High in the icy Indian Himalayas, a long-isolated people recall origin myths of millennia-old migrations from afar — an identity in disputed lands twisted today by politics.
The Brokpa people of Ladakh have no written language, practice a culture of polygamy and have their own calendar.
The most cherished ballad of the Brokpa, about 6,000 of whom live in a rugged mountain valley of the Indus River, is the “song of history.”
Photo: AFP
A new verse is added every 12 years, a cycle which counts as just one “year” in their calendar.
Tsering Gangphel, 85, said it details Brokpa legends that they came from ancient Rome.
Other Brokpa recount myths of ancestral links to Alexander the Great’s army, who invaded in the fourth century BC.
Scientists are skeptical, with one study of Brokpa DNA suggesting their roots lay in southern India, but Gangphel — who said he can sing a thousand songs in the Brokpa language detailing their culture — is adamant about his people’s past.
“We still celebrate our arrival here by dancing and singing in each village, once every three years,” Gangphel said at his home overlooking the roaring river. “We are Aryans.”
The deeply contested term refers to opaque prehistory — which critics say is today more about gritty realpolitik than foundation fables.
In South Asia’s ancient Sanskrit language, aryan means “noble” or “distinguished,” not a separate ethnicity.
It was once a loose term suggesting that people from Europe to Asia had linked ancestors in central Asia, reflected in common linguistic roots.
That is a far cry from the genocidal Nazi fantasies of a blond-haired and blue-eyed master race.
Some right-wing Hindus use the term to claim “Aryan” ancestors originated in India, linking it to a Hindu and national identity.
For the Brokpa, the term “Aryan” has been used as a tool to promote both tourism and India’s geopolitical ambitions.
Ladakh, part of Kashmir, is divided between India and Pakistan by a highly militarized frontier.
Each nation claims the region as their own.
Brokpa yak herder Tashi Namgyal in 1999 sighted “Pakistani intruders” in Indian-controlled territory and told Indian troops.
That triggered a 10-week conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals that cost 1,000 lives on both sides.
“I saved the nation’s honor,” 60-year-old Namgyal said, proudly showing army letters praising his service.
After the fighting stopped, Indian authorities pushed tourism in Brokpa areas, calling their lands the “Aryan Valley.”
The Indian Ministry of Tourism promotes them as the “Last Aryan Villages of India.”
Mona Bhan, a Brokpa expert at Syracuse University in New York, says the community uses “Aryan” to highlight its sociocultural practices and history, but Indian Hindu nationalists have used the term to “validate their hold on India’s disputed territory.”
The Brokpa calendar means a child’s first birthday is marked when they turn 12.
Using that calculation, a laughing and gray-haired Gangphel remarked that he is “just seven years old.”
Gangphel, a father of six who has two wives, said marrying outsiders was frowned upon.
“Being Brokpa means being unique in language, dress and dance,” 14-year-old schoolgirl Etzes Dolma said.
However, an influx of tourists and government development policies are bringing increasing modernity.
Earth and wood homes are being replaced with concrete and glass construction.
The Brokpa worship their traditional gods, but those now are often amalgamated into other beliefs.
Most Brokpas in India are Buddhists, while in Pakistan many have become Muslim.
Sangay Phunchok, 43, a lama, or Buddhist spiritual leader, said he shifted faith after hearing that “our ways will not grant us heaven.”
A monastery is being built in the village, but the Brokpa also honor their ancestral gods at a shrine of piled ibex horns.
“We still pray to our own gods, but goat sacrifice has stopped, because our lama said it’s a sin,” Gangphel said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS