STATUS OF WOMEN OF LADAKH: MISSIONARY PERSPECTIVE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65009/66z45r15Abstract
Ladakh, nestled between Himalayas, is inhabited by a mixture of three ethnic groups:
Tibetan, Dards and Mons, with people following Buddhism and Islam. In the 19th century German
Moravian missionaries entered Ladakh to spread the gospel of Jesus. The missionaries, apart from
preaching the gospel, undertook numbers of humanitarian activities, and one of their significant
contributions was focusing on the welfare of the women. Ladakh, has long been considered an
egalitarian society, where both men and women enjoyed similar status; however, missionary
records present a different perspective. Thus, the paper explores the status of women in Ladakh
from a missionary perspective.
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