Rangdum Monastery.

According to Skarma Tsering (Pic-1) from Abran in Zanskar, he has no family members and has spent most of his life living with the monks at Rangdum Monastery. He recalls that as a young boy, around 8 to 10 years old, he saw Changpa traders visiting Abran to sell salt. Later, he witnessed monks from Rangdum Monastery crossing the Penzila Pass on horseback to reach Zanskar, where they bartered barley for salt from the Changpa traders.

In earlier times, the monastery kept nearly 100 horses, with each monk owning about two. Today, only a single horse remains, a ceremonial animal known as the Gomsta, which is considered sacred to the monastery.

According to Ven. Lobzang Tsetan, aged 85 (Pic-2) a monk from Randum monastery who is the eldest male resident of Rangdum village, most of the monks in the monastery originally came from Zanskar, Lingshed, and Dibling.

The monastery owns agricultural land in Akshow village, Zanskar. In the past, monks would travel annually from Rangdum to Zanskar, collect the barley from Akshow and trade it for salt with the Changpa traders in Abran.

He also recalls the annual visits of traders from Takmachik village in Sham, who would take the now-abandoned route from Kanji passing through with Chuli and Phating to trade it for barley in Zanskar.

Although little agriculture is possible in the vast expanse of Rangdum due to its extreme cold, the region is rich in grasslands and well-suited for livestock grazing.

In the past each year, villagers from Rangdum would take the Kanji La route to Leh to sell surplus butter.