BUDDHISM IN LADAKH

Ladakh is located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, situated at a height of 2500m above sea level surrounded bypasses as high as 4000 to 6000m. It lies between the great Himalayas in the south and, the Karakoram mountains in the north, which is known as the trans-Himalayas region which consists of Ladakh and Zanskar ranges. Ladakh is largely a desolate cold desert, uneven terrain, with little vegetation on the mountains and fully fledged vegetation along the banks of rivers and its tributaries1. Ladakh is one of the highest inhabited plateaus in the world. Ladakh served as an overland trade center between the central Asian region like Yarkhand, Kashgar, Khotan, and Tibet as well as the Indian region of Punjab.