Hindutash

Hindutash, also known as Hindu-tagh Pass, is the name of a historical mountain pass in north eastern Kashmir. The pass cuts through the Kunlun Mountains connecting the now-deserted town of 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 Khotan and also connects to the road to the city of Khotan. Harv|Trotter|1878|p=U8 ] (See maps on right.) In 1857, the explorer Robert Schlagintweit crossed this pass from camping grounds in Sumgal ( 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. At the top of the pass (36° 16' 23" N, 78° 46' 50" E), there is a steep glacier with many crevasses. The eastern Kunlun range, which is in the southern border of the Khotan , 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 "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 Indian Kingdom of Khotan which only explains the literal meaning of the name Hindutash signifying border post . 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 Khotan, 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) 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 dialect of East Turkistan.

Gallery

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.
Pan- Kashmir Highway
Pan- Kashmir Highway

Maps

Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu. Sumgal at the base of the Hindutash Pass, Ladakh, Kashmir is shown in the top right corner.
Aurel Stein (1911) based on that of the Survey of India showing the "Hindutash Dawan" in the Kunlun Mountains in Ladakh

Notes

References

*Harvard reference
last1=Johnson
first1=W. H.
title=Report on His Journey to Ilchí, the Capital of Khotan, in Chinese Tartary
journal=Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London
volume=37
issue=1
year=1867
pages=1-47
url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0266-6235%281867%2937%3C1%3AROHJTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 .
*Harvard reference
last1=Schlagintweit
first1=Hermann
authorlink1=Hermann Schlagintweit
last2=Schlagintweit
first2=Adolphe
authorlink2=Adolf Schlagintweit
last3=Schlagintweit
first3=Robert
authorlink3=Robert Schlagintweit
title=Results of a Scientific Mission to India and High Asia: undertaken between the years MDCCCLIV and MDCCCLVIII
year=1861
place=Leipzig/London
publisher=F. A. Brockhaus/Trubner and Co.
url=http://dsr.nii.ac.jp/toyobunko/XII-4-2/V-2/thumbnail/0001-0024.html.en .
*Harvard reference
last1=Stein
first1=M. Aurel
authorlink1=Marc Aurel Stein
title=Explorations in Central Asia, 1906-8
journal=The Geographical Journal
volume=34
issue=1
year=1909
pages=5-36
url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7398%28190907%2934%3A1%3C5%3AEICA1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J .
*Harvard reference
last1=Stein
first1=M. Aurel
authorlink1=Marc Aurel Stein
title=Note on Maps Illustrating Dr. Stein's Explorations in Chinese Turkestan and Kansu
journal=The Geographical Journal
volume=37
issue=3
year=1911
pages=275-280
url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-7398%28191103%2937%3A3%3C275%3ANOMIDS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2.
*Harvard reference
last1=Trotter
first1=H.
title=On the Geographical Results of the Mission to Kashghar, under Sir T. Douglas Forsyth in 1873-74
journal=Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London
volume=48
issue=2
year=1878
pages=173-234
url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0266-6235%281878%2948%3C173%3AOTGROT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N .
* 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

ee also

*Kashmir
*Aksai Chin
*Kunlun Mountains
*Yurungkash
*Karakash River
*Indian Sub-continent

External links

* [http://www.friendsofjade.org/display/ShowJournal?moduleId=395351&currentPage=5&categoryId=27465 Friends of Jade: Jade in Khotan] .
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/jul/25/china.comment China as victim of history? I don't think so] .
* [http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!46428!0#focus Gazetteer of Kashmir] .
* [http://hindutashravi.blogspot.com/2008/06/survey-of-india.html Territory of Kashmir] .