Günsa
Gar Günsa, also called Günsa or Kunsa, is a township in Gar County in the Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet region of China. Gar Günsa is situated on the bank of the Gartang River, one of the headwaters of the Indus River flowing to the south of the Kailash Range, at an elevation of.
Gar Günsa, along with its sister encampment Gar Yarsa, used to be the administrative headquarters for Western Tibet and jointly referred to as Gartok. In 1965, the headquarters of Ngari was moved to Shiquanhe, which also serves as the headquarters of the Ngari Prefecture as whole.
The seat of the township is Gar Chongsar. The Ngari Gunsa Airport is adjacent to the village.
Two other administrative villages, Sogmai and Namru are part of the township.
Name
Gar means "encampment". During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Karma Kagyu lamas moved through the length and breadth of Tibet in "Great Encampments" or garchen.The term is also used often for military camps.
Gar Günsa means the "winter camp".
The ninth century bilingual text Mahāvyutpatti translated günsa as Sanskrit हैमन्तिकावासः, literally, the residence of the winter season.
Even though Gar Yarsa has acquired the name "Gartok" in popular parlance, officially, "Gartok" consisted of both Gar Günsa and Gar Yarsa. The latter is forty miles upstream on Gartang at a higher altitude.
History
Tibetan administration
Gar Günsa, along with its sister encampment Gar Yarsa, was referred to as "Gartok", and served as Lhasa's administrative headquarters for Western Tibet after it was conquered from Ladakh in 1684. A senior official called Garpön was stationed here.The Garpöns lived in Gar Gunsa for nine months in the year, and stayed at Gar Yarsa during August–October.
But in the British nomenclature, the name "Gartok" was applied only to Gar Yarsa and the practice continues till date.