The sources of the paper were credible and authentic. I guess, IALS has come up with ten such books. The last conference was held at Heidelberg, Germany and coming 14th IALS conference will be held at Kargil.

Judging on the accounts I have heard, Ladakh was once an independent kingdom ruled by Namgyal Dynasty. How it came to be a part of India?

Ladakh was an independent kingdom until 1836. In the same year, Dogra ruler, Gulab Singh invaded Ladakh. He deputed General Zorawar Singh to attack Ladakh. Dogra army was equipped with more sophisticated arms and are well trained, unlike Ladakhis who used archaic arms and with no good training. Ladakh was defeated and they annexed Ladakh. Ladakhis rebel and resisted a couple of times but in vain. By 1840, Ladakh was fully annexed by Dogra rulers.

Q. Ladakh is a predominant Buddhist village. How Muslim came into being in Ladakh?

History has it that; Mir Sayed Ali Hamdani, visited Ladakh in 1381 or 1382 and build Shey Mosque. He converted too few Ladakhis into Islam. In reality, Muslims used to visit Ladakh in connection with trade from Kashmir and Central Asia. Some of them got settled here, married Ladakhi women and adopted its culture. It was during the 17th century when King Jamyang Namgyal ruled Ladakh. He married a Balti Muslim princess, rGyal Khatoon. The picture is clear now.

He allotted sites below the Leh palace, the old heritage sites, to six Muslim families to build houses, along with other privileges and concessions. These families got extended with its offspring. Khalsawar, Shanku and Rili were some of the families descended from those six, who are settled here.

Also, along with the Queen, a band of musicians, and bevy of maids, came to Ladakh, they settled at Leh and Phyang. In the 17th century, a large number of Muslims migrated from Baltistan to Ladakh and settled in Leh and Chushot. Some Muslims were invited by King to perform various tasks. For instance; butchers and goldsmiths. Ladakh pays tribute to Mughal dynasties and since official language of Mughals was Urdu, many Muslim writers were invited to write letters. Thus along with them, their families shifted to Ladakh and settle here. The Muslims, presently residing here are the offspring of such families.

Q. Ladakh's recorded history began to form 7th century or 10th century in most of the history books written on it. Why so and what about earlier accounts?

Ladakh's recorded history mainly begin from the 10th century. Lucino Petech and Frankcy has in their books summarily mentioned about Ladakh's history during the 7th century and its relation with Tibet. In the 7th Century, Songtsen Gampo, a powerful king of Tibet invaded China, captured Central Asia, Tibetan army moved to Ladakh. These were the few recorded accounts. We do not have comprehensive accounts of information  of ancient Ladakh, therefore, Scholars and Historian of Ladakh say: 'the ancient history of Ladakh is shrouded in mystery.' However, we do have a good account of recorded history after Namgyal dynasty during the 17th century.

It's been recently discovered that Ladakh has witness a Stone Age. I have also recorded it in my book; Reflections on Ladakh, Tibet, and Central Asia.

Q. What do the Petroglyph studies or rock carvings discovered in Ladakh reflects?

This rock carving indicates our history. It also reflects years during which it was carved. A rock carving was found at Khaltse has a  Brahmi script on it. Historian and archaeologist, thus, assumed Ladakh's attribution to Ashoka's period in 200BC!

From 1st to 10th century, Kushan period reigned Northern India. Some historian presumed Ladakh was under Kushan period as Khrosdi and Sharada scripts and inscription were traced on boulders found in Ladakh.

Traces of stone age were discovered by Archaeological & Geological department of India. Stone age tools were found on river bank from Nimo to Kargil.

Q. Most of the renown books on the history of Ladakh were written by foreigners. What are the bases of their research and how authentic are the sources?

Principle sources of many of their researches are Ladakh Gyalraps, but their researches were also based on studies of rock carvings, old folk tales, manuscripts traditions and cultures of Ladakh.  Many has its research based on various other sources from China, Tibet, Nepal and Central Asian history.

Silk Route, a historical main land Central Asian trade route supposedly runs through Ladakh. The route begin from China to Europe via Central Asia, Arab and Turkey. Ladakh does not fall on main silk route, it was a branch route. Tell us about silk route and Ladakh's merchandise.

Silk route which has its trace in Ladakh is one of the branches, not the main route. The main route starts from Chang'an (now Xian), the city of China, and goes up to Italy in Europe has a length of 1600km. A link road, popularly known as Treaty route, runs from Kashghar ( largest open market in Central Asia) to Leh via Yarkhand and Karakoram mountains. Kashgar was on the main silk route and Ladakh was one of the link roads to the silk route. From Leh, the same route goes to Gilgit and Baltistan (Pak occupied Kashmir) via Kargil.

Ladakh has no major commodities of its own. The trade took place between Central Asian traders with Punjabis and Kashmiris traders. They converge at Leh bazaar. Tibetan also joins them to trade. Traders come from Himachal Pradesh as well. They barter the commodities with commodities. Ladakh indirectly benefits from the trade by selling fodder for the pack animals, which were the only mean of transportation. Fuels for the merchants were also supplied by Ladakhis. Ladakh has only about a hundred traders. They supply grains to Western Tibet in a small amount. Its own production is very limited. From Tibet, merchants brought Pashmina, wool, salt. Baltis brought dried fruits and jade pots and various supplies from all neighboring regions were brought to Ladakh as the place serves as a business conduit.

Q. From observation of a Historian, what are the changes you saw in Ladakh during your lifetime? What is the major difference between the old and the new Ladakh?

When I was a child, Ladakh was a primitive society. Ladakhi women were amazed to see the mirror. I have seen people making fire from flint. Matchboxes were very rare. Ladakh has changed drastically since 1947, be it economically, politically, socially and educationally.

The observation of tourist has changed with changing Ladakh. There are scores of travelogues and accounts written on Ladakh by the tourist visiting the place. Everyone praise features of Ladakh and its people. They called Ladakhi a 'mild race', 'deposit to offer no injury to anyone',  'free from religious intolerance', 'women can travel the length and breadth of Ladakh without any escorts', 'no thief', 'kind, compassionate and helpful' and more.  but it's been also written that physically people weren't clean. Someone lavishly praises Ladakh in his write-ups but concluded by saying Ladakhis should be given a Turkish bath at least for six months.

Q. At present, every organisations in Ladakh talks about 'Ladakh's cultural preservation'. What according to you is Culture preservation? Is it saving the heritage building, folk songs and dance or is it the enlivening the intangible, kind nature of the older generation Ladakhis which is diminishing?

Redeeming features of Ladakh must be retained. We should lay emphasis on perpetuating the good values to new generations. Many younger generations of Ladakhis was oblivious of a characteristic of older generations. Youths must peep into the past and study it.

'Culture' has a vast meaning. It is the sum of intangible and tangible traditions, both of which were important. But we can't preserve everything. For instance, earlier, people wear 'Logpa', women wear 'Payrak and other heavy ornaments, but now Ladakhis has discarded it for good. We can't save everything in the name of cultural preservation.  However, Ladakh is rich in terms of folk songs, music and paintings etc. J&K Art and Culture department have come up with volumes of books on our culture. Youths must pay heed.

Q. Ladakh suffers a heavy loss when its border trade was closed with Tibet, China, Xinjang, Giljit and Baltistan and other neighbouring countries to the political crisis. Do you think there will a scope of reopening of such trade?

It's quite unfortunate that those trade route closed. I have interacted with Central Asian traders in Turkish (My father was a petty shopkeeper those days, I sometimes sit at his shop, I met many Turkish and thus I could communicate with them in their language). I have met Tibetan and Baltistan's traders. Those were the golden years. In retrospect, I feel anguished with a close of such trades. Ladakhis can go anywhere, we do not need a visa to travel which is a reason why the British came and invaded India. I hope, one day there will be reconciliation and compromise between China and India and India will also reconcile with Pakistan. These trade route should be reopened.

Q. At present, people of Leh is struggling for UT status and people of Kargil demands for 'Greater Ladakh' with the inclusion of Skardo, Giljit and Baltistan under Ladakh's territory. However, some prefer Ladakh to be under J&K as it is. What according to you is the most amicable solution for it?

In my opinion, the dream of Greater Ladakh is quite impracticable. About UT status for Ladakh, people of Ladakh are now divided into two parties, people of Kargil doesn’t endorse the demand. In this status quo too, Ladakh can make progress.

Removal of article 370 is not in favorable of Ladakh. If the article is lifted, any other Indians can come and purchase Land in Ladakh. I am against the demand of UT if the said article is lifted, as there will be the monopoly of the business. During Dogra period Maharaja Harish Singh deliberately introduce the act(Art. 370) since there were many wealthy people and millionaires who could buy lands and exploit the people and the state. Therefore, he banned non-state people to buy land in J&K.

Q. What would be your advice to the youths of Ladakh?

I had interacted with some of the educated youth. Students from different colleges come to seek my help in their dissertations. I think they should shoulder the responsibilities now, play their role in the development of Ladakh. Elders should encourage them as well. They must fight against Nepotism, favoritism, and corruption. I found some of them very bright and sincere.

Many youths opt for a government job. A student with a master degree apply for a government job and work as a teacher in class IV. There are avenues now, our youths should use their intellect. They should learn lessons from non-locals. If I give you a living example, few poor non-locals came from Nepal to Leh for a job, they began as a Waiter, sooner they learn how to cook and became a Cook, receiving a better stipend as well. They then used their cooking skills and open up their own restaurant. With a good profit, they now have huge buildings back at their hometown, sent their schools to good schools. They used their intellect. There are many such success stories in Leh town alone. Thus, youths must look up to such success.

Message to the readers

"Ladakh is now enjoying a comfort never before enjoyed. Youth must realise the agony their parents and grandparents went through. They must peep into our history, learn good values and culture. One must look beyond a Government job and find an avenue where one could use their optimum intellect. Look up to the success stories and be encouraged by fact that at Ladakh, manual workers have become Contractors and a Carpenter earns five million annually. Work smart."