Whilst we claim to have also made formidable and significant stride in a myriad of socio-economic fronts in the domestic ambit, as a developing and an emerging nation, we have however a gamut of challenges of all genres confronting us across the changing times, often posing multifaceted challenges ahead.  One amongst an array of such subtle turbulence that has stirred the nation since long has been the ever continuing ‘rural to urban migration’ which as we witness is reeling underneath at an unimaginable pace.

With a predominant rural population of 69 percent, internal migration in our country is reportedly considered the highest amongst the south Asian countries, according to UNDP.  Predictably, rural-urban migration in our country is likely to accelerate even further and spiral beyond control in the absence of a durable remedial mechanism.  Still ahead, we do not see signposts to what lies beyond this standpoint.  Perhaps, it appears that unless we have 20 capitals in the country, this phenomenon is going to continue and pervade irrecoverably.

The capital city of Thimphu over the years in particular has become the central destination for people migrating from across the length and breadth of the country, followed by Phuentsholing and Paro.  Thimphu’s economic pull has been observed to be incredibly magnetic.  Although migration of this pattern is encouraged up to a certain degree (for economic reasons), it has however exceeded the desired margin.

The cost of reckless speeding along the highway of ‘rural urban’ migration has been seen to be devastating.   Unemployment is rising, house rents are setting new records, traffic congestion has reached its height, crime is increasing, pressure on schools and hospitals are tightening, water shortage is hitting residents hard, sewerage facilities have gone bad, proliferation of urban slums and squatter settlements have sped up, teething urban poverty and many more are beginning to emerge.  On the other hand, we have heard stories of the adverse predicament this shift pattern has reportedly generated back in the villages, from where people have immigrated to the extent of some villages coming closer to extinction.  Alarm bells are ringing an impending calamity, not only in bigger towns like Thimphu and Phuentsholing, but also in those villages from where people have emigrated.

One of the greatest paradoxes of our recent times, which have begun to unfold in Bhutan’s socio economic expedition, is seen in the migratory pattern of our rural residents to the city, at a time when aggressive development is undertaken in the rural pockets.  The government has left no stone unturned in ensuring the connectivity of essential comforts and amenities like motorable roads, electricity, safe drinking water, primary education centers, and basic health care facilities in all villages, including the remotest pockets in our country.  Although these amenities need further refinement from a qualitative perspective, sweeping changes have been made over the recent years, in terms of raising the quality of living standard in rural Bhutan.  Yet, the exodus continues to accelerate and promising solution has remained elusive.  It is about time the new government and our demographic experts begin to relook at this issue one more time, from a fresher perspective with an overwhelming sense of urgency.  There are many new questions to be asked and answers to be found.

The government’s proclamation that rural prosperity will be the theme of the 11th five-year plan unleashes the crescendo of hope, which seemingly contains the cornerstone features in combating rural-urban migration.  However, confiding aggressively on the passive plan alone may not be a good reason to speculate that things move forward as desired. In strategizing this hope into a reality, the role of certain sections of the society is deemed inevitable in this process to make things happen more elegantly.

As such, a pivotal impetus in drawing our citizens back into the villages can be best set alive by our elite group.  The elite members of our society including the educated lot can undertake to become the lighthouse for our rural residents, motivating citizens to accept, embrace and appreciate the grandeur of rural life in an ever-changing context.  We have thus far had excessively dwelled on too much talking and spinning on words.  Invariably, we tend to forget that the word ‘farm’ is not that farm we can till and sow seeds upon.  It’s time we tread beyond words and language.

Few years ago, one of the (retired) judges had set an inspirational precedence by having settled back in his village in the east post his retirement.  Although, it emanated sparks of inspiration to the Bhutanese citizen in general, the incident was apparently short-lived, as he turned back to respond to the greater call of the nation.

It appears the days are not far away when our villages will present a modern image of good life and urbanities from Thimphu and other towns will be attracted to go back to their villages permanently.  For this to happen and transpire, it will depend exclusively on how diligently the new government tackles this issue.

Kezang Namgyel

Former administrative officer

Sherubtse College, 

Kanglung

by Longchen Ramjam (1308-1363)³, composed in 1355. Translated by Karma Ura⁴

ཐུབ་པའི་བསྟན་པ་སྐྱོང་ཞིང་ ཁྱད་པར་དུ་ཀུན་མཁྱེན་ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་མཆོག་གི་གསུང་རྩོམ་འདི་ནང་འཁོད་པའི་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་དང་གྲུབ་གནས་སོགས་ཁ་གསོའི་སྦྱིན་བདག་མཛད་པ་དང་ བུམ་ཐང་དུ་སྔར་མེད་ཞལ་ཡས་ཁང་བཞེངས་མཁན་ མི་དབང་རྒྱལ་ཡུམ་སྐུ་བགྲེས་ཨ་ཞེ་སྐལ་བཟང་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་དབང་ཕྱུག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལ་ བསྣན་འཕྲི་གང་ཡང་མེད་པར་སྒྲ་བསྒྱུར་གྱི་བྱ་བ་འདི་ ཕུལ་ཕྱིན་མིན་ཀྱང་དད་པའི་ཡིད་ཀྱི་མཆོད་པའོ།།

This translation, though imperfect, is dedicated to Royal Grandmother, Gyalyum Angay Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck: a Promoter and Practioner of the Teachings, and a Gracious Benefactor of new Temples, and of Old Temples and Hermitages mentioned in this Poem by the Omnisient Longchenpa

ཨོཾ་སྭ་སྟི་སིདྡྷཾ།

མཆོད་བརྗོད། Offering Statement

ངོ་མཚར་རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།

I prostrate to all the wondrous and the marvelous.

ལྷ་ཡི་མཆོག་དང་ཀླུ་དང་གནོད་སྦྱིན་དང་། །

Great gods and nagas⁵ and yaksha⁶ spirits, and

དྲང་སྲོང་གྲུབ་པ་རིག་སྔགས་འཆང་རྣམས་ཀྱི། །

Accomplished sages who possess non-conceptual awareness and mantra-knowledge:

ཐོར་ཙུགས་གཡོ་བས་གང་གི་ཞབས་བཏུད་པ། །

Those with tilted crown-knot of hair, I bow at their feet.

རང་བྱུང་པ་དད་བརྒྱའི་གཙུག་གིས་མཆོད། །

And make offering to the self-arisen Pema⁷, the pinnacle of reverence of hundreds of devotees.

སྔོན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་བློན་མཆོག་རྣམས་བྱོན་པའི་ཡུལ། །

A land visited by great ancient kings and ministers.

ངོ་མཚར་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་རྣམས་བཞུགས་པའི་ཡུལ། །

A land where many amazing temples dwell.

མཁས་གྲུབ་དུ་མ་བརྒྱུད་པར་བྱོན་པའི་ཡུལ། །

A land of the descendants of numerous scholars and yogins.

བུམ་ཐང་ལྷ་ཡི་སྦས་ཡུལ་བཀོད་པ་གསོན། །

Listen to me about the map of Bumthang, the divine hidden land.⁸

དབུས་དང་ཕྱོགས་བཞི་ཡངས་པའི་རང་བཞིན་ཡུལ། །

སའི་ཆགས་ཚུལ། Landscape

A land naturally spacious at its centre and four directions.

ཀུན་ནས་ཟླུམ་པ་བུམ་པའི་འཁོར་ལོ་དང་། །

Like a wheel of vase that is round on all sides

པ་ཁ་བྱེ་ལྟ་བུར་མཛེས་པ་ལ། །

Or beautiful like a lotus in full bloom.

མི་ཡུལ་མི་འདྲ་ལྷ་ཡུལ་འཕོས་པ་བཞིན། །

The land is unlike a people’s land – but a paradise transplanted.

རི་རྣམས་ཉམས་དགའ་སྔོ་ཞིང་སྣུམ་པ་ལ། །

Hills are delightful, shiny green as if smeared with oil.

རྩེ་མོ་དཀར་གསལ་གངས་རིའི་ཕྲེང་ཚོགས་ཅན། །

The rows of mountain peaks, which are white and clear

མཐོ་ཁྱད་མཉམ་ཞིང་ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་འཁོར་བ་ནི། །

And are of uniform height, stand in all directions,

རིན་ཆེན་ར་བས་ཀུན་ནས་བསྐོར་བ་བཞིན། །

As though a fence of jewels girdles all around.

ལུང་རྣམས་ཐང་ཡངས་མེ་ཏོག་འབྲས་མང་ལ། །

Valleys have spacious plain, with many kinds of flowers and fruits.

གྲོང་རྣམས་ཡིད་འོང་པ་མང་པོས་གང་། །

Villages are charming, filled with beautiful ladies.⁹

ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་མདངས་གསལ་དཔལ་གྱིས་མཛེས་པ་ནི། །

All vistas¹⁰ are lustrously clear, and gloriously beautiful.

ལྷ་རྣམས་ཡུལ་ལ་འགྲན་པ་ལགས་སམ་སྙམ། །

Gods might possibly vie for this land.

བུམ་ཐང་ཞེས་གྲགས་པའི་རྒྱུ་མཚན། Etymology of ‘Bumthang’

ཡུལ་འདི་བུམ་པའི་ཐང་ཞེས་གྲགས་པ་ཡང་། །

As for this land being called Bumthang, the Plain of the Vase,¹¹

རབ་སྣའི་དབུས་རི་བུམ་པ་ལྟ་བུའི་འདབས། །

It was founded around the central hill, resembling a vase, near Rabna.¹²

བྱང་ངོས་ཐང་ལ་ཐོག་མར་ཡུལ་བཏབ་པས། །

As the earliest village was founded on the plain directly to its north,¹³

ཉེ་བའི་སྒྲ་ཡིས་དེ་སྐད་བཏགས་སོ་ཀྱེ། །

Nearness in space and sound¹⁴ led it to be called thus (Bumthang), Kye!

འདི་ཡི་རང་བཞིན་ཀུན་ནས་མཛེས་པ་ལ། །

Hence, its intrinsic nature is the most beautiful of all.

ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་ཕྲན་མང་པོས་བསྐོར་བ་ནི། །

It is surrounded in all directions by many hamlets,¹⁵

ལྷུན་པོ་གསེར་རི་མང་པོས་བརྒྱན་པ་ལ། །

And adorned by many majestic golden mountains,¹⁶

གླིང་བཞི་གླིང་ཕྲན་མང་པོས་བསྐོར་བ་བཞིན། །

As the four continents are encircled by many smaller continents.¹⁷

རབ་སྣ་འམ་དེང་སང་ཆུ་སྨད་ཀྱི་རྒྱ་རྩ། Rabna (Gyatsa in Chumey)

དེ་ལྟའི་ཡུལ་དབུས་ཡངས་པའི་ལྟེ་བ་ལ། །

At the centre¹⁸ of that spacious main land,

རབ་སྣའི་ལུང་པ་ཀུན་ནས་མཛེས་པ་ནི། །

The village of Rabna is most charming of all,

པད་སྡོང་རྩེ་ན་བྱམས་པ་བཞུགས་པ་འདྲ། །

Because of the mountain¹⁹ which is like Maitreya seated on a lotus flower.

དངས་པའི་ཆུང་ཀླུང་དག་ཀྱང་ཤར་དུ་འབབ། །

Several purifying rivers flow towards the East.²⁰

ལུང་བཟང་སྲོལ་ནི་པའི་རྩ་བ་ལ། །

The village that has good customs is at the base of the lotus.²¹

རྩེ་མོ་བང་རིམ་འདབ་སྟོང་རྒྱས་འདྲའི་སྟེང་། །

ཐར་པ་གླིང་གི་རི་རྒྱལ་དང་ ཡུལ་རྣམས་མནྡྲལ་དཔེར་བླང་བ། Mandala with Mt. Tharpaling at the Centre

On the summit of series of terraces of thousands of luxuriant petals,

བྱང་རི་བྱམས་པ་རྒྱལ་པོ་གདན་བཞུགས་ལ། །

Sits the northern mountain, the Maitreya King,²²

ཐར་པ་གླིང་གིས་ཉེ་བར་མཛེས་པ་ལགས། །

That is adorned by Tharpaling, which is nearby.

ས་རྣམས་འདབ་བརྒྱད་པ་ལྟ་བུ་ལ། །

The land is shaped like a lotus with eight petals.²³

གནམ་ཡང་འཁོར་ལོ་རྩིབས་སྟོང་བཀོད་པ་བཞིན། །

The sky is shaped like a wheel with thousand spokes.

མདངས་བཀྲ་ཉི་ཟླའི་འོད་ཀྱང་རྒྱང་རིང་ལ།  །

The radiant rays of sun and moon shine far away

ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་རི་དང་ཡུལ་རྣམས་འདུད་པ་བཞིན། །

On the region’s mountains and land that pay homage.²⁴

ས་མཁན་རིན་ཆེན་དམ་པས་བསྔགས་པའི་གཞི། །

As the land²⁵ praised by the precious, noble person who has attained enlightened level²⁶

རྒྱལ་བའི་ས་སྟེ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ཤོག །

May it prosper and flourish, being the land of the victorious.²⁷

གྲུབ་རི་རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་བའི་བསྟི་གནས་ཏེ། །

This mountain is the key sacred centre of precious attainment,

རང་འབྱུང་པ་རྒྱལ་པོའི་མགོན་དང་བཅས།  །

Along with the hermitage²⁸ of self arisen Pema Gyalpo.

སྔར་མང་སྡེ་རྩིས་ཏེ་བུམ་ཐང་སྡེ་བཞི། Four Lands of Bumthang (included Mangde then)

འདི་ཡིས་ཕྱོགས་བཞི་པ་འདབ་མ་ལ། །

On the lotus petals in the four directions from it,²⁹

ཡུལ་ཁམས་བཞི་དང་གཞུང་ཆུ་འབབ་པའི་ཚུལ། །

There are four lands with a main river each flowing by.³⁰

སོ་སོའི་ཡ་མཚན་དུ་མས་བརྒྱན་པ་ནི། །

Enhanced by a variety of other wonders

སྔོན་མེད་སྒྱུ་མའི་རྩེད་མཚོ་བཀོད་པ་བཞིན། །

Like the magically designed sporting lake, that never existed before

རང་བཞིན་བུམ་ཐང་སྡེ་བཞིར་གྲགས་པ་ནི།  །

Naturally,³¹ the names of Bumthang’s four parts are:

རབ་སྣ་མེ་རི་རྟ་ཆུ་མང་སྡེའི་ཡུལ། །³²

The lands of Rabna, Meri³³, Tachu³⁴ and Mangde.³⁵

བཞི་པོ་སྔོན་ནས་ཡོད་ཕྱིར་སྡེ་བཞི་ལ། །

As there were originally four parts, it was a quartate

ཨུ་ར་ཕྱི་ནས་བོད་ཀྱིས་བཏགས་པར་འདོད། །

It is speculated that Ura was later designated by the Tibetans.³⁶

ཤར་ཕྱོགས་རྟ་ཆུ། Tang (Tachu) in 

the East

དེ་ནས་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་རྟ་ཆུའི་ལུང་པ་ནི། །

As for the easterly valley of Tachu,³⁷

རིན་ཆེན་ཤིང་རྟའི་དབྱིབས་ལྟར་མཛེས་པ་ལ། །

It is charming, shaped like a jewel horse-chariot.

ཡུལ་རྣམས་དར་ཞིང་མི་རྣམས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་འཕེལ། །

Its villages are prosperous and people peaceful and happy.

རིན་ཆེན་ཆུ་བོ་ཤར་ནས་ནུབ་ཏུ་འབབ། །

Jewel-like river flows from the East to the West.

ཡུལ་འདིའི་ཕུ་ན་སྦས་ཡུལ་སྒོ་ཡོད་ལ། །

The valley’s ridge has a door to a hidden land.

བར་ན་དཔལ་ཕུག་བྲག་ལ་ཞབས་རྗེས་དང་། །

In the middle, there is Pelphug cliff with a footprint, and

མདའ་ན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་གཏེར་མཚན་དུ་མ་ཡོད།  །

In the valley floor are many hidden religious treasures.

དེས་སང་རི་མོ་ཅན་ཞེས་གྲགས་པ་ཡིན། །

Nowadays, it is known as Rimochen.

སྨན་ཤིང་མེ་ཏོག་འབྲས་བུའི་ཚོགས་མང་ལ། །

There are numerous medicine trees, flowers and fruits

ཡུལ་ཁམས་ཡངས་ཤིང་ལོ་ཐོག་སྣ་དགུ་འཁྲུངས། །

The valley is spacious, nine cereal-crops grow.³⁸

ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཚོང་ཟོང་དག་ཀྱང་གྲངས་མང་ལ།  །

The locale³⁹ has many merchandise textiles.

ཡུལ་ལྷའི་མཆོག་ཀྱང་གཞན་ལས་འཕགས་པ་ལགས། །

The esteemed valley-gods are superior to others.

ཤར་ལྷོ་ཕྱོགས་སུ་ཨུ་ར། Ura in the 

South-East

ཤར་ལྷོ་རིན་ཆེན་ཨུ་རའི་ལུང་པ་ནི། །

The south-eastern jewel of a valley, Ura,

འཁོར་ལོའི་དབྱིབས་ལྟར་ཟླུམ་ཞིང་མཛེས་པ་ལ། །

Is shaped circular, like a wheel, and is stunning.

གྲོང་རྣམས་དར་ཞིང་ཡུལ་འཁོར་ཤིན་ཏུ་མང་། །

Settlements have proliferated⁴⁰, villages have thrived.

རིན་ཆེན་ཆུ་བོ་ལྷོ་ནུབ་དལ་གྱིས་འབབ། །

A jewel-like river flows gradually in south-west direction⁴¹.

འདི་ཡི་ཕུ་ལ་དངོས་གྲུབ་གནས་ཡོད་ལ། །

On its mountain top is a sacred site of accomplishment⁴².

བར་གྱི་ཕྱོགས་མཚམས་དགོན་པའི་གནས་ཀྱིས་བསྐོར། །

Its middle parts are surrounded by sacred hermitages.

མདའ་ན་རབ་འཇིགས་བདུད་མཚོ་མེར་བ་ལས། །

Down in the valley-floor is an extremely fearsome, flaming demon-lake⁴³

དྲག་པོའི་སྒྲ་སྐད་སྣ་ཚོགས་འབྱུང་བ་ཡོད། །

From where ferocious sounds of all kind issue.

རྩྭ་རྣམས་བཅུད་ཆེ་རྐང་འགྲོས་གཞན་ལས་འཕེལ། །

Cattle thrive more than elsewhere;⁴⁴ grasses are nutritious.⁴⁵

ཤིང་རྣམས་འབྲས་བཟང་ནགས་ཚལ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས། །

Forests are rich; trees have wholesome fruits.⁴⁶

To be continued on Monday (Part I of VI)

Footnotes:

¹ dkod is design or form or architecture. I have translated it as map – in poetry – that introduces the reader to Bumthang through this poem.

² I have translated yul as land in preference over valley. Lungpa is translated as valley whereas grong is translated as village. 

³ This poem has been reprinted by Dharma Publishing in 2005. See pp. 456-475, dpal rgyal ba kun mkyhen klong chen rab ‘byams kyi gsung thor bu’I skor. Dharma Publishing, 2005. USA: Dharma Chakra Press, Odiyan.

⁴ I thank Dorji Gyeltshen for finding out information that led to identification of Rabna and Meri (misspelt as Morey in the original version). Specific references on the source clarifying Rabna and Meri are given later in the relevant footnotes.

⁵ Nagas are a category of powerful non-human beings, deities. In Hinduism, from where the concept of nagas arose, they are not associated with snakes. In Bhutan, nagas or klu have become commonly associated with water bodies and rocks as their abodes.

⁶ A yaksha is a Sanskrit word. In Hinduism, yakshas are neither gods nor human. They are in between in the degree of miraculous power they have. They are typically less handsome than gods. 

⁷ Pema is Pema Jungney reverently addressed as Guru Rimpoche. This poem has repeated reference to Guru Rinpoche as Pema Gyalpo, the Lotus Born or simply Pema.

⁸ Yul is translated by others as valley. Land is more appropriate here. Lung shall be translated as valley. Grong shall be translated as village.

⁹ Longchen uses padmo in plural, literally lotuses. I assume he means ladies of Bumthang are as gorgeous as lotus flowers.

¹⁰ Phyogs is directions, but it can be understood also as vistas in this context.

¹¹ Bumpai Thang, literally a vast plain below a mountain that is shaped like a vase. Longchen makes the mountain of Tharpaling the central axis around which Bumthang villages and gewogs are founded. The direction of the old gewogs of Bumthang including Mangde are determined from Tharpaling as the reference point.    

¹² Rabna is mentioned repeatedly in the poem. It is an extinct name but Rabna was an old name for Chumey villages especially the village of Gyatsa. Rabna was the name of the settlement along the Chumey valley at the time of Longchen. Lami Goenpa Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi notes in his history that Rabna was Gyatsa village in olden days. See Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi, Chosrid kyi rabs zhes byaba bzgugs so, pp. 143. Written in wood dragon year (1964). “de bzhin du rab snang lung zhes deng sand rgya rtsa lung pa ‘de nyid kyi mtshon.” This cited phrase is found in folio p. 43. This book was reprinted by the National Library of Bhutan. This sentence can be found on p. 63 of the National Library edition.

¹³ We do not know which village this line refers. It has to be directly north of Tharpaling. Perhaps there was big settlement around Kurjey and Jampa Lhakhang. This big and dense village might have been surrounded by smaller ones stretching over the plain of Kurjey, Wangdecholing, Nangsephai, Chamkhar, and so forth. Settlements change over time and there must have been a dense village encircled by smaller ones in Longchen’s time. There might also have been villages below Kurjey where a monastic complex is being built at the command of His Majesty the King. Similarly, Dawathang might have been populated by villages for the encirclement to be complete.

¹⁴ Longchen is playful here. Nye ba’ sgra is proximity to sound of Bumthang as well as physical nearness of the ancient village to the hill shaped like vase.

¹⁵ The existence of dense population and settlements in the Choskhor valley is noted also in another book. Documenting oral account, the author noted that the Bumthang valley was filled by Indian population like stars at night until the time of Lang Darma. They were pushed out according to him during the invasion of Lang Darma’s forces. Reference pending.

¹⁶ I have translated lhunpo as majestic when it qualifies a mountain. Gigantic or enormous are other possible words for lhunpo. There must have been a big cluster of houses in front of Kurjey during Longchen’s time with many smaller ones surrounding it as the space was big enough to allow.

¹⁷ Longchen is using the analogy of Buddhist mandala cosmology where Mt. Meru stands surrounded by four various major and several minor continents. Bumthang is compared to this classic mandala. The mountain of Tharpaling is compared implicitly to Mt. Meru.

¹⁸ The centre of Bumthang is here considered to be Gyatsa and villages of Chumey. Chumey is now the western endpoint of Bumthang.  In Longchen’s time, Mangde, which is further west, was considered part of Bumthang. So Rabna (Gyatsa in Chumey) could be considered as centre of Bumthang.

¹⁹ The mountain is Tharpaling, which is compared to Maitreya sitting on a lotus flower.

²⁰ The rivulets flowing to the east refer to streams feeding into the main river of Chumey valley. Longchen uses rivers or rivulets (chu rlung dag) in plural.

²¹ This line is difficult to understand as it could mean different things. Lung bzang could mean virtuous teachings or transmission. It could also mean venerated customs. It could equally mean tradition of a good village. Srol is tradition as in sngar srol. The best I can make of this line is that the wonderful villages are located around the base of landscape shaped like a lotus on which Tharpaling mountain looks like Maitreya. But Longchen refers to a specific village, and taken in this sense, it raises question about the location of such a village. Could he be referring to the village of Gyatsa in Chumey or a village near Kurjey in Choskhor. Either is possible. If we visualize the landscape of Kurjey and its surrounding, like a lotus flower, the root of lotus can be imagined as being the flat river bank. The last possible interpretation is that there was a big village near the temple called Pema Lhakhang, earlier known as Droenma Lhakhang. This temple is considered very old and is located between Kurjey and Jampa Lhakhang.

²² Longchen is comparing the shape of the Tharpaling Mountain as a whole to Maitreya King sitting on the lotus blossom. The foothills of the mountains are compared to petals of a lotus flower.

²³ This and the next line are popular starting lines in Lebey, the song which concludes all songs in celebratory events. However, very few know that those lines can be traced to Longchen. I have translated the Lebey. See Karma Ura, The Hero with a Thousand Eyes. 1997.

²⁴ The mountain and valleys are imagined to be saluting the sun and moon.

²⁵ Longchen is referring to Tharpaling.

²⁶ As praised by the precious, noble Sakya abbot. This is another but radically different possible translation. It is not known which Sakya abbot this line refers, if at all. However, I think ‘sa mkan’ refers to the individuals who have attained one of the ten heirarchy of ground level of ‘sa cu’.

²⁷ Victorious here refer to boddhisattvas who have overcome an afflictive mental state.

²⁸ Longchen is referring to Chodrak (or Chojedrak in full) cave which was the hermitage of Guru Rinpoche. The cave is part of Chodrak Lhakhang complex. In the 12th century?, Gyalwa Loreypa (also known as Dawa Drakpa), a disciple of Tsangpa Jarey, was one of the first adepts to meditate in Chodrak cave. See Je Gedun Rinchen. Lpal lden ‘brug pa’I gdul zhing lho phyogs nags mo’I ljongs kyi chos ‘byung blo gsar rna ba’I rgyan cas by ba bzhugs so. KMT: Thimphu., p.190. 

²⁹ Longchen now gives geographical coordinates of four ancient parts of Bumthang, with reference to Tharpaling as its centre. 

³⁰ This refers to the four parts of Bumthang in ancient time: Rabna, Meri, Tachu and Mangde each with a main river. Chumey was known as Rabna and Choskhor was known as Meri. But a place near Choskhor near Zhabjethang was called Murolung. In his Chosrid kyi rabs zhes byaba bzgugs so Lami Goenpa Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi noted a place called Morulung in his book written in 1964. He thought that Morulung was upper part of Choskhor. See footnote on Meri for further explanation.

³¹ I have translated rang bzhin as naturally. Longchen might be implying that the choice of Bumthang as the name for the place was logical from its topography.

³² གསུང་རྩོམ་མ་དཔེར་ རབ་སྣ་མོ་རེ་སྟེང་ཆུ་མང་སྡེའི་ཡུལ། །ཞེས་བྲིས་པ་འདི་ཉིད་དབུ་མེད་ཡི་གེ་དང་ཡིག་རྙིང་རྣམས་ནས་འདྲ་ཤུས་སྐབས་ནོར་སྲིད་པར་མངོན། བུམ་ཐང་ལུང་པར་གྲགས་པའི་མིང་ལ་བརྟགས་སྐབས་ རབ་སྣ་མེ་རི་རྟ་ཆུ་མང་སྡེའི་ཡུལ། །ཞེས་ཡིན་པ་ཞིབ་འཚོལ་བརྟགས་དཔྱད་དང་མཐུན་པར་འདིར་ མོ་རེ་འདི་ཉིད་ གསུང་བརྩམས་ནང་ཕྱོགས་བཞི་མཚམས་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་རྣམས་འགྲེལ་བཤད་ནང་ བྱང་ཕྱོགས་མེ་རིའི་ལུང་པ་ཞེས་གསལ་པོར་ཡོད་པ་དང་དེ་བཞིན་དུ་སྟེང་ཆུ་ཟེར་བ་ཡང་ནོར་ནས་བྲིས་པར་མངོན། དེང་སང་སྟང་རྒེད་འོག་ཟེར་བ་དེ་ གསུང་རྩོམ་དངོས་གཞིའི་ཚིག་བྲུ་གཞན་དུ་ ཤར་ཕྱོག་རྟ་ཆུའི་ལུང་པ་ཞེས་བཀོད་ནས་འདུག། ཇི་ལྟར་དཔྱད་ཀྱང་ མེ་རི་དང་རྟ་ཆུ་ཡིན་པར་གདོན་མི་ཟ།

³³ In the original chos skad version, it is ‘More’ and ‘sTengchu’.  Both of these words seem certainly to be a typographical mistake. I have changed them to Meri and Tachu. In other places in the poem, Meri and rTachu are mentioned clearly. Meri and rTachu also are consistent with geographyical direction and the source of information, primarily Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi’s book. In Longchen’s time the whole valley of Choskhor seems to have been called Meri. Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi’s Chosrid kyi rabs zhes byaba bzgugs so, written in wood dragon year, back page ff. 43 provides evidence that Meri was a place in Choskhor Toed (upper Choskhor) and it was particularly associated with Zhabjethang. The only problem with Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi’s proposition is that he called it Morulung. Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi’s book mentions Morulung instead of Meri. But this difference is minor. What he calls Murolung is certainly Meri of Longchen when wider context is understood. On folio back page 43., Dasho Phuntsho Wangdi’s says that somewhere above Kurjey, “bye brag yul de yi phu mkha’dro’I blha ga tabu nas babs pas moru lung zhe ‘diyi phuna gur’I srinpo ‘ga’byed zhonu brtul ba’I rjes dang…dengsang zhab rjes thang du grags”. From this passage, one can understand that the place where Guru subdued a cannibal named Gajay Zhonu was at Zhabjethang. Furthermore, we can clearly understand that Morulung is associated with Zhabjethang area.

³⁴ sTengchu seems to be a typo-mistake. Longchen later describes today’s Tang as Tachu (rTachu).

³⁵  Longchen uses mang sde (many kinds) as spelling.  Gradually, this spelling has changed to mang ‘dus (many controlled) but it does not actually make sense. In Lho’ chos ‘byung ‘phro ‘thuds ‘jam mgon smon mtha’I ‘phreng ba (p.117 KMT edition 2004) by 10th Je Penchen Tenzin Chogyal (1701-1767), the spelling had changed to mang ‘dus.   

Longchen notes that Bumthang had four parts and one of them was Mangde valley which is now more commonly called Tongsa. 

³⁶ Longchen describes the Ura people as descendants of Tibetans.

³⁷ Now it is often written as Tang chu, the river of Tang. Note that in the old spelling, it is rTa. So it is Horse River.

³⁸ Longchen includes all nine cereals as being grown in Tachu. Millet, maize and rice have not been grown in Tachu, from all accounts. Was Longchen just saying so to pay tribute to the productivity of land in Tachu? If not, further research is needed to corroborate cultivation of forgotten crops that might have been grown under a warmer climate. It is however unlikely.

³⁹ Longchen often uses phyogs for a particular place. Region would be another word for phyogs.

⁴⁰  Ruins of houses scattered on slopes in the pine forest on the eastern side of Ura village can be found today. These structural vestiges seem to be that of houses and walls of what must have been gardens. The locations are are known as Zheran, Krongsar  and Yoleng. It seems that in Longchen’s time, the valley did not have one huddled cluster of houses as they do today. Longchen observed that the valley had many hamlets, probably on the east facing slope as the ruins attest. This would have been conducive to livestock, primarily yaks, rearing that Longchen stressed as flourishing. The ruins of a village in Zheran had always been held in oral accounts to be the birth place of famed Khando Sonam Pelden who was the mother of the first king of Ura. Khando Sonam Peden gave birth to the heavenly son of Lha Ode Gungyal in the early history of Bhutan, according to Gelong Ngawang’s (Bende Wangendra) rJe ‘bangs kyi rigs rus ‘byungkhungs gsal bai’ sgron me written in male earth monkey year (1668). 

⁴¹ Chewang Darjay, 88, of Ura thinks that this line might refer to the medicinal stream of Rinchengang Manchu. It had a reputation as a healing stream. It is most plausible that it refers to the main river, not to Rinchengang Manchu.

⁴² This particular holy place where someone found either common or extraordinary accomplishment (mchog dang mthun mong gyi dngos drup) could not bet identified. It could be referring to Somrangdrag or caves found above Zheran, which could have been retreats. Chewang Darjay of Ura thought that it could refer to the caves above Thongphai, called Kyilkhor Ney.

⁴³ The whirlpool at the base of waterfall in Dudthang to the south of Ura village is the bla mtsho of Dudthang Neypo Thinely Taktse, the guardian deity of Ura village. Longchen lived for a considerable time in Shingkhar, two hours walk up from Ura village.

⁴⁴  Keeping cattle was equally important in this region until the 1970s. Most of the mountains had lush grazing land in summer.

⁴⁵ That grasses of alpine region produce more butter of a given quantity of milk than fodder from tropical region is well known among herdman. In fact they have detailed knowledge when butter quantity would increase by how much when the stock move.

⁴⁶ These fruits might refer to what are known as kram kram and tong tong in Ura dialect; strawberries and berries.

The issue of private practice has been in the web of national thinking for quite some time now.  The debate has been mostly in the public domain but, as a Bhutanese, who will be affected by any decision on the issue, it is our right and responsibility to think about it too.

I have personally come to the conclusion that health care should remain exclusively an affair of the state.  The feasibility and viability aspects of any proposition determine its outcome.  I believe the small size of our country and population satisfies both these considerations.  Besides, it keeps alive the legacy of the Bhutanese monarch caring for his people.  Then, more importantly, in a small society such as ours, it would weaken the thread of cohesion, to have two separate systems: one for the haves and the other for the have-nots; a mediocre government-run service for the poor and a fancy well equipped private service for the rich.  Such an arrangement would sow seeds for jealousy, resentment and eventually discontentment – elements that will not help in the realisation of a GNH society.

There are other concerns about privatisation of health care.   You can put a price tag on a pair of shoes or a branded compound bow.  The buyer could make a smart move, or be fooled; but fortunately there is always a next time and he will get it right, then.  At a hospital, however, where the seller is the expert and the authority, how are you going to make that sound purchase decision?  When treatment means putting potent chemicals into your body, or the conducting an invasive surgery, it is unlikely you will get a second chance to play smart.

The thought for privatisation is believed to stem from the growing demand for better health care services on the one hand, and the inability of the government to provide it, on the other, because of resource constraints.  But I believe, if one considers carefully and comprehensively, the resources are there.  Take into account the millions we spend each year in government referrals to Vellore, Kolkata and other places in India, and Bangkok in Thailand.  The actual figure, it is believed, is higher; add to that, the cost of privately funded treatment, which must be sizable, considering that our Bhutanese now travel all the way to Bangkok even for deliveries.  And, note, our people are always drawn to the more expensive hospitals, and spend generously.

It does not matter whether the funds are coming from state coffers or private pockets; it is all Bhutanese money.  If we can appreciate this point of view, realise how much we are spending anyway, it is not difficult to see that the prospect of establishing a good health care system at home is actually within our reach.  To use a parallel, it would be wiser to take a loan and buy the apartment outright, instead of paying huge rentals each month.  After that you can live in the comfort of security and a peace of mind.

When it comes to investing in health care, it is not a gamble and there is no risk.  Good health is the most precious gift in our lives, for without it, in spite of all the riches and power we may have, life is meaningless.

You will understand, just how desirable it is to have a good health care system with qualified doctors, right here at home, when a close and a loved one is seriously ill and the hospital is short of what is needed.

If we can convince banks to lend us money to build towns on prime agricultural land, surely they will support us to improve our hospitals.  Similarly, if we feel rich enough to spend millions of dollars on consultancy fees, surely we can afford to hire doctors from outside to meet our temporary shortfalls.

Even as we may plan to realise such a dream, I understand there is much that we can immediately do to help ourselves.  Aside from the issue of resource constraints, a fundamental complaint is about administrative control.  Voices from the hospital commonly echo of the maladministration by the health ministry and the civil service commission.  It is incomprehensible why it must be so, and continue to remain that way.  Now that the ballot box is here, cannot the will of the majority fix such a shameful problem?

The shortage of manpower is an issue that predictably features in any discussion of our health system.  While this is a legitimate challenge, we are profoundly guilty of being negligent and wasteful with this scarce resource.  We routinely make administrators of doctors, and retire them like civil servants, even though they may be at peak performance levels.  Why can’t we help ourselves, by letting doctors work for longer years?  When they get too senior in age, but are still willing to practise, they could work for fewer hours a day and a shorter week.  Even when they cannot see patients, they can still be available for consultation by junior doctors.  Senior doctors represent a rich and vast reservoir of knowledge and experience; we would be so foolish to throw it away, especially when we are so desperate in this respect.

Yes, we need to step up our handling of this special resource.  When the survival of a loved one rests with the doctors, you begin to see how godly these people are.  An experience like this humbles you to believe that any other work is only secondary to the medical one.

Our doctors in Bhutan, for the most part, represent the top academic performers of the education system.  Privileged by merit, this bright lot is sent to medical schools abroad at great cost to the country.  Upon return, they are expected to serve with visible illustration, their greater intellect and training, and gratitude to the government and people for the special training opportunities accorded to them.  It is in this light, that we find it regrettable that some doctors chose to opt out of the profession.  Imagine all that valuable training that will be shelved and eventually lost, and the opportunity cost to the people, and not just in financial terms, but also in terms of time loss.  Medical schools are not only expensive, but it takes one longer to graduate from one.  One cannot help but lose some regard for a person, who has the know-how and the skills to save lives, but simply abandons it all for another calling in his or her life.

But then, doctors are human, and it is the responsibility of the system to ensure that our doctors remain committed to their profession.  The work they do is special; it is at the tender most spot of every individual in society.  Therefore, our best efforts must be directed at facilitating their work; and we must also ensure they make a good living, so that they are not eyeing greener pastures elsewhere.  In addition to all that we may do, to keep them happy, it is fundamental that there exists a binding legal framework to secure the desired fidelity.

I should like to believe that my views will be shared in many quarters.  Let us keep our health system totally public and state-run; and let us do what is needed to get our standards to the regional level, and keep all our treatment and medical spending here at home.

Wangchuk, N.

Thimphu

They were not let down as the finals between the two top teams of the first club basketball championship – Phojas and Wizards – had them scream and shout until the end of the close match up that eventually saw Phojas give into the tactical play of their opponents.

The game ended 93-74 in favour of Wizards.

The match started off quite unlike how it ended, in that just minutes into the game Phojas took the lead 8-1 their sharp three-point shooters gave the team.

In response to Phoja’s sharp shooters, Wizards rolled out their nimble point guards, who drove to the basket now and then, easily breaking Phojas defense to close Phoja’s lead 10-16 by he end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, however, Wizards turned the game around and the scores.

Their quick plays and good coordination earned the team many easy shots and free ones from outside the paint.

At the whistle to end the first half of the game, Wizards had already taken a lead of 13 points, scoring 42 against their opponent’s 29.

In third quarter it was Phojas revived their initial game plan of playing hard inside the paint and opening space of their sharp shooters on the outside.

They managed to close the gap 62-66 and that was when the game changed from a fast paced one to a slow one by just passing around.

Phojas played into their game by rushing to double-team Wizards players to steal the ball, which left some of them open right under the rim.

Wizards not only made their opponents tired by making them run around for ball possession but also scored several open shots from near the rim giving them a comfortable lead of 14 points by the end of the third quarter, which ended 70-56.

With the last quarter of 10 minutes left, Phojas tried making some big plays to get back in the game.

The team tried shooting from three-point line to cut the lead but most rebounded against the rim and landed into the hand of the opponent players.

The match ended 93-74 making Wizards the first basketball club champion.

Phojas coach Dr Gem Dorji said although the loss was painful the team played a good match.

“In a game like this we need to make big plays but our opponent made bigger plays,” he said.

Bhutan Basketball Federation general secretary Tokey Dorji said it has been a successful tournament this club championship.

“We expect the Coronation Cup that starts soon to be the same,” he said.

Along with the winners trophy, Wizards won Nu 30,000, while Phojas took home Nu 20,000 along with the runners up trophy.

By Passang Norbu 

While the government reports that the poverty rate in Bhutan has decreased from 23.2 percent to about 12 percent between 2008 and 2013, there is a general concern among many experts whether Bhutan has employed the right methods and indicators, and whether this declaration is even true.

The national poverty line was derived from the BLSS 2007.  The total poverty line (TPL) of Bhutan was estimated to be Nu 1,096.94 per person per month, at 2007 prices by the NSB.

Inflation from 2008 to 2012 has increased by 39.53 percent.  Figures from the National Statistical Bureau reflect that, prior to 2008, the inflation rate was relatively low, but from 2008 it rapidly shot up.  According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation in 2007 was a manageable 5.15%, in 2012 inflation distended to 10.93% and is expected to go even higher in 2013.

High inflation has decreased the purchasing power of the ngultrum.  Data from the NSB indicates that Nu 100 in 2008 is now valued at Nu 75 in 2012, representing a 25% decrease in value of the Nu.  This means that the purchasing power of the ngultrum has shrunk by 25%.  The INR crisis has further diminished the value of the Nu against the INR by 10%, since all essential supplies have to come through border towns, as most imports are from India.  This means that the actual purchasing power of Nu 100 in 2008 has declined to Nu 65 in 2013.  Factoring in the INR crisis, which has caused artificial inflation, reveals that real household budget-influencing inflation from 2008 to 2013 has increased by over 45 percent.

Increased inflation decreases the real wages and impacts the poor critically.  Especially when inflation is caused by increased food prices, the poor are affected the most, as they will have to spend a larger portion of their income on food.  Thus higher inflation will add a few percentage points to the poverty rate in any country, which will logically increase poverty, not decrease it.  It is inarguable that there is a direct correlation between inflation and poverty – irrespective of statistical tinkering or interpretation.

The growth elasticity of poverty hinges on the level of inequality.  Indicators point that income inequality in 2008 was much lower than it is today in 2013.  This is because, in the last 5 years (10th FYP), the government has spent double the money compared to the 5 years preceding 2008 (9th FYP).  While government’s heightened expenditure has increased the income of the rich exponentially, the poor have not benefitted much, with the trickledown effect being almost negligible, leading to greater inequality.  This technically means that income disparity has widened, implying that the rich have become richer, but the poor have remained poor.  Given such a scenario, the government’s assertion that poverty has been halved in the last 5 years beggars belief.

In fact, according to IMF reports, Bhutan’s poverty headcount ratio has been decreasing almost every year since poverty was first recorded in Bhutan.  The latest example, prior to 2008, is that poverty levels decreased from 36 percent in 2000 to 23 percent in 2007 (a decrease of 13 percent).  Per capita GDP increased from only US$ 835 in 2000 to around US$ 1800 in 2008 (an increase of 215 percent).  From this, one can deduce that, even prior to 2008, poverty rate in Bhutan was steadily decreasing, while per capita GDP was increasing sharply.  It is but a natural trend in the early years of a developing country like ours, which the DPT is taking total credit for.

What this reveals is that, prior to 2008, poverty rate was already decreasing,g even with a small 9th FYP budget outlay of Nu 70 billion.  While during the 10th FYP, even with double the budget at Nu 140 billion, the DPT government has not been able to alleviate poverty as much as they claim, but may probably have increased it in real terms, due to very high inflation (caused in large part due to overspending by the government that has benefited the “few” and not the “many”), unemployment, decreased purchasing power of the Nu, combined with the INR and economic crisis.

In my layman’s view, it is a statistical myth that poverty has been halved from 23 percent in 2008 to 12 percent in 2013.

Layman  on kuenselonline.com

Current education scenario of our nation is the best opportunity for Bhutan to bring in desired changes and make everything fighting fit.  And the education ministry can play a very fundamental role in paving the best roads for thousands of generation to come.  Yet, my happiness dies as soon as it is born, for the ministry has gone blind to witness this vast ocean of opportunity.  If it is grasped right now, which the ministry has not yet done, the impact will last forever.  If not, Bhutan will only regret in the times to come.

Working so hard, the government has brought number of schools into every possible nook and corner of Bhutan.  However, the same government is closing down these schools, saying there are not enough children.  I say this is not the time to close down schools.  Rather it is the best time to bring in more facilities and more teachers.  Instead of degrading into an ECR, and leaving with a teacher in-charge, I propose more teachers, adequate staff quarters and even hostel facilities.  I propose a better library with full time librarian and more computers.  Make not just a classroom and a burdened teacher accessible to students in the name of an ECR.  Make well-furnished schools available, even if it is for less than 50 children.

My school has 78 students and a maximum of 14 children in a class.  In the pre-primary (PP), I have only 4 children.  Whenever I have talked about it, people have laughed at me.  I wonder why hilarious laughter chooses to come instead of happiness.  I haven’t been abroad, yet I dare say that such a situation would not prevail in even the most highly developed nations.

Thus, I see this scenario as an opportunity.  I say ‘opportunity’ because it will come only once.  This is the only opportunity to bring those people, who have migrated to urban centres and clumped into unmanageable towns back into the villages.  If people have migrated for better education for their children, they will surely return for the same reason.  It is the only opportunity to uplift the quality of education.  Our ministry should understand that quality usually comes with quantity.  It is the only opportunity to introduce schools of GNH.  GNH cannot be taught through speeches and books alone.  It should be illustrated in our day-to-day life.  It is the only opportunity to bind grandparents, parents and children together.  It is the best opportunity to illustrate GNH as a nation.

Moreover, villages are no more the same villages as they used to be in the past though; there is some more polishing to be done.  Government should provide with usable roads than just the seeable roads; reliable electricity than the one that goes off frequently; better internet facilities than the data-card, which takes an hour to get connected, and continue providing difficulty allowance, instead of cutting them down as soon as a muddy farm road is visible.  If these things are done, no teachers would deny teaching in the remote schools, and when teachers are enough with every facility in place, people will find schools in their villages more appropriate for their children.

It infuriates me to witness our government talk very seriously about rural-urban migration and yet welcome it.  I think it is time we cut down number of teachers and schools in the urban centres.  It is time we ensure private schools are built in rural settings, where schooling can run, not just as green schools but as evergreen schools.  They should send more teachers and even excess.  I wonder how ECRs (extended classrooms) work in other parts of the nation, but here, where I work, it seems rather a failure.  A teacher has 35 students.  It is okay when we hear only that part, but those 35 children are of three different grades.  So, I see it a better option to open hostel facilities in even a small school as ours.  Children would at least meet their parents and grandparents on weekends, unlike those children who put up with their far relatives in Thimphu.  Children would grow up intact with our traditional values, than drown in modernisation and westernisation.

If we really care for our future citizens, we should place facilities well ahead of our children and not after them.  How does it justify that children in middle and higher secondary schools get PE (physical education) instructors and not the children in primary schools?  Have our educationists forgotten that latter learn more through play?  I sometimes think, quality of education may be making a very gentle sloppy graph (if that is true), because of unmanageable sized classes in the towns, and some three classes left to a teacher in the villages.  Our system has learnt all the techniques to push teachers into the rural schools, but is yet to learn how to keep them attached to the same.  They are very much aware that visiting dzongkhag or hospital or a bank would take a day, but has never believed that student-teacher ratio or teacher-class ratio should be higher in these schools.

I have dreamt and woken up to narrate the dream I have dreamt for better tomorrow.

Tenzin Dorji

Teacher III

Lungtengang primary school

Kana, Dagana

It was in 1971 that the third King declared Dzongkha to be the national language. Of the 18 languages spoken in the country it is one of the few languages with a written script.

Before this declaration, visiting expertsⁱ  thought it to be the natural choice. “Already Dzongkha is used for many official purposes. A certain amount of official paper is cyclostyled in Dzongkha.  Dzongkha is, I am informed, already understood by senior government officials all over the country and by many village headmen in East Bhutanⁱⁱ.”

Because of its written script, Dzongkha was a natural choice as the national language. “Except for differences of accent, spelling and grammar, Dzongkha maintains the basic standard set by Chöke [Classical Tibetan] and lends itself readily towards a written standardisationⁱⁱⁱ.”

Lhoyig-the Southern Script

Historically, Dzongkha script was known as Lhoyig. It literally means ‘Southern Script and was used in Bhutan for writing Chöke.

According to Bhutanese scholar Lam Nado, the origin of the script could be traced back to 8th century AD with the arrival of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) to Bhutan.

The Bhutanese scholar claims that at the time of the visit, there was no written language in the country. So the Tibetan scribe, Denma Tshemang developed a script called Lhoyig.

It is said the scribe had travelled to Bumthang as part of Guru’s entourage. The scribe is supposed to have written down some of the important preaching’s of his master  and taught the Bhutanese how to read and write in the new script.

The scribe is a legend and oral stories in the Buddhist scholar world are told of how he could write numerous texts in a very short span of time.

According to late Lam Nado, the legend wrote down the majority of the terma, or hidden treasures, which were then concealed in Bhutan. All of these texts were recorded in the then new Dzongkha script.

“Moreover, the manuscripts found at Dunhuang appear to bear the same similarity to the Dzongkha script of today as those of Denma Tsemang^iv.”

Lhoyig is different from the ‘Ucen script used for Classical Tibetan. The simpler form of Lhoyig is Juyig and this is used for ordinary correspondence. The Dzongkha Development Commission supports Juyig as the Dzongkha script.

“Between the form of writing used by Denma Tsemang and the actual Dzongkha script in use today, there is a striking similarity.” Lam Nado said,

“This can be used as evidence that the writing of Denma Tsemang is the model from which today’s Dzongkha script originated.”

The Dzongkha script differs only slightly from the ancient Tibetan script used for writing Chöke. “It seems, therefore, that the difference between ‘Ucen (formal script) and ‘Ume (cursive script) did not exist when the Tibetan alphabet was invented, and that the ‘Ume script resulted from the quick handwriting style of ‘Ucen letters^v.”

The different Tibetan scripts such as ‘Ucen, ‘Ume, Lentsa and Wartu are basically variants of the same Tibetic writing system as the ‘Southern Script’.

George van Driem pointed out that essentially the same script was also used in the tenth century to write Classical Tibetan in the northerly Tangut kingdom. Lhoyig is therefore not really a southern script. Lhoyig is not a language, but a script.

Voice of the Fort

The language spoken in the Dzongs, which served as administrative centres, came to be known as Dzongkha or the voice of the fort. In this way Dzongkha came to be used throughout the country as the language of government. The tongue resembles the vernacular speech of Punakha, where the head of the government was based.

Linguistically, Dzongkha belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is similar to the Dranjoke language spoken in Sikkim and bears resemblance to the J’umbi dialect once spoken in the Chumbi valley of Tibet. It is more distantly related the language spoken in central Tibet.

Dzongkha is today widely spoken and is taught in schools as a language where the medium of instruction is in English. The native speakers inhabit eight dzongkhags^vi. The other widely spoken languages are Lhotshampa in the southern districts and Tshangla in the eastern districts.

Tshangla speakers inhabit east Bhutan, and have no prejudice against the language spoken in West Bhutan. “There is little linguistic nationalism in East Bhutan and therefore no strong or widespread prejudice against Dzongkha^vii.”

“It is against this linguistic background that when five-year economic and social development plans were launched to modernize the country two decades age [1962], the Royal Government decided to develop Dzongkha as a modern language^viii.”

Contributed by  Tshering Tashi

First, it is the Indian excise duty for which we recommend an exemption at source (and not on goods exported to India as the article reports). The Indian excise duty is an inland tax that applies only to Indian buyers. Every country in the world except Bhutan is exempt from the excise duty when it imports goods from India.

Additionally, the BCCI study recommends a renegotiation of only the excise component of the trade agreement with India.

We must also respond to a few statements made by the Finance Secretary in the article, who calls into question the accuracy of the calculations in the BCCI report.  We acknowledge that our estimates are not fully accurate, and have done so both in the report and in our presentation to the Private Sector Development Committee. However, there is a reason we could not arrive at better estimates: our requests to the Department of Revenue and Customs for data and information on how the DRC calculates excise duties were denied. Therefore, we manually calculated the excise duties paid on over several thousand import items using the Bhutan Trade Statistics 2010. While this method may not have been ideal for us this was our best estimate. We invite the Ministry of Finance to help us improve on the calculations. Nothing would delight us more.

Now, whether our estimates have been off by an inch or a yard, the fact is many senior government officials agreed on the principles of the proposal in the report during the 7th PSDC meeting.

The Secretary states that “it only takes one and half years at the most to receive the refund from India”, but in the very next quote goes on to say “we’ll receive excise duty refund for 2010 around the end of April  [2013].” We suspect that he means that it takes 1.5 years from the time the government submits the excise duty refund request to the GoI, but the fact remains that excise duties paid in 2010 will not be refunded until April of 2013.

The Secretary also states that the “DRP [Duty Refund Process] is not necessarily to prevent deflection of goods.” In fact, historically, the DRP was implemented because the Bhutanese government did not have the infrastructure and manpower to monitor trade at the borders. As a result, deflection of goods was a real problem for the Indian government vis-à-vis trade with Bhutan and Nepal. Since then, Nepal has moved away from the DRP to an exemption at source in their new trade agreement with India, and so should we.

What we propose is not simply an exemption at source in India for Bhutanese importers, but an excise duty system of our own by which the government can levy excise duties on businesses yet ensures a level playing field for Bhutanese exporters in international markets.

The Secretary also claims that “it’s stated in the trade agreement that any excise duty levied in India be refunded to Bhutan government.” On the contrary, the trade agreement allows the GoI to discount the total import value submitted by the Bhutanese government by 40 % on goods attracting ad-valorem rate of duty before the effective duty rate is applied.

We agree with the secretary that the excise refund is a major source of income for the government. That is why we propose a Bhutan Excise Duty Tax to replace the excise duty refund so the government does not see a fall in revenue. This is the first time the private sector is proposing a tax on itself, a point which seems to have gotten lost on all of us.

Not only is the 40% deducted on the value of imports by the Government of India a loss to the nation, other flaws in the current system such as delayed payments and interest costs (on short term borrowings by the central bank to meet Rupee shortfalls) add to those losses. The result is losses to the tune of 1.4 billion for the 2010 excise refund.

Contributed by  Jamyang Tashi and Thinley Palden Dorji

The authors are partners at the QED Consulting Group, which was commissioned to conduct the BCCI study and present their findings to the PSDC

Universal access to efficient drinking water supply and sanitation services is the pillar to meet basic human needs.  But 783 million people globally still lack access to clean, safe drinking water, and almost 2.5 billion people worldwide lack access to improved sanitation.  Millions of children die each year from preventable diseases, caused by the lack of safe drinking water and improved sanitation, and almost 4,500 children die every day, according to UNICEF and WHO. It is sad but true.

There are enough evidences to demonstrate how women’s empowerment and the improvement of water supply, sanitation facilities and hygiene practice are inextricably linked, which highlights some of the benefits of placing women and their concerns at the centre of decision-making in such interventions.  We all know that inadequacy and non-functionality of water and sanitation facilities in schools affects girls more than boys.

Druk Yul or Land of the Thunder Dragon that beacons rain points out the significance of water in Bhutanese religious beliefs, traditions, rituals and folklore, including the ritual of offering water in seven bowls at the altar in every Bhutanese home, the turning of prayer wheels and leading a life in great harmony with nature, thus bringing peace and joy.  Water is an integral element of the Buddhist landscape, natural, spiritual, economic, social and cultural and is Gross National Happiness.  Yet, it is often poorly managed and under severe pressure.

In Bhutan, the government has prioritised the development of water and sanitation facilities since the first five-year development plan in 1961.  The initiative to provide improved water and sanitation facilities received a further impetus, when His Majesty the Fourth King in the Royal Edict of 1992 proclaimed water and sanitation as a basic right for every Bhutanese citizen.

The benefits of improved water and sanitation is evident in reduction in child mortality, savings in direct and indirect medical costs, contribution to greater personal dignity for women and poor, increased school attendance, and protection and enhancement of biodiversity.  The proportion of Bhutan’s population having access to safe drinking water has increased from about 45 percent in 1990 and 78 percent in 2000 to 96 percent as reported in BMIS 2010.  This is a remarkable achievement for a developing country like Bhutan, especially with its forbidding terrain, scattered population and general lack of infrastructure.   Water is seen as a public good and is in abundance, however it has a price and cost of delivery in difficult terrain is quite high and therefore its use needs careful consideration.

Despite these development gains, diseases such as diarrhoea, common cold and skin infection, which are water, sanitation and hygiene related are still among the leading causes of infant and child deaths in the country.  Functional water supply coverage in schools, monastic schools and nunneries has made incremental increase to 70 per cent in 2010 from 60 per cent in 2008.  However, the least expensive measure to address the disease burden is best done through social and behavioural change communication messages and education in schools, community health centers, and application of the same in infant and young child feeding practices at home.  Thus, the emphasis on the importance of seeing water and sanitation issues within the overall context of quality education is important.

Perhaps to build infrastructure and provide coverage is easier compared to keeping water flowing in the pipes.  There is a strong need to pay attention to operation and maintenance both for household and institutional water supply.  Evidences tell us that the most common problems associated with lack of operation and maintenance of water and sanitation facilities are the pressure on existing facilities from a rapidly increasing population in few places, cost of delivering water by pipes or other sources, drying water sources, seasonal variation of water, increased demand from communities where facilities are shared, lack of participation and ownership, and no or meagre maintenance budget.  Added to this, the rapidly changing pattern of consumption, disappearance of traditional water usage/conservation system and wisdom also contribute to the inadequacy of water.

Inclusive, gender sensitive and participatory governance of water sharing and cooperation between different stakeholders can help overcome such inequity in accessing water and thus contributing to poverty eradication, socio-economic development and improving the living conditions and educational chances, especially of women and children. Partnerships for water cooperation is therefore crucial to ensure the sustainable use and maintenance of existing facilities and to support efforts of bringing improved water and sanitation to all especially in remote villages, households, schools, monastic schools and nunneries. Continuing investing on village maintenance committees and water caretakers by giving new skills and toolkits to sustain their own services and facilities will go a long way to achieve sustainable use of water resources.

Shaheen Nilofer Representative, UNICEF Bhutan

Kanwal Krishna (1910-1993) was one of the first generation of modern Indian artists.  In 1939, he trekked to Bhutan with Sir Basil John Gould (1883-1956), and his two sons,’ Dick and Bob on a holiday. Sir Basil was the British political officer based in Sikkim.

“Krishna is a young Indian artist in his 20s who specialised in watercolour paintings,” this is how Dick Gould described the artist in his diary Sikkim, Bhutan & Tibet 1939. 

While in Bhutan, the artist painted the two boys. The boys are shown in front of the Haa Dzong; one is sitting in traditional Bhutanese style and the other standing.

They are painted, wearing seta gho, the traditional Bhutanese costume with yellow patterns and with swords and the paraphernalia that came with it.

Krishna’s brush captures details of the traditional costume for example, the white handcuffs and collar of the gho.

The landscape shows the lush hills and the prayer flags.

The second painting that of the Haa Dzong (see photo).

Both watercolours are signed and dated 26/8/39.

Krishna-who is he?

Krishna was born in Punjab and studied in one of the oldest art colleges in India. Founded in 1854, the Government School of Art and Craft in Kolkata experienced a renaissance under the directorship of Percy Brown (1872-1955) a renowned British scholar and artist. Brown has been given credit for producing a whole generation of modern Indian artists including Krishna.

By 1939, Krishna had already established his reputation for watercolours. Dick and Bob Gould were already familiar with the artist’s work. In Dick’s diary, he describes how the artist became a part of their holiday to Bhutan.

Dick recollects how the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow (1936-43 in office) was fascinated with an oil painting the Indian artist had painted of the different races in India.

The Viceroy particularly wanted the artist, “to paint the various hillsmen of the Himalayas.” The diary records, “the Viceroy asked BJ [Sir Basil John Gould] to give him the opportunity to show his worth.”

Dick wrote in his diary that his father agreed to include Krishna on their holiday trek through a corner of Tibet to Bhutan. “If he [father] then liked his work he would give him further opportunities.”

The year before, in 1938, the Indian artist had trekked to South Tibet and was therefore already familiar with the Buddhist world and the Himalayas. His travelling companion was the Tibetan monk Gendun Choephel (1903-1951). The Tibetan monk intellectually challenged the dogma and questioned the ancient traditions of his country.

Krishna takes up the monk’s cause through his watercolours challenging some of the social issues and narrating the monk’s concerns on cultural, political issues on canvas. Some of the famous works are Choephel in Sayka monastery, and Tibet and Chang woman in Lhasa. 

The Tibetan monk was a brilliant artist in his own right. When he left the monastery he made a living by painting. Today, a few of his works have survived and the ones that have are illustrations that have photographic realism of some of the monks.

Looking at Krishna’s portraits of the Tibetan monks, it is likely that he could have been inspired and also influenced by the monk-artist. The monk had developed his own style and in doing so became a pioneer in the field.

While doing a portrait, Choephel would “first look at the man’s expression and only then focus and start to paint the portrait. He said that by focusing on the first glimpse of a man’s expression, it would bring out the best of the person into the portrait. He said that one should focus on the man’s expression, his fluffy hair, his thin face, or his fat body.ⁱ

Choephel had clear colour concepts and used them distinctly. For example, he said, “For the old man, more of the red colour should be used to give better appearance of his oldness. Whereas for the young man, more of the green colour should be used to give him the touch of being young.”ⁱⁱ 

Tibet

One year after Krishna’s trip to Bhutan, Sir Basil Gould takes him to Tibet. In 1940, they attended the installation ceremony of the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Indian artist got the opportunity to paint the forbidden kingdom.

Krishna’s watercolours from the occasion are portraits of nobility including senior monks. The colours used are vibrant.

Today, some of Krishna’s original art can be found in the public domain but most of it, including the ones from Bhutan are still in private collections in India and abroad.  Dick Gould who travelled with Krishna to Bhutan in 1939 inherited over 40 of these paintings including the two from Bhutan.

Contributed by Tshering Tashi

Foot notes

i Angry Monk, Reflection on Tibet: Literary, Historical and Oral Sources for a Documentary Film, Schaedler, L, University of Zurich, 2007

ii  Ibid