Bhotiya

“ The doctrine of the Lamas p. 53is so obnoxious to the Gorkhalese, that, under pretence of their being thieves, no Murmi is permitted to enter the valley where Kathmandu stands, and by way of ridicule, they are called Siyena Bhotiyas, or Bhotiyas who eat carrion; for these people have such an appetite for beef, that they cannot abstain from the oxen that die a natural death, as they are not now permitted to murder the sacred animal. They have, therefore, since the conquest, retired as much as possible into places very difficult of access ”

“ About one-fourth of the people in this country are Brahmans, Rajputs, and Khasiyas, who follow the doctrines of the p. 287present Hindu law. The Bhotiyas are on the whole the most numerous tribe, and with Gurungs, Rohanis, Khatis, and Rahals, all impure mountain tribes, make up the remaining three-fourths, who chiefly adhere to the Lamas. The language spoken at Court was the Khas, but differed very much from that of Palpa or Gorkha; even the titles of the chief officers of government were totally different, although the same forms of administration were established. ”

“ It must be observed, that the inhabitants of both Thibet, and of what we call Bhotan or Bootan, are by the natives of India called Bhotiyas, and their countries Bhotan or Bhot. p. 56Some of these people, who inhabit near Kathmandu, call themselves Sayn; and the same name is given by the Newars to the whole nation. Thibet, I am inclined to believe, is a Persian word, totally unknown to the natives. At Kathmandu I had a patient who had been chief of a territory north from Lassa, and who had been dispossessed by the Chinese ”

“ The intercourse between the Anglo-Indian Government and this prince arose as follows:—In 1772 the Deb Raja, or sovereign of Bhotan, laid claim to and seized Kooch Bahar, a district at the mouth of the Assam Valley, adjoining Rungpoor. A sepoy force was sent to expel the hill people, which they speedily accomplished, pursuing the enemy to their mountains. The raja, alarmed for his own dominions, applied for the intercession of Teshoo Lama, who was then regent, spiritual, and political, of the whole of Tibet, during the minority of [345] the Lhassa pontiff. ”

“ In practice he is merely the nominee of whichever of the two governors of East and West Bhutan happens for the time to be the more powerful. The people are industrious, and devote themselves to agriculture, but from the geological structure of the country, and from the insecurity of property, regular husbandry is limited to comparatively few spots. The people are oppressed and poor. “Nothing that a Bhutia possesses is his own,” wrote the British envoy in 1864; “he is at all times liable to lose it if it attracts the cupidity of any one more powerful than himself. ”

“ In such frontier wars, one frequently leads to another. The Bhoteas had passively, if not actively, sympathised with their neighbours in the Sikkim campaign, and soon in their turn became troublesome. In 1864, therefore, an expedition formed in four columns, for which detachments of the 48th, 80th, and the artillery, together with a large force of native regiments, were detailed, invaded Bhotan, which is situated on the north-east frontier, and whose people are more nearly allied to the Thibetans than to the Hindus. There was but slight opposition to the left column at Dhalimcote. ”

“ My sincere hope is that you, Sir Ugyen, may long be spared to carry through the many improvements and schemes for the advancement of Bhutan which you and I have so often discussed, and I again congratulate you on your accession, and feel confident that the affairs of Bhutan under your guidance will be in the best of hands. I also have great pleasure in handing you a kharita, conveying to you the congratulations of his Excellency the Viceroy and the Government of India. ”

“ Bhutan is an exceedingly mountainous country, twenty thousand square miles in extent, lying along the northern boundary of Bengal and Assam, hemmed in on the west by Sikkim, a State under our suzerainty, and on the west and north by Tibet. A Buddhist land, its system of government is very similar to that of Japan before the Meiji, the revolution of 1868. ”

“ Land boundaries: about 870 km
PEOPLE Population: 1,364,000 (July 1982) , average annual growth rate 2.3%
Nationality: noun—Bhutanese (sing., pl.) ; adjective—Bhutanese
Ethnic divisions: 60% Bhotias, 25% ethnic Nepalese, 15% indigenous or migrant tribes
Religion: 75% Lamaistic Buddhism, 25% Buddhist-influenced Hinduism
Language: Bhotias speak various Tibetan dialects—most widely spoken dialect is Dzongkha, the official language; Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects
Literacy: insignificant
Labor force: 300,000; 99% agriculture, 1% industry ”

“ At the base of the lower ranges of the Bhutan hills there is a narrow strip of country, from ten to twenty miles in breadth, and extending from the Dhunseeree River, in Assam, on the east, to the River Teesta, or frontier of the Darjeeling district, on the west. This tract, which is by nature singularly rich and fertile, was known as the Bhutan Duars, or Passes. Eighteen passes entered it from the hills, each under the authority of a Jongpen, and attached to each jurisdiction was the portion of the tract lying below the pass, and bearing its name. ”

“ To-day the boundary-line between Bhutan and India lies generally along the summits of the last mountain-chain above the plains. Dense jungle clothes the sides of the hills and descends to meet the upward waves of the Terai Forest, which stretches along the foot of the Himalayas through Assam, Bengal, and Nepal. The mountains are cloven by deep and gloomy ravines through which swift-flowing rivers like the Menass, Raidak, Torsa, and Tista pour their waters to swell the Brahmaputra and the Ganges. ”

“ Nothing is known certainly about the area and population of Bhutan, the former being estimated at 16,800 sq. m. At the head of the Bhutan government there are nominally two supreme authorities, the Dharm raja, the spiritual head, and the Deb raja, the temporal ruler. Recently official correspondence has been written in the name of the Dharm raja, but it is not known whether this change really signifies anything. To aid these rajas in administering the country, there is a council of permanent ministers, called the Lenehen. Practically, however, there is no government at all. ”

“ And back to a late breakfast, where tea rarely finds its way to the table, and a siesta until the afternoon calls them forth to ride round the garden again. It sounds an easy life and idyllic, but the planters say it is not.
In any land the sight of the rich plains stretching away from the foot of the barren hills is always a tempting sight to the fierce mountain dwellers. And for the Bhutanese it must have been a sore struggle to curb their predatory instincts and cease from their profitable descents on the unwarlike inhabitants of Bengal. ”

“ General Booth has uttered a trumpet-call, the echoes of which will be reverberated through the entire world. The destitute masses, whom he has in his book so vividly pourtrayed, are everywhere to be found. And I believe I speak truly when I say that in no country is their existence more palpable, their number more numerous, their misery more aggravated, their situation more critical, desperate and devoid of any gleam of hope to relieve their darkness of despair, than in India. ”

“ The most effectual and shortest method of securing the first end, the raiyats’ happiness, is by administering strict justice. If a ruler would devote himself to administering justice impartially, he would make all his subjects happy in a single day. For it was by this means that the ancient dynasty of Tibetan kings secured happiness for their subjects and popularity for the rulers themselves, and also by which the Dharma Raja of Bhutan (Shabdung Rimpochi) succeeded in subduing the stiff-necked and lawless people of Bhutan, and rendering his reign so very glorious and popular. ”

“ The exactions of the officials drive many refugees over our border: and the hills around Buxa were peopled almost entirely by Bhuttias who had fled from slavery and oppression.
The Bhuttia is a cheerful, hard-working and easily contented individual. He is naturally brave, and has the makings of a good soldier in him. He is generally medium-sized, broad and sturdy, with thick muscular legs such as I have only seen equalled in the chair coolies of Hong Kong and the rickshawmen in Japan. The northern Bhutanese are fair and often blue-eyed. Their Tibetan neighbours hold them in dread. ”

“ During 1865 another border war occurred in India; not as usual on the north-west frontier, but with Bootan, an almost unknown country away in the far East, and north of the great river Brahmapootra. The causes were of the usual character—incessant depredations in our districts of Assam and Cooch-Behar. The territory of Bootan, with a length of about 250 miles, lies amidst the southern slopes of the highest ranges of the Himalayas, the eternal snows forming its frontier towards Thibet. ”

“ The natives apply to their country the name of Bód or Pót, and as Bhoteeas they are themselves known in Hindostan; though the appellation of Bhotan has in our geography-books come to be confined to a small dependency of Tibet bordering on the north of Assam, where the race comes most closely in contact with our knowledge and the British power, just as our forefathers gave the title of Dutch specially to that fraction of the Teutonic or Deutsch race which most nearly adjoined their shores. ”

“ There never was, I fancy, a country in which the doctrine of ‘might is right’ formed more completely the whole and sole law and custom of the land than it does in Bhutan. No official receives a salary; he has certain districts made over to him, and he may get what he can out of them; a certain portion of his gains he is compelled to send to the durbar, and the more he extorts and the more he sends to his superior, the longer his tenure of office is likely to be.”
Physically the Bhutias are a fine race, although dirty in their habits and persons. ”

“ Parāçara said:—The country that is situate on the ocean and south of the Himālya is called Bhārata where reside the descendants of Bharata. The extent of this land is nine thousand yojanas, and is the field of action, on account of which men go to heaven or obtain final emancipation. The seven principal mountain ranges in Bhārata are Māhendra, Malaya, Sahya, Suktimat, Riksha, Vindhya and Pāripātra. From this land people attain to heaven or final emancipation or some hence, O Muni, fall into hell or pass into the condition of brutes. ”

“ The Buddhist cosmography uses Gampudvîpa for India Proper. Within this the Brahmanical portion, lying to the south of the Himâlajas, is designated as Bhârata or Bhâratavarsha. In the great epic poem called the Mahâ Bhârata, the name is derived from Bhârata, son of Dusjanta, the first known ruler of the country, and several dynasties are called after him Bhâratides, though it is more probable his name rather accrued to him from that of the country, the word being derived from bhri, "to bring forth" or "nourish," hence, "the fruitful," "life-nourishing" land. ”

“ Even after this treatment of its envoy the Government of India decided to give the Bhutan Government room for repentance. Eden made three alternative suggestions of the best measures to be adopted to punish the Bhutanese and secure the frontier from future aggressions: (1) The permanent occupation of the whole country; (2) the temporary occupation of the country, to be followed by withdrawal after destroying all the forts and impressing the people with our power; (3) the permanent annexation of the Duars, and the occupation of the hill forts commanding them. ”

“ The Bhotiahs, like the Nepalese, have a belief that the presiding demon of the hills imprisons evil spirits in the aconite plant, which fly out as soon as it is dug up and inflict dire calamity on the digger. ”

“ The other Ranis and their sons, in shame and sorrow, sought their own chambers. Bhootoom and Boodhu came into the Durbar, and made their obeisance to their father. Their stars were at last in the ascendant. Next day, with great éclat, Boodhu was married to Kalabutti, and Bhootoom to a foreign princess, Herabati by name. But a sad visitation fell upon the heads of the five princes and their mothers. The doors of the rooms in which they had shut themselves up were blocked up with mud and thorns, and they were left to die of hunger. ”

“ The Bhotanese, natives of Bhotan, or of the Dhurma country, are called Dhurma people, in allusion to their spiritual chief, the Dhurma Rajah. They are a darker and more powerful race, rude, turbulent, and Tibetan in language and religion, with the worst features of those people exaggerated. The various races of Nepal are too numerous to be alluded to here: they are all described in various papers by Mr. Hodgson, in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal." The Dhurma people are numerous at Dorjiling ”

“ Less numerous but prominent inhabitants of this region are the Bhutias, who consist of four classes; Bhutias, who are a mixed race of Tibetans and Lepchas; Sherpa Bhutias, who come from the east of Nepal, the word sher merely meaning "east"; the Drukpa or Dharma Bhutias, whose home is Bhutan; and the Tibetan Bhutias from Tibet. They are strong, sturdy men, merry and cheerful. ”

“ If on the other hand the problem be boldly and wisely faced, I am convinced that in India, as in England, General Booth's most sanguine prophecies will be realised, our most pestilential marshes shall be drained, our moral atmosphere purified, prosperity take the place of destitution, and hope that of despair. ”