Limpiya Dhura
| Limpiyadhura | |
|---|---|
| Limpiya Dhura, Lampiya Dhura, Lanpiya Lekh | |
  Limpiyadhura Location within Uttarakhand | |
| Elevation | 5,532 m (18,150 ft)[1] |
| Third Approach | |
| Location | Uttarakhand, India |
| Range | Himalayas |
| Coordinates | 30°28′06.6″N 80°35′24.6″E / 30.468500°N 80.590167°E |
Limpiyadhura (also spelt Limpiya Dhura, Lampiya Dhura, or, in early gazetteers, Lanpiya Lekh) is a Himalayan mountain pass on the border between Uttarakhand, India and the Tibet region of China, at an elevation of about 5,532 metres (18,150 ft).[1] The Kuthi Yankti, the western headwater of the Kali River, rises from a glacier at the southern base of the pass.[1][2] In May 2020, the Nepalese government laid claim to the northern part of the Kuthi Valley up to Limpiyadhura, calling it "Kalapani–Lympiadhura territory". India rejected the Nepalese claims calling them "unilateral".[3]
Geography
The Almora Gazetteer (1911) locates the Limpiyadhura pass, leading from patti Malla Darma into Tibet, at 30°28′ north latitude and 80°38′ east longitude, and describes the Kuthi Yankti as rising in a small glacier at its southern base. The valley is bordered by glaciers and flanked by peaks exceeding 20,000 feet.[1] The surveyor W. S. Webb visited the river's head, tracing the stream to its source in the snow and noting that it scarcely flowed in winter, being fed almost exclusively by thawing snow.[1]
Historical use
Limpiyadhura was one of several passes used by the Bhotiya communities of the border valleys for trade with Tibet, though it saw less traffic than the Lipulekh Pass, which offered an easier crossing and lay on the established trade and pilgrimage route to Taklakot (Purang), Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar.[4]
Nepalese claims
In May 2020, Nepal's government unveiled a new political map incorporating Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani within Nepal's borders,[5] and in June 2020 Nepal's House of Representatives unanimously endorsed a constitutional amendment bill updating the national emblem to reflect the new map.[6] The claim extends to the entire area east of the Kuthi Yankti, and rests on the interpretation of that river — rising at Limpiyadhura — as the principal branch of the Kali River delimited as the boundary by the 1816 Treaty of Sugauli; Nepali scholars cite the river's greater size and length, and nineteenth-century British survey maps depicting the Kali as originating at Limpiyadhura.[7] Sam Cowan, from a study of the East India Company's contemporaneous records, argues that a near-identical claim advanced by Nepal in 1817 was rejected by the Governor-General, and regards the claim to the Limpiyadhura line as unsupported by the contemporaneous record.[8] India rejected the 2020 map as an "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims not based on historical fact and evidence.[9]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Walton 1911: elevation given as 18,150 feet.
- ↑ Hoon, Vineeta (1996). Living on the Move: Bhotiyas of the Kumaon Himalaya. Sage Publications. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-8039-9325-9.
- ↑ New Nepal map hardens position over land disputed with India, Reuters, 20 May 2020.
- ↑ Chatterjee, Bishwa B. (1976). "The Bhotias of Uttarakhand". India International Centre Quarterly. 3 (1): 3–16. JSTOR 23001864.
- ↑ "Government unveils new political map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura inside Nepal borders". The Kathmandu Post. 20 May 2020.
- ↑ "Constitution amendment bill to update Nepal map endorsed unanimously at the lower house". The Kathmandu Post. 13 June 2020.
- ↑ Manandhar, Mangal Siddhi; Koirala, Hriday Lal (June 2001). "Nepal-India Boundary Issue: River Kali as International Boundary". Tribhuvan University Journal. 23 (1).
- ↑ Cowan, Sam (14 November 2020). "The Gorkha War and its aftermath". The Record.
- ↑ "India: Nepal map is 'artificial enlargement of territorial claims', won't accept it". OnlineKhabar. 21 May 2020.
Bibliography
- Strachey, H. (1848). "Narration of a Journey to Cho Lagan (Rakas Tal), Cho Mapan (Manasarowar), and the valley of Pruang in Gnari, Hundes, in September and October 1846". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 17.
- Walton, H. G., ed. (1911). Almora: A Gazetteer. District Gazetteers of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Vol. 35. Government Press, United Provinces.