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Arts & Crafts
Arts & Crafts
There
is little tradition of artistic craftsmanship in Ladakh, most luxury articles
inthe past having been obtained through imports. The exception isthe village
of Chiling, about 19km up the Zanskar river from Nima. Here, a community ofmetal
workers, said to be the descendants of artisans brought from Nepal inthe mid
-17th century to build one of the gigantic Buddha -images at Shey, cary on their
hereditary vocation. Working in silver, brass and copper, they produce exquisite
items for domestic and religious use : tea and chang pots, teacup - stands and
lids, hookkah-bases, ladles and bowls and, occasionally, silver chorten for
installa-tion in temples and domestic shrines.
Those who cannot afford the expensive ware of the Chiling craftsmen, are supplied
by local blacksmitsh (gara), witht the bowls and cooking pots they need for
everyday use, as well as with agricultural implements. The gara also make the
large and ornate iron stoves seen in kitchens of the richer Ladakhi homes. In
general, craftsmanship has not developed beyond and production of everyday item
for personal and domestic use.
Pattu, the rough, warm, woolen material used for clothing is made from locally
produced wool, spun by women on drop-spindles, and woven by semi-professional
weavers on portable looms set up in the winter sunshine, or under the shade
of a tree in summer. Baskets, for the transport of any kind of burden - manure
for the fields, fresh vegetables, even babies -are woven out of willow twigs,
or a particular variety of grass. Wood work is confined largely to the production
of pillars and carved lintels for the houses, and the low carved tables that
are a feature of every Ladakhi living-room.
Many such items, together with others recently introduced as part of the development
process, are available in the District Handicrafts Centre at Leh, which exists
to train local people as well as to market their products. There you can find,
in addition to traditional objects, a few special items like pashmina shawls-
rough compared withthose produced in Srinagar, but soft and warm as only pure
pashmina can be ; and carpets in designs and techniques borrowed from Tibet.
Similar carpets are also to be had at the Tibetan Refugee Centre at Choglamsar.
The Handicrafts Centre also has a department of Thangka painting. These icons
on cloth are executed in accordance with strict guidelines handed down from
past generations. In the same tradition are the mural paintings in the gompas,
where semi-professional , both monks and laymen,, labour tokeep the walls decorated
with images symbolizing the various aspects of the Buddhist Way. The skill of
building religious statues is also not extinct. The gigantic representation
of Maitreya, was installed in Thikse Gompa as recently as the early 1980s.
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Himalayas - - -› People
& Tribes of Himalayas
People & Tribes of Himalayas
The
population, settlement, and economic patterns within the Himalayas have been
greatly influenced by the variations in topography and climate, which impose
harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communication. People
living in remote, isolated valleys have generally preserved their cultural identities.
However, improvements in transportation and communication, particularly satellite
television programs from Europe and the United States, are bringing access from
the outside world to remote valleys. These outside influences are affecting
traditional social and cultural structure.
Nearly 40 million people inhabit the Himalayas. Generally, Hindus of Indian
heritage are dominant in the Sub-Himalayas and the Middle Himalayan valleys
from eastern Kashmir to Nepal. To the north Tibetan Buddhists inhabit the Great
Himalayas from Ladakh to northeast India.
In central Nepal, in an area between about 1830 and 2440 m (between about 6000
and 8000 ft), the Indian and Tibetan cultures have intermingled, producing a
combination of Indian and Tibetan traits. The eastern Himalayas in India and
nearby areas of eastern Bhutan are inhabited by animistic people whose culture
is similar to those living in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province in China.
People of western Kashmir are Muslims and have a culture similar to the inhabitants
of Afghanistan and Iran.
The economy of the Himalayas as a whole is poor with low per capita income.
Much of the Himalayas area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate
combined with a high rate of population growth, which contributes to stagnation
in the already low level of per capita gross national product. Most of the population
is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture; modern industries
are lacking.
Mineral resources are limited. The Himalayas has major hydroelectric potential,
but the development of hydroelectric resources requires outside capital investment.
The skilled labor needed to organize and manage development of natural resources
is also limited due to low literacy rates. Most of the Himalayan communities
face malnutrition, a shortage of safe drinking water, and poor health services
and education systems.
Agricultural land is concentrated in the Tarai plain and in the valleys of the
Middle Himalayas. Patches of agricultural land have also been carved out in
the mountainous forested areas. Rice is the principal crop in eastern Tarai
and the well-watered valleys. Corn is also an important rain-fed crop on the
hillsides.
Other cereal crops are wheat, millet, barley, and buckwheat. Sugarcane, tea,
oilseeds, and potatoes are other major crops. Food production in the Himalayas
has not kept up with the population growth.
The
major industries include processing food grains, making vegetable oil, refining
sugar, and brewing beer. Fruit processing is also important. A wide variety
of fruits are grown in each of the major zones of the Himalayas, and making
fruit juices is a major industry in Nepal, Bhutan, and in the Indian Himalayas.
Since 1950 tourism has emerged as a major growth industry in the Himalayas.
Nearly 1 million visitors come to the Himalayas each year for mountain trekking,
wildlife viewing, and pilgrimages to major Hindu and Buddhist sacred places.
The number of foreign visitors has increased in recent years, as organized treks
to the icy summits of the Great Himalayas have become popular. While tourism
is important to the local economy, it has had an adverse impact on regions where
tourist numbers exceed the capacity of recreational areas.
Historically, all transport in the Himalayas has been by porters and pack animals.
Porters and pack animals are still important, but the construction of major
roads and the development of air routes have changed the traditional transportation
pattern.
Major urban centers such as Kathmandu, Simla, and Srinagar, as well as important
tourist destinations, are served by airlines. Railways link Simla and Darjiling,
but in most of the Himalayas there are no railroads. The bulk of goods from
the Himalayas, as well as goods destined for places within the Himalayas, generally
come to Indian railheads, located in the Tarai, by road. The pack animals and
porters transport goods from road heads to the interior and back.
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