Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum

Owned and maintained by two brothers – Gulzar Hussain Munshi as director and Ajaz Hussain Munshi as curator – the museum has been operational since 2004, with assistance from their family members and founding partners International Association for Ladakh Studies.  After the ancient silk route trader Munshi Aziz Bhat, the museum is named.  Including a variety of artefacts, objects on display are horse saddles, tapestries, utensils, old manuscripts and photographs, coins, costumes and jewellery. To the recognition sought for Kargil the museum implicitly contributes beyond its current Kashmiri or “Islamic” image in the eye of the common Traveller and situates the region in the Longue durée of history, though not stated as such.  It is primarily a repository of artefacts associated with the Silk route trade dating back to the 19th century, the first and only initiative of its kind in the Ladakh region when Kargil served as a principal trading centre along this passage. From a rest house Ek Sarai (currently dysfunctional) built in Kargil, most artefacts displayed in the museum were discovered and retrieved for traders in 1920 by Munshi Aziz Bhat. The owners claim to face considerable financial difficulties related to its upkeep and expansion, even though local and international interest in the museum’s establishment has grown substantially since its conception. The brothers continue to invest in the project, for the time being, in the hope of developing a comprehensive repository of their cultural heritage.  In the wake of a markedly altered geo-political scenario that consumes Kargil, the memory of which they claim has faded quickly.