Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tibet and India.Spiti incorporates mainly the valley of the Spiti River, and the valleys of several rivers that feed into the Spiti River. Some of the prominent side-valleys in Spiti are the Pin valley and the Lingti valley. Spiti is bordered on the east by Tibet, on the north by Ladakh, on the west and southwest by Lahaul, on the south by Kullu, and on the southeast by Kinnaur. Spiti has a cold desert environment. The valley and its surrounding regions are among the least populated regions of India. The Bhoti-speaking local population follows Tibetan Buddhism. Traditionally, agriculture was for subsistence, but has shifted to cash crops in the past few decades. Spiti is a popular destination for trekking, mountaineering and adventure tourism. Winter sports are growing in popularity.

Etymology

The name "Spiti" is derived from "Piti", which means "the middle land" as the valley is surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges that separate it from former empires. These include Ladakh to the north, Tibet to the east, Bushahr to the south and Kullu to the west. Some believe that the name Piti is a contraction of Ashwapati, a legendary ruler of Pin Valley in the time of the Mahabharata. Ashwapati means "lord of horses" and Pin Valley was famous for its horse breeds. Others attribute the name to a Tibetan dacoit named Spiti Thakur. Based in Spiti valley, the Thakur gangs raided the upper parts of Kullu, before the Sen kings established their rule.

History

Tabo Monastery viewed from monks' caves
Pre Historical Period
There is evidence of very early human habitation in the Spiti valley, primarily through its rich heritage of pre-Buddhist rock art. Spiti's rock art is thought to have been produced over a wide period of time, with the earliest examples dating back nearly 3,000 years. Spiti's rock art has been categorized, based on differences of the designs depicted, into the following periods: the Late Bronze Age (c.1500-800 BCE), the early Iron Age (c.800-500 BCE), the Iron Age (c.500-100 BCE), the Protohistoric period (100 BCE-650 CE), Early Historic Period (650-1000 CE), Vestigial Period (1000-1300 CE), and the Late Historical Period (post-1300 CE).

The period from the mid 7th century to the early 19th century
There is some evidence to show that Spiti was a part of the western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang Zhung until the mid-7th century CE. Buddhism first came to Spiti likely through the Second Diffusion of Buddhism into Tibet, and it was at this time that the Tabo monastery was built (996 CE) In the 10th century, Spiti was part of the kingdom of Ngari Khorsum established by Kyide Nyimagon of the Tibetan royal lineage.

After Kyide Nyimagon's death, Zanskar and Spiti were given to his youngest son Detsukgon, while the eldest son Lhachen Palgyigon became the King of Ladakh. After that, the history of Spiti was linked with the history of Ladakh for a long time. Local rulers had the title of Nonos. They were either descendants of a native family of Spiti or chiefs sent to look after the affairs of Spiti by the rulers of Ladakh. This region became autonomous whenever the rulers of Ladakh were weak. However the rulers of Spiti periodically sent tributes to Ladakh, Chamba and Kullu.

Spiti became practically free after the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War of 1679–83. This prompted Man Singh, Raja of Kullu, to invade Spiti and establish a loose control over this principality. Later on, in the 18th century, control once again passed back to Ladakh. An official was sent from Leh as Governor, but he usually went away after the harvest time, leaving the local administration in the hands of the Wazir or Nono. There was a headman for a group of villages for day-to-day administrative affairs. Spiti briefly came under the Dogra rule (as part of the Sikh Empire) between 1842 and 1846, after which it was annexed to the British Empire.

Colonial period
Under the Treaty of Amritsar (1846), Spiti alongside Lahaul was split off from the erstwhile kingdom of Ladakh, and came under direct British administration. Mansukh Das, hereditary Wazir of Bushahr, was entrusted with the local administration of this region from 1846 to 1848.

The Wazir had to pay the British revenue of only Rs. 700 annually for the whole of Spiti. In 1849, Spiti came directly under the control of the Assistant Commissioner, Kooloo (Kullu).

Kullu was a sub-division of Kangra district, Punjab. Now, the Nono of Kyuling in Spiti was made incharge of collecting and submitting revenues from Spiti to the British. In 1941, Spiti was made part of the Lahaul tehsil (sub-division) of Kullu district, with its headquarters at Keylong.

Post Independence period
After the formation of Lahaul & Spiti into a district in 1960, Spiti was formed into a sub-division with its headquarter at Kaza. Lahaul and Spiti district was merged with Himachal Pradesh on 1 November 1966 on enactment of the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

Geography

The Spiti emerges from a gorge to merge into the Satluj near Khab, Jun '18
Barren, high mountains with sparse vegetation along Spiti tributary near Kunzum Pass The Spiti valley is located between the Kunzum range in the NW to Khab on the Sutlej river in Kinnaur in the SE. The Spiti River originates from the base of the 6,118 m (20,073 ft) K-111 peak. The Taktsi tributary flows out of the Nogpo-Topko glacier, near Kunzum La. After 150 km, the Spiti ends in the Satluj at Khab. The Pin, Lingti and Parachu as the major tributaries. The catchment area of the Spiti river is about 6,300 km2 (2,400 sq mi).

Situated in the rain shadow of the main Himalayan range, Spiti does not benefit from the South-West monsoon that causes widespread rain in most parts of India from June to September. The river attains peak discharge in late summers due to glacier melting. There are two distinct parts of the Spiti valley. In the upper valley from Losar to Lingti, the river is braided with a very wide river bed, though the water channel is narrow.   The valley floor has ancient sedimentary deposits, and the sides have extensive scree slopes.

The lower valley runs from Lingti to Khab. Here, the meandering river has incised channels and gorges about 10–130 m (33–427 ft) deep in the sedimentary deposits and bedrock. Tributaries and other streams join at right angles, indicating neotectonic activity in the past few million years.

Steep mountains rise to very high altitudes on either side of the Spiti River and its numerous tributaries. The highest peak in the Parung range to the NE has an altitude of 7,030 m (23,064 ft) and on the SW side, is Manirang Peak at 6,598 m (21,646 ft). The mountains are barren and largely devoid of trees except for a few stunted willows and scattered trees in a some villages. The main settlements along the Spiti River and its tributaries are Kaza and Tabo.

Geology

Over millennia, the Spiti River and its tributaries such as the Pin River, have cut deep gorges in the uplifted sedimentary strata. As vegetation is sparse, the rock strata in the steep cliffs are easily visible to the geologist, without excavation or drilling. Thomson during his 1847 expedition noted 3 forms of alluvia in the Spiti valley. The first is deposits of fine clay. The second is triangular platforms that slope gently from the mountains to the river, usually ending in a steep cliff.

The third are enormous masses of great depth, 400–600 ft (120–180 m) above the river bed. The river has cut deep gorges through these platforms. The latter two consist of clay, pebbles and boulders. Thomson speculated that the valley appeared to have been a lake bed in the past though he could not conceive mechanisms to explain the phenomena. Now, we know that the valley was uplifted from the ocean bed due to the movement of tectonic plates.

The Moravian geologist Ferdinand Stoliczka discovered a major geological formation near Mud village in Spiti in the 1860s. Stoliczka identified a number of layers or successions, one of which he named as the Muth succession. This was later renamed as the Muth System by Hayden (1908) and as the Muth Formation by Srikantia (1981). For more details, see the Geology of Mud village.

Climate

Climate Spiti valley is arid as it is situated in the monsoon rain shadow of the Himalayas. The average annual rainfall is about 50 mm (2.0 in) with snowfall less than 200 cm (6.6 ft). Sporadically, there may be up to 15 mm (0.59 in) rainfall in a day resulting in erosion and landslides. The extreme temperatures are −25 °C (−13 °F) in winter and 15 °C (59 °F) in summer.
Climate change Villagers in Spiti, especially those in higher villages like Komik, Kibber, Lhangza etc., claim that in recent decades, glaciers have been melting faster, and the quantity of snowfall has decreased. Villages in Spiti are dependent entirely on snowmelt water from winter snows and glaciers.
Lesser snow and faster-melting glaciers endangers agriculture in the valley, which anyhow has only one agricultural season, being a high-altitude cold desert.
Climate change is threatening the tradition of Gaddi shepherds' annual migrations to Spiti with their herds of goat and sheep. It is degrading the quality of the pastures, and the ice bridges that Gaddis with their flocks could earlier use to cross rivers while bypassing villages are now disappearing.
Scientific studies back up the ground-level observations that climate change due to global warming has been adversely affecting the environment of the Spiti valley.