Geography
 Along the paths of Zanskar, the traveller is often confronted with Mani walls. These stone structures are a compilation of exquisitely carved stone tablets, each with the inscription " Om Mani Padme Hum" which translates to "Hail to the jewel in the lotus". These walls should be passed or circumvented from the left side, the clockwise direction in which the earth and the universe revolve, according to Buddhist doctrine Zanskar together with the better known region of Ladakh were once known as Little or Western Tibet. These two ancient Buddhist kingdoms now belong to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in northwestern India. Zanskar covers an area of some 7000 km² at an elevation between 3500 and 7000 meters. It comprises the country lying along the two main tributaries of the Zanskar river. The first one, the Doda, has its source near the Pensi-La (4400m.) mountain-pass and then flows south-eastwards along the main valley leading towards Padum, the capital of Zanskar. The second branch is formed by two main tributaries known as Kurgiakh-chu with its source near the Shingo-La and Tsarap-chu with its source near the Baralacha-La. These two rivers unite below the village of Purne to form the Lungnak river (also named Lingti or Tsarap). The Lungnak-Chu then flows north-westwards along a narrow and precipitous gorge towards the Padum Valley where it unites with the Doda river to form the Zanskar river.
The Zanskar river then takes globally a north-eastern course until it joins the Indus river in Ladakh. High mountain ridges lie on both sides of the NW-SE trending Doda and Lingti/Kurgiakh valleys.To the southwest is the Great Himalayan Range that separates Zanskar from the Kisthwar and Chamba basins. To the northeast lies the Zanskar Range separating Zanskar from Ladakh. Thus, the only outlet for the whole Zanskar hydrographic system is the Zanskar river which cuts a deep and narrow gorge through the Zanskar range.
These topographical features explain why access to Zanskar is difficult from all sides. Communication with the neighbouring Himalayan areas is maintained across mountain passes or along the Zanskar river when frozen. The easiest approach leads from Kargil through the Suru Valley and over the Pensi La. It is along this track that in 1979 the first and only road in Zanskar was built to connect Padum with the main road from Srinagar into Ladakh. The remoteness of this region also explains why only a few western travellers have visited this area until recent times, the tibetologist Alexander Csoma de Koros in 1823 being probably one of the first. Moreover, because of the recent border conflicts between India and Pakistan or China, Zanskar was declared a restricted area and was reopened to foreigners only in 1974.
Climate
 Prayer flag above the monastery (Gompa) of Tanze, in the Kurgiakh valley. The wind is believed to propagate the prayers printed on tissue. Zanskar is a high altitude semi-desert lying on the Northern flank of the Great Himalayan Range. This mountain range acts as a climatic barrier protecting Ladakh and Zanskar from most of the monsoon, resulting in a pleasantly warm and dry climate in the summer. Precipitations during this season are thus scarce, although it seems that the last decades have seen an increase in pluviometry. We have indeed noticed several water driven mills, that were built, during ancient periods of drought at a great distance from the villages, but are now abandoned because running water is now available nearer to the houses. The Zanskari houses, which are otherwise especially well built, are not adapted to the recently increasing rainfalls as their roofs pretty fast start to leak, which catches their surprised inhabitants unprepared. Most of the precipitations occur as snowfalls during the harsh and extremely long lasting winter period. These winter snow falls are of vital importance since they feed the glaciers which will melt in the summer and provide most of the irrigation water.
Population
 Group of Zanskari women and children. In the summer, the women and children stay far away from the villages to tend to the livestock. This system, known as transhumance, is similar to the one found in the Alps where the animals are sent during the summer higher up in the mountains (the alpages) and were kept by the children and women. The number of people living in Zanskar is very small, the last census of the population (1971) was of 6886 souls. Tibetan Buddhism is the religion that largely prevails among Zanskari people although slightly tinted with relicts of animistic and shamanistic rituals. A small minority of Muslims (Shiites) also lives in Zanskar. The population is scattered in small villages, the largest being the capital Padum with nearly 700 inhabitants. Most of the villages are distributed along the valley of the Zanskar river and its two main tributaries. Given the isolation of this region, the inhabitants are condemned to rely essentially upon themselves and until recently lived in almost complete autarky.
Trade with the outside was always necessary to acquire goods like tools, jewels or religious artefacts. The Zanskaris live from cattle-rearing and from the farming of land that they almost always own. Cultivable land is scarce and restricted to alluvial fans and terraces (cultivated fields are rarely found at an altitude exceeding 4000 meters in Zanskar). The Zanskaris thus had to do their best to successfully develop a system of intensive arable agriculture and complex irrigation that produces enough food and avoids fallows. The scarcity of cultivable land also implies that the population has to remain stable. A rather efficient birth control system in Zanskar was achieved by the common practice of polyandrous marriage (several brothers are married to the same wife) and the widespread adoption of celibate religious life. A high (natural) infantile mortality rate did contribute to maintain a stable population.
Livestock
The livestock and especially the Yak is of paramount importance in Zanskar. Yaks are used to plough the land, to thresh the grain, to carry heavy loads (up to 200 kg), to heat the houses during the winter and their dung not only serves as fertiliser but is also the only heating fuel available in this region. They are also a vital source for milk, and sometimes but rarely, of meat. The yak's fur is used to make clothes, carpets, ropes and bed covers.
History
 The royal palace of Leh, former home of the kings of Ladakh is now transformed into a museum The first traces of human activity in Zanskar seem to go back as far as the Bronze-age. Petroglyphs attributed to that period suggest that their creators were steppe hunters of central Asia living between Kazakstan and China. It is then suspected that an Indo-European population known as the «Mon» might have lived in this region before being fused with, or replaced by, the next settlers, the Dards. Early Buddhism coming from Kashmir spread its influence in Zanskar maybe as early as 200 BC. The earliest monuments date from the Kushan period. After this eastward propagation of Buddhism, Zanskar and a large part of Western Himalaya were overrun in the 7 th century by the Tibetan who imposed their then animistic Bön; religion.
Buddhism regained its influence over Zanskar in the 8th century when Tibet was also converted to this religion. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, two Royal Houses were founded in Zanskar and the monasteries of Karsha and Phugtal (fig 1.8) were erected. Until the 15th century Zanskar existed as a more or less independent Buddhist Kingdom ruled by between two and four related royal families. Since the 15th century Zanskar however became subordinated to Ladakh, sharing its fortunes and misfortunes. In 1822, a coalition from Kulu, Lahoul and Kinnaur invaded Zanskar, plundering the country and destroying the Royal palace at Padum. From 1842 onward Zanskar and Ladakh became part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the mid-20th century, border conflicts between India, Pakistan and China caused Ladakh and Zanskar to be closed to foreigners. During these wars Ladakh lost two thirds of its original territory, leaving Baltistan to Pakistan and the Aksai Chin to China. Ladakh and Zanskar, despite a tumultuous history of internal wars and external aggressions, never lost their cultural and religious heritage since the 8th century. Thanks to its adherence to the Indian Union, it is also one of the rare regions in the Himalaya where the traditional Tibetan culture, society and buildings survived the Chinese Cultural Revolution. In the last 20 years, the opening of a road and the massive influx of tourists and researchers however caused many changes in the traditionnal social organisation of Zanskar.
Etymology
 Row of Chorten (or Stupa) at the village of Purne. each of the elements that constitute these edifices, as well as their color, has a symbolic meaning in Tibetan Buddhism Zanskar is also often found to be written Zangskar in sociological studies or Zaskar in geographers reports or maps of the Himalaya fifty or so years ago. An etymological study (Snellgrove and Skorupsky, 1980) of the name “Zangskar” reveals that its origin might refer to the natural occurrence of copper within this region, the Tibetan word for which is Zangs. The second syllable however seems to be more challenging as it has various meanings: Zangs-dkar (white copper), Zangs-mkhar (copper palace) or Zangs-sKar (copper star). Crook (1994) partly shares this interpretation but suggests that the origin of this name might also be Zan-mKhar (food palace), because the staple food crops are so abundant in an otherwise rather arid region. Some of the religious scholars of the district, also cited by Snellgrove and Skorupsky (1980) and Crook (1994), held that it was originally bZang-dKar, meaning good (or beautiful) and white. «Good» refers to the shape of the Padum plain which is triangular, the symbol of Dharma and religion, «white» refers to the simplicity, goodness and religious inclinations of the Zanskaris. Thus, even if etymologically it would be more correct to use Zangskar, we decided to adopt the most frequently found spelling for this region which is undoubtedly Zanskar.
References
- Dèzes, p. (1999): Tectonic and metamorphic Evolution of the Central Himalayan Domain in Southeast Zanskar (Kashmir, India). Mémoires de Géologie (Lausanne) No. 32. Web-site (http://comp1.geol.unibas.ch/zanskar)
- Osmaston H. (1994): The Geology, Geomorphology and Quaternary History of Zangskar, Himalayan Buddhist Villages: Environment, Resources, Society and Religious Life in Zangskar, Ladakh.: Bristol, University of Bristol U.K., p. 866.
- Snellgrove D.L. & Skorupsky T. (1980): The cultural heritage of Ladakh: Warminster, Aris and Phillips.
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