Most place names in Ladakh have historical, geographical, cultural, social or religious meaning. Most place names are associated with features of the landscape, such as water bodies, rock formations and biodiversity in and around the village. Over time, these names have undergone varying degrees of change from slight variations to complete corruption. As a consequence of this change, the original meanings of many names have been lost.
Sometimes the change has been towards an easier pronunciation. However, more often names have been corrupted by Border Road Organisation (BRO), when they depict them on milestones. Over the years, I have collected explanations and interpretations of place names from oral history and published literature. There are possibly several other interpretations, which need to be researched and documented. Here, I present some village names from Nubra valley.
Measuring a tiger? Village names from a BRO board in 2015 (Photograph by Jigmat Lundup).
Sumoor: One explanation links the village name to Sum-yur, meaning three irrigation channels. This is supported by the fact that the village is irrigated by three irrigation channels even today. Another explanation suggests that the name is derived from sum yul meaning three settlements based on the knowledge that in the past, the villagers lived at two other places in the valley before settling at the present site. The ruins of the two settlements are located in upper reaches of the valley. Today, the name has changed slightly and is spelt interchangeably as Sumoor and Sumur.
Tegar: The original name of the village is said to have been ldeb-dkar meaning white plateau. Another explanation is that the valley of Nubra resembles a sleeping demon and the mKhar (palace) was located near the demon’s navel (ltea). Thus, the, village was called lte-mkhar. In time, this changed to Kyagar, Tegar and, more recently, Tiger. Locals still call the village Kyagar, while BRO’s milestones proclaim it as Tiger, which is also repeated in official survey maps. This is probably the most extreme change recorded amongst village and place names in Nubra.
Murgi: This name is derived from the mountain above the village: Dngul translates as silver and ri is mountain. According to the book Nubre Nas-shad (Nub-ra’i gnas-bshad) by Urgyan Rigzin, this mountain has white lime (dkar-rtsi) and possibly some silver deposits. Hence, the village was called Ngulri (dngul-ri) or ‘silver mountain’, which subsequently changed to Murgi.
Khardong: This village name of Khardzong is derived from the ancient palace (mKhar) and fort (rDzong)—whose ruins are still evident—at Yuldoma in the lower part of the village. In time, the name changed to Khardong, which BRO and the Indian Army have changed by spelling it K-h-a-r-d-u-n-g on their milestones and souvenirs.
Pinchimik: The original name of this village was spang chhu-mig meaning ‘a spring emerging from a meadow’. According to oral sources, there was a beautiful meadow around the village, which was a favoured picnic spot for King Nyima Namgyal, whenever he stayed at Charasa palace. The name has now changed to Pinchimik.
Tertse/Terchey: The original name was said to be gter-sa meaning ‘treasure or storage place (for sacred monuments)’. According to Nubre Nas-shad (Nub-ra’i gnas-bshad), there was a sacred Gomang chorten in the village, which contained sacred manuscripts and precious relics. The name has been altered slightly and is commonly called Tertse or Terchey.
Khalsar: In the past, the agricultural lands of the village are said to have been owned by a noble family from Nubra. The village was thus called Kharsa, where mKhar means ‘palace’ and sa is land. The name has changed over time and is now called Khalsar.
Khimi: The original village name is said to be skid-mi-gling, whichmeans ‘village/place of happy people’. It’s not clear how this name was changed to Khimi.
Kubet: There are two popular explanations for the name of this village. According to one, the village is located at a place that resembles the shape of Kumuda (water lily). The second explanation argues that people would source stones for pottery from this place. The specific stone was called Kvod by Balti potters, which later became Kubet.
Lakjung: The name of the village was legs-gzhung, which means ‘centre of prosperity’. The village is believed to be one of the earliest settlements in Nubra and has a history of prosperity. The name has changed slightly to Lakjung, though some maps spell it as L-a-z-u-n-g.
Skampuk: This village was originally called Gan-Phukor ‘settlement of old people’. According to one story, the village was established by an elderly couple, which gave the place its name. Another interpretation is in the The Nub-ra’i gnas-bshad, which explains that the area was very dry (sa-skam) and had a sacred meditation cave (mtsams-phug) of Lama Samstan Chosphel. It is believed that the village got its name through a combination of two words, skam and phug.
Chalungkha: The original name of the village was Chu-lung kha, which describes a place at the edge of a valley with water: Chhu-lung: valley with water, kha: opening or front.
Chamshen: This village name is derived from the self-emanated formation of Chamba Gonbo (Maitreya Buddha) in the upper reaches of the valley. The original name is said to have been Cham-Chhen (Great Maitreya), which has now changed to Chamshen.
Charasa: The original name of this village was lchags-ra-sa, which means ‘an iron estate’—the mountain above the village has iron deposits. People from the village used to produce iron goods, including cooking utensils, iron stoves (lchags-thab), iron ladle (lchags-thum), trivet/tripod (lchags-sgyid) and tools for agricultural activities.
Digar: The original name of this village was bru’i-khal (a load of grain) as the village produces large quantities of high quality barley. The name has now changed to Digar and sometimes spelt as D-i-g-g-a-r.
Another BRO board in Nubra (2015). Sakthi/Sakti has been corrected to Ser-thi in signboards around the village after active intervention by villagers (Photograph by Jigmat Lhundup).
Tangyar: The original name of the village was Brang-gyar meaning ‘hired halting place’ and is now popularly called Tangyar. This is sometimes misspelled as T-y-a-n-g-a-r.
Henachey: The original name of this village was dbyen-gnas chhe, which means ‘great solitary place’ but has now changed to Henachey.
Hunder: The village was originally known as sngon-dar meaning ‘the earliest growing (village)’. Hunder, Deskit and Lakjung are said to be the earliest settlements in Nubra. Today, the name has been changed to Hunder.
Udmaru: The name of the village is derived from the outline of the village, which looks like a flower called U-dum ba-ra, which is mentioned in Tibetan literature as a large lotus.
There are other village names that have remained true to their origins, including Tsati (hot springs: tsa: hot, ti: water), Deskit (Dewa and skitpo, which mean happiness/peace), Taksha (derived from a medicinal plant by the same name), Lagyab (behind a pass: la: pass, gyab: behind), Rongdo (beginning of a valley: rong: valley, do: beginning) etc. Other village names like Tirit, Agyam/Agham, Panamik are difficult to interpret. Their origins are possibly in Hor-skat (Turki and other Central Asian dialects) as Nubra is located along the routes that connected Ladakh and Central Asia. I have not studied the village names of Turtuk, Tyaksi and Bogdang but hope to explore them in the future.
By Dr. Sonam Wangchok
Dr. Sonam Wangchok is founder secretary of Himalayan Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Editor of Heritage Himalaya.