Thursday, July 27, 2006

Where prayerflags flutter

Monasteries and temples dot the mountain slopes, prayer-flags adorn the hilltops and chortens line the ancient footpaths.
You are right if you think I am talking about Bhutan. But the same description also applies to Sikkim, Mustang, Tawang, Ladakh and Tibet.
They were also Buddhist Kingdoms like Bhutan in the past. How did they lose their independence? And how did Bhutan survive?
Tawang, along with the ancient kingdoms of Ladakh and Sikkim are now parts of India. The ancient kingdom of Mustang is a part of Nepal while Tibet is a part of China. Although they have lost their sovereignty, most of the people of these places still follow Tibetan Buddhism, read the same scriptures that we read, attend festivals of masked dances, circumbulate the chortens and monasteries, and their temples look like temples in Bhutan.
Let us have a brief look at the interesting history of these ancient Buddhist kingdoms:
1. Ladakh:
Ladakh was an independent Buddhist country for nearly 900 years from the middle of 10th century. It attained its greatest glory in the 17th century during the reign of the famous king Sengge Namgyal.
As Ladakh prospered, it attracted the covetous attention of Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu in the early 19th century, who sent his general Zorawar Singh to invade Ladakh in 1834 AD. The war ended only with the emergence of British power in northern India when Ladakh, together with the neighbouring province of Baltistan, was incorporated into the newly created state of Jammu & Kashmir by the British.
There are ancient Buddhist rock engravings all over the region, even in the areas like Dras and the lower Suru Valley which today are inhabited by an exclusively Muslim. Many villages are crowned with a Gompa or monastery. 2. Mustang:
According to legend, before Guru Padmasambhava could complete the construction of Tibet's oldest monastery, Samye, he had to build the temple in Lo Ghekar in Mustang. By the fourteenth century the great warrior Ame Pal became the ruler of Mustang and ushered in Mustang's golden age, which lasted for the next 200 years. Ame Pal built the majority of the capital city of Lo Manthang, including the palace and the four great temples in Lo Manthang.
Lama Ngorchen Kunga Sangpo of the Sakya sect of Buddhism in Tibet, came to Mustang numerous times in his lifetime at the invitation of Ame Pal and helped Mustang enter an age of spiritual enlightenment, resulting in the building of the many temples and monasteries that dot the place to this day.
The kingdom of Jumla to the southwest (south of the Himalaya in present day Nepal) attacked Mustang many times until it finally took over Mustang in 1740. But in 1780, Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha (Nepal) conquered Jumla and laid claim to Mustang.
Mustang remained subjugate to the Shah dynasty through to the Chinese occupation of Tibet and ultimately became an official part of Nepal.
3. Sikkim:
Under the Namgyal Chogyal-Dynasty from 1642 up until 1975 Sikkim was a Buddhist kingdom. In 1835 the king of Sikkim was forced to gift Darjeeling to the British. At the same time Sikkim was made Britain's protectorate.
In Darjeeling the British actively encouraged Nepalese immigration. They were used as work force to plant the first tea garden and made Darjeeling a resort for the Birtish in India.
When India became independent in 1947, it took over the protectorate from the British.
In 1973, the bureaucrats mostly belonging to the Nepalese settlers in Sikkim planned to overthrow the monarchy and bring it to an end. India increased its influence and in 1975 India annexed Sikkim as its 22nd state.
4. Tawang:
The modern history of Tawang starts with the building of Tawang monastery by Merag Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1681 in accordance with the wishes of the fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. Tawang means "chosen by horse". It was so named because when Merag Lama was praying for divine guidance for choosing a site for the monastery, his horse had gone missing and was found on the hilltop which is the location of the present monastery. Tawang monastery is also called Gaden Namgyal Lhatse.
Tawang then came under direct control from Tibet until February 12, 1951, when Major R Khating of the Indian Army evicted Tibetan administrators. Chinese troops occupied Tawang during the Sino-Indian war of 1962. However, Tawang returned to the control of India after the voluntary withdrawal of Chinese troops.
Tibetan Buddhism is widely followed in Tawang, Bomdila and West Kameng areas of Arunachal Pradesh.
5. Tibet:
Tibet covers an area many times the size of Bhutan to our north. Tibetans attacked Bhutan both during the reign of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal as well as after his death. All assaults were successfully thwarted by the Bhutanese, and an armistice was signed in 1759.
Although Tibet was a strong empire between the 7th and 10th centuries, it was loosely controlled from Beijing from time to time in its entire history. Therefore, China maintains that Tibet was a part it from historical times. In 1950, the People's Liberation Army of Mao Tsetung entered Tibet, crushing the Tibetan army. In 1951, the People's Republic of China imposed a treaty called "Seventeen-Point Plan for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" on the Tibetan Government under the terms of which Tibet was declared to be a part of China.
The 14th Dalai Lama H.H. Tenzin Gyatso fled to India and formed a government in exile at Dharamsala, in northern India, from where he still campaigns for free Tibet.
Conclusion:
However great those kingdoms were once, unfortunately they lost their independence in the end. Perhaps, it is a manifestation of the impermanence of all things as taught by Buddhism.
Bhutan owes much of her good fortune not only to her skilful leaders, but also to some extent to its luck and strategic location.
Indeed, Bhutan was very fortunate to be blessed with able leaders that steered the country along the right course throughout its history. Besides the Zhabdrung and the hereditary monarchs, there were also some great Desis and Penlops.
In a time of political apprehension and cunning British maneuvers at the door-steps of Bhutan, the Bhutanese managed to safeguard its sovereignty keeping the powerful British at the right distance.
Since then, Bhutan has come further becoming a member of the United Nations, establishing diplomatic relations with various countries and getting itself recognized as a respectable member in the international comity of nations.
Where others fell, Bhutan stood steady. Today, Bhutan, the last surviving Mayana Buddhist kingdom, not only stands firm, but is set to move forward into a new era of peace and development.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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