The last Aryans of Ladakh
The chief of Beemia is also a public works officer with the Govt. of India and enjoys a large family with apple orchards, gardens, and barley fields.
© Ayash Basu 2018
Ladakh, the land of high passes and once a principal entrepôt on the Silk Route, lures many wanderlusts. Mountain kingdom palaces, spectacular high-altitude deserts, magnificent monasteries, and their sacred monks, Bactrian camels and jaw-dropping landscapes are truly one-of-a-kind here and attract many a traveler and photographer. And then there are its people. Between Leh and Kargil, Ladakh’s two districts, there are close to 300,000 residents that are roughly 55% Muslim and 45% Buddhist, with numerous sub-sects. A smattering of Hindus fill up the “rounding error” category. But, there is a 1,800-strong settlement spread across five villages – Dah, Haanu, Darchik, Beemia, and Garkon – that attracts anthropologists from the West. This is the Dard Brokpa community — allegedly the last Aryans of Ladakh — that has lived in relative isolation in the Batalik sector; the last major event here was the Kargil war in 1999.
The most widespread belief links their genetic origins to the Aryan master race, although Brokpas do not associate themselves with Nazi Germany in anyway – the sole connection being that of German soldiers coming to these parts in 1938 looking for Aryans, under Hitler’s orders.
Why anthropologists, one might wonder? There is no definitive answer except vehement theories that have taken deep roots amongst various research and documentarian spheres. One faction of historians asserts that the Brokpas are part of Alexander’s lost army that never went back. Other fraternities opine that they are indigenous inhabitants of India, dating back to 3,000 B.C. The most widespread belief links their genetic origins to the Aryan master race, although Brokpas do not associate themselves with Nazi Germany in any way — the sole connection being that of German soldiers coming to these parts in 1938 looking for Aryans, under Hitler’s orders.
Which theory you choose to subscribe to is an open deliberation, but one thing is clear — Brokpas are ethnically, physically, and religiously different. No Tibetan-Mongol features from the rest of Ladakh are seen here, neither are any Balti traits, as found in villages like Turtuk. Instead, Brokpas exhibit somewhat Indo-Aryan features with long hair, pale skin, high cheekbones, and light-colored eyes. Both men and women are significantly taller than the Tibetan benchmark. And, this is why in recent years, Dah-Haanu has spiked in interest from documentarians and photographers.
Dah village women gather inside a dining room filled with traditional metal ware and utensils.
© Ayash Basu 2018
© Ayash Basu 2018
Travel photography is as much about cultural awareness and exploration as making images, and on this count, Dah was a revelation. The road to Dah is alongside the Indus river and suitably called “Indus Valley Road,” which prompted memoirs of the Indus Valley civilization and Aryan migration from my school textbooks. I was forming mental pictures of blue-eyed, blond-haired, tall, well-built people — the stereotypical Aryan folklore served in some sort of Indo-German-Swedish genetic recipe. Khan, the driver from Leh, had expounded that these were rare pure-bred Aryans. Plus, I had gone through several articles and documentaries that talked about racial and pregnancy tourism in these parts — German women visiting Brokpa villages to get impregnated with “pure seed” and families in western Europe adopting Brokpa children. Read one such example here.
Polygamy and polyandry are both allowed and couples who are unable to conceive a child can freely change partners.
Visits to Beemia and Dah, two of the five Brokpa villages revealed a recipe far from Indo-German, yet markedly aside from Tibetan-Mongol and Balti-Persian. Despite the anthropology not quite aligning with the Aryan myth, Brokpa culture is as discrete as it gets. For starters, this community strictly marries within itself — four out of five times within the same village, only on rare occasions with one of the other villages. Women who marry outside the tribe are not welcome back. Yet, polygamy and polyandry are both allowed and couples who are unable to conceive a child can freely change partners, within the community of course. Women reserve first rights to a divorce if they so choose, and are paid handsomely by the groom on their wedding day. Aryan or not, I’m almost sure this beats most Hun, Goth, or Viking norms.
Brokpas are followers of the Bon religion, though versions of Buddhism are now seen. This means nature worship and utmost regard towards resources around oneself. Families grow their own fruits and vegetables, raise cattle, and are vegans for the most part. Alcohol and goat meat are consumed on special occasions.
How far the Aryan myth is true is anybody’s guess. More importantly, how much does it matter — unless one somehow believes in the notion of the master race and superior genes, which I don’t. My personal view is that the Aryan tagline got thrown around a bit during the war decades in the 20th century, possibly a bit by the Germans, and equally invested in by the British in India at the time. I would argue that the Brokpas themselves have only been recently aware of their “Aryanness,” following rising interest from anthropology scholars, travelers, and photographers.
Having said that, this is a distinct community in a very remote corner of India that is sexually liberated, has equal representation and rights for women, is extremely conscious of natural resources and does everything to preserve and promote them, and fiercely remembers its ancestors and traditions.
If these traits were to define an Aryan master race, then by many counts these Brokpas might indeed be the last remaining Aryans in India.