Khaplu Kingdom

Until the ninth century, Khaplu and the wider Baltistan region were part of the Tibetan Empire, practicing Tibetan Buddhism. As time passed, the influence of Buddhism declined, and many Baltis began to convert to Islam under the guidance of Sufi saints and preachers like Sayyid Ali Hamadani.^[11]

The Yabgo dynasty's rule in Khaplu began around 800 CE when Beg Manthal, the 10th descendant of Prince Tung (founder of the Gaz dynasty), arrived from Yarkhand (now part of modern China) and conquered Khaplu.^[8][12] The Yabgo surname, initially associated with the leader of the Gaz tribes in western Turkistan, became the family name of the Yabgo dynasty.^[10]

The Yabgo dynasty originally established its capital at Talis village, later moved to Khaplu.^[13] The Yabgo rulers of Khaplu, were patrons of art, poetry, and literature during their long reign in the region. They constructed numerous palaces, mosques, and forts, including the Khaplu Royal Palace, known locally as Yabgo Khar (ཡབ་གོ་མཁར།).^[14] This palace served as the seat of power and residence for the Kings of Khaplu for over a century.^[15]

Built in 1840 by King Daulat Ali Khan, the Khaplu Palace is a prime example of royal architecture in Baltistan. The site was selected by rolling a large stone down from a nearby cliff, marking the spot where it stopped.^[16] The palace is built traditional Balti/Tibetan styles with Central Asian and Mughal elements, replaced the old fort situated on the mountains.^[17][18]

The old fort, with only a few remnants remaining, witnessed battles throughout its history. In the 1590s, Murad Khan of the Maqpon Dynasty captured the fort during the Conquest of Khaplu by strategically cutting off its water and supplies. Despite resistance, the fort surrendered after a three-month siege. It fell to invaders again in the 1660s and 1674.^[19][20]

Even after being occupied by the Makpon and Dogra rulers, the Kings of Khaplu maintained nominal rule. In 1972, the state was abolished and joined Pakistan. The last King, Raja Fatah Ali Khan, saw the end of the Khaplu Kingdom. His royal descendants continue as heads of the family, residing in Khaplu.^[15][21]

Princess Ayum Khri Gyalmo (འ་ཡུམ་ཁྲི་རྒྱལ་མོ།), also known as ZiZi, of Khaplu married King Nima Namgyal of Ladakh. They agreed that Queen Zizi's son would be the next king of Ladakh. Following is the agreement mentioned in the Treaty of Wamle on pages 30 and 31, explaining the connection between Khaplu and Ladakh:^[1]

p.30. རྒྱལ་མོ་ཟི་ཟི་ཡིས། ཁ་ཧཕུ་ལོ་ན་ཐོག་མར་གཉེན་སྡེབས་སྐབས ། བདག་གི་མེས་ཧ་ར་ཁན་དང་ ། ཞང་པོ་རྡབ་ལར་ཁན་གྱི《ས》*ཟི་ཟི་བིག་ལ་བཏང་ནས ། སྲས་བྱུང་ན ། སྡེང་མཁར་གནང་བའི་ཆད་སོ་བཟུང་བ་ཡིན་ཡང་ ། ཟ་ཟིའི་ཁ་དབང་ལ་མ་བཞག་ བས ། ད་ལྟ་ངེད་ལ་མེད་པ། ད་ཆ་ཟི་ཟི་ཁ་དབང་ཡིན་གསུང་ཆོ ། དེ་ཡང་ངེད་ལ་འཇག་དགོས་ཟེར །

p. 31. ལ་དྭགས་ཀྱི་མངའ་འོག་ཁ་ཧཔུ་ལོ་འདུ་ཚུལ་སྙན་པར་བརྗོད་པའི་སྒོ་ཙམ་ལས ། ཇོ་ཁག་དེ་ནི་དམག་ལྔ་སྟོང་གི་བདག་པོ་ རེ[ས]་སྐར་རྡོ་རེས་ལ་དྭགས་འདུད་པ་གཉེན་འབྲེལ་གང་ཟབ་ལ་ལྡོས་པ་ཞིག་ལས་ལ་དྭགས་པའི་མངའ་འོག་ ཏུ་གཏོགས་ཙམ་ལས ། བུ་ རིག་ཇོ་ཁག་བཞིན་ངེས་པར་འདུ་བར་ཡང་མིན །

Translation:

p. 30. Queen Zi-zi said: 'On the occasion when a friendly relationship was established at Kha-hphu-loo, and when my forefather Ha-da-khan (Haidar-Khān) and my uncle Rdab-lad-khan (Daulat-Khān) gave Zi-zi to wife [to the Ladakhi king], an agreement was made [as follows]: "If a boy should be born, Sten-mkhar will be given [to him]." As it was not put on Zi-zi's kha-dban (personal authority), it does not now belong to us. Now that it has been said that Zi-zi is kha-dban (become of age? authoritative ?), it must be placed at our [disposal].'

p. 31. To speak pleasantly about the fact that Kha-hphu-lo was brought under La-dvags, the chief of that principality (Khaplu), which owns 5,000 soldiers, had in turns to bow before Skar-rdo and before La-dvags, and out of regard to his near kinship (?) he was not to such a degree under the Ladakhis, as are the Pu-rig chiefs.

— Treaty of Wamle^[1]

The Khaplu society are divided into different groups or social statuses. Following are some of them:^[22][23]

• Kacho: This includes the royal family and the descendants of the Yabgo dynasty. Today, they are around 4% of the total Khaplu population.
• Mala Lama or Syeds: These belonged to the priestly class in charge of carrying out religious duties such as weddings, birth ceremonies and death ceremonies. Many were the descendants of Islamic preachers, mainly from Mir Shamsudddin's line. They make up 6 to 8 percent of Khaplu's people.
• Facho: These are the descendants of royal servants who took care of royal babies and served the Royal family. They make up about 8% of Khaplu's total population.
• Sagyadpa: Sagyadpa were the farmers, craftsmen, and traders. They were known for their education and hard work, and many hold important positions in government.
• Monpa: Monpas were blacksmiths and musicians. They used to sing and dance in royal court, weddings, and rituals to make a living. Many worked as Blacksmiths too.

The rest of the people are civilians and subjects of the Kingdom of Khaplu.

Before Islam and Buddhism, Baltistan was influenced by the Zhangzhung. In 686, under Songtsen Gampo's control, Baltistan and Khaplu embraced Tibetan Buddhism, with the Bon and animist beliefs gradually fading. Gompas (religious structures) and stupas were built, and lamas played a significant role in Balti life.^[7]

Islam, introduced by Sufi missionaries like Sayyid Ali Hamadani, gained ground. Noorbakhshism was introduced in Baltistan, converting Buddhists in Khaplu and Shigar valleys. By the 17th century, most Baltis converted to Islam, with some embracing Shia and Sunni branches. Khaplu, however, remained a stronghold of Noorbakshia.^[24] Nowadays 80% of Khaplu follows Noorbakhshism and the rest 20% follow Shia and Sunni Islam.^[22]

Religious gatherings in Sufi Khanqahs also known as Gonmas (spiritual centers) are crucial for Baltis, promoting spiritual purity through training. Mosques in Khaplu, reflecting traditional Balti/Tibetan architecture, resemble Tibetan monasteries.^[7][11] In 1906, Miss Duncan in her book Summer Ride wrote that the great Tamasha trumpets, like those of the Lamaist mystery plays, were used at Khaplu.^[1]

The Khaplu Kingdom was ruled by the Yabgo Dynasty or the House of Yabgo. Following is the list of rulers of Yabgo dynasty, given by Alexander Cunningham:^[1]

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  Balcony of the 700 years old Chaqchan Gonma (Mosque) in Khaplum
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  Terrace view of the Khaplu royal Palace.
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  Royal Khaplu Palace at night.
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  Inside the Khaplu Palace.
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  Khaplu road in Autumn.
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  Royal Khaplu fort entrance.
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  Khaplu Palace's side Hall.
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  Intricate wood carving on the Chaqchan Mosque.
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  Designs on the Pillar of Chaqchan mosque.
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  Royal Palace of Yabgo dynasty.
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  Machulu village of Khaplu, a typical Balti village.
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  On the Balcony of Khaplu Palace.
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  Ceiling design of 700 years old Chaqchan Gonma (Mosque).
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  Another balcony of the Chaqchan Palace.
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  Khanqah-e-Mualla Khaplu, one of the largest Noorbakshia mosques in Khaplu.
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  A old Balti woman praying in a mosque in Khaplu.
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  The royal gardens of Khaplu Palace
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  An old Balti man in Khaplu making traditional wooden basket.
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  Birds eye view of the royal Khaplu Palace.
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  Interior of the Khaplu Palace