The Balti people of Turtuk

Nestling in the Karakoram range in remote Baltistan on the Indo-Pakistan border lies the historic and storied village of Turtuk, once an important stopover on the ancient Silk Road. By Sugato Mukherjee

  • A little girl looks at the camera, while an old woman looks to her; both are wearing headscarves (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Turtuk is one of the northernmost villages of India where Balti people, an ethnic group of Central Asian descent, have lived for many centuries
  • A group of girls walks along a mountain path with a ravine behind them, a river and bridge below (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Some 320 families live in Turtuk village, which was part of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-administered Kashmir from 1948 until December 1971, when Turtuk was annexed by India during the Bangladesh Liberation War
  • A river wides through a valley bottom flanked by mountains (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    These days Turtuk is the administrative centre of Turtuk district in the Indian state of Ladakh, on the banks of the Shyok, the region's lifeline
  • A woman in fields against a mountain backdrop (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Fertile soil churned by the Shyok and its glacial tributaries supports Turtuk's agrarian economy, with fields of buckwheat, tomatoes, orchards of apples and apricots, encircled by lofty mountains
  • A sign indicating the Muslim nature of the village community hangs on the facade of a wooden building (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    While Ladakh has strong Buddhist and Tibetan influences, this little corner of Baltistan has a distinctive Balti Muslim culture
  • A man walks along an alley between buildings (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Understandably, the villagers of Turtuk are keen to preserve their distinctive culture and heritage
  • A man stands in front of a shelf holding cooking vessels (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Mohammed Ali, whose family has lived in a sprawling wood-and-stone mansion for generations, has converted part of his ancestral house into a heritage museum showcasing traces of traditional Balti culture and lifestyle
  • A woman smiles as she passes in front of an uneven stone wall, punctuated by doorways (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    The rocky surroundings have been ingeniously engineered to serve as community cold storage, preserving milk, meat and perishables during summer months
  • A man sits at a loom and weaves (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Ismail is one of the two remaining shawl-makers in the village, once famous for its cottage weaving industry
  • (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Although the nationality of Turtuk residents has changed over the last 75 years, thanks to regional shifts in geopolitics, the hamlet remains much the same with its cobbled alleys, fruit orchards, centuries-old houses and slow, unhurried pace of life
  • A woman squats, waiting for her water canister to fill at an outside tap (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Despite its remote location, Turtuk's young people do have access to education. Most of them study in schools in the locality before moving on to colleges in Leh and Srinagar
  • A man examines tree foliage against a backdrop of leaves and a blue sky (image: Sugato Mukherjee)
    Villagers' families are often separated by the Line of Control maintained by India and Pakistan, meaning they require a visa to visit their nearest and dearest