The Brogpas (or Drogpas) living in Ladakh, India-administered Kashmir, claim to be the last of the Aryans. Tourists - domestic and foreign - researchers and visitors are lured by the “last Aryan village” located in the remote Himalayas.
Are they indeed the last of what Nazi-era racial theorists thought of as a purebred “master race”? Or an exotic identity has been promoted to bolster racial tourism?
They live in the villages of Dha and Hanu (commonly called as Dhahanu), Darchik, and Gahanu - situated 163km southwest of Leh, the administrative capital of Ladakh. The 5,000 or so members of its community follows Tibetan Buddhism.
One theory says they arrived from Gilgit, Pakistan in the seventh century; a popular story is that they are descendants of Alexander’s army, while many argue that the Aryans are the indigenous inhabitants of India.
Unlike the majority of the Ladakhis with Tibeto-Mongol looks, the Brogpas have Indo-Aryan features.
(Source:- www.aljazeera.com)
Photographed by Sunny TAnk
