Brokpa


The Brokpa are a small community of Dard people residing in Jammu and Kashmir region, about northwest of Leh and north of Kargil in Ladakh.
They are mainly found in Dha, Hanu, Beama, Garkon, Darchiks, Batalik, Sharchay and Chulichan. Part of the community are also located in the Deosai plateau just across the Line of Control in the villages Ganoaks, Morol, Dananusar, and Chechethang in Baltistan. Like the people of Gilgit, they speak a variant of Shina language, Brokskat, unintelligible with other Shina dialects. They are said to have originally come from Chilas and settled in the area generations ago. They are predominantly Muslims with a significant minority following Vajrayana Buddhism. A small percentage follow Hinduism.
Minaro is an alternate ethnic name. 'Brogpa' is the name given by the Ladakhi to the people. It derives from Drukpa, which comes from the Tibetan word 'Drugu' This is an accurate demonym, considering that the Turkic Trakhàn dynasty were once ruling the Karakoram region. Or it may just mean འབྲོག་པ། a word for nomads.

Diet

The traditional Brogpa diet is based on locally grown foods such as barley and hardy wheat prepared most often as tsampa/sattu. It takes in different ways. Other important foods include potatoes, radishes, turnips, and Gur-Gur Cha, a brewed tea made of black tea, butter and salt.
Dairy and poultry sources are not eaten because of religious taboos. Brogpa eat three meals a day: Choalu Unis, Beali and Rata Unis. Brogpa vary with respect to the amount of meat that they eat. A household's economic position decides the consumption of meat. It is only during festivals and rituals that all have greater access to mutton.

Economy and employment

The Brogpa economy has shifted from agropastoralism to wage labor, and the division of labor that relied on stratifications of age and gender is now obsolete. The Brogpa transition to private property, monogamy, nuclear families, formal education, wage labor, and their incorporation into a highly militarized economy of soldiering and portering illuminates the complex workings of modernity in Ladakh.