Yogins of Ladakh

by John Crook and James Low

It investigates the social anthropology of the area through studies of village life. Further it enquires the social organisations, history, meditational practices and philosophy of the yogins who still lived and practised in the remote parts of the area. This study is a record of author's findings about Ladakhi Yogins.

In 1977 prof. Crook led an expedition to Zangskar in Ladakh initiating a series of studies on the ecology of village and monastic life in the Buddhist Himalayas. During this work (see Himalayan Buddhist Villages, J. Crook and H. Osmastoneds Motilal Banarsidass and Bristol University 1994) he became interested in the Psychology of the yogin mediators living as hermits in the high mountains with whom he felt a strong experiential identification. This enabled him to begin a detailed study of the Yogic practices enabling them to survive and thrive under extraordinary conditions of privation and discipline.