Map of Spiti Valley Villages

In 2012 staff at the Kachen Dugyal Memorial Girls Hostel in Kaza, working with Tibetan language experts and local villagers, compiled the following map of villages in the Spiti Tehsil. 

Sunglung

My name is Tanzin Palkit. My village is Sunglung.  At one time, Sunglung had only one house. Then a man came from nearby Lhalung and built another house. Once a wolf entered the house and killed many goats.

A view of Sunglung from the Lhalung road.

In front of my house there is a “Shukpa tree”.  A Shupka tree has a good fragrance. If we make it dirty, it will cause sores on people’s skin. In Sunglung there is a village god that is both for Sunglung and Lhalung. The village god is represented by a "lato" of stone, horns and branches. When People invite the village god they make an offering of wine toward the village god's lato. The lato is situated on a small house. There is a deep cave above my house. It was once occupied by the local god's priest, who the god would at times possess. When the priest was possessed the people of the villages could communicate with the local god through the priest. People in Sunglung light a lamp before tilling and ploughing the fields. They do this for a better crop. In earlier days there was lack of water in the village though Lingti River flows below the village. This river is smaller than it used to be. There was a water wheel used for making sattu, barley flour. People from Lhalung and Rama also came to Sunglung to make sattu. 

 A STORY ABOUT LARA          

My name is Nawang Chhodon and I am from Lara. I am writing a story about my village that I was told as a child. This is a very old story. 


In olden days Lara used to be a big  village. Above the village there was a lake. One year the people of Lara failed to do the puja in Komik Tanggyut Gompa. And, they also did not return items belonging to the monastery. Soon after the lake suddenly burst and all the houses in Lara were washed away except one. People now call that house “Takto” which means “like a rock”.

Takto house in Lara.

Teacher Tanzin Dawa exploring Takto house.

In olden days Lara had 100 houses. At that time it was called “Lara Gyatong” (Gya=100). Now Lara has 14 houses. I do not know whether the story is true, but this is what I was told.

A view of Lara from Takto House.

MANE VILLAGE IN LAHAUL-SPITI

Lahaul-Spiti is the largest district in Himachal Pradesh. It is a very mountainous district. Many people come to enjoy its beauty.

Spiti is tehsil of Lahaul Spiti. People grow barley, potatoes, tomatoes, peas and apples in Spiti. The number of females in Spiti is larger than the number of males. Spiti has five monasteries: Tabo, Dhankhar, Kungri, Kee and Tanggit. There are also three nunneries at Pangmo, Morang, and Kungri. Every village has a different dialect and style of dress. There are many kinds of dances in Spiti. Names of the some of these dances are Kar, Tashi, Balsay and Taksor. Some villages are famous for certain dances. Mane village in known for the dance Kar. These dances are enjoyed by the enthusiastic dancers and spectators. Spiti people are very hardworking and honest.

Now I want to tell a story about Mane village. It used to be a very big village. Then a flood come and the village was divided into two parts: Mane yogma (lower) and Mane gogma (upper ). Five kilometres uphill from Mane is a lake. Due to heavy rain and hot weather melting the mountain snows, the water level of the lake increased until it overflowed, flooding Mane, causing much damage, and creating the village nala between Mane yogma and Mane gogma.

In the foreground is Mane yogma, in the distance, beyond the nala gorge, is Mane gogma.

Dhankhar Lake

My name is Dikit Yangzom. I am from Dhankhar village. Dhankhar is high on a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers. It was once the capital of Spiti. Dhankhar has two monasteries, and old one and a new monastery. The old monastery is about 800 years old.

Dhankhar village; the old monastery is on the left.

Two kilometres above my village is a big lake . Three springs fill this lake. People come from all villages and other countries to see the lake. Every year Dhankhar villagers clean the lake. The following day two Khandoma, sky dwelling goddesses, come to the lake and clean it again. If you throw a stone in the lake it will rain. The lake provides clean drinking water for my village. In the center of the lake there is a window. Nobody knows what is on the other side of this window, but in the old days, a man who did not know about this window, went for a swim in the lake. The next day pieces of his body were found in the village’s drinking water. So, now, no one goes swimming in Dhankhar Lake.  

KOMIC GONPA

Komic Gompa statues of Gautam Buddha and His two chief disciples.

My name is Chhewang Dolma. I am from Hikkam in Spiti. Near Hikkam  is the village Komic. Here is a small story about Komic gonpa. Komic gonpa's name is Tanggyut gonpa. In the past, Tanggyut gonpa was in Hikkam. About 25 years ago it moved to Komic. There are five Buddhist monasteries in Spiti: Tabo, Dhankhar, Kungri, Kee, and Tanggyut gonpa. The oldest is Tabo gonpa, which was founded 1000 years ago. There are many festivals at Tanggyut gonpa. On August 15 there is a festival called Aerdo. On this day the three village of Hikkam, Langcha, and Komic come together at Tanggyut gonpa and hold horse races for prizes. First prize is 1000 rupees, second prize 700 rupees and third prize is 500 rupees. If a house does not have a horse it is fined 500 rupees. Another festival is called "Jinje" which  is held in October. On that day the monks of Tanggyut gonpa hold Cham (religious dances).

KDM Hostel Girls visiting Komic Gonpa  June, 2012.

THE STORY OF PANGMO

 My name is Tomden Dolker. My village name is Pangmo.  I want to write a little      story about my village. In the old days, our village had two parts: one was Pangmo and another was Pangchug. One day many girls were having a party. They were wearing old ornaments and looked beautiful. Our village goddess became happy with them and turned herself into a old lady and joined the party. The girls, enjoying themselves, did not show respect for the old lady, and sent her to the last corner of the room. But one girl at the last corner asked the old lady to sit at the upper side of the room, since she was older. The girl was from Pangchug. The old lady was pleased with the girl's behaviour. Happily the old lady started dancing. But when she was dancing the girls made fun of her. Now the old lady became angry. She called the girl who had shown her respect and said, ''You go to the field named 'Jujing' and sleep under the lah (wide, shallow pots used for parching barley)." The girl did as instructed by the old lady. The next day when she woke up, she saw the whole of Pangmo village was under rocks. 

A Google Earth image of the former and present sites of Pangmo village.

In earlier days Pangmo was bigger than Kaza. At that time Kaza was a small village. People in the Pangmo were very rich and had beautiful ornaments. In their vanity, they did not respect their elders. So the people in Pangmo died. Nowadays, Pangmo is on the site of the former Pangchug.