Spiti (Piti)
Spiti (Piti)
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Himalayan waziri or canton of the Kulu subdivision of Kangra District, Punjab, lying between 31° 42' and 32° 59' N. and 77° 26' and 78° 42' E., with an area of 2,155 square miles. The population (1901) is only 3,231, or less than 2 persons per square mile. Spiti is completely hemmed in by lofty mountain ranges with an average elevation of 18,000 feet, which divide it from Lahul on the west, Bashahr on the south, Great Tibet on the east, and Ladakh on the north. It includes the upper valley of the Spiti river, which, rising in the Western Himalayas, at about 16,000 feet, flows south-east into Tibet, and thence enters Bashahr at an elevation of 11,000 feet, and ultimately finds its way into the Sutlej ; the upper valley of the Para river, which also enters Tibet and then falls into the Spiti, their united streams equalling the Sutlej in volume at their junction with that river ; the valley of the Isamp, whose waters fall into the Indus ; and the eastern half of the Upper Chandra valley. Of these four valleys, only that of the Spiti is inhabited. The most important tributary of the Spiti river is the Pin, which rises in the angle of the Mid-Himalayan and Manirang ranges, and joins the Spiti after a course of 45 miles, a short distance above Dankar, the principal village of the valley. The mountains of Spiti are yet more lofty than in the neighbouring country of Lahul. In the Outer Himalayas is one peak of 23,064 feet, and many along the whole line are considerably over 20,000. Of the Mid-Himalayas, two peaks exceed 21,000 feet, and in the southern range the Manirang is 21,646 feet in height. From the main ranges transverse lines of mountains project far into the valley on either side, leaving in many cases only a narrow gorge, through which flows the Spiti river. Even these minor ranges contain peaks the height of which in many instances exceeds i 7,000 feet. The mean elevation of the Spiti valley is 12,981 feet above sea-lcvcl. Several villages are situated at an elevation of upwards of 13,000 feet, and one or two as high as 14,000 feet. Scarcely any vegetation clothes the bare and rocky mountain slopes ; yet the scenery is not devoid of a rugged grandeur, while the deep and peculiar colour of the crags often gives most picturesque effects to the otherwise desolate landscape. Red and yellow predominate in the rocks, contrasting finely with the white snowy peaks in the background and the deep blue sky overhead. The villages stand for the most part on little flat plateaux, above the cliffs of the Spiti river ; and their white houses, dotted about among the green cultivated plots, afford rare oases in the desert of stony debris which covers the mountain sides. There is practically no rain, but the snowfall in winter is very severe. The mean temperature of the Upper Spiti valley is 17° in January and 60° in July.
The history of Spiti commences with the first formation of the kingdom of Ladakh, after which event the valley seems for a while to have been separated from that government, and attached to some other short-lived Tibetan principality. About 1630 it fell into the hands of Sinagi Namgyal, king of Ladakh, who allotted it to his third son, Tenchbog. Soon afterwards, it became a part of the Guge princi- pality, which lay to the east, in what is now Chinese Tibet ; and it did not again come under the dominion of Ladakh till about 1720. In that year the king of Ladakh, at the conclusion of a war with Guge and Lhasa, married the daughter of the Tibetan commander, and received Spiti as her dower. Thenceforward the valley remained a province of Ladakh ; but, from its remote and inaccessible position, it was practically left for the most part to govern itself, the official sent from Leh usually disappearing as soon as the harvest had been gathered in and the scanty revenue collected. Spiti was always liable to be harried by forays ; but the people, being an unwarlike race, preferred the payment of blackmail to the armed defence of their barren valley.
After the Sikhs annexed the neighbouring principality of Kulu in 1841, they dispatched a force to plunder Spiti. The inhabitants, in accordance with their usual tactics, retreated into the mountains, and left their houses and monasteries to be plundered and burnt. The Sikhs retired as soon as they had taken everything upon which they could lay hands, and did not attempt to annex the valley to Kulu, or to separate it from Ladakh. In 1846, however, on the cession of the trans-Sutlej States to the British after the first Sikh War, the Government, with the object of securing a road to the wool districts of Chang Thang, added Spiti to Kulu, giving other territory in exchange to the Maharaja of Kashmir. In the same year, Captain (afterwards Sir A.) Cunningham and Mr. Vans Agnew demarcated the boundary between Spiti, Ladakh, and Chinese Tibet. Since that date, the valley has been peacefully governed by the native hereditary ruler or nono, supported by the Assistant Commissioner of Kulu. The nono is assisted by five elders or gatpos, and practically manages all the internal affairs of the canton in accordance with the Spiti Regulation (No. I of 1873). The British codes are not applicable to Spiti, unless specially extended.
The people are Tartars by race and Buddhist by religion, and extensive monasteries often crown the lower ridges overhanging the villages. The principal and richest monastery is at Ki ; that of Tangiut receives members of the nonds family ; while at Dankhar is a less important monastery. The monks of these three all belong to the celibate Gelukpa sect. At Pin is a smaller monastery, belong- ing to the Dukhpa sect, which permits marriage, and the descendants of its inmates still practise singing and dancing as allowed by their founder. Talo contains an extensive Iamasarai, built by the gods in a single night. As this was not constructed by Buddhists, it does not rank as a monastery (gonpa). It possesses a remarkable collection of nearly life-size idols, and one of Chamba 16 feet high. Unlike the gonpas, which are all built on lofty eminences, it stands on a level spot and contains about 300 monks. The monasteries, which are endowed with tithes of grain (pint) levied from every field, are extensive buildings, standing apart from the villages. In the centre of the pile are the public rooms, consisting of chapels, refectories, and storerooms ; round them cluster the separate cells in which the monks live. Each landholder's family has its particular tdsha or cell in the monastery to which it is hereditarily attached ; and in this all the monks of the family — uncles, nephews, and brothers — may be found living together. The monks ordinarily mess in these separate quarters, and keep their books, clothes, cooking utensils, and other private property in them. Some mess singly, others two or three together. A boy monk, if he has no uncle to look after him, is made a pupil to some old monk, and lives in his cell ; there are generally two or three chapels — one for winter, another for summer, and a third perhaps the private chapel of the abbot or head lama.
The monks meet in the chapel to perform the services, which ordinarily consist of readings from the sacred books ; a sentence is read out and then repeated by the whole congregation. Narrow carpets are laid lengthways on the floor of the chapel, one for each monk ; each has his allotted place, and a special position is assigned to the reader ; the abbot sits on a seat of honour, raised a little above the common level of the floor ; the chapels are fine large rooms, open down the centre, which is separated from the sides by rows of wooden pillars. At the far end is the altar, consisting of a row of large coloured figures, the images of the avatar or incarnation of Buddha of the present age, of the coming avatar of the next age, and of the gurus Rimbochi, Atisha, and other saints. In some chapels a number of small brass images from China are ranged on shelves on one side of the altar, and on the other stands a bookcase full of the sacred books, which are bundles of loose sheets printed from engraved blocks in the fashion which has been in use in Tibet for many centuries. The walls all round the chapel are painted with figures of male or female divinities, saints, and demons, or hung with pictures on cloth with silk borders ; similar pictures on cloth are also suspended across the chapel on ropes. The best pictures are brought from Great Tibet as presents to the monastery by monks who return from taking the degree of gelang at Lhasa, or who have been living for some years in one of the monasteries of that country. They are painted in a very quaint and conventional style, but with considerable power of drawing and colouring. Huge cylindrical prayer-wheels, which spin round at a slight touch of the finger, stand round the room, or on each side of the altar. In the storerooms among the public property are kept the dresses, weapons, and fantastic masks used in the chdiu or religious plays ; also the drums and cymbals, and the robes and quaint head- dresses worn by the superior monks at high ceremonies.
The refectory or public kitchen is only used on the occasion of certain festivals, which sometimes last several days, during which special services are performed in the chapels. While these festivals last, the monks mess together, eating and drinking their fill of meat, barley, butter, and tea. The main source from which the expense of these feasts is met is the pun (tithe), which is not divided among the monks for everyday consumption in the separate cells. To supply his private larder, each monk has, in the first place, all he gets from his family in the shape of the produce of the ' lama's field ' or otherwise ; secondly, he has his share, according to his rank in the monastery, of the bula or funeral offerings and of the harvest alms ; thirdly, anything he can acquire in the way of fees for attendance at marriages or other ceremonies or in the way of wages for work done in the summer. The funeral offerings made to the monasteries on the death of any member of a household consist of money, clothes, pots and pans, grain, butter, &c. ; the harvest alms consist of grain collected by parties of five or six monks sent out on begging expeditions all over Spiti by each monastery just after the harvest. They go round from house to house in full dress, and standing in a row, chant certain verses, the burden of which is — ' We are men who have given up the Avorld, give us, in charity, the means of life ; by so doing you will please God, whose servants we are.' The receipts are considerable, as each house gives something to every party. On the death of a monk, his private property, whether kept in his cell or deposited in the house of the head of the family, goes not to the monastery, but to his family — first to the monks of it, if any, and in their default, to the head or kang chimpa. When a monk starts for Lhasa, to take his degree, his kang chimpa is bound to give him what he can towards the expenses of the journey, but only the well-to-do men can afford it. Many who go to Lhasa get high employment under the Tibetan government, being sent to govern monasteries, &c., and remain there for years ; they return in old age to their native monastery in Spiti, bringing a good deal of wealth, of which they always give some at once to their families.
The cultivated area in Spiti is only 2 square miles. The principal crop is barley. The exports include cereals, manufactured cloth, yaks, and yaks' tails. The imports comprise salt, tobacco, madder, and tea from Lhasa ; wool, turquoises, amber, and wooden vessels from Kanawar ; coarse cloth, dyes, and soda from Ladakh ; and iron from Mandl and Kanawar. A handsome breed of ponies is imported from Chamarti. There are no police, schools, or dispensaries. The shortest route to Spiti from Kulu is over the Hamta pass (14,200 feet), up the Chandra valley over the Great Shigri glacier, and then over the Kanzam La or pass (14,900 feet), so that this is beyond question the most inaccessible part of the British dominions in India. Dankhar is the chief village and the head-quarters of the nono.
Snow leopards
2017: sighting near Komic
The endangered and reclusive snow leopard has found a safe habitat for breeding in the cold desert of Spiti in Himachal Pradesh going by the spurt in its sightings here in recent years.
But a resident of Langza village and some tourists got the biggest surprise when they sighted and photographed three snow leopards together near Komic village. Forest officials said this was a first-of-its-kind sighting of the wild cat.
Conservation organisations have put the number of the big cat at between 4,500 and 7,500 in the world today, spread over 12 countries. Forest officials said that the animals were frequently being sighted in Spiti valley but they are generally spotted in singles. They are being sighted mostly near Kibbar, Komic, Hikkim and Demul areas. “The three snow leopards were sighted together this February near Komic village. Many tourists are visiting Spiti only to get a glimpse of this animal and most of them get a saighting,” said Tashi Palzor of Langza village. The valley has now become popular for snow leopard expeditions.
“There is no doubt that the snow leopard is thriving hed three snow leopards together near Komic village. Forest officials said this was a first-of-its-kind sighting of the wild cat.
Conservation organisations have put the number of the big cat at between 4,500 and 7,500 in the world today , spread over 12 countries. Fo rest officials said that the animals were frequently being sighted in Spiti valley but they are generally spotted in singles. They are being sighted mostly near Kibbar, Komic, Hikkim and Demul areas. “The three snow leopards were sighted together this February near Komic village. Many tourists are visiting Spiti only to get a glimpse of this animal and most of them get a saighting,“ said Tashi Palzor of Langza village. The valley has now become popular for snow leopard expeditions.
“There is no doubt that the snow leopard is thriving here,” said Devinder Singh Chauhan, range officer (wildlife) at Spiti. “Frequent sightings suggest that the cat’s population is increasing.” The department will soon radio-collar the leopards to study their behaviour. A conservation and study centre is under construction at Kibbar village. Project Snow Leopard is already running since 2010. Recently in February an old snow leopard died in Kibbar village. The leopard, which was not even able to move, was taken care of by the villagers before it died.
Sources said snow leopards have been sighted very close to villages and even Kaza town. Killing or harming wild ibex and blue sheep is considered a religious sin in Spiti. This has resulted in increase in the population of these animals, which are prime prey for snow leopards. Experts believe snow leopards are getting their prey in the area easily, which is helping them thrive.
