Origin of Bhutanese Nepalis, the saviour of the nation

Nanda Gautam, 1/1/2013.      

The providence of Bhutanese Nepali speaking people-The Lhotshampas, to live as refugees for decades in Nepal, is due to the loss of their pedigree of the longest existence in Bhutan, than foreign scholars have been estimating otherwise. The evidence of this is self-illustrated by the missioners who shaped Bhutan to an independent Buddhist nation and in its own indigenous literatures.  

Bhutan: meaning the ‘end-land’ of Tibet survived as an independent nation; owing to the unity in the diversity of the cultural and religious homogeny of the different races of the people from Nepal, Tibet and North India. The same cultural and religious homogeny was overwhelmed by the influx of Ngalongs from Tibet in early 17^th century, who later transformed into their village the “Druk Yul”. They imported their nomenclature ‘Drukpa’ and their religion as the Drukpa Kagyupa from their original homestead; now the Ralung district of Tibet.

Bhutan’s pre-history links much to the dominance of the Kamrup and Kirati civilizations influenced by the expanding Buddhist cultural heritage of Nepal. Should the ancient Nepalese mission abroad deserve any recognition, then their contribution to the kingdom of Bhutan must be accountable. Nepal gave birth to the light of Asia, the Lord Gautama Buddha, Sita; the consort to Lord Ram and the angel incarnate- Bhrikuti Devi. They are the stalwarts for peace and integrity for Bhutan. An Indian saint Guru Rimpochhe in 7th century and much later, a Tibetan vicar Shabdung Rimpochhe in early 1616, were the other religious missionaries who owe the heart and soul of Bhutan and the Bhutanese people. But their mission was begun from Nepal. In between the years of their influence in Bhutan, the Tibetan apparently exiled dissidents groups commonly known as Lam Kha Nga were the ones who preserved as the hidden state but they were also put to extinction by their rival leader The Shabdung, as did to the Kiratis earlier years.  

When a flash flood in 1996 broke the Punakha dzong’s original chapel- Dzongchung, a history had to uncypher itself that  the main deity in it  was installed by an Indian saint Nag Ratna long before Shabdung found this place a holy site for his palace. The main sacred place of worship inside the Punakha Dzong, the most ancient one is the shrine of the Hindu Goddess Mahakali. Because the oral history is unwritten and much of the critical facts are being discouraged to uncover by the state,  the histories so far written either begins with or concludes in obscure myths and mystery. Nevertheless Bhutan was exposed to the world, thrice;  from its ruler’s imposed isolation; firstly for the import of Buddhism in 647 AD, secondly for the modernisation in 1958 and lastly owing to the ethnic cleansing policy of the state to reduce the population of the Lhotshampa in 1985. These three stark blue anals of Bhutan are closely connected with Nepal. There was indeed a period in history that Bhutan's border was with Nepal too. 

Initially, the daughter of the king Amsuvarma of Nepal, Bhrikuti Devi was the first Nepalese to grace Bhutan. Upon marrying her, the king of Tibet Shongchen Gembo in 647 AD introduced Buddhism with the construction of 108 temples among which two are in Bhutan. Jampel Lhakhang in Bumthang and Kichu Lhakhang in Paro are the token of Nepalese from where the Buddhism was first introduced. A group of Nepalese architectures constructed these temples and installed deities, followed by other fortresses later. Bhutan was at that time populated by Kirati tribes and Bon primitives.  

A century later in 747 AD, Guru Rimpochhe went to Bhutan and subdued the demons opposing Buddhism, with his spiritual power and induced god consciousness in the society. Takshang monastery in Paro and Kurje monastery in Bumthang are his wonders for spiritual solace, built also in Nepali architectural design.  

The Shabdung Rimpoche, who unified Bhutan, established friendship with the then king Ram Shah of Gorkha, Nepal in 1624 in pursuit of support for the protection of the sovereignty of his country. He brought a group of Nepalese to settle in Bhutan led by Bishun Thapa Mogar. At the same time he established friendship with the King of Kathmandu; Sivasinha, to import architectures and constructors to build fortresses and monasteries in Bhutan. The Nepalese imported in these periods are settled in the Tista valley (now under Darjeeling district) which was at that time a part of Bhutan. The Newar architects brought in from Kathmandu firstly built Tango Monastery, a sacred meditation centre for Shabdung himself. The Newaris were settled permanently in Thimphu valley and Kochemeche architects in Wangdi and Punakha valley. Shabdung visited Nepal again in 1640 and brought in a large group of Nepali families to settle along the border with India for the purpose of defence. The same year Shabdung inducted an oath of allegiance to the Nepalese settled in Bhutan with the conversion: ‘that we were previously the public of Gorkha Raja and now we are the public of Dharma Raja, the Shabdung”. A certain etiquette in conjunction to Bhuddhist culture; for example, to take the cap (Topi) off in presence of the king and in the office buildings  was prescribed for them which in Nepali’s culture is done only during the condolence period of the death of one’s father and mother. The Drukpa cultural etiquettes composed by Shabdung converted these Nepalis into pseudo Drukpa cultural identity in course of time. The present king reintroduced the same etiquette in 1989 as pre-requisite behaviour in all circumstances.

The first buddhist temples built by Nepalis in early 7th Centuary, Jambay Lhakhang and Kyichu lakhang below.

The local government headed by mandals with the power to taxation, land reforms and employment was instituted by Shabdung himself. A list of names holding such portfolios is still available in their family record.  While the people brought from Kathmandu were engaged in business and construction activities, those from Gorkha were deployed for security, agronomy and handicrafts. The documents in this matter were written in copper follies. Some of the families did arrive in Bhutan with approval written in such folios but recently fell in the possession of the royal government. Janga Bahadur Budathoki, the formost Counsellor was said to have been deputed to collect such historical records from the public and submit to the government, for which the 3rd kind indeed bestowed him have a home with a dome in Thimphu. They were then termed as Nepali that indicates their origin to Nepal and not necessarily their citizenship as Nepalese. They fought wars against Nepal during the reign of Prithivi Narayan Shah who in Nepal’s reunification triumph in 1769 drew to the border of Bhutan crossing Tista River. Similarly during the war with British India in 1870’s a brigade led by Amar Pradhan collected weapons from Nepal’s Prime Minister Janga Bahadur Rana. Several Nepali battalions fought against the British under the commandant of their host in Thimphu. However the battle was defeated and lost the duars plain, protection of the border from the base of the mountains and hills in the South, was continued as a personal responsibility of the people settled there. As the threat was always eminent, irrespective of India’s independence, the polity after Shabdung was probably soft at newcomers in the South where Drukpa were reluctant to settle due to its hazardous condition. Apparently the British also encouraged the regime to let Nepalis settle in Bhutan through a political agent, ‘Gongzin’ Ugyen Dorji, the first Prime Minister of Bhutan. He was a pioneer to fortify Bhutan’s political autonomy and deal with the outside world. Unfortunately the historians rarely touched this primeval account in escalating the history of the Lhotshampas in Bhutan.

To uphold the rule of the law and justice at the time Bhutan was suffering from inter-provincial conflicts, Dorji families initiated to recommend Ugyen Wangchuk who championed from the East to West of the country as ‘Gongsar’, a ‘New Supremo’, as the king for Bhutan. Bhutanese Nepalis were represented by the Gongzin himself to enthrone Ugyen Wangchuk (the present king’s great grandfather) as the hereditary king in 18 December 1907. The Prime Minister portfolio, apparently like a hereditary rights of the Dorji family, also continued under the king, as in the panchayat raj in Nepal until 1965. The last Prime Minister Jigmie Palden Dorji was shot dead by the state military and a law removing such a portfolio was enacted, thereby making the monarchy as absolute in 1972.

These Prime Ministers had the authority to allow the family reunion of the settled Nepalis in the South in early 19^th century. They were mobilised into main stream and inducted into developmental works and military.  Their population grew as a result in addition to the natural growth rate, the government put it in 1997, of 3,5% per year . They are comparatively more active and fertile than the Northern Drukpas. Within 30 years of embracing modernisation, Bhutan emerged as a progressive nation of the world. 

Recognising the contribution of these Nepalis, the late king Jigme Dorji entitled them as Lhotshampas, a nomenclature of Bhutan itself and honoured with the citizenship as per the first Citizenship Law 1958. Thus the Nepali Bhutanese are never  immigrants but the legitimate inhabitants of the state.  It will be a historical acheivement if the present government of Bhutan will be pursued to accept the forcibly exiled Lhotshampas from the UNHCR camps in Nepal, that would eventully prove as 'democratic' that respects the human rights of its citizen.

This article is written with reference to ‘Lhoyi Choe bjung’ ( the emergence of southern religion) and Sabdrubg Namthar of the head abbot- Thinley Lhendup.

 Shabdung Ngawang Namgeyl being worshipped, but only to its potrait.  His sucessive inarnations were killed on political motivation.