WHO ARE THE TIBETAN MUSLIMS
The existence of Lhasa-Khache, Pheoba-Khache or Tibetan Muslims (Khaches) as an ethnic group is not well known. Even those who have some knowledge are not clear about their origins and ethnic composition. Meeting a mongoloid face with a Muslim name and speaking fluent Tibetan...is obviously very confusing. Many friends in school used to feel that the father was a Muslim and mother a Tibetan! This was true at one point of history when the Kashmiri (includes Ladakhi, Balti and Dogra) merchant married a Tibetan Buddhist woman. Commonly asked questions: “Where are you from?” Not satisfied with the basic replies, his next question will be: “Are there Muslims in Tibet?” Yes, this has surprised many people that how come there are Muslims in Tibet. Tibet is seen as a pure Buddhist land and existence of other religion is not known. Let alone the fact, that the mosque of Lhasa Khache was located very close to the most sacred temple of the Tibetan Buddhists in Barkhor, the “Sheokhang”.
A person is called a Tibetan Muslim (TM) or in Tibetan, a “Lhasa-Khache”, sometimes, “Beoba-khache”- one who or whose family lived in Tibet. The mother tongue being Tibetan and is culturally integrated with the main Tibetan Buddhist society. Ethnically, most of them belong to the Tibeto-mongoloid stock. All are believers in Islam (Sunni sect) and this is the only major difference between the two communities. However, they are to be differentiated with the Chinese Muslims, known as Hui/Habalingkas/Silings and also with the Ladakhi-Muslims and Muslims of Nepali origin (Khachars) living in Tibet. The latter two have their own separate identity, culture and origin. However, the Ladakhi-Muslims and Nepali Muslims of Tibet and the Tibetan Muslims have many things in common, but the differences in some major areas remains. For instance, whereas for the Tibetan Muslims, the mother tongue is Tibetan, the mother tongue of Ladakhi Muslims of Tibet is Ladakhi, despite the fact that they speak fluent Tibetan and both Tibetan and Ladakhi languages are very similar. Similarly, the Ladakhi Muslims entry into Tibet is of very recent phenomenon as late as mid 19th century, whereas the Tibetan Muslims first settlement dates back to the 12th century and substantial numbers in the 17th century during the reign of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama.
ORIGINS AND BIRTH:
This community as it has come to become a single cohesive community today may not have been so in the past. The formation of this community as it is today may have been a late phenomenon, as late as the early seventeenth century during the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1616-1682). Different scholars have suggested presence of Muslims in Tibet as early as the eighth century through interaction with the Arabs. The first interaction of the Tibetan with the Arabs dates back to the eight century, when Tibet as a powerful empire fought many battles on its borders with other empires (Tibetan Empire in Central Asia by Christopher I Beckwith). However, It was only from the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama that the formation of this loosely knit community started becoming cohesive and evolved into a distinct identifiable social group. At the same time Kashmiri merchants migrating to Tibet also swelled in numbers. Alongwith the merchants also came the Sufis and the Islamic teachers to keep up educating the folks and their offsprings (mainly through marriages with Tibetan Buddhist women) the basic tenets of Islam. It will not be incorrect to say that the history of spread of Islam in Kashmir (and places on the trade route, like Ladakh, Xinjiang and Tibet) through missionaries from Iran and Central Asia and growth of Muslim population in major towns of Tibet are closely interlinked.
COMPOSITION: The Tibetan Muslims as a community can be classified into two sub-groups with respect to their origins: (i) of the Kashmiri origin, and (ii) the Singba-Khazis (Dogra). The first group forms the majority whose forefathers had come from Kashmir through Ladakh (Patna in Bihar and Kathmandu in Nepal were also the two places from where the Kashmiri merchants moved to Tibet). Till very recently, merchants used to travel from Ladakh to nearby places like, Kashgar, Hotan in the Xinjiang province and to the western Tibet. After 1904, when the Francis Younghusband forced a treaty on the Tibetans, a new trade route was formally opened bordering Sikkim at Jalep la and Nathu la passes.
The Singba-Khazis (Singh/Sikh)were originally soldiers of the defeated General Zorawar Singh (of Dogra-Tibet war, 1841) and taken prisoner by the Tibetan army to Lhasa and gradually found itself, after marrying Tibetan wives, assimilating in the Tibetan Muslim society. They found the Khaches who spoke some Persian and Urdu closer in culture than the Tibetan Buddhists.
ROLE OF SUFIS: According to Gaborieau and Thierry Zarcone and Tibetan Muslims’ own version, Sufi saints from Kashmir had played a prominent role to facilitate their easier access and settlement in Lhasa at different points of history. Tales of such Sufi saints like Pir Yakub, Pir Pora la, Khairuddin, Makhdum sahib, Afaz Khawaja et al are still told and handed over from generation to generation. A piece of oral history handed from earlier generations relates to how a piece of land near Lhasa was given by the then Fifth Dalai Lama for burial of a Muslim saint. The place is named “Chanda-gan”, which became a popular picnic spot for the TMs.
SIZE AND LOCATION:
Roughly, 350 families are scattered in Srinagar, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kathmandu region. Besides, many Individuals are also scattered in different parts of the world. Some still continue to live in Lhasa and Shigatse. Most are small time traders and shopkeepers. The generation born in India after migration lacked proper education, but the level of education in the current generation is higher and are entering into professional jobs.
LIFE IN TIBET:
The majority of these people lived in and around the Barkhor, Lhasa, some in Shigatse and some in Tsetang. Most of them were doing brisk business in brining consumer goods from Calcutta and offloading Tibetan wool in Kalimpong. While in Tibet, they had shops selling consumer goods as well specialising in making of Tibetan dress and hats. While Fillipo De Fillippi, the missionary in Lhasa (1712-1727) found the Cascimiri merchants having made “large fortunes”; Guiseppe Tucci writes that these khache families “did some retail trade and some of them worked as tailors”.
Although being pious practitioners of Islam, they were well integrated with the main Tibetan society and considered Tibet and anything Tibetan to be their own. To Ekai Kawaguchi, however, they were “ clinging pertinaciously to their doctrines”. He also found it “strange to see the calm existence of Muhammadanism in a country where Buddhism is so predominant”. In the sphere of Tibetan literature and music, their contributions are widely recognised. Similarly, spoken Lhasa-dialect Tibetan is another area where the TMs are popular. To Prof Dawa Norbu of JNU, they had “achieved a working spiritual consensus with the Tibetan Buddhist society”.
Over the years, the “Kashmiri” features disappeared and Tibetan characteristics dominated- be it the facial or cultural; Linguistic or food. Today, there is anything Kashmiri but more of Tibetan. In Kashmir, they are better known as “Tibetti” and as refugees from Tibet.
The birth and growth of the community started with those few Kashmiri traders (including Ladakhi, Balti) who married Tibetan women and settled down in Tibet. In essence, the newly-formed Khache community was in all respects, an ethnic sub-group of the main Tibetan society and lived a very much Tibetan life. The Tibetan wife brought all her Tibetan influences in his home. Moreover, Tibet was primarily a matriarchal society- the domination of the affairs of the house by the lady. Therefore, it is not surprising that the home of the Kashmiri migrant soon became another Tibetan home. In no time, besides other Tibetan identities, the facial features of the khache generation turned full Tibetan. Today, you can easily distinguish a Lhasa Khache from a Kashmiri, but impossible with a Tibetan Buddhist.
They celebrated their Muslim festivals in a Tibetan manner. Marriage rites were strictly as per Islamic law but were followed by such gaiety and merrymaking that was typical Tibetan. For instance, a marriage after being solemnised as per Islamic sharia will be followed by three-day picnics. Islamic prohibitions like liquor were strictly observed.
They were subject to the jurisdiction of Tibetan law, but the “Panch”, their own committee, head of which was called “Khache Pompo”, adjudicated civil matters and petty crimes. They recognised and were loyal to the Dalai Lamas as their sovereign head.
This community is also famous for their hospitality. Sarat Chandra Das in late 19th century visited Tsetang and lodged in a Khache’s house was received very kindly. The Khache’s were also the link to the happenings of the outside world. They were the newsmongers and kept the Tibetan aristocracy updated with current international news.
Soon whatever Kashmiri connections the settlers had were completely lost after their settlement in Tibet and there was no-looking back. It is not understood precisely when and how the vibrant Kashmir-Ladakh-Tibet trade route was closed and why those traders in Tibet could not continue with their visits to home in Kashmir. However, they had adopted the new country as their homeland. But when the political events in the form of Chinese intrusions from 1950 to 1960 took place, it not only destroyed the Tibetan nation and culture but also came as a rude shock for this community. They rediscovered their roots in Kashmir and declared themselves as “foreigners” living temporarily as traders. It was time for “Hijra” leaving the motherland for the protection of one’s faith. Those who could not make it continued to languish under the Chinese oppression and suffered a great deal. Many imprisoned died in the jails. (Listen to the audio interviews of Khache elders who lived most of their lives in Tibet).
LIFE IN INDIA:
A White Paper (available in this portal) presented by the Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the Parliament in November 1959 contains Notes and Letters exchanged with the Chinese Government regarding the origins of the Tibetan Muslims and steps taken by the Government of India to evacuate them safely to India.
Once in India, the Indian Government came forward and registered the members of this community as Indian citizens on the basis of the Kashmiri origins. The Jammu & Kashmir State Government took the initiative and housed them initially in camps and later in make shift houses. The Government in exile of His Holiness also remained in constant touch and offered assistance wherever feasible. His Holiness also paid a couple of visits to their colony. In 1995, at Dharamsala, the first Tibetan Muslims’ Conference was held under the aegis of the Tibetan Government in exile. The main objective was to sustain the age-old socio-cultural ties between the two communities in exile. An Action plan was also drawn for the future.