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Here,
a community of metal workers, said to be the descendants of artisans
brought from Nepal inthe mid -17th century to build one of the gigantic
Buddha -images at Shey, cary on their hereditary vocation. Working
in silver, brass and copper, they produce exquisite items for domestic
and religious use : tea and chang pots, teacup - stands and lids,
hookkah-bases, ladles and bowls and, occasionally, silver chorten
for installa-tion in temples and domestic shrines.
Those who cannot afford the expensive ware of the Chiling craftsmen,
are supplied by local blacksmitsh (gara), witht the bowls and cooking
pots they need for everyday use, as well as with agricultural implements.
The gara also make the large and ornate iron stoves seen in kitchens
of the richer Ladakhi homes. in general, craftsmanship has not developed
beyond and production of everyday item for personal and domestic
use. Pattu, the rough, warm, woolen material used for clothing is
made from locally produced wool, spun by women on drop-spindles,
and woven by semi-professional weavers on portable looms set up
in the winter sunshine, or under the shade of a tree in summer.
Baskets, for the transport of any kind of burden - manure for the
fields, fresh vegetables, even babies -are woven out of willow twigs,
or a particular variety of grass. Wood work is confined largely
to the production of pillars and carved lintels for the houses,
and the low carved tables that are a feature of every Ladakhi living-room.
Many such items, together with others recently introduced as part
of the development process, are available in the District Handicrafts
Centre at Leh, which exists to train local people as well as to
market their products. There you can find, in addition to traditional
objects, a few special items like pashmina
shawls- rough compared withthose produced in Srinagar, but soft
and warm as only pure pashmina can be ; and carpets in designs and
techniques borrowed from Tibet. Similar carpets are also to be had
at the Tibetan Refugee Centre at Choglamsar.
The Handicrafts Centre also has a department of Thangka painting.
These icons on cloth are executed in accordance with strict guidelines
handed down from past generations. in the same tradition are the
mural paintings in the gompas, where semi-professional , both monks
and laymen,, labour tokeep the walls decorated with images symbolizing
the various aspects of the Buddhist Way. The skill of building religious
statues is also not extinct. The gigantic representation of Maitreya,
was installed in Thikse Gompa as recently as the early 1980s.
Here,
a community of metal workers, said to be the descendants of artisans
brought from Nepal inthe mid -17th century to build one of the gigantic
Buddha -images at Shey, cary on their hereditary vocation. Working
in silver, brass and copper, they produce exquisite items for domestic
and religious use : tea and chang pots, teacup - stands and lids,
hookkah-bases, ladles and bowls and, occasionally, silver chorten
for installa-tion in temples and domestic shrines. 
pashmina
shawls- rough compared withthose produced in Srinagar, but soft
and warm as only pure pashmina can be ; and carpets in designs and
techniques borrowed from Tibet. Similar carpets are also to be had
at the Tibetan Refugee Centre at Choglamsar.
