Sumgal

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NASA satellite image showing the towns of Sumgal in Ladakh and Pusa in southwestern Hotan, and the Hindu-tash Pass connecting them. The pass is marked in bright red.
Details of a map of Kashmir (1878) showing the Hindutash Pass and Hotan as well as the northern border regions of the British Indian Empire (which included the Kashmir region).[1] The international border is shown in the two-toned purple and pink band. The mountain passes are shown in bright red. Warning the lat/long information is not everywhere correct.

Sumgal is a now-deserted town in the Karakash River valley in Ladakh, Kashmir in the Republic of India or Bharat Ganrajya( भारत). In 1857, the explorer Robert Schlagintweit crossed the Hindutash pass from the camping grounds in Sumgal ( from Gsum Rgal meaning "three fords" in Ladakhi ), on the banks of the Karakash river, approximately 7 miles upstream from Sumgal in Ladakh and estimated its height to be 17,879 feet.

The pass cuts through the Kuen Lun mountain range in northern Ladakh connecting Sumgal, (36° 11' 58 N, 78° 46' 50 E) in the Karakash River valley to the town of Pusha, (36.3833° N, 79° E), formerly Bushia, in the Yurungkash River valley, in the territory of Hotan and also connects to the road to the city of Hotan.[1] (See maps on right.) At the top of the Hindutash pass (36° 16' 23 N, 78° 46' 50 E), there is a steep glacier with many crevasses.

The eastern Kunlun range, which here forms the boundary of Ladakh,[2] is cut by two other passes: the Sanju Pass near the town of Shahidulla, where the Maharaja of Kashmir had built a fort in exercise of his sovereignty in that area of Kashmir northwest of Hindutash, and the Yangi or Ilchi Pass, southeast of Hindutash in the northern part of the Aksai Chin area in Ladakh (see second map on right). The Hindutash pass has been used historically as the point of entry into India Proper from the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan which only explains the literal meaning of the name Hindutash signifying border post.

History

The latter was traversed in 1865 by W. H. Johnson of the Survey of India. W.H. Johnson’s survey established certain important points. Brinjga was in his view the boundary post (a few miles south east of Karanghu Tagh in Ladakh), thus implying that the boundary lay along the Kuen Lun Range. Johnson’s findings demonstrated that the whole of the Kara Kash valley was an integral part of the territory of Kashmir. He noted where the Chinese boundary post was accepted. At Yangi Langar, three marches from Hotan, he noticed that there was a few fruit trees at this place which originally was a post or guard house of the Chinese.

According to Johnson, "the last portion of the route to Shadulla (Shahidulla) ( which includes the Sumgal area) is particularly pleasant, being the whole of the Karakash valley which is wide and even, and shut in either side by rugged mountains. On this route I noticed numerous extensive plateaux near the river, covered with wood and long grass. These being within the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir, could easily be brought under cultivation by Ladakhees and others, if they could be induced and encouraged to do so by the Kashmeer Government. The establishment of villages and habitations on this river would be important in many points of view, but chiefly in keeping the route open from the attacks of the Khergiz robbers." "Hindu-tagh" means "Indian Mountain," and "Hindu-tash," "Indian stone" in the Uyghur language.

The Aksai Chin area was traversed in 1865 by W. H. Johnson, Civil Assistant of the Trigonometrical Survey of India of the Survey of India. In July 1865, he was instructed to explore the country of Khotan. "He followed the familiar route from Leh as far as Kyam, and then broke news ground by marching in a northern direction. He travelled through NIschu, Huzakhar, and Yangpa, describuing these isolated places in the Aksai Chin in great detail. He was the first European to cross the Yangi Diwan Pass between Tash and Khushlashlangar, and to take a route which Juma Khan, ambassador from Khotan to the British Government, had travelled some time before. He waited at the source of the Kara Kash for someone to receive him at the first village on the northern side of the Kuen Lun. On the twelfth day his patience was rewarded; a bearer came from the Badsha of Khotan saying ‘he had dispatched his wazeer, Sarfulla Khoja, to meet me at Bringja, the first encampment beyond the Ladakh boundary, for the purpose of escorting me to Khotan. Three miles from Khotan, Khan’s two sons were waiting to welcome him. The Khan had a great deal to say. Four years before he had visited Mecca and on his return he was made the chief Kasi of Khotan. ‘Within a month,’ he said ‘he succeeded in raising a rebellion against the Chinese, which resulted in their massacre, and his election by the inhabitants of the country to be their Khan Badsha or ruler.’ When the Chinese were defeated in Khotan, Yarkand, Kashgar, and other places in Central Asia, Yaqub Beg set up an independent Muslim country which survived until 1877 when the Chinese troops recaptured Kashgar". W.H. Johnson’s survey established certain important points. "Brinjga was in his view the boundary post" ( near the Karanghu Tagh Peak in the Kuen Lun in Ladakh ), thus implying "that the boundary lay along the Kuen Lun Range".[3] Johnson’s findings demonstrated that the whole of the Kara Kash valley was " within the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir" and an integral part of the territory of Kashmir . "He noted where the Chinese boundary post was accepted. At Yangi Langar, three marches from Khotan , he noticed that there were a few fruit trees at this place which originally was a post or guard house of the Chinese". "The Khan wrote Johnson ‘that he had dispatched his Wazier, Saifulla Khoja to meet me at Bringja, the first encampment beyond the Ladakh boundary for the purpose of escorting me thence to Ilichi’… thus the Khotan ruler accepted the Kunlun range as the southern boundary of his dominion."[4] According to Johnson, "the last portion of the route to Shadulla (Shahidulla) is particularly pleasant, being the whole of the Karakash valley which is wide and even, and shut in either side by rugged mountains. On this route I noticed numerous extensive plateaux near the river, covered with wood and long grass. These being within the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir, could easily be brought under cultivation by Ladakhees and others, if they could be induced and encouraged to do so by the Kashmeer Government. The establishment of villages and habitations on this river would be important in many points of view, but chiefly in keeping the route open from the attacks of the Khergiz robbers." [5] In the words of Dorothy Woodman, "But for its accessibility, Aksai Chin might have been used as an alternate rioute for traders who could have thereby escaped the high duties imposed by the Maharaja of Kashmir. The Kashmir authorities maintained two caravan routes right up to the traditional boundary. One, from Pamzal, known as the Eastern Changchenmo route, passed through Nischu, Lingzi Thang, Lak Tsung, Thaldat, Khitai Pass, Haji Langar along the Karakash valley"(obviously via Sumgal) "to Shahidulla. Police outposts were placed along these routes to protect the traders from the Khirghiz marauders who roamed the Aksai Chin after Yaqub Beg’s rebellion against the Chinese(1864-1878)".[6] The Chinese completed the reconquest of eastern Turkistan in 1878. Before they lost it in 1863, their practical authority, as Ney Elias British Joint Commissioner in Leh from the end of the 1870s to 1885, and Younghusband consistently maintained, "had never extended south of their outposts at Sanju and Kilian along the northern foothills of the Kuenlun range. Nor did they establish a known presence to the south of the line of outposts in the twelve years immediately following their return".[7] Ney Elias who had been Joint Commissioner in Ladakh for several years noted on 21 September 1889 that he had met the Chinese in 1879 and 1880 when he visited Kashgar. "they told me that they considered their line of ‘chatze’, or posts, as their frontier – viz. , Kugiar, Kilian, Sanju, Kiria, etc.- and that they had no concern with what lay beyond the mountains"[8] i.e. the Kuen Lun range in northern Kashmir where the Hindutash pass in Kashmir is situate. Hindutash which literally means "Indian stone" in the Uyghur dialect of East Turkistan is a pass in the Kuen Lun range "which is the southern border of Khotan".[9] According to Ramsay, One Musa, nephew of the head–man (Turdi Kul) of the Kirghiz who marauded the area around the Shahidulla Fort and the Raskam sought help from the Chinese Amban at Yarkand. The Amban replied that "the Chinese frontier extended only to the Kilian and Sanju passes… he could do nothing for us so long as we remained at Shahidulla and he could not take notice of raids committed on us beyond the Chinese frontier". Clearly, in 1889, the Kuen Lun was regarded as marking the southern frontier of East Turkistan.[10] As Alder wrote,[11] "the Chinese after return to Sinkiang in 1878, claimed up to the Kilian, Kogyar, and Sanju passes north of the Kuen Luen" . The Amban directed the Kirghiz to the authorities in Ladakh since no Chinese official ever comes to Ladakh. Musa was sent to Ladakh to ask for assistance, where he said, "The fort at Shahidulla belongs to the Kashmir state, but as it is at present in ruins, we desire to be given the money to rebuild it[12]" Though, Ramsay later stated that Musa was not reliable and was altering his statements, it was confirmed that the Amban did say that the frontier was at the southern base of the Kilian pass in the Kuen Lun range, and that the Turdi Kol was "certainly told by the Chinese Amban that Shahidulla was not in Chinese territory[13]" Younghusband arrived in Shahidulah on 21 August 1889 and met the Turdi Kol, the Kirghiz chief himself rather than Musa. Two Chinese officials, the Kargilik and the Yarkand Amban had told him that Shahidulla was British territory i.e. part of the territory of Kashmir. He also examined the Shahidullah Fort.

T.D. Forsyth who was entrusted with the rather unambiguous task of visiting the Court of Atalik Ghazi pursuant to the visit on 28 March 1870 of the envoy of Atalik Ghazi, Mirza Mohammad Shadi, stated that "...it would be very unsafe to define the boundary of Kashmir in the direction of the Karakoram…. Between the Karakoram and the Karakash the high Plateau is perhaps rightly described as rather a no-mans land , but I should say with a tendency to become Kashmir property". Two stages beyond Shahidulla, as the route headed for Sanju, Forsyth’s party crossed the Tughra Su and passed an out post called Nazr Qurghan."This is manned by soldiers from Yarkand".[14] In the words of John Lall, "Here we have an early example of coexistence. The Kashmiri and Yarkandi outposts were only two stages apart on either side of the Karakash river...[15]" to the northwest of the Hindutash in the north eastern frontier region of Kashmir. This was the status quo that prevailed at the time of the mission to Kashgar in 1873-74 of Sir Douglas Forsyth. "Elias himself recalled that , following his mission to Kashgar in 1873-74, Sir Douglas Forsyth ‘recommended the Maharaja’s boundary to be drawn to the north of the Karakash valley as shown in the map accompanying the mission report’. Elias’ reasons for suggesting a boundary that went against the situation on the ground and the recommendations of Sir Douglas Forsyth, who had been directed by the Government of India to ascertain the boundaries of the Ruler of Yarkand, seem to have been prompted at least partly, by his ill- concealed contempt for the Ladakh Wazir’s plans".This had been motivated by the discovery of a lapis lazuli mine near the Kashmiri outpost at Shahidulla by a Pathan from Bajaur, not a Kashmiri, as if the nationality of the finder had anything to do with the rights to the territory. Lapis lazuli, he pointed out, had no value at the time. "So the only reason for raising the question is a worthless one, and prompted only by the usual Kashmiri greed for every thing they can lay hands upon."[16]

File:Map of the Western Regions (English translation) appended to the Hsi-yu-tu-chih, compiled on the orders of Emperor Chien-lung in 1762.jpg
Old map depicting the southern limits of Eastern Turkistan along the northern foothills of the Kuen Lun range.

When the Government of Kashmir in 1885, at a time when the Chinese were least concerned or bothered of the alien trans- Kuen Lun areas in the highlands of Kashmir, beyond their eastern Turkistan dominion and literally "had washed their hands of it[17]", prepared to reunify Kashmir and the Wazir of Ladakh, Pandit Radha Kishen initiated steps to restore the old Kashmiri outpost at Shahidulla, Ney Elias who was British Joint Commissioner in Ladakh and spying on the Government of Kashmir raised objections. "This very energetic officer’ , he wrote to the resident, who duly forwarded the letter to the Government of India, "wants the Maharaja to reoccupy Shahidulla in the Karakash valley ….I see indications of his preparing to carry it out, and, in my opinion, he should be restrained, or an awkward boundary question may be raised with the Chinese without any compensating advantage[18]". In the circumstances, since Elias had represented to the Supreme Government, it was a relatively simple matter for him to ensure that the plans were dropped. He told the Wazir that he had reported against the scheme to the Resident, and pretty soon the subservient Wazir succumbed and assured him that he did not intend to implement it. Elias was also promptly meticulously backed up by the Government of India. A letter dated 1 September was sent to the officer on Special Duty (as the Resident was called before 1885) instructing him to take suitable opportunity of advising His Highness the Maharaja not to occupy Shahidulla". Elias had already killed the proposal. Kashmir, however never forfeited her territorial integrity, though she had been under duress and coercion prevented from restoring the outpost at Shahidulla to command the Kuen Lun.

File:Map of Kashmir published by The Survey Of India.jpg
Old map featuring Kashmir published by the Survey of India prior to 1947 pertaining to the period of the commencement of the Constitution of India around 1950. The map inter alia does not depict the northern border of Kashmir but only displays the legend “Frontier Undefined” , since the border with East Turkistan running on the Kuen Lun range had not been demarcated. Pertinently the legend “Frontier Undefined” is displayed well to the north of the Raskam river in Kashmir near the Kukalang pass on the Kuen Lun range in northern Kashmir and not on the Khunjerab pass.

The Chinese Karawal or outpost, of Sanju was at the northern base of the Kuenlun, three stages from the pass of that name. Nevertheless, F.E.Younghusband could not disguise the objective fact that the Chinese considered the Kilian and Sanju Passes as the practical limits of their territory, although they ‘do not like to go so far as to say that beyond the passes does not belong to them….".[19] In 1893, Hung Ta Chen, a senior Chinese official had given officially a map to the British Indian Counsel at Kashgar. It clearly shows the major part of Aksai Chin and Lingzi Thang in India. Besides, in 1917, The Government of China had also published the "Postal map of China", published at Peking in 1917. "It shows the whole northern Boundary of India more or less according to the traditional Indian alignments".[20] Actually, an imperialist map of China during the relevant period, besides the depiction of Aksai Chin as part of India, the map incidentally depicts all the pre-1947 Himalayan princely states in Pre-1947 India including inter alia Nepal, Sikkim, and what is now Arunachal Pradesh as integral parts of India. The renowned German geologist visited Aksai Chin in 1927. He called it the4 westernmost Plateaux of Tibet’ because, he writes, ‘geographically the Lingzithang and Aksai-chin are Tibetan, though politically they are situated in Ladakh. "His journal reveals that there were no Chinese in this part of the country, and that it was indeed within the boundaries of India". "I must confess", he wrote "that I have rarely seen such utterly barran and desolate mountains".[21]

Gallery

  • "The Chain of the Kuenlúen, from Súmgal, in Ladakh (Lat North 36° 8', Long. East of Green. 78° 5', Height 13, 215 Engl. feet)" by Hermann Schlagintweit, August 1856. Lithographed by Sabatier, printed in oil-colours by Lemereier, Paris. The Hindu-tagh Pass is the break in the mountains on the right.

  • Karakash River in the Western Kunlun Range, seen from the Pan- Kashmir Highway

  • View of Western Kunlun Range from the Pan- Kashmir Highway

Maps

  • Hindutash in Kashmir.jpg

    Extract from the Map referred to in Article 9 of the Simla Convention between Great Britain, China and Tibet dated 5 July 1914, depicting the southern border of Khotan and East Turkistan with Kashmir on the Kuen Lun range in the area of Hindutash in Kashmir as a red line. The map was initialed by the British representative and signed by the Tibetan and Chinese representatives. The latter two did not merely initial the Convention but signed it. The map attached to the Simla Convention, 3 July 1914.

  • Hindutash Pass in Kashmir.jpg

    Southern International border of East Turkistan with India as depicted on the Kuen Lun range with a violet shade by the German Cartographer Adolf Stieler in this antique 1875 map of the Indian Sub-continent and published by Justus Perthes Gotha.

  • Map of W. H. Johnson showing the route of his trip to Hotan from Leh; in this map, Johnson refers to the pass as "Hindotak diwan Pass." He himself traveled through the Yangi diwan Pass, some 20 miles up-river from Hindutash, on his outward journey, and returned via the Sanju diwan Pass near Shahdula. Johnson placed the border of Kashmir with China at Bringja as per the status quo that historically prevailed till then. (Refer accompanying maps for position of Bringja)

  • NWFP-Kashmir1909-a.jpg

    A lower-resolution 1909 Map of the Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu. Sumgal at the base of the Hindutash Pass, Ladakh, Kashmir is shown in the top right corner.

  • Map of Aurel Stein (1911) based on that of the Survey of India showing the "Hindutash Dawan" in the Kunlun Mountains in Ladakh

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 (Trotter 1878, p. U8)
  2. ↑ The Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladák published in 1890 Compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch in fact unequivocally states inter alia in pages 520 and 364 that Khotán is "a province in the Chinese Empire lying to the north of the Eastern Kuenlun range, which here forms the boundary of Ladák" and "The eastern range forms the southern boundary of Khotán, and is crossed by two passes, the Yangi or Elchi Díwan, crossed in 1865 by Johnson and the Hindútak Díwan, crossed by Robert Schlagentweit in 1857".
  3. ↑ Himalayan Frontiers by Dorothy Woodman. Pg.67-68 , published inter alia by London Barrie and Rockliff The Cresset Press 1969.
  4. ↑ Himalayan Battleground by Margaret W. Fisher, Leo E. Rose and Robert A. Huttenback, published by Frederick A. Praeger Pg.116.
  5. ↑ Report of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, 1866, p.6.
  6. ↑ Himalayan Frontiers by Dorothy Woodman. Pg.66, published inter alia by London Barrie and Rockliff The Cresset Press 1969
  7. ↑ Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict by John Lall at pages 56-57, 59, 95, Allied Publishers Private Ltd, New Delhi.
  8. ↑ 19. For. Sec.. F. October 1889, 182/197.
  9. ↑ Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch. First Published in 1890 by the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta. Compiled under the Direction of the Quartermaster -General in India in the Intelligence Branch. 1890 Ed. Pg. 520, 364
  10. ↑ India-China Boundary Problem, 1846-1947 History and Diplomacy by A.G. Noorani , Oxford University Press
  11. ↑ Alder, British India’s Northern Frontier, P.278
  12. ↑ Statement of Musa Kirghiz of Shahidullah recorded by Ramsey on 25 May 1889, Foreign Secret F., July 1889, No. 205
  13. ↑ Foreign Secret F., July 1889, No. 203-30
  14. ↑ For. Pol.A. January 1871, 382/386, para58
  15. ↑ Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict by John Lall at pages57-58, 61,69 Allied Publishers Private Ltd, Nav Dehli
  16. ↑ For. Sec. F.Pros. November 1885, 12/14(12)
  17. ↑ Aksaichin and Sino-Indian Conflict by John Lall at page 60, Allied Publishers Private Ltd, New Delhi
  18. ↑ Sec. F. November 1885,12/14(12)
  19. ↑ For.Sec.F.Pros.October 1889,182/197(184)
  20. ↑ Himalayan Frontiers by Dorothy Woodman. Pg.67-68,81, published inter alia by London Barrie and Rockliff The Cresset Press 1969.
  21. ↑ * Trinkler , Dr. Emil, Himalayan Jounnal, Volumes 3 and 4, 1931-32, April 1931. Notes on the Westernmost Plateau of Tibet.

General sources

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  • Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master | General in India in the Intelligence Branch. First Published in 1890 by the Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta. Compiled under the Direction of the Quartermaster -General in India in the Intelligence | Branch. 1890 Ed.
  • Report of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, 1866, p. 6.
  • Map referred to in Art.9 of the Simla Convention between Great Britain, China and Tibet, 1914 signed by the Chinese representative.
  • Atlas of the northern frontiers of India . Pg.20
  • Himalayan Frontiers by Dorothy Woodman. Pg.67-68

External links

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