Place · Himalayan pass · India
Zoji La
Also known as Zoji La, Zojila, Zoji Pass
The 3,528-metre pass through the Great Himalayan range that connects the Kashmir Valley to Ladakh — the only historical overland route between them, and the one Xuanzang used descending from Kashmir in the seventh century. The pass is closed by snow for about six months each year, which has defined Ladakh's winter isolation for a thousand years. The 1948 Zoji La operation, in which Indian army tanks crossed the still-closed pass to retake Dras and Kargil from Pakistani forces, was the subcontinent's highest-altitude tank battle.
- Function
- Landscape & environmental change
- Tradition
- Standard reference and local gazetteers; ASI, state archaeology and INTACH records where applicable.
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 34.284, 75.473
Connections (1)
- Route adjacencySrinagar
Zoji La is Srinagar's one historical overland link to Ladakh — the pass through which the Kashmir valley has connected to Leh for a thousand years, and the route Xuanzang used descending from Kashmir in the seventh century. The Srinagar-Leh road climbs through it from Sonamarg to Dras, and the valley's winter isolation when the pass closes defined Kashmiri trade with Ladakh until the twentieth-century roads. The 1948 Zoji La tank operation to retake Kargil ran from Srinagar.