Ladakh Buddhist Association
Interfaith Marriages in Ladakh
Although Ladakh is roughly half Muslim and half Buddhist, the Ladakhis are becoming less tolerant about interfaith marriages, according to an article last week in the VOA News. Marriages between members of the two groups used to be accepted but they no longer are. The article, written by journalist Krithika Varagur, blames the steadily increasing […]
Young Ladakhis Try to Modernize [journal article review]
Ladakhi adolescents are often left in limbo between desires for modernity and tensions about their traditional moral values. Many desire sexual freedom but they are also torn by loyalty to their society and their culture. A journal article by Jennifer Aengst explores the tensions handled by young Ladakhis as they seek to modernize in a […]
Buddhist and Muslim Families in Ladakh [journal article review]
A Ladakhi woman suggests that attempts to prevent relationships between Buddhist and Muslim men and women are a poor idea, because when people from different communities get married, it creates harmony. A Ladakhi man adds that intermarriages between people of different communities and faiths are normal all over the world. Sara H. Smith, from the […]
Ladakhi Buddhists Still Fuss About Population
A prominent Buddhist leader in Ladakh expressed his irritation last week about the fact that their population growth is lagging behind that of the Ladakhi Muslims. The president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), Dr. Sonam Dawa, sent a letter to the State government of Jammu and Kashmir, of which Ladakh is a part, asking […]
Ladakhis Welcome the New Year
While revelers in New York were welcoming the New Year in Times Square, Muslims in Ladakh, especially in the Kargil area, were celebrating with religious fervor and solemnity the annual festival of Eid-ul-Azha. This festival, observed on the tenth day of the last month of the Islamic calendar, coincides with the last day of the […]
Violence Threatens the Peaceful Societies of North India, Part 3: The Roots of Conflict in Ladakh [book review]
To the unsophisticated outsider, the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has been about religion, territory and fervent nationalism. But conflicts in the region, especially in the Ladakh districts of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, are far more complex than that. The political struggles in the region tend to aggravate already-existing conflicts […]
