[3] Kim Gutschow, who is a professor of religion, says that they are considered to be untouchables by other communities in the region,[4] but the anthropologist Rann Singh Mann notes that the practices of social exclusion, submission to superiors and suchlike are not as rigid as can be found in other caste societies; for example, they are permitted to share the same sources of drinking water as the other communities.
Music at festivals and events celebrating such things as crop sowing, births and marriage are an important part of Ladakh culture but when not engaged in those, the Beda, who are mostly landless, work as agricultural labourers.
[11][12] Despite the Buddha himself being opposed to the idea of caste, their social status is such that they are not allowed to join Buddhist monastic orders as monks or nuns.
[13][14] According to Mann, this and the other aspects of social deprecation is probably because the "numerical strength and personal convenience" of the Ladakhi people "seems to have had an edge over [Buddhist] cultural traits".
[17] Notes Citations Bibliography Ladakh: The Individuality Vs State, Harish K. Thakur, India, New Delhi: Manas Publishers, 2014.