Gilgit: the crossroads the Silk Road left behind

A short history

This was a Buddhist centre on the Silk Road. The Patola Shahi kings ruled here through the seventh and eighth centuries and were committed Vajrayana Buddhists. The Gilgit manuscripts — among the oldest surviving Buddhist texts anywhere — came out of this valley.

The Trakhan dynasty governed from around the fourteenth century until about 1810. One ruler worth knowing about is Queen Dadi Jawari, who ruled in the seventeenth century and is remembered for irrigation channels rather than battles, which in this landscape is the more impressive legacy.

The British set up the Gilgit Agency in 1877 to watch the passes for Russian movement, and in 1935 leased the tehsil for sixty years from the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. The lease did not run. On 1 November 1947, Major William Brown led a bloodless coup against the Maharaja's governor — code-named Datta Khel — and Gilgit went to Pakistan.

Places worth your time

The Kargah Buddha

A standing Buddha carved into a cliff face a few kilometres out of town, dated to around 700 CE. It is high up, weathered, and entirely unguarded. Stand under it and the Silk Road stops being an abstraction.

Danyore rock inscriptions

Carvings and inscriptions left by centuries of people who came through — a visitors' book scratched into stone over a thousand years.

The bazaar

Dried apricots, gemstones, Chinese goods off the Khunjerab trucks, and the best place to eat in town. Go in the evening.

Naltar Valley

A rough jeep road up to pine forest and a chain of lakes whose colours are hard to believe until you are standing in front of them. A full day from Gilgit, and worth it.

Before you go

Gilgit is a base rather than a destination — two nights is usually right, with day trips to Kargah and Naltar. Flights from Islamabad operate on sight and cancel often; the road is two days and reliable.