Ladakh is home to a unique blend of some of the prominent ethnic groups of the Western Himalayan region. With the majority of the population following Tibetan Buddhism today, a fraction of the population comprises Kargil and Balti Muslims. Although Ladakh is sparsely populated, it is further divided into three sub-sections - the Upper, Central and Lower regions - adjoining the mighty Himalayan ranges in the west. The upper region is strategically important since the effervescent river Indus (Tib.) Senge Khabab runs through it. The Namgyal dynasty was established in the upper region in the 15th century CE by consolidating the smaller kingdoms of Ladakh under the leadership of Lhachen Bagan. The long-surviving palace complex, monasteries and watchtowers at Leh, Basgo and Hemis, stand as testimony to the expansionist era of the Namgyal rulers. As the Namgyal kingship grew stronger, territorial conquests with the Mughals and the Mongol Turks loomed heavy on the royal lineage of the Ladakhi Buddhist kings. A rare account of the mid-15th century CE chronicle, Tarikh-i-Rashidi, by a Mughal military general Mirza Haider Dughlat recalls, “Wherever I went in Tibet, I either took the country by force or made peace, on the inhabitants paying tribute. Among these [places may be mentioned] Balti, Zanskar, Maryul, Eudok, Goga, Lu…”. [1] While Mirza Dughlat valorises his military conquests, the extent of his account also advocates the transmission of Islam during the military campaign. Between the 14th-15th centuries CE, the Central Asian frontiers came in close contact with (Tib.) Baltiyul (Baltistan) [2] and (Tib.) Maryul [3] (Ladakh). Baltistan maintained trade and political ties with Ladakh through royal successions and patronage of art and architecture. Along with the flourishing trade network, the Sufi Mir Hamdani [4] order had also commenced a spiritual discourse among the Baltis and Ladakhis. During the Namgyal era, social and political alliances between the Balti Muslims and Ladakhi Buddhists resulted in wedlock between the two royal families.
The La-dvags-rgyal-rabs or The Royal Chronicle of Ladakh mentions the famous Balti princess Gyal Khatun, daughter of King Ali Mir, fifteenth chief of Skardu (capital of Baltistan). Her love for the imprisoned Ladakhi King, Jamyang Namgyal, is immortalised in the royal accounts. A. H. Francke, in his formative work, Antiquities of Indian Tibet, mentions the Balti king, Ali Mir, dreaming of a lion disappearing in the body of his daughter, Gyal Khatun. In the royal accounts, Gyal Khatun is exalted as an incarnation of the Buddhist Goddess Tara or (Tib.) gdrol-ma, a saviour and a manifestation of compassion. Francke translates the following verse from the original manuscript as, “Yesterday in a dream, I saw a lion [emerging] from the river in front [of the castle]; And, jumping at Rgyal-Kha-thun, he disappeared into her body, At the same time also, That girl conceived. Now it is certain that she will give birth to a male child, Whose name ye shall call Sen-ge-rnam-gyal!”. [5] The dream seems like a carefully planted political foil against the social backlash waiting for the chieftain’s daughter for bearing a child against wedlock. The child was named Senge Namgyal, who is later heralded as the Lion King of the Namgyal dynasty. The sovereign role and patronage of Balti royal families also established the inter-mingling of Central Asian cultures and heritage with the Ladakhi royal bloodline. Unlike the prevalent norms of forced political alliances, this is the first recorded incident in Ladakhi history that chronicles a political and legitimate annunciation between the two kingdoms. The presence of royal women as princess-brides was crucial to ward off political turmoil and conquests by the neighbouring states, resulted in strong diplomatic relations. To this date, several Ladakhi Buddhists and Balti Muslims continue to co-habit Ladakh as a continuity of this shared history and lineage while challenging cultural homogeneity and exclusivity. [6]
Gyal Khatun and the Basgo Complex
Basgo was the capital from where the Namgyal rulers established their supremacy. Even before the construction of the Leh Palace, the fort area of Basgo was considered the seat of Namgyal apogee. Senge Namgyal (1590-1642 CE) grew up to be the prototypical ruler of the Namgyal dynasty, annexing the entire Western Tibet, including Guge and Purang. [7] Basgo is an important historical site in Ladakh along the river Indus, between the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges. It consists of a mud-brick fortress on the eastern side of the cliffs, also known as Basgo-Rabtan-Lhartsekhar, at the top of a hill with an adjoining Basgo Gompa. King Senge Namgyal built the fort and the temple during the 16th century CE in commemoration of the militaristic zeal of his father, King Jamyang Namgyal and the religious piety of his mother, Gyal Khatun. But, contrary to popular perception, the three temples of the Basgo complex were built in various stages under the supervision of various Namgyal kings.
The Basgo circuit consists of a palace (now in ruins), three lakhangs and vestiges of the fortification wall. The three temples within the ruins of Basgo are Chamba Lakhang, Serzang Lakhang, and Cham Chung Lakhang. The site itself is considered as the first political and royal center of a stronghold for the Namgyal Dynasty built between 1445-1650 CE. The fort and the temple were further renovated during the reign of King Senge Namgyal during the 17th century CE. Lozang Jamspal, the patron of the Basgo Welfare Community, mentions an accurate genealogy of the Namgyal kings. [8] According to him, King Dragspa Bumde (1450-1490 CE) laid the original foundation of the Maitreya Temple at Basgo. Even A.H. Francke points out, “it was probably also Dragspa who improved the ancient fortifications at Basgo, to make them a stronghold of the first rank”. [9] King Tsewang Namgyal (1580-1600) commissioned the murals at the Maitreya temple, [10] King Jamyang Namgyal (1600-1615) constructed the golden image in the Serzang Lakhang, King Senge Namgyal (1616-1642 CE) completed the previous work undergoing in the Maitreya temple with the patronage of his mother, Gyal Khatun.
The assembly hall or dukhang of Chamba Lakhang or the Maitreya Temple the temple faces east, and it is square in plan, supported by richly decorated wooden pillars, beams and rafters from the inside. The illustrious wooden ceiling, painted with various decorative motifs and textile patterns, bears a direct influence from the treatment of the ceiling at Alchi. The central deity inside the temple is a 14 meters high sculpture of Maitreya, the future Buddha, making dharamacakra mudra or the gesture of turning the wheel of law in clayandstuccowith a gilding of gold, adorned with colourful brocade and precious jewellery. Maitreya’s head looks out from a clerestory into the Basgo village, blessing the worldly realm. Gyal Khatun is considered the patron of the Chamba Lakhang. She also donated the ornaments for the Maitreya image in the second temple, Serzang Lakhang. In the assembly hall, the colossal image of a golden-bodied, highly bejewelled Maitreya, in his sambhogakaya or celestial form, is flanked by two attendants bodhisattva figures, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani. The walls are adorned with illustrious murals of Buddhist gods and goddesses, religious leaders and events from the Buddha’s life. Senge Namgyal was instrumental in commissioning the metal-cast sculpture of Maitreya along with statues of Gyal Khatun and his spiritual teacher, Stagsan Raspa, the chief architect of the Basgo temple. Although the two smaller sculptures are no more present, the La-dvags-rgyal-rabs recalls their commemoration by the King in memory of his mother and teacher. The smaller temple, Cham Chung Lakhang, has an inscription dating back to the consecration of the temple in 1642 CE. The patron of the temple is known by the name Kalzang Drolma or Goddes Tara, an epithet also used for Gyal Khatun in royal chronicles. She is also noted for enshrining a Tsongkhapa sculpture in the temple, thereby establishing the Gelug-pa order of Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh.
Khache Masjid / Jami Masjid
Both religious and secular architecture was built under the patronage of Senge Namgyal. From the 16th century CE onwards, Ladakhi Buddhist Kings opened their doors to the vast Central Asian trade routes passing through Kashgar and Baltistan. Caravanserais and special housing quarters were set up in the Leh city to promote trade and international ties with the kharchongpa or the palace royal traders. Ladakh became an important link in the trans-Himalayan silk route network, forging trade and cultural relations with West Asia, Tibet, and China. Many Balti Muslims came to settle in Ladakh, especially after the coming of Gyal Khatun and her entourage of men and women from the Balti court. The building of the famous Khache Masjid in Leh is one such example of social cohabitation and tolerance practised by the Ladakhi and Balti communities. Khache in Ladakhi stands for Kashmiri. The Khache Masjid resembles the influence of Islamic architectural styles from Kashmir. An inscription in the mosque dated to AH 1077 (1677 CE) reads that it was built under the rule of Deleg Namgyal, heir apparent to King Senge Namgyal. [11] The land for the mosque was granted during the reign of Senge Namgyal, and his son completed the construction, as pointed out by Francke. The mosque is also popularly known as the Jami Masjid, and it is one of the biggest mosques in Leh today. Sengey Namgyal built the original structure as a tribute to Gyal Khatun. However, in a militaristic alliance with the Mughal ruler Emperor Aurangzeb, new constructions took place within the existing mosque. Over centuries, the mosque has gone through series of restorations and repairs. Some of the smaller mosques at Shey and Nubra are also attributed to Gyal Khatun. She retired to the Hondar Palace in Nubra in her last days and is buried next to the Turtuk mosque in the Nubra valley.
Gyal Khatun, an exemplar of secular practices, is long remembered for the inclusivist patronage of Buddhist gompas and mosques in Ladakh. Her imperial ascent into the Namgyal fold established a period of peace and harmony between the warring kingdoms. As a Balti Queen, Gyal Khatun established her control over religious and diplomatic missions in Ladakh even after the death of King Jamyang Namgyal. As a patron of religious architecture, the Queen promoted Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism and constructed Islamic architecture in Ladakh. A Ladakhi folk song, valourising the Queen, recalls her grace, beauty, and the Balti legacy through these lines.
“My famous Queen is rising like the sun,
The precious Silima Queen is brilliant like a vision of light.
My famous Queen is like the shining full moon,
The precious Silima Queen is brilliant like a vision of light.
Even your royal line is god-like, brilliant, like a vision of light.
Silima Khatun, your royal line is the line of sugar-cane wood,
Precious Silima Queen, your race may flourish like the leaves.
Your name and qualities have become known all over the world.
Oh, precious Silima Khatun Queen, brilliant like a vision of light.” [12]
Endnotes:
1. Mirza Haider Dughlat, Tarikh-al-Rashidi, trans. E. Denison Ross, (London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1984), 410.
2. Baltistan is situated on the Ladakh plateau, and it lies to the northern frontiers of the Indian subcontinent, now administered by Pakistan.
3. Cunningham attributes this term as a derivative meaning dmar stands for ‘red’ and yul stands for ‘country’, meaning red land, whereas the original word for Ladakh is La-dvags.
4. K. Warikoo, “Shrines and Pilgrimage Places in Kashmir” in Cultural Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir, ed.by K.Warikoo (New Delhi: Himachal Research and Cultural Foundation, 2009), 154. Also see, Jigar Mohammad, “Mughal Sources on Medieval Ladakh, Baltistan and Western Tibet” in Ladakhi Histories - Local and Regional Perspectives, ed.by John Bray (Netherland: Brill Publication, 2005),147-160.
5. Francke, Antiquities of Indian Tibet - The Chronicle of Ladakh and Minor Chronicles, Vol. II (New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1992), 106.
6. Gerogios T. Halkias, “The Muslim Queen of the Himalayas - Princess Exchange in Baltistan and Ladakh” in Islam and Tibet - Interactions along the Musk Routes, ed. by A. Akasoy, Charles Burnett and Ronit Yeoli Tlalim, (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011), 232.
7. A Mss. of Rgyal-rabs or The Royal Chronicles of Ladakh, no.6683 under the possession of British Museum, London mentions a peculiar selection of kings even after the reign of Senge Namgyal recording the militaristic fervor of the Namgyal dynasty.
8. Lozang Jamspal, “The Five Royal Patrons and Three Images at Basgo” in Recent Research on Ladakh 6, Proceedings of the Sixth International Colloquium on Ladakh, Leh, ed.by Osmaston and Nawang Tsering, (Delhi: Motilal and Banarsidas, 1997), 140.
9. Francke, Ladakh - The Mysterious Land, 80.
10. He is also famous to have deflected the warring army of Mirza Haider Dughlat in the Nubra valley, thus, unifying Nubra within the Namgyal rule. See, Nawang Tsering in “Historical Perspectives of Nubra in Ladakh” accessed on 01/03/2015 11. Francke, Ladakh - The Mysterious Land (NewDelhi:CosmoPublication, 1978),100.
12. Gerogios T. Halkias, 242.; The name of the Balti Queen as Gyal Khatun has been used as an honorific in the Ladakhi chronicles. However, in the folksong, she is referred to as Silima, a derivative of Salma, meaning untainted and pure.