HISTORY & CULTURE
THE JADS OF NELANG: Strangers in their own land
They worshipped two deities, Lal Devta and Ringali Devi
Lokesh Ohri
In 1962, after the India-China conflict, the Jad, also sometimes referred to as Jad Bhotia, of Nelang Valley in District Uttarkashi were forced to leave their border village of Jadong and settle inland in Dunda and Harsil. Nelang is classic high altitude desert where the azure blues easily mingle with the rocky browns, despite the Jad Ganga that flows through the valley.
They worshipped two deities, Lal Devta and Ringali Devi. When asked to leave, they requested both deities to accompany them. Ringali Devi obliged but Lal Devta was adamant. He would not leave his space. “If you still worship me, bring Ringali to meet me once every year”, he commanded.
So, that frail link with home remains, when in early June, the Jad take the palanquin of Ringali to meet Lal Devta. The Jad were great traders and kept the Indo-Tibet trade in Borax, salt and pasham wool going. Because of them, Uttarkashi was better known as Badahaat. In order to facilitate movement, they had Indian and Tibetan identities, dual names. Even the shrines in homes are Buddhist as well as Hindu.
Heinrich Harrer escaped to Tibet from here, probably through Auden’s Col, one of the toughest passes into Tibet from India.
