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Brokpa

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Not to be confused with theBrokpa, Drokpa, Dard and Shin(schedule Tribe of India) or theBrokpa languageand people of eastern Bhutan.

Brokpa
Minaro[1]
Brokpa men inLadakh,dressed up forBona-nafestival
Total population
3,000–4,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
Ladakh
Languages
Brokskat
Religion
Predominantly:Buddhism;
Minority:Islam
Related ethnic groups
OtherIndo-Aryan peoples

TheBrokpa(Tibetan:འབྲོག་པ་,Wylie:’brog pa,THL:drok pa), sometimes referred to asMinaro,are a smallethnic groupmostly found in theunion territoryofLadakh,India around the villages ofDhaandHanu.Some of the community are also located across theLine of ControlinBaltistanin the villages aroundGanokh.They speak anIndo-Aryan languagecalledBrokskat.[3]The Brokpa are mostlyVajrayana Buddhistwhile some areMuslim.[4]

Name[edit]

According to theBritish Rajcommentators, the name 'Brogpa' was given by theBaltisto theDardic peopleliving among them. The term means "highlander". The reason for this is that the Brogpa tended to occupy the higher pasture lands in the valleys.[5]Frederic Drewstates, "Wherever the Dards are in contact with Baltis or with Bhots, these others call them (...)BrokpaorBlokpa."[6]As the Tibetan language pronunciation varies by region, the same name is pronounced byLadakhisasDrokpaorDokpa.[a]

Over time, the term "Brokpa" fell out of use inBaltistanand theDrassarea, in favour of ethnic labels such as "Dards" and "Shins".[7]Only the Brokpa of the lower Indus valley in LadakhDah Hanu regioncontinue to retain the name, and their language is calledBrokskat.[2][8]They use the endonym Minaro.

Identity and geographic distribution[edit]

The Brokpa speak an Indo-Aryan language calledBrokskat,which is a variety of theShina languagecurrently spoken in theGilgitregion.[9](During theBritish Raj,it became common to refer to the people of the Gilgit region as "Dards" using ancient nomenclature. The Brokpa are thus "Dards" living in the midst of Tibetic Ladakhi and Balti people.)[b]While the two languages share similar phonological developments, Brokskat converged withPurgito the extent of being mutually intelligible at the present time.[11][9][12]

The Brokpa might have expanded from the Gilgit region upstream along the Indus valley until reaching their current habitat, viz., the lower Indus valley of Ladakh next to the border with Baltistan.[13]The time frame of this expansion or dispersion is uncertain, but their chiefs are believed to have ruled atKhalatseuntil the 12th century, where the remnants of their forts can still be found. Their rule over this region ended during the reign of the Ladakhi kingsLhachen Utpalaand his successorLhachen Naglug.[14]

Another group of Brokpa appear to have settled in theTurtukregion in the lowerShyok rivervalley, where also remnants of their fort can be found. They appear to have faced a defeat at the hands of raiders from Baltistan, and moved to theHanu valleybelow theChorbat Lapass.[15]


Scholar Rohit Vohra states that the Brokpa can be found all along the Indus Valley fromLeh,but Achina-Thang is the first wholly Brokpa village, however they have adopted Ladakhi culture a long ago.[16]Their major villages are, in addition to Dah and Hanu,Garkon,Darchik,andBatalik.A few of them live in the villages of Silmo (34°37′37″N76°19′12″E/ 34.627°N 76.320°E/34.627; 76.320(Silmo)) and Lalung (34°35′28″N76°17′53″E/ 34.591°N 76.298°E/34.591; 76.298(Lalung)) en route toKargil.[16]In the 17th century, the stream and village of Gurugurdo (34°39′40″N76°19′59″E/ 34.661°N 76.333°E/34.661; 76.333(Gurugurdo)) was set as the border between Baltistan and Ladakh.[17][18]To the north of here, there are Muslim Brokpa villages, such asChulichan,Ganokh, and possibly Marol.[16][17]Ganokh and Marol are at present in Pakistan-administeredGilgit-Baltistan.

The number of Brokstat speakers was estimated as 3,000 people in 1996.[11]

Festivals[edit]

Main article:Bono-na

Brokpa celebrate Bono-na festival which is a festival of thank giving to deities for good crops and prosperity.[19]

Brokpa Men during Bono-na festival in Dha-Hanu village

Diet[edit]

The traditional Brogpa diet is based on locally grown foods such as barley and hardy wheat prepared most often as tsampa/sattu (roasted flour). It takes in different ways.[clarification needed]Other important foods include potatoes, radishes, turnips, and Gur-Gur Cha, a brewed tea made of black tea, butter and salt.

Dairy and poultry sources are not eaten because of religious taboos. Brogpa eat three meals a day:Choalu Unis(breakfast),Beali(lunch) andRata Unis(dinner). Brogpa vary with respect to the amount of meat (mainly mutton) that they eat. A household's economic position decides the consumption of meat. It is only during festivals and rituals that all have greater access to mutton.[20]

Economy and employment[edit]

The Brogpa economy has shifted from agropastoralism to wage labour, and the division of labour that relied on stratifications of age and gender is now obsolete. For many years, brokpa predominantly engaged in high-altitude grazing (3000 to 4500 meter) and lowland agriculture. The Brogpa transition to private property, monogamy, nuclear families, formal education, wage labour, and their incorporation into a highly militarised economy of soldiering and portering illuminates the complex workings of modernity in Ladakh.[21]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Many pastoral groups on the Tibetan plateau and the surrounding Himalayan regions have been given the name Brogpa/Drokpa. They are not necessarily related to each other.
  2. ^In current parlance, the term "Dards" is used for the speakers ofDardic languages.The Brokpa are "Dards" on this account as well.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^Indian Antiquary.Popular Prakashan. 1905. p. 93.Minaro,as they call themselves
  2. ^abEthnologue, 15th Edition,SIL International, 2005 – via archive.org
  3. ^Cardona & Jain, Indo-Aryan Languages (2007),p. 889.
  4. ^Vohra, Ethnographic Notes on the Buddhist Dards (1982).
  5. ^Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak (1890),p. 238.
  6. ^Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875),p. 433.
  7. ^Radloff, The Dialects of Shina (1992),note 8.
  8. ^"Brokskat".Ethnologue.Retrieved23 February2020.
  9. ^abRadloff, The Dialects of Shina (1992),p. 99.
  10. ^Kogan, On possible Dardic and Burushaski influence (2019),p. 263, footnote 1.
  11. ^abCardona & Jain, Indo-Aryan Languages (2007),p. 984.
  12. ^Schmidt, Ruth Laila; Kaul, Vijay Kumar (1 January 1970)."A Comparative Analysis of Shina and Kashmiri Vocabularies".Acta Orientalia.69:235–236, 247.doi:10.5617/ao.7372.ISSN1600-0439.
  13. ^Jina, Ladakh (1996),p. 93.
  14. ^Vohra, Ethnographic Notes on the Buddhist Dards (1982),p. 70.
  15. ^Vohra, Rohit (1990), "Mythic Lore and Historical Documents from Nubra Valley in Ladakh",Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae,44(1/2), Akadémiai Kiadó: 225–239,JSTOR23658122
  16. ^abcVohra, Ethnographic Notes on the Buddhist Dards (1982),p. 72.
  17. ^abBhasin, Tribals of Ladakh (2004),pp. 137–138.
  18. ^Vohra, Ethnographic Notes on the Buddhist Dards (1982),p. 76.
  19. ^"5-day Bonona festival of Brokpas concludes".dailyexcelsior.12 October 2016.Retrieved11 January2023.
  20. ^"Bhasin, Veena: Social Change, Religion and Medicine among Brokpas of Ladakh, Ethno-Med., 2(2): 77-102 (2008)"(PDF).
  21. ^Bhan, Mona(2013).Counterinsurgency, Democracy and the Politics of Identity in India.Routledge. Chapter 1: Becoming Brogpa.ISBN9781138948426.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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