CHANGPA TRIBE :

 
  • A semi-nomadic Tibetan group known as the Changpa can be found primarily in Jammu and Kashmir and the Changtang region of Ladakh.
  • A lesser number was largely relocated in order to create the Changtang Nature Reserve and now lives in the western parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
  • There were 500,000 nomads residing in the Changtang region as of 1989.

OCCUPATION :

  • The Changpa are pastoralists who live at high altitudes and mostly breed yaks and goats.

THE WO DIVISIONS:

  • The Changpa people of Ladakh who are still nomadic are known as Phalpa, and they bring their herds to the town of Lato from the Hanley Valley.
  • Hanley is home to six remote settlements where the Changpa and Fangpa, sedentary people, live.

MARRAIGE:

  • Both of these groups intermarry while leading very different lives.

LANGUAGE:

  • The Changpa are Tibetan Buddhists who speak the Changskhat dialect of Tibetan.

WOOLL OF PASHMINA :

  • The rare Pashmina fibre is produced by the highly coveted and bred Changra goats, which are raised by the Changpas (Cashmere wool).
  • The purpose of raising the Cashmere goats (Changra goats) is for their fibre rather than for their meat (pashm).
  • The finest fibre of all goat hair is called pashmina (or paşm in Persian).
  • The Changpa pursue a definite objective: to work as much as possible in the summer months and to rest in the winter, when it is impossible to work owing to the extremely low temperatures. This tribe’s motto may be “work hard, play hard.”
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