Murgo#Geography

The name "Murgo" means "gateway of hell" in Tibetic languages.{{cite book|last=Kapadia|first=Harish|title=Across Peaks & Passes in Ladakh, Zanskar & East Karakoram|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pl5qHu_K45kC&pg=PA229|year=1999|publisher=Indus Publishing|isbn=978-81-7387-100-9|pages=229–230|quote=Once down in Ladakh even lama scholars far away at Darjeeling also gave the same interpretation of the names as a Ladakhi ... Murgo: gateway of hell. (Mur: hell, go: gate).}} Record from the 1840s indicates the Turkic name was Murgai and Tibetan name was Murgo-Chumik.{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Thomas|title=Western Himalaya and Tibet: A Narrative of a Journey Through the Mountains of Northern India, During the Years 1847-8|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42146/42146-h/42146-h.htm|year=1852|publisher=Reeve and Company|pages=422–424|quote = The encamping-ground is called by the Turki merchants Murgai, by the Tibetans, Murgo-Chumik ... It was the last place at which I was to expect a sufficiency of fuel ... or grass ... A number of springs appeared to break out of the ground close to my tent}} (Chumik means spring.{{cite book|author=American Alpine Club|title=1975 American Alpine Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h32HVZVyobQC&pg=PA57|publisher=The Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-1-933056-30-2|page=57|quote=Chumik: "spring" from chhu (water) + mik (eye)}}) "The gateway of death" meaning for Murgo is attributed because the route between Murgo and Karakoram Pass is through a dangerous desolate barren gorge at a height of 15,000 ft which frequently experiences snowstorms, gales and blizzards which every year caused deaths of thousands of men and animals of ancient caravans on this route.{{cite web|title= Murgo: Indian Himalayas|url=https://www.schoolnet.org.za/PILAfrica/en/webs/10131/ladak_59.htm}}

Murgo was a campsite on the difficult caravan route through Karakoram Pass,{{cite news|author=thinkquest.org

|title=Murgo

|url=http://library.thinkquest.org/10131/ladakh_shyok_murgo.html

|access-date=2005-11-26

|website=thinkquest.org

|date=2005-11-26

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909215725/http://library.thinkquest.org/10131/ladakh_shyok_murgo.html

|archive-date=2013-09-09

|quote=It is rightly named as the route beyond Murgo, towards the Karakoram Pass, passes through a desolate barren gorge ... Murgo is a camping site.

}} the last place with sufficient vegetation for fuel and grass. Czech paleontologist and biologist Ferdinand Stoliczka died here in 1874 during an expedition.{{cite book|last=Kapadia|title=Into the Untravelled Himalaya: Travels, Treks, and Climbs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5l1RhMStxgC&pg=PA212|year=2005|publisher=Indus Publishing|isbn=978-81-7387-181-8|page=212|quote=There was a memorial to Ferdinand Stolickzka ... He died at Murgo on 19 July 1874, and a tower has been erected here in his memory.}}

A memorial was erected for him in the Moravian cemetery at Leh, which still stands today. He was part of Thomas Douglas Forsyth's Lahore to Yarkand expedition.Harish Kapadia, 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pl5qHu_K45kC&q=murgo+in+ladakh Across Peaks & Passes in Ladakh, Zanskar & East Karakoram], p 116.

File:Yarkent Khanate.jpg(1560–1591).]]

Murgo has the ruins of an ancient breastwork fortification wall (fortification of earthwork piled up to breast height to provide protection to defenders shooting over it from a standing position), which runs along the high hill to the cliff which drops to the river. It was built nearly 400 years ago by the governor of Nubra against the "invasions of Tibet" (presumably from Turkestan).. Nearly 100 years later, Sultan Said Khan (r. 1514-1533) of Yarkent Khanate demolished it. Remnants can still be seen.

{{see also | Geography of Ladakh | Tourism in Ladakh#Hot | l2= Hotsprings & tourism in Ladakh }}

Murgo has Depsang Plains in the north, Depsang Bulge (Burtsa Bulge) in the east, Chang Chenmo River in the southeast, Sultan Chusku Caravan site in the south, and Sasser Pass in the west.

Murgo, at an altitude of 14,600 ft, is barren land in the valley surrounded with black and brown mountains. It has a fresh mineral water spring.

"Murgo Nala" confluences with the Burtsa Nala. The Burtsa Nala, after receiving waters of north-to-south flowing Depsang Nala, flows west to join the west-to-east flowing "Murgo Nala" near Murgo and eventually drains into the Shyok River further south.[https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/12235372 Burtsa Nala basin], OpenStreetMap, retrieved 23 June 2021. Saser Brangsa to Murgo route along the Murgo Nala is the Sasser Brangsa-Murgo Road (SBM Road) fork of Sasoma–Sasser La-Saser Brangsa-Gapsam-Daulat Beg Oldi Road (SSSG-DBO Road). The present route of SBM Road was traditionally the summer route from Saser Brangsa (and beyond from Gapshan, DBO, Karakoram Pass to Yarkand) to Shyok village, which goes over the Shyok River by crossing it near Saser Brangsa, into the Murgo Nala valley to Chongtash Lake & "Chongtash Camp" near the large boulder brought by the glacier, Murgo, Sultan Chusku and Shyok village. The winter route from Saser Brangsa to Shyok village, goes along the Shyok River without crossing it, to Sultan Chusku and Shyok village. These routes, part of the ancient silk route, are littered with the ancient skeletal remains of mules and camels as well as the partially decomposed ancient human bodies. The camels were brought here by the Yarkandi invaders.

"Murgo Hotspring" has a local Ladakhi legend, that in a war fought here the Ladakhis pushed the Mongol invaders beyond the Depsang La. To wash their blood soaked hands, the Ladakhi warrior pierced the mountain with an arrow, causing the hot water to gush out.Harish Kohl, 2000, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RJK0A1pZHt8C&q=murgo+in+ladakh Across the Frozen Himalaya: The Epic Winter Ski Traverse from Karakoram to Lipu Lekh], page 75.

Nearby Burtse area has 40 million years old marine fossils when this area was under the Tethys Sea, including the fossils of gastropods (snail-like mollusks), bivalves (shellfish) and foraminifera (mostly microscopic organisms).[https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/geologist-discovers-marine-fossils-at-16-000-feet-in-ladakh-suggesting-himalayas-originated-from-tethys-sea-101693336377121.html Geologist finds marine fossils at icy heights in Ladakh], Hindustan Times, 30 aug 2023.

The Murgo Gompa is a sub-monastery of Yarma Gompa of Drukpa Kagyu lineage. The senior to lower hierarchy of gompa administration is the Lopon, Gye-nyen, Geylong, Gye-tsul, and cun-zung.Prem Singh Jina, 2009, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2obhkp0B90C&q=murgo+in+ladakh Cultural Heritage of Ladakh Himalaya], p 114.

• Geography of Ladakh
• Indo-China Border Roads
• Tourism in Ladakh

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Category:Villages in Nubra tehsil

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