Changpa Community

Changpa Community Latest News

Recently, the Ladakh lieutenant governor made decisions for improving the livelihoods of indigenous Changpa pastoral communities.

About Changpa Community

• The Changpas are a semi-nomadic people found mainly in the Changthang region of the Trans-Himalayas of the Indian subcontinent.
• They are nomads who have been shepherding their world-class pashmina goats (or cashmere goats) for centuries.
• The Changpa nomads are Buddhists.
• They were granted official status in India as a scheduled tribe.
• They can be identified by their conical yak-skin tents called reboo.
• Each reboo invariably accommodates the family deity, and a picture of their spiritual head, in most cases, the Dalai Lama.
• The Changpa who live nomadic lives are known as Phalpa and those who have settled down in fixed locations are called Fangpa.
• Festival: One of the main purifying rituals of the Changpas is known as Jyabten where they make different kinds of food as an offering to Lord Padmasambhav and another festival Tangpe Chona (15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar).

Source: ET

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