At Digar with Ama Phunstog Dolma le, age 84.

Phunstog Dolma was born into the affluent Amchi family of Labab, a small hamlet situated along the traditional route to Khyungru and Digar. Labab is a small settlement, home to just two families.

Dolma  recalls that during her youth, the broader region experienced widespread poverty, and many households frequently ran short of food supplies. Unlike the nearby villages of Tangyar and Khema, where wheat cultivation was not possible due to a harsher, colder climate, Labab’s relatively temperate conditions made it suitable for growing wheat, barley, and peas.

Her family, among the wealthiest in the area was especially known for loaning grain to households from nearby settlements. Every spring, families would arrive to borrow grain, which they would repay following the autumn harvest. The prevailing interest rate at the time was five battis (approximately 10 kilograms) for every four battis borrowed, a customary practice rooted in trust and reciprocity.

Dolma vividly recalls that around the age of 15, Changpa traders would descend from the Nibukla Pass, stopping at Tangyar with their Changluks ( sheep) pack animals laden with salt and wool. After trading these goods in Nubra, the Changpas would return with wheat, which they could not cultivate in their high-altitude pastures.

At Labab, Dolma remembers her mother storing salt in large, earthen containers. This clean, reddish salt was prized for its flavour and primarily used in the preparation of butter tea. The two resident families of Labab wove their own woolen garments: local wool was used to spin the spun (warp), while the finer wool purchased from the Changpas was reserved for weaving the gyu (weft), producing warmer and more refined clothing.

At Digar with Aba Rinchen Gyalpo-le, aged 95

 

Rinchen Gyalpo of the Kulpa family in Digar has lived a long and eventful life as both zamindar and trader. For much of his life, he cultivated barley, peas, and mustard. But he also engaged in the seasonal trade of salt and wool with Nubra, sourcing his goods from the Changpa nomads who visited Tangyar.

The Changpas arrived in Tangyar carrying salt, wool, butter, cheese, and dried meat. In return, they bartered for barley. The standard exchange rate, as Rinchen recalls, was one batti (roughly 2 kilograms) of salt for one and a half battis of barley. The Tangyar market was a lively scene, drawing not only villagers but also traders from Nubra and Baltistan, many of whom travelled with doltoks, heavy stone pots,strapped to their backs.

During the summer months, Rinchen Gyalpo would buy salt and wool from the Changpas and carry it to Nubra to trade for wheat. While the Nubrapas who came to Tangyar offered three battis of wheat for a single batti of wool, Rinchen could often double his return by selling directly in Nubra,fetching up to 6 battis, and occasionally even 24 kilograms, depending on market demand.

His journeys took him to distant villages such as Panamik, Chamshen, and Yarma. Travel was made mostly on horseback or with the help of dzos and yaks. Donkeys, were a rare sight in those days.

Gyalpo was around 30 when he first began trading as a supplementary source of income. He continued to do so periodically until his final trading trip, which took place shortly before the 1971 war with Pakistan. It has now been more than fifty years, he says, since the Changpa caravans last visited these routes.

For additional household shopping,especially during the summer and around Losar Rinchen would undertake overnight journeys to Leh via the Digar La pass. There, he would sell his barley in the bustling chang market at Naushehar, where women from various households sat selling chang (local barley wine). He fondly recounts : the women sellers would compete for barley, offering cups of chang to the sellers.

“By the time a person reached the end of the market,” he’d be drunk from sipping chang from every seller"

At Khema Village with Ama Tashi Palmo.

Tashi Palmo, 80, from Khema village, fondly recalls the once-bustling market in the neighboring village of Tangyar, where the men of Khema regularly sourced salt and wool. While Tangyar remained the primary commercial hub, a handful of Changpa traders occasionally journeyed directly to Khema, providing a secondary supply of these vital goods. Among them was a prominent trader, Changpa Namlang, who would stay in the village for around fifteen days during his visits. Among the many goods they brought, the most eagerly awaited by Khema’s women was the rare charu, a luxurious fur garment traditionally worn with the perak, the iconic Ladakhi headdress. Charu was crafted from the soft hide of a young sheep, barely a year old, locally known as Lugu. 

These traders typically camped in two fields on the outskirts of Khema, named, Goma and Langya, particularly in the autumn months when the fields lay fallow. In contrast, summer visits were rare, as there were no open spaces available for encampment; during that season, the Changpas confined their trade to Tangyar. 

Palmo also recalls a time when nearly every household in the region depended on grain loans from wealthy families such as the Katong and Lababs. These loans, typically of barley, were taken for both household consumption and agricultural sowing. Repayment was expected after the autumn harvest. The traditional interest rate, known as del, required the borrower to return one khal (equivalent to 12 kilograms) for every four khals borrowed. Later, through the efforts of the late 19th Bakula Rinpoche, this rate was reduced to one khal per eight khals borrowed, before the practice of charging interest was abolished altogether.

One particularly vivid memory Palmo shares is of a practice involving the seasonal rearing of livestock for Nubra families. Wealthy pastoralists from Nubra, unable to graze their large herds during the summer months, would entrust goats and sheep to trusted families in Khema. From the fourth month of the Ladakhi calendar until autumn, these animals would graze on Khema’s more abundant pastures.

The arrangement was mutually beneficial. The host families in Khema retained the manure, a valuable agricultural resource, while the livestock owners benefited from summer grazing. If a goat produced sufficient milk, the Khema family owed the owner one khal of barley. For lesser yields, the payment was halved. No payment was due for non-milking animals. In cases where an animal died, the caretakers were obliged to prove that the death was genuine and not a case of illicit sale. This verification practice, known as Shindas Stongyas, involved preserving parts of the deceased animal, most often its ears, as evidence.

When Palmo was a child, only three families in Khema participated in this practice. Over time, the number grew to nine, forming a group locally referred to as the Ratcho. Her own family took on the responsibility of rearing as many as 300 goats and sheep from the Labak family of Sumur in Nubra.

The Salt Market of Nubra: Recollections of Aba Sonam Wangchuk of Tangyar.

Aba Sonam Wangchuk, a 76-year-old elder from Tangyar village, belonging to the Tokpopa family, recalls a vital yet now largely forgotten chapter in Ladakh’s trade history.  Till about 40 years ago Tangyar served as a key epicentre for the salt and wool trade supplying the entire Nubra region.

According to Aba Wangchuk, Changpa traders from the highlands south of Rudok would visit Tangyar twice annually. Their first visit, during the fifth month of the Ladakhi lunar calendar, was known as Yartsong, the summer market. The second, more significant visit occurred during the autumn months of September-October, and was known as Stontsong.

The autumn trade was primarily focused on salt, butter, and dried meat, all carried in twin panniers slung across sheep. The Changpa caravans would travel via Durbuk and Reli Chiling, crossing the high Neebula Pass to reach Tangyar. Upon arrival, they were allowed to camp only on the agricultural land owned by the Spituk Labrang. This was a long-standing custom that served dual purposes: it regulated the flow of outside traders, and the presence of large flocks of sheep helped naturally fertilise the monastery's fields. The Labrang, which once housed 3–4 monks, today lies in a dilapidated state.

Aba vividly remembers his friend Sonam Tundup, a trader who would arrive with up to 300 sheep, each laden with salt. The Changpa would pitch their black yak-hair tents on the Labrang land, and the seasonal trade would commence supplying much of Nubra with its annual requirement of salt and other essentials.

In contrast, the Yartsong market in summer focused mainly on the sale of wool, though smaller quantities of salt were also exchanged. Since the agricultural fields were under cultivation, the Changpa would camp in the nearby phu (high pasture). These pastures transformed into vibrant trading hubs during the season. The traders would shear their sheep on site, and sell the freshly shorn wool to villagers from Tangyar and traders from Nubra who made their way up to the phu.

Trade relationships during Yartsong were deeply personal and long-standing. Aba speaks fondly of his trading friends Karma and Sonam Tashi, with whom exchanges were often based on verbal agreements known as lochat or chatka, promises to deliver a fixed quantity of goods by a specified time the following year. These informal contracts were rarely broken, a testament to the ethical fabric of the barter system.

Wool formed a crucial source of income for many families in Tangyar. During the winter months, when wool fetched higher prices in the lower valleys, households would undertake journeys to Nubra. Salt, surplus from the Changpa trade  was often carried along as an additional commodity. Sonam Wangchuk himself recalls traveling to Yarma, passing through Agyam and Tirit on horseback, usually accompanied by two or three helpers. Trade in Nubra was conducted almost entirely on a barter basis, exchanging wool and salt for wheat, peas, and pulses.