Koksar is one of the villages in Lahaul Mandal in Lahaulspiti District in

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

state in Northern India. Koksar meaning is Alpine, Big, Colossal, Gigantic, Highland, Huge, Mammoth, Tall and Towering. Koksar is about 19 km from

Rohtang Pass Rohtang Pass (Rohtang , literally meaning "pile of corpses"Polgreen, Lydia. ''New York Times''. Accessed 31 July 2010.) is a high mountain pass (elevation ) on the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around from Manali, Himac ...

, and 7 km from North Portal of Atal Tunnel Rohtang. Koksar is the coldest place in Lahaul. It is mostly snowed-in during winters but during the summer months, the

PWD pwd (print working directory) is a shell command that reports the working directory path to standard output. Although often associated with Unix, its predecessor Multics had a pwd command (which was a short name of the print_wdir command) from ...

Rest House and Eating places are in business. It is a mountainous area from which views and pathways for hiking can be seen. It is 340 km from its state capital

Shimla Shimla, also known as Simla ( the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of British India. After independence, the city ...

and 70 km from Manali. Nearby villages are Tailing (7.0 km) and Sissu (13.0 km).
Koksar Pin Code is 175140 and the Post office name is Koksar. STD code of Koksar is +91-1900. Reliance Jio has started its 4G services in the valley starting 2019. Earlier

BSNL Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (commonly known as BSNL) () is an Indian central public sector undertaking, under the ownership of Department of Telecommunications, which is part of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India with its he ...

Mobile Network was the only working network in the valley. Nearest petrol pump is at Tandi (40 km from Koksar) which is a sole filling station in the entire valley.

Flora and fauna

The harsh conditions of Lahaul permit only scattered tufts of hardy grasses and shrubs to grow, even below 4,000 metres. Glacier lines are usually found at 5,000 metres. Animals such as

Yaks The yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, hairy cattle, or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains ...

and dzos roam across the wild Lingti plains. However, over-hunting and a decrease in food supplies has led to a large decrease in the population of the Tibetan

Antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

Argali The argali (''Ovis ammon''), also known as the mountain sheep, is a wild ovis, sheep native to the highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. Description The name 'argali' is the Mongolian language, Mongolian ...

Kiangs The kiang (''Equus kiang'') is the largest of the ''Asinus'' subgenus. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau in Ladakh India, northern Pakistan, Tajikistan, China and northern Nepal. It inhabits montane grasslands and shrublands. Other common name ...

Musk deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all eight, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family (biology), family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, b ...

, and

Snow leopards The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

in these regions, reducing them to the status of endangered species. However, in the Lahaul valley, one can see

Ibex An ibex ( : ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa. T ...

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es and

Snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

s during winter.

People

The language, culture, and populations of Koksar are closely related. Generally the Lahaulis are of Tibetan and Indo-Aryan descent. Fairer skin and hazel-colored eyes are commonly seen among the Lahaulis. The languages belong to the

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

family. They are very similar to the Ladakhi and Tibetans culturally, as they had been placed under the rule of the Guge and

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 ...

kingdoms at occasional intervals. The family acts as the basic unit of kinship. The extended family system is common, evolved from the polyandric system of the past. The family is headed by a senior male member, known as the Yunda, while his wife, known as the Yundamo, attains authority by being the oldest member in the generation. The clan system, also known as Rhus, plays another major role in the Koksar society.

Lifestyle

The lifestyles of the Koksar is owing to their proximity. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood. Potato and peas farming is common. Other occupations include working in government programs, government services, private services outside of the village and other businesses and crafts. Earlier houses were made of mud and stones but these days houses are constructed in modern style with bricks and cement.

Religion

Most of the residents of Koksar follow a combination of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and Tibetan

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

of the

Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa or Drukpa Kagyu () lineage, sometimes called Dugpa in older sources, is a branch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu school is one of the Sarma or "New Translation" schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Drukpa lineage wa ...

order. koksar meaning is Alpine, Big, Colossal, Gigantic, Highland, Huge, Mammoth, Tall and Towering.

Infrastructure

There is 1 HPPWD Rest House, 2 Primary School, 1

Ayurvedic Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

Health Centre, 1 Military Health Centre and 1 Veterinary Health Centre facilities available.

Border Roads Organisation The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring countries. This include ...

and Military camp is also here.

Transport

Kaksar will a station on the under-costruction

Bhanupli–Leh line The Bhanupli–Leh line, including long Bhanupli-Barmana (Bilaspur) link and the long Bilaspur-Manali-Leh link, is an under-construction long wide Broad-gauge railway, broad-gauge all-weather Railway electrification, electrified railway t ...

.India’s costliest rail line will change how we view travel
theweek.in, 13 Apr 2025. It lies on the NH-1.

Tourism

Koksar village is situated at

Leh–Manali Highway The Leh–Manali Highway is a long highway in northernmost India connecting Leh, the capital of the Union Territory of Ladakh, to Manali in the state of Himachal Pradesh, and forms part of NH3. It crosses four passes: Rohtang La, Baralacha ...

. Seasonally, at Koksar Bazar for Tourist information and help, to enter vehicles a police checkpost is established and also for registering of foreigners' passports. As in the past years many tourists have been visiting Koksar and prefer spending time here as the village is the first village after entering Lahaul and one can experience and witness the drastic change in the flora, fauna and the landscapes after crossing rohtang. The village also has a monastery which attracts a good number of tourists because of its religious importance and the location of the monastery which is bedded inside the mountain and is one of its kind in the valley. Koksar also has importance from a tourists' perspective as it is not only the first and the nearest Lahauli village from Rohtang (just 19 km) but also the nearest Lahauli village from Chandra Taal (lake of the moon).

References

* Handa, O. C. (1987). Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. . * Kapadia, Harish. (1999). Spiti: Adventures in the Trans-Himalaya. 2nd Edition. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. . *Janet Rizvi. (1996). Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Delhi. {{ISBN, 0-19-564546-4. *Cunningham, Alexander. (1854). LADĀK: Physical, Statistical, and Historical with Notices of the Surrounding Countries. London. Reprint: Sagar Publications (1977). *Francke, A. H. (1977). A History of Ladakh. (Originally published as, A History of Western Tibet, (1907). 1977 Edition with critical introduction and annotations by S. S. Gergan & F. M. Hassnain. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi. *Francke, A. H. (1914). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Two Volumes. Calcutta. 1972 reprint: S. Chand, New Delhi. Villages in Lahaul and Spiti district