About the Dard Aryans Community. Dard Aryans tribes of Ladakh J&K

About the Dard Aryans

The Buddhist Dard Tribes inhabit the villages of Dha, Hanu, Garkone and Darchik on both sides of the Indus River in Leh-ladakh region.
These villages are together called the “Aryan valley”.
History
- The word ‘Dard’ here is derived from a Sanskrit word, ‘Daradas’, which means people who live on hillsides.
- People of this region are culturally and linguistically different from those in other parts of Ladakh. Their festivals are based on the solar calendar.
- They do not document their history but according to some researchers, the “Aryans of Ladakh” or the “Brokpas” might have descended from soldiers in Alexander’s army who had come to the region over 2,000 years ago.
Economy
- These tribals are mainly dependent on agriculture. They rear goat and sheep for milk and meat.
- The apricots grown in their region are considered among the best in the world.

Summary of the news

There are only 4,000 of Dard Aryans left in the world and some of them visited Delhi to take part in a seminar that discussed the need to preserve their legacy.
They spoke about their struggle to preserve their legacy, as they perceived a threat to their culture resulting from modernisation and migration.
They also expressed concern over lack of development and education and livelihood resources.
Their delegation submitted their charter of demands to Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, seeking government intervention.

The demands of the Dard Aryans

Education and livelihood: They have demanded that the government set up a tribal hostel in their villages and declare the “Aryan valley” a heritage village to boost tourism.
Dardi Post: A Dardi post should be filled at J K Art, Culture and Language Academy in Kargil.
Study centre: A regional Study Centre for Dardi Tradition and a Cluster Model Village to boost the cultural heritage of the Dard Aryans.
Special status: The tribe is already part of the Scheduled Tribes list, but to sustain them they demanded special status and help for making them self-sufficient.