Padum (also known as Padam) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

named after

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...

. It is the only town and the administrative centre in

Zanskar Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...

, Kargil district of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It was historically one of the two main capitals of the Zanskar Kingdom, the other being

Zangla Zangla is a village in Zanskar tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is located 262 km from Kargil city, the district headquarter, 32 km from Padum, the capital of Zanskar and presently the headquarter of ...

. It is via the link road from Kargil city (National Highway No. 1D). The new

Nimmu–Padum–Darcha road Nimmu–Padum–Darcha road or Zanskar Highway is a road under construction between the Indian union territory of Ladakh and the state of Himachal Pradesh, passing through the region of Zanskar. It connects Nimmu in the Indus Valley to Padum, th ...

(under construction) connects Padum directly to

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former ...

in the east and to

Darcha Darcha also known as Dartse (elevation 3,360 m or 11,020 ft) is a pair of villages (Darcha Sumdo and Darach Dangma) on the Bhaga River in the Lahaul sub-division in the Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

Description

The present population of Padum town is about 2,000 people. The traditional heart of the village is below the

gompa A Gompa or Gönpa ( "remote place", Sanskrit ''araṇya''), also known as ling (), is a Buddhist ecclesiastical fortification of learning, lineage and sādhanā that may be understood as a conflation of a fortification, a vihara and a universit ...

and Palace khar (now in ruins) where two large

chorten A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circuma ...

s stand above old buildings. A road was constructed in 1980 from NH1 at Kargil over

Pensi La Pensi-la (Pensi Pass) is a mountain pass in the Ladakh union territory of India, which is known as the Gateway to Zanskar. Pensi La is above sea level and connects the Suru Valley region to the Zanskar Valley region. The summit at this end of ...

which is 235 km away. The 145 km road to Darcha passing through Shinkula pass is now operational , which connects to Manali- Leh Highway. Padum has several hotels, homestays and restaurants meant for tourists. Padum has a post office, internet cafes and telephone booths.

Geography

Padum is at the centre of the tri-armed Zanskar valley.Osada et al (2000), p. 298. It has an average elevation of . There are several villages to the north-east of Padum leading to Karsha monastery.

People

Front Wide Jama Masjid Padum Oct22 A7C 03913

Padum is largely inhabited by people of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an descent who follow

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

, but there is a sizable

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

population (accounting for ~40% of the town's population and growing steadily), mainly Balti, who have been present in Padum since the 17th century.

Town

Padum Zanskar Range View From Karsha Oct22 A7C 03931

The sub-divisional capital Padum is a town of the

sub-division or tehsil in the Kargil district of

state,

. The

Zanskar River The Zanskar River is the first major tributary of the Indus River, equal or greater in volume than the main river, which flows entirely within Ladakh, India. It originates northeast of the Great Himalayan range and drains both the Himalayas and ...

flows through the valley from its source at the Drang Drung glacier of the

.The

joins the Lungnak River near Pibiting village. A number of notable Buddhist monasteries are located near Padum including Bardan Monastery and Karsha Monastery and the newly built Dalai Lama Photang. The

Phugtal Monastery Phuktal Monastery or Phuktal Gompa (often transliterated as Phugtal) is a Buddhist monastery located in the remote Lungnak Valley in south-eastern Zanskar, in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, in Northern India. It is one of the only Buddhist ...

is accessible from here. It is a day's trek from Dorzang, the end of the road leading from Padum.

Access

By Bus: The bus operates during the tourist season between 1 June and 30 September only, after this period the Manali-Leh NH21 highway is normally closed. The other roads including the highway from Leh to Srinagar via Kargil, remain open until the end of October. Despite heavy blizzards, the road from Leh to Nubra valley over the extremely high Khardung La is kept open throughout the year. The Nimmu–Padam–Darcha road is being made which runs through Padum. The road to Darcha via Purne is now ready and half of the length is now 2 lane-tarmac, the remaining being unpaved.

References

Bibliography

* Janet Rizvi. (1996). ''Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia''. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Delhi. . *Osada ''et al.'' (2000). ''Mapping the Tibetan World''. Yukiyasu Osada, Gavin Allwright, and Atsushi Kanamaru. Reprint: 2004. Kotan Publishing, Tokyo. . * Schettler, Margaret & Rolf (1981). Kashmir, Ladakh & Zanskar. Lonely Planet Publications. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. .

External links

Photos of Padum

Images taken at the Karsha Monastery, near Padum
{{Kargil district Cities and towns in Kargil district Ladakh Geography of Ladakh