The Balti are the descendants of an amalagam of Tibetan, Indo-Aryan and Mon people, whose population of 400,000 is found in the Pakistani-controlled Baltistan (called Baltiyul by locals) and Kargil and Leh districts of Ladakh region of Jammu & Kashmir. Their language, the Balti, belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family and is a sub-dialect of Ladakhi.
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Pakistan (Northern Areas) | |
| Languages | |
| Balti | |
| Religion | |
| Shi'a Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ladakhis, Tibetans |
Script
Brahmi was used for written Balti between the 5th to 6th century. However, with the introduction of the Tibetan script under king Khri Getsung-Brtan in the 727 AD, Balti literature flourished. It remained in use until the 16th century, when the Persian script replaced the Balti script.
In contemporary Baltiyul, youth like Senge Thsering, Bakir Posingpa and Hassan Shesrab are trying to reintroduce Tibetan/Ladakhi script so that the richness of the Balti language could be promoted and restored. Today one can see many signboards on shops and offices in Tibetan script, a project started by Senge Thsering in year 2000. Hassan Shesrab, a local college professor teaches Balti Yige script after college hours in his house.
Baltistan Cultural Foundation is an organization trying level best to promote the indigenous script Yige. A primer has been produced by BCF that will be introduced in private schools. Plans have been made to send Balti teachers to Nepal to learn Tibetan script that could be then taught in local Balti schools. Friends are requested to send funds to BCF in order to support the vital financial arrangements required in this regard
Baltis of Kargil have also initiated school projects where Yige (Tibetan) script is taught at primary level to local students. Muslims of Kargil and Baltistan have started showing enthusiasm in reviving the indigenous Tibetan script.
History
Tibetan Khampa, Indo-Aryan and Mon tribes came to Baltistan (called Baltiyul by locals) prior to civilisation, and these groups eventually settled down, creating the Balti people. It was believed that the Balti people came under the Sphere of influence from the kingdom of Zhang Zhung.
Baltistan came under the control of the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. Under Tibetan cultural influence, the Bön and Animist Baltis began to adopt Tibetan Buddhism from Indian Buddhism. Religious artefacts such as the Gompas and Chörtens were erected, and Lamas played an important role in the lives of the Baltis.
Islam was first introduced to the Balti people in the 16th century with the conversion of the Balti prince Gyalbu Rinchen, although mass conversions did not take place until the reign of the ninth rMaqpon King Ghotago Senge. It was not until the reign of the 15th rMaqpon king Ali Sher Khan Anchan did the Balti people look forward to expand their territory and fostering relationships with the Mughal emperors.
With the decline of power of Tibet during the 11th century, the Balti people came under the control of the rMaqpon and the Shagari families in the 12th century, and fostered a close relationship with Ladakh in the east. Same linguistic and cultural characteristics of Baltiyul and Ladakh helped forging an administrative unit that existed until 1948 when Baltistan was annexed by Pakistan. The Dogra Maharajas of Jammu kept the administrative unit intact and converted it into a province called Ladakh Wazarat (a province composed of Baltistan, central Ladakh, Purik, Zanskar and Changthang areas). Skardo, capital of Baltiyul became the winter capital of province while Leh, capital of Central Ladakh became the summer capital. The province was divided into three districts namely Skardo, Leh and Kargil.
Culture
Centuries of Tibetan, Islamic and Indian influence have shaped the Balti culture into its modern form. Islam plays an important role in Balti culture, and this can be seen in the daily prayers of the Balti Muslim men, who would kneel down on a mat and pray towards Mecca.
Tibetan infuence can be seen in its architecture, where houses with flat roof painted white and sloping inwards are built, and the most notable artefacts of the Balti/Ladakhi architecture include Kharpoche in Skardo, Khapulo Khar in Khapulo, Chakchan and Shigar Khanqah and Baltit fort of Hunza. Like the other Ladakhi Muslims, older mosques show a mix of Iranian and Tibetan architecture, although strong Iranian and modern influences can be seen in the newer mosques.
Little remains of the pre-Islamic Balti culture, which was largely supplaced by the dominant Punjabi and Iranian culture, and it can be evidenced in the near-extinction of traditional Balti festivals such as Mephang, Mindok Ltadmo and Srup Lha. Folk literature such as those of Lha Kesar and works of Ali Sher Khan Anchan prevail among the Balti literature, which has experienced a revival in recent years.
Although climatic conditions are harsh and inhospitable, the village people of Baltistan are among the most friendly and hospitable of mountain peoples in Pakistan. Evolved out of 106 years of slavery under the Dogra rulers and innumerable decades under local despotic Rajas, the predominant population of today’s Baltistan is religiously and ethnically homogenous.
Baltistan is proud of her thousands of years of rich civilization. Her architecture, costumes, cuisines, festivals, dances, language, script, epics, hence everything makes her unique among her neighbors, especially within the contemporary Northern Areas. The local culture is a blend of that of Ladakhi and Islamic rituals, identical to that of Indian Ladakhi Muslims. The residents of Baltistan, since partition to this day, have remained essentially people of Baltistan’s soil. They are devout Shia-Muslims, and in effect including two generations borne since the annexation of Baltistan to Pakistan have never distanced themselves from the cultural and linguistic ties what ninety percent of the Baltis regard as Ladakhi cultural and linguistic heritage.
Of late, modern Balti scholars such as Syed Abbas Kazmi and Mohammad Senge Tshering Hasnain have contributed greatly to the re-discovery of the Balti culture. Plans to excavate ancient monastery and preservation of the Buddha rock are planned, as the Balti goes through a process of merging their culture with those of their brethren in Ladakh.
Recently a book (Balti Tamlo) has been produced by Ghulam Hassan Hasni that contains 900 Balti/Ladakhi proverbs, idioms and expressions. Further, writers like Hassan Lobsang has written books on local Bon traditions and pre-Buddhist Baltiyul.
Lifestyle
Sandwiched between the Karakoram, the Himalayan and Ladakh mountain ranges, Baltistan region is highly valued for her strategic geo-political ___location. Her trade routes in the past have served as economic lifelines for the inhabitants of this region, who bartered goods while visiting East Turkistan (Sinkiang), China, Central Asia, other parts of the Indian Sub-continent, Central Tibet and beyond. Today, the region is sandwiched between three nuclear powers of Asia: China in the north, India in the east and south, and Pakistan in west.
Baltistan comprises of highest mountains and longest glaciers (outside the polar regions) in the world. However, being a mountainous region, availability of cultivable land is scarce. Further, the rivers and streams have formed numerous valleys over the course of time, which are inhabited and cultivated by the residents. Innumerable rivers and rivulets including Shyok, Siachen, Saltoro, Suru, Shingo and Shigar rivers, augment mighty Indus, which after bisecting through Baltistan enters Gilgit. Glacial lakes are abundant in Baltistan and are of high touristic value. Baltistan possesses approximately fifty peaks with height above 20,000 feet from sea level. Mighty K-2 - the second highest peak in the world at 8,611 meters height – is situated here, overlooking the Shigar valley of Baltistan. The glaciers - the longest in the world outside the Polar Regions, reaching to the length of 90 kilometers – surround Baltistan in the north and west directions, separating her from China and Gilgit.
Baltistan has four seasons; a short spring, summer and autumn with a longer winter. As winters approach, temperatures drop to –25 degrees Celsius in the residential villages and towns, and life virtually ‘freezes’ for the local inhabitants. Rainfall is less than 300 millimeters per annum as the region falls outside the monsoon zone. Vegetation is scarce in Baltistan and found only in areas fed by streams and rivulets. The mountains are largely devoid of vegetation, and supplies of firewood are scarce. The Deosai plains, around 5,400 square kilometers of sheer plateau at an elevation of 14,000 feet from sea level, is a refuge for the most endangered species of world’s wild life both flora and fauna, including magnificent snow leopard.
Skardo, the urban capital of Baltistan, is located at 7,400 feet above sea level. Formerly the capital of Rajas of Skardo, it is the widest valley in the whole of Karakoram mountain belt, where the longest airplane strip at such an elevation is situated overshadowed by Karakoram and the Himalayan ranges.
Several historical trade routes under utilization for thousands of years open towards Leh, Kargil, Srinagar, Simla, Manali, Yarkand (to China through Karakoram Pass), and Tibet. However since the war between Pakistan and India in 1971, the local population hasn’t been able to access the trading regions in the east and north, which has deteriorated the local economy badly.
Subsequent political events in Pakistan and a harsh policy adopted by the oppressive regimes have minimized the chances of any infrastructure development. Baltistan, through all these times in last 58 years has remained one of the poverty stricken areas in Pakistan. Today, subsidized supplies trickle in from Pakistan as the only source of vital goods when the region is cut off from rest of the country for months due to avalanches and land slides affecting the only road linking Baltistan to rest of Pakistan, which effects the local economy. This road was built in the 1982 and until then, the only source of transportation to Baltistan, which is three times bigger in area compared to the Kashmir Valley, was by air, and dependent on good weather. The literacy ratio is very low, approximately 20 percent for males and 03 percent for females. In valleys like Basha, Braldo etc. female literacy is almost non-existent. The health facilities are inadequate, and joblessness has compelled many to leave the region through these years.
Like the Ladakhis, the Balti are agriculturalists. Subsistence farming and animal husbandry are the main sources of livelihood for the Baltis. They grow wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat and raise goats and sheep for wool, and yaks for hair, meat, milk and skin. These animals are also traded for cash. Horticulture also forms a significant source of income for the Baltis. However, there is a shortage of cultivable land in this hilly country, at two acres of land per household available for cultivation. The food and fodder security issues compel the villagers to store ration for both humans and animals, which is then utilized during the long winters. Other occupations include unskilled and semi-skilled labor. The economic graph is never steady as during the six or seven months of long winter, economic activities virtually cease to exist and people leave for Pakistan to seek job opportunities.
Balti staple cusine includes Cha-phe (Tsampa), Ladakhi salt tea (Balti Cha), Marzan (cooked dough and yak butter); Thsodma (greens) and Chuli-Chhu (apricot juice).
Cereals are planted in late spring and at lands with elevations not above 2,500 m, particularly along the Indus (Sengge Chhu) and Shyok river. For months, Baltiyul is cut off from rest of Pakistan as the winter snow could be so heavy that it could cut off several regions from the rest of the world.
During the years when it is relatively calm and peaceful, a modest number of tourists both local and international visit Baltistan, complementing much needed financial support. The region lacks major industry. As permanent sources of job opportunities lack, thousands of people have left the region either temporarily or on permanent basis to other parts of Pakistan and Middle East.
In case roads towards east open re-linking Baltiyul with Ladakh and Kashmir, local economy can improve and thousands of divided families of Ladakh and Baltistan can reunite. Per capita income which is one fourth of national Pakistani average (US$ 120) may also increase as trade opportunities and tourism will catch pace.
Religion
The Baltis like Ladakhi Muslims are mainly Muslims of the Shia' denimination. Mosques in Baltistan are mainly built in the Tibetan style, though several mosques constructed have wood-finish and decorations of Iranian origin which can also be seen in Ladakh and Kargil. A fair denomination are Muslims of the Sufi Nurbaxshi sect (25%) and Sunni sect (7%). Sufi Nurbaxshi are only found in Ladakh and Baltistan in Khapulo and Nubra valleys and share beliefs with Shias in many ways. The Balti, who converted to Islam from Lamaism since the 16th century, have regarded the Mosques as a part of their life. On every Friday, the menfolk would generally attend the prayers sometime a little after noon. All Muslims will fast in the day during the month of the Ramadan, and a celebration will be held at the end of the celebration.
Small pockets of Bön and Tibetan Buddhism believers that amount up to 3,000 are found in Kharmang valley of Baltistan and in West Kargil. East Ladakh (Leh district and Zanskar) are predominantly Buddhist.
See also
External links
http://groups.msn.com/JulayBaltiyul
Search Ladakhis, Ladakh, Purik, Zanskar, West Ladakh