इन्द्रावती एकेडमी

Ice River :- Glacier Pashmina Shawls, Saffron etc.

In extremely cold regions or high mountains, snowfall
occurs instead of water. In this rain, snow falls like
washed cotton but after falling on the ground it
becomes denser due to pressure and some of it takes
the form of hard ice. Snow from the snow zone
continues to slide downwards along the gradient. This
sliding ice is called a glacier.
Like rivers, glaciers also flow through valleys i.e. glaciers
are river of ice whose source is ice field. There are
several glaciers in the Himalayas, the largest of which is
Gangotri. Its length is 32 km. The Khumbu Glacier is in
the Everest region of Nepal. It is the most popular route
Karewa :-
to climb the mountain. Due to the rising temperature of
Kashmir valley is surrounded by high hills. Its surface is
the atmosphere, the ice of the glaciers has begun to
saucer-shaped as we can see in . Thousands of years
melt and their length is decreasing.
ago, there was a huge lake with water from many rivers
and streams flowing from the surrounding hills. These
rivers and streams deposited the sediments (soil, silt,
clay, etc.) they brought with them into the lake for many
years. Due to the internal process of the earth, the
Pirpanjal range began to rise, causing the water of the
lake to flow out and create stepped fields on the sides
of this mountain that are advanced enough for
agriculture. This is called kareva. It is also called vudra in
the regional language here. The precious saffron or
saffron is cultivated on this stepped land. Vartikagra is
Kashmir Valley extracted from saffron flowers and used for many
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the Jhelum Valley, is medicines and as a spice for cooking. Kashmiri saffron is
surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 1,850 meters famous all over the world.
above sea level. m. long and 32 km. This mountainous
plain is formed by the river Jhelum but it is also a matter
of wonder how such a large plain area was formed in the
middle of the mountains. According to scientists, there
was once a lake here.
Once, due to an earthquake, the mountain cracked and
the lake water flowed into the Jhelum River. The
remnant of that ancient lake exists even for myself today
as Dal Lake. Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir,
is situated on the banks of Dal Lake in the same valley.
Ladakh:
World-renowned for its natural beauty, Kashmir has
A village in the cold desert Ladakh, a cold desert, is
been a major hub for international tourists. A large
located in the eastern part of the state of Jammu and
number of international tourists visiting India come to
Kashmir. It is not a hot desert like Thar but arid and cold.
see Kashmir. The floating boat houses in Dal Lake is an
Between the rocky ground and the towering mountains,
attraction and it is also the major source of livelihood of
there is a dry snow plain where there is only a name of
the people here. Apart from agriculture called 'house
rain.
boats', there are various types of industries, such as
There is a village of 80 houses on a hillside
carpet industry, walnut wood furniture, Knits, Kashmiri
along the Penjila River in the Jaskar Valley. In this village,
इन्द्रावती एकेडमी
there are small houses made of stone, mud and bricks houses are built on slopes due to lack of flat land. Most
on the fertile land. These houses are known as houses are made of wood and mud. The roofs are
‘Khangpas’. Their roofs are flat. Flat roofs are used to sloped to prevent rainwater or snow from accumulating
store animal feed. The geographical conditions beyond for long periods of time. There are also slate tiles. Some
this place are so harsh that people live together in small houses have flat roofs to be used for drying maize or
groups animal feed in winter. Sake.
In the village, people wear warm clothes called
'goncha' throughout the year. Not only is the climate dry
but there is also a shortage of water in the village. Have
you ever walked on an ice-frozen river? In the winter
months, the Penjila River near the village freezes and
people walk on it. The freezing of the river makes it a
short road from one village to another. The living
conditions here are completely different from
Chhattisgarh. There is cultivation, but the fields are small
because the land is rocky and not flat. Most people
grow peas, cabbages, potatoes, wheat or millet which is
mostly used at home, not sold in the market. Agriculture
that produces only enough to meet the basic needs of
the household is called subsistence agriculture. There is very little arable land on the Himalayas,
Due to lack of rainfall and water and climate and cultivable on wide valleys and gently sloping mountains.
soil hardness, cultivation is not done throughout the Such land is available there are settlements of people.
year. Cultivation occurs only in summer from late May to For this reason, small settlements are found far and wide
early October. In summer, the meltwater from the in the Himalayas. The population on the mountains is
glacier is channeled to the fields for irrigation. Water is sparse and scattered due to lack of farmland. The soil is
brought from a sote (chashme) a kilometer away in rocky and the climate is frigid. It does snow once in a
winter. Sometimes they even melt the ice and use it. while during the winter months. Precipitation is normal.
People have animals too. Major animals Yak, Dimo, Joe. Soil erosion by rainwater is high. Soil erosion is
There are horses, donkeys and sheep. Joe and Jomo are prevented with the help of stepped fields.
hybrid forms of cow and yak. Dimo is the female form of
yak. Yaks and barley are used to plow the fields. Milk is
extracted from Dimo, Jomo, sheep and goats to make
cheese and butter. In the summer, some families take
the village sheep and goats to the higher pastures. In
winter, when the cold increases at high altitude, they
return to the village. Such migration occurring with
animals according to seasonal changes is called seasonal
migration. In winter, when there is no cultivation,
women make clothes from the wool of sheep and goats.
These people live by building a deep connection with
nature and do not let anything available go to waste.

Uttarakhand: A hill village

In the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, there is a
village at an altitude of 2,500 meters on the way to Himalayan people grow rice, maize, vegetables and
Gangotri - 'Vasu'. A steep winding road leads people to fruits in stepped fields. The hill fields do not produce
this hill village. There will be only 20 to 25 houses in this much grain, but you will be surprised to know that these
village. A house in the mountains is small. In hilly areas, fields have a lot of vegetables. You may have heard
about hill potatoes and capsicums. Similarly, fruits and
इन्द्रावती एकेडमी
vegetables like apples, apricots, pears and cherries are
cultivated on the slopes of the mountains. These fruits
are planted on a large scale in plantations and sold in
distant markets. Do not fall off with. The leaves of these
trees are used as fodder for animals and the wood is
used as fuelFood is supplemented by the produce
obtained from the fields. People work as laborers for
income and collect and sell them. In the absence of a
source of income, young people have started migrating
to factories in the city. Women work in the fields as well
as household chores.

Animal husbandry and people

The villages around Vasu village are inhabited by the Jad
community (Gadriya). Their main occupation is sheep
and goat rearing. Every year, in the summer days, the
upper reaches of the Himalayas grow lush and soft
grass. So they go to the Chinese border in the month of
April, herding all the sheep from their homes. They know
which mountain is on the border of India and which is
on the border of China. They have a lot of experience
and knowledge about the topography, flora and
weather of the Himalayas. In this journey, they
sometimes have to endure the weather. So they carry all
their food, drink and shelter with them. They start
coming down in July-August and come home by
November. The grass here is very suitable for grazing
animals, especially sheep. In the western Himalayas,
sheep are reared for meat and wool. For this reason
sheep farming is the main occupation.
They come to the lower parts of the Himalayas with their
animals on cold days. It gets less cold in the lower
reaches and forage is available. These cattle breeders
also have villages here, where they have houses and
where they also farm. In the cold months, people's
homes are used to spin wool, make blankets, etc.
There are many living in the Himalayas who migrate
seasonally with their animals. The most prominent of
these are the Bhotia tribe in Garhwal and Kumau, which
grazes sheep and cattle. The Bakarwal tribe in Kashmir
grazes only goats. are etc.