Gar Günsa ( Tibetan : སྒར་དགུན་ས , Wylie : sgar dgun sa ), Günsa ( Tibetan : དགུན་ས ) or Kunsa , ( simplified Chinese : 昆沙乡 ; traditional Chinese : 昆沙鄉 ; pinyin : Kūnshā Xiāng ) is a township consisting of three administrative villages in Gar County in the Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, viz., Sogmai ( སོག་སྨད ) and Gar Chongsar ( སྒར་གྲོང་གསར ) and Namru ( གནམ་རུ ) The modern Ngari Gunsa Airport is within the township.
10-600: Gar Günsa is situated on the bank of the Gartang River , one of the headwaters of the Indus River, at the base of the Kailash Range , at an elevation of 4,270 metres (14,010 ft). Gar Günsa, along with its sister encampment Gar Yarsa used to be the administrative headquarters for Western Tibet ( Ngari ). The headquarters was moved to Shiquanhe in 1965. Gar ( Wylie : sGar ) means "encampment". During
20-626: A distance of 130 kilometres (81 mi), the Gartang joins Sengge Zangbo (Shiquan He), which originates on the northern slopes of Mount Kailas and flows in a wide arc towards the Gar Valley. The point of confluence is near the town of Tashigang (Zhaxigang). After the confluence, the combined river, regarded as the Indus River , flows in the same direction as Gartang. For this reason, western explorers have traditionally regarded Gartang as
30-712: Is at Shiquanhe in the Sênggê Zangbo valley, close to the point of confluence of the two rivers. The sources of Gartang are on the southwestern slopes of the Kailas Range (Gangdise Shan). From there, the river flows northwest in the Gar Valley , the tectonic valley between the Kailas Range and the Ladakh Range . The slope of the valley is extremely gentle, only about 2 metres per kilometre. After
40-408: The Indus River . The combined river flows in the same valley and in the same direction as Gar Tsangpo. Thus by physical geography, Gar Tsangpo is the "Indus River". The Tibetans however regard Sênggê Zangbo as the main Indus River, and treat Gar Tsangpo as a tributary. Gartok , the former administrative headquarters of Ngari is in the Gar Valley. The present headquarters, under PRC administration,
50-485: The 15th and 16th centuries, the Karma Kagyu lamas moved through the length and breadth of Tibet in "Great Encampments" or garchen . The term is also used often for military camps. Gar Günsa means the "winter camp". The ninth century bilingual text Mahāvyutpatti translated günsa as Sanskrit हैमन्तिकावासः ( haimantikāvāsaḥ ), literally, the residence of the winter season. Even though Gar Yarsa has acquired
60-639: The administrative headquarters of Ngari (West Tibet) during the Ganden Phodrang administration of Tibet. The Lhasa-appointed administrator, called Garpön, used to stay at Gar Yarsa during the summemr months, and at Gar Gunsa during the winter. After the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950, the headquarters of Ngari was moved to a new town of Shiquanhe on the Sengge Zangbo river. Gar Yarsa Too Many Requests If you report this error to
70-455: The main source of the Indus River. However, the Tibetans regard Sengge Zangbo as the main Indus River and the Gartang as its tributary. The Gartang river drains an area of 6,060 km2. Two well-known villages cum encampments, Gar Yarsa and Gar Gunsa , lie along the course of the Gartang, separated by 40 miles (64 km). The two locations together have been called "Gartok" and served as
80-439: The name "Gartok" in popular parlance, officially, "Gartok" consisted of both Gar Günsa and Gar Yarsa (the "summer camp"). The latter is forty miles upstream on Gartang at a higher altitude. Gar Günsa, along with its sister encampment Gar Yarsa , was referred to as Gartok , and served as Lhasa's administrative headquarters for Western Tibet ( Ngari ) after it was conquered from Ladakh in 1684. A senior official called Garpön
90-555: Was felt that the living conditions in Gar Günsa were extremely difficult. Gartang River Gar Tsangpo ( Tibetan : སྒར་གཙང་པོ , Wylie : sgar gtsang po ; Chinese : 噶尔藏布 ; pinyin : Găěr Zàngbù ), also called Gartang or Gar River , is a headwater of the Indus River in the Ngari Prefecture , Tibet , China . It merges with other headwater, Sênggê Zangbo , near the village of Tashigang to form
100-526: Was stationed here. The Garpöns lived in Gar Gunsa for nine months in the year, and stayed at Gar Yarsa during August–October. But in the British nomenclature, the name "Gartok" was applied only to Gar Yarsa and the practice continues till date. After the Chinese annexation of Tibet , Gar Günsa continued to function as the headquarters of Western Tibet till 1965, after which it was moved to Shiquanhe . It
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