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When the Mongol hordes took Tibet, the new Ladakhi King Delegs Namgyal retreated to Basgo. He asked Kashmir, then under the great Moghul emperor Shah Jahan, for help. He became a Muslim and the first mosques appeared in Leh (30–50 per cent of the population now follow Islam).

From around 1680 to 1780 there was a great quarrel for power between two branches of family heirs. Rigzin Tsewang Norbu, an emissary of the Dalai Lama, came to Ladakh and resolved matters, with the kings of Zanskar keeping separate power. King Tsestan Namgyal was another wise ruler who played polo and kept the peace. With no heir his brother Tsepal took power, having spent his youthful years in Hemis Gompa, and ruled until 1841. William Moorcroft, the first British subject to explore the land, visited Ladakh from 1820 to 1822. Later the second son of Tsepal took over, but his rule was doomed by the rising power of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh of Lahore, the Dogras of Jammu and the British East India Company.

The Dogra army of Zorawar entered Ladakh from the south, because the Sikhs held Kashmir at the time, but little changed. The Dogras made a brief advance to the north against Muslim Baltistan. In order to cross the rivers, they used ingenious ice and wood bridges constructed by the Dards of the Indus River. King Tsepal’s grandson Jigsmed inherited the throne. Zorawar next set his armies, including Ladakhis, towards Tibet with 6000–7000 men. After his death on the battlefield, peace ensued between Tibet and Ladakh and Jigsmed retired to his palace in Stok.