Dras

Dras, in Kargil district of Ladakh, is best known today as one of the coldest inhabited places in India, but its history is closely tied to mountain passes and movement between regions. Situated just beyond Zoji La Pass on the Srinagar–Leh route, Dras has long served as a staging point and camping ground for traders, soldiers, pilgrims and shepherds moving between the Kashmir Valley and the high plateau of Ladakh. For centuries, caravans carrying wool, salt, grain and other goods halted here to rest men and animals before attempting the dangerous pass, especially in the short summer window when snow receded.

The wider Dras valley was inhabited by hardy mountain communities who combined small-scale farming with pastoralism and trading. Under the Dogra rulers of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir, Dras and nearby Kargil became frontier outposts watched for incursions and to manage trade taxes. After Independence, the town remained small but strategically important due to its location near the Line of Control and on the only all-weather highway connecting Ladakh to the rest of India.

In 1999, Dras entered modern Indian history during the Kargil War; peaks overlooking the town saw heavy fighting. Today, war memorials, improved roads and tourism coexist with its older identity as a tough, high-altitude transit town shaped by snow, passes and frontier life.