The Arghons are a small community of descendants of immigrants from

Yarkand Yarkant County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also SASM/GNC ro ...

and

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

that have intermingled with the local

Ladakhi Ladakhi can mean: * of, from, or related to Ladakh, a union territory in northern India * Ladakhi language, the Tibetic language spoken there * Ladakhis, the natives of Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory ...

community, residing mainly in

Leh Leh () is a city in Indian-administered Ladakh in the Kashmir#Kashmir_dispute, disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TE ...

and

Kargil Kargil or Kargyil is a City in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tert ...

towns of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They are

Sunni Muslims Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

. They first arrived as traders and merchants from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and

in the 17th century and were among the first Muslims to settle in the Buddhist Kingdom. Most were traders but some included religious people. Most central Asian merchants returned home at the end of the caravan season. Those who remained and settled in Ladakh married ladakhis and are now known as Arghons. Today they are merchants although some, a very few, have taken to agriculture. Most of them today speak the

Ladakhi language The Ladakhi language is a Tibetic language spoken in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is the predominant language in the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh district, Leh, and a minority language in the district of Kargil district#Langua ...

but are also conversant in Turkic and Tibetan. 000-2005-Abst-PDF/T%20&%20T-03-1-001-013-2005-036-Bhasin-V/T%20&%20T-03-1-001-013-2005-036-Bhasin-V- Full-Text.pdf
/ref>

References

External links

{{Turkic peoples Muslim communities of Pakistan Nomadic groups in Eurasia Central Asian people Social groups of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim communities of India

See also

References

External links