Exploring Pregnancy Tourism: Where European Women travel to Ladakh to get Impregnated
Words by Nithya Vijay
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Exploring Pregnancy Tourism: Where European Women travel to Ladakh to get Impregnated
to pay 'Aryan' men to impregnate them
Within the villages of Dah, Biama, and Hanu situated in Leh district, along with Darchik and Garkon in Kargil district, approximately 5000 individuals belonging to the Brokpa community, also known as the Drogpa community, live in seclusion.
A fascinating aspect is that members of the community have quite different physical and facial attributes than the usual Ladakh-Mongolian looks of the other tribes. Legend has it that they are the carriers of the last pure Aryan genes in the world and this has led to many curious tourists finding their way up here.
But what sets the community apart is the claims of “Pregnancy Tourism”. Though hardly admitted in the open, common talks state that foreign women are flocking to the remote regions to bear children from the men of the Brokpa community. The main aim of these women, especially from Germany, are fuelled by their wish to have children of pure Aryan Blood (Aryans, though originally used to refer to people from Indo-Iranian origin, later began to be used for Indo-European people and is still continued. The prototypical aryans are believed to be tall, blue-eyed and blonde-haired. The word literally translates to “noble”). This has however not received any official confirmation. A number of documentaries and research have been conducted on the same to find out the truth behind these stories.