Zangla Palace

 Text and Photographs by Mr. Sachin Vaidya

Zangla Palace was a place from where half of Zanskar (region) was once ruled.



Zanskar lies in Kargil District of Union Territory of Ladakh. It has a sizable Buddhist population.


Zangla was an independent kingdom till its accession to the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1834.



I visited the Palace during June 2019.



Following board describes brief history of the Palace:



The Palace is in state of disrepair.



The Palace is believed to built by Ldey Tsug Gon who was the king of Zanskar during the 10th century.



Following video shows the Palace and surrounding:



The Palace surroundings were typical Ladakhi landscape.



Buddhist Stupas were visible in the vicinity.



The descendants of the former royal family stayed at the foothill of the Palace; however, I did not click photograph of their home which looked good from outside.



Mr. Maqsood Ali (my driver from Kargil) facilitated buying tickets and opening and closing of the Palace by taking keys from the home of the former royal family.


Fortification walls had crumbled.





View from the terrace of the Palace was magnificent!




Approach road to the Palace is visible in the following photograph:



A minor section of the Palace appeared to be in a better state.



Pathetic situation prevailed elsewhere.






Basic staircases were available to reach to the upper floors.



Certain areas of the Palace were dark and hence we required torchlight to access them.



Remains of the Palace kitchen were visible.




A few basic repairs were observed which were definitely not adequate considering magnitude of the Palace.


The arches showed former grandeur of the Palace.



A Hungarian - Alexander Csoma de Koros - arrived in 1823 at Zanskar's Phugtal Monastery to study the then less known Tibetan language.


Later he studied under the lamas of Zangla, read Buddhist texts, published an analysis of the Kangyur, and compiled the first Tibetan-English dictionary (1834).



The Csoma's Room Initiative (2008-2011) restored part of the Palace.



A board marked Csoma's room.


Inside Csoma's room, his portrait, and a (unknown - to me) statue was there.



View from Csoma's room was superb!


Csoma's room had colourful curtain!


In another room, some strange equipment was kept. I did not understand its purpose.


In another room, many Buddhist idols, stupas, rock engravings and thangkas were kept. Thangkas are Buddhist paintings on paper or cloth. To my surprise, there was no security! Maqsood opened and closed the Palace.









Terrace offered view of the courtyard and surrounding mountain.





It was time to say goodbye to the Palace.



Even though the Palace is a private property, Government should conserve it on similar lines with Leh Palace.




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