River Singhey Khabab, or the Indus, meanders through a frightening and formidable gorge. On the banks of this watercourse, in this rough and rugged setting, are the idyllic hamlets of Garkhon and Darchik, nestled in the lower regions of the Dah Hanu valley, about 163 km southwest of Leh in Kargil District.
The inhabitants of these parts belong to the ‘Red Aryan’ race and are known as Drokpas, Brogpas or Dards. ‘ Brog ’ means ‘hills’ and ‘ pa ’ means ‘inhabitants’. One theory claims that they are the direct descendants of King Alexander. After facing defeat at the hands of King Porus in 326 B.C., King Alexander left India with his army. But some soldiers stayed back in the lush valleys of the Dah Hanu and in the villages of Darchik and Garkhon. The second theory, considered to be more authentic, is that the Dards moved about 1,000 years ago into the Western part of Ladakh from the Hindu Kush mountains in Gilgit-Baltistan, now a region of Pakistan.
The Drokpas are tall, fair-skinned, have aquiline features, light eyes and distinctive eyebrows. The men wear long, maroon gowns with a kamarband at the waist, a folded, long garment thrown over the shoulders, and woollen trousers. The women wear ornate capes made from goat skin and deck themselves with ornaments made of shells, silver and beads. The women also wear numerous long plaits all held together with a clip. Their exquisite headdress, the tepi , is a decorative silver base wreathed with both fresh and dry flowers from the mountains — the montho thu and the shocklo , predominantly. The men wear similar caps, but these have metal coins along with flowers. Both men and women wear sheep-wool shoes.
According to the tenets of their religion, Bon, they worship nature and follow the solar calendar. However, the modern-day Dard follows either Buddhism or Islam. They celebrate the festival Bon Na when they offer a goat in sacrifice to their god La. Every special occasion is marked by singing and dancing to the accompaniment of pipes and drums known as the dingjang .
They marry only within their community to preserve the purity of their race. A woman can marry all the brothers in a family. The practice of ‘bride price’ is followed. There is no taboo on changing partners.
The people depend on husbandry and agriculture, growing barley and millet. The Dards’ main source of income is from apples, grapes, dried apricots, oil from apricot kernels and other products from their well-tended vegetable gardens. Their staple food is tsampa (roasted barley flour) and salt butter tea or chatsampa . The wine of grapes, known as gunchang , is served at every celebration.
We made our foray into this valley in the winter months of January and February 2016. The Drokpas welcomed us into their hearths and hearts, their homestays as stark and simple as the mountain folk themselves.
The Ramanans have been trekking and photographing in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats for the past 35 years.
