“Father White Glacier”: Temporality, Climate Change and Landscape Filiation in the Indian Himalayas

• In Event: Environmental Challenges in South and Southeast Asia: Conflict, Cooperation and Exploitation

Abstract

This paper examines the temporal dimension of a glacier-related practice in Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas, focusing on tensions over its performance in the current context of climate change. According to villagers in Tingmosgang, the gzhi bdag, the local spirit said to protect the village’s main glacier, is obstinate: unless it is properly propitiated through the performance of skyin jug, the spirit often prevents the seasonal melt of glacier ice, hindering the supply of water that is so crucial to the success of the farming season. Traditionally performed throughout the Sham Valley of Ladakh when a bride leaves her natal household, villagers conduct the ceremony of skyin jug in order to placate the local gzhi bdag and verses recited during the ritual reiterate the filiation between the villagers and the glacier. Phenomena attributable to climate change, in particular erratic weather patterns and glacier recession, today cause increasing water problems during the critical spring sowing season. While certain villagers believe that placating the local gzhi bdag is the best way of addressing these problems, many others appear resigned to the situation. Locating skyin jug within regional folkloric marriage tradition, I argue that landscape filiation, once a significant dimension of ritual life in the Buddhist Himalayas, has lost its centrality due to Ladakhis’ growing estrangement from the environment. An examination of differences in attitudes within the community leads to the conclusion that local response to climate change is not uniform and that it is strongly linked to people’s sense of place.

Author

• Karine Gagne, Yale University