Hanle

Hanle is a remote village in southeastern Ladakh, close to the borders with Tibet (China), and its history is tied to monasteries, nomads and frontier politics. For centuries, the wider Hanle area formed part of the high Changthang plateau, used by Changpa nomads who moved with their yaks and pashmina goats across vast grasslands. Small villages like Hanle grew around water sources, barley fields and religious centres, rather than big forts or markets.

The heart of old Hanle is Hanle Monastery, perched on a low hill above the village. Belonging to the Drukpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, during the time of the Ladakhi kings. The monastery helped assert Ladakh’s control over this eastern frontier and served as a religious, cultural and social hub for scattered settlements and nomads.

With the decline of the Ladakhi kingdom and later Dogra rule over Ladakh (as part of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir), Hanle remained an isolated outpost, visited mainly by monks, traders and herders. After Independence, its strategic position near the border made it important for the Indian state, leading to the development of roads and security infrastructure.

In the late 20th and early 21st century, Hanle gained a new role: its clear, dark skies attracted astronomers, and a major high-altitude observatory was established here. Today Hanle uniquely combines ancient monastic life, Changpa pastoral culture and modern space science, all in an extremely remote high-altitude setting.