Arghons
The Arghons are a small community of descendants of immigrants from Yarkand and Kashmir that have intermingled with the local Ladakhi community, residing mainly in Leh and Kargil towns of Ladakh, India. They are Sunni Muslims.[1]
They first arrived as traders and merchants from Central Asia and Kashmir in the early 17th century. Most were traders but some were artisans, scribes and clerics.[2] Most central Asian merchants returned home at the end of the caravan season. Those who remained and settled in Ladakh married native Ladakhis and their descendants are now known as Arghons.[2]
Today most Arghons are merchants, although few have taken to agriculture. Most of them today speak the Ladakhi language but are also conversant in Turkic and Tibetan.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Samiuddin, Abida; Khanam, R. Global Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Indian Muslim. Global Vision Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8220-299-3.
- 1 2 Dollfus, Pascale (2021). "Indigenous People of Ladakh". Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia Online. doi:10.1163/2665-9093_bero_com_034545.
- ↑ Bhasin, Veena (2005). "Ecology and health: a study among tribals of Ladakh" (PDF). Studies of Tribes and Tribals. 3 (1): 1–13. doi:10.1080/0972639X.2005.11886514. ISSN 0972-639X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 December 2005.