Bhutan and Ancient Nepal

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Nepal - Bhutan Relations(A Study Of Its Past)

- Dr. Suman DhaTh e two SA AR C membercountries, Nepal and

tan, are well known to all as the most beautifulingdom s situated between India and the

rtance. Although from the earliest times, Nepale extremely good relations between

between them due to the problem of thei origin Bhutanese citizensexiled from Bhutan

refore, the study of the changes that have

Nepal has a long history extending more thanyears, though modem Nepal was found just a

250 years ago. On the other hand,450 years ago. Nepal was

y a Lama Nawang Nam gyal of

the Dukpa sect,arenownedscholarly monk belonto Ralung Gompa i n the Kham p rovince of Tibetleft Ralung Gompa and came to then Lho-Mprovince of modern Bhutan where he is knowSyawadu ng Rimpoche Nawang N amgyal.

Nawang Namgyal, by conquering sinfluential feudals and Lama sects, completedwork of unifying Bhutan and established a new of rule based on religion. In this system two typerulers were appointed to administer the kingdDharmaraja, the spiritual ruler, and Devraja,temporal ruler. It is since this time that Bhutan political, religious as well as cultural relations wthe Malla Kings of Kathmandu Valley and Gorkhas. Religion, especially Budd hism, also plaa significant role in bringing Nepal and Bhucloser. The religious activities of the then poptantrik Lamas of Bhutan, and the existenceSwayambhunath in Kathmandu as the Buddeducational and cultural center were the two msources of the close friendly ties between these countries. Soon afterthecom pletion of the unificaof Bhutan by the first Bhutanese King, Bhu


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After Nepal-Tibet war in 1855 AD (VS 19 12),hutanese Dharmaraja, namely D a-Pon

ion to Prime M inister Jung B ahadur ofon mentions the relations between

Tibet-Nepal war a Bhutanese Lama wroter to Kaji of Nepal. In this he mentioned that six

which a re presented

alese side. So, he requested the Kaji to helpe the religious property set by the ancestors. It

tanese by the Gorkhas on variousdates, i.e., sincehah . In total, it isexpected thattheNepalese

Ghyangs or Gompas.According to the Bhutanese source, the first

ed the Kathmandu valley and took with him 401Gorkha families to Bhutan. Among them were

agarwas the leadero fthe migrated Gorkhalis. Being influenced by the political system

hah , thearaja Nawang Namgyal introduced the same

n Bhutan with some necessary changes. The system

een popularized i n Bhutan. A system asi n Arunanchal.

As Ram Shah's Poli t ical administrationhe Bhutanese; the G orkhalis were also

ced by the Tantrik know ledge of theas of Bhutan. Thus these tworeg imes came into

According to the Bhutanese history, Bhutanrelations with Gorkha even in the reign of the eShah Kings- DrabyaShah and PurnaShah. Bhu tasources mention this, but the Nepalese history doBhutan's foreign relations began only afteunification, by Lam a Nawang Nam gyal in 161even though Gorkha might have relations witnorthern part of i t (viIlagesofT ibetan origin) thrgompas and religious sects.

In 1640AD theBhutaneseDharmaraja,NawNam gyal, visited Gorkha when D ambar Shah wpower. On his visit, he took some Gorkhali famto Bhutan and let them settle among the westernand terai. Since then, courtesy visits by everyDharmarajaand Devrajaof Bhutan to Gorkha bea regular feature.

Again during the reign of Narabhupal Sha1716-1743 AD), some of the gompas and belonging to the gompas were bestowed Dharmaraja. During his reign, beside the culturareligious relations, both the countries had polities as well. The Tamrapatra of 1741 AD, issuedpopular Lama (known as Lhopa Lama) proviNagathali Gompa and a vast tract of land arounsupports the Nepal-Bhutan relations.The inscripmention that prior to this much land and propwere provided to Dharma Lama (Tsyong Lamkusa birta by issuing Tamrapatra.

According to the Bhasa Vamsavali,NarabhShah, being childless, invited Dharmaraja to Nand with the blessings and ritual and Tacommencement performed by him, he becamefather of a child, Prithivi Narayan Shah-the fouof modern Nepal. This time also Narabhupal Sissued a Lalmohar in the name of BhutaDharmaraja. This event is popular as a legend amthe Nepalese residents of B hutan.

Since the reign of Drabya Shah, the Gorulers had to face frequent wars with the Bar


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Nepal .. ..... 3Bhutia rulers at the boundary between these twostates. Bhas a Vamsavali narrates that Ram S hah andNarabhupal Shah fought battles with Tibet and theGorkha arm y being victorious ove r Kyi-Ron went upto Kukuraghata and thus bec ause of the enmity withTibet, Bhutan might have good relationships withGorkha.

Thu s the existence of Bouddha G om pas in thenorthern belt of Gork ha, the settlement of Bud dhistsof the Tibetan origin, the schooling of NawangNamgyal at Swayambhu and the Tibet-Bhutan andTibe t-Gork haen mity brought both Nepal and Bhutaninto close contact with one another. Besides, theGorkha rulers were also deeply influenced by theTantr ik knowledge and commencement of theBhutanese Lamas.

Very similar to Gorkha, Bhutan also had closerelationship with the Malla Kings of the valley ofKathmandu. Her cultural and religious relationshipwith the valley lasted fo r a long time. The ex istenceof Budd hism and the Buddhist culture were the mainfactors for such relationship. Ram Shah, who hadgood relations with Bhutan, was also friendly withthe Malla Kings of the valley, especially that ofPatan. As a result of the friendship with Gork ha, theBhutanese got the opportunity of making closefirst Dharmaraja of Bhutan, Syawadung Rimpoche

ang N amgyal, had been a student at Swaya mbhu,he center for Buddhist Teachings, and as such was

with the art, artists and culture of th e161 4 AD , he also

1640 AD , he renovated the Swayam bhuere are several documents, which sup port

the visit of Dugpa Lamas to Kathmandu andrenovation of Swayambhu Temple. Moreoversilver coins-tankas-of the Malla s were also in circulation in Bhutan. From wha t is mentioned abwe can surmise that during the Malla periodecon om ic ties between the valley of KathmanduBhutan were at their peak.

The famous Gopal Raja Vamsavali menthat Bhutan's relations with Nepal were establiin the begin ning of the sixth century AD. How evis not yet proved.

Sinc e the 17th century, the Nepalese artbegan toe nte rTh im pu and Punakha valley of Bhand ha ve worked there since then. During the reiDevraja Tan-Jin-Kh-Gye (1638-1696 AD) somthe Go mp as in Bhutan were renovated by theNep aartisans and decorated them with pieces of art bon Buddhism. The bronze icons in connection th e ntnhaynna, sculptured by the Nepalese artican still be found there in thesego mpa s. Many afrom the Valley of K athmandu went to Bhutanresided in the northern part of Thimpu at Bebnear De-Chen. Some of them also settled in Pand Bel-Nang of Thimpu Valley recently knowBal-Po, the nam e for Nepal in the Tibetan languFrom this fact, we can estimate that the plinhabited by the Ne pal ese in Bhutan m ight have called 'Bal-Po'. Th e Bhutanese artisans, whoclose links with the Nepalese artists who recetheir services, were also influenced by the Nepastyle of art and architecture. The two stupaBhutan - the oneconstructed at Sgo-mang -Kho'-Bkra- 's i s -Yang- tse province and the otheChendebji ofTon-Sara-are itsexamples. These sthave big eyes marked on the Hermika, abovedome, and the architectural style of these stcoincides with that of Bouddhanath of Nepal.

On ce an illustrious Lam a from Bhutan duthe reign of Syawadung Nawang Namgyal vis


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4 Ancient Nathmandu and with the permission of Pundi, Nama-syun (Nasa), Cho Jodath, New Gom

s there set some gompas of the Dukpa sect in17th century) when the Dukpa Gompa at

yambhu as a gift fromDuring the reign of Sen Kings in Eastern Nepalt Morang District), there was an annual tribute)from VijayapurtoBhutan. Later, when Prithivi

unifiedNepa1,he presentedge and 5 Kheta with some sloppy land for

Si-daras gift.Thus Prithivian Shahsettled the business regarding Morang.The Chiran-cha Gompa, Nagathali Gompa and

ed to the Bhutanese Lama by King KrishnaCenturies old Gorkha-Bhutan relations were

an Shah. Bhutan helped Nepal duringtion. At the outset of unification there was

se

ng the deal Prithivi Narayan Shah provided6land as Dan Birta and retained the

Altogether 12 Ghyangs (gompas) were givenanese and were retained from time to time

t i l l the later period. Although all these

Chiran-cha, Yate, Thate are some of the Gomamong them. Before the unification ofNepal, Bhreceived annual tribute from Vijayapur. But duthe unification Bhutan did not claim its dominaover the territory, instead helped Prithvi NaraShah, for which Haku village and 5plots of landSwayambhu were provided to Bhutan as Dan B

In 1774 AD Bhutanese Dharmaraja 'phrin'brug-rgyal" visited Nepal accompanied by onhis officers Gsim-dpon-wang-chuk to meet PriNarayan Shah. On that occasion he presented sgifts to the king on behalf of the Bhutagovernment. Dharmaraja wanted to keep grelations with Nepal possibly because of the thfrom the British toBhuf+an uringwaragainstsikkKuchbihar and Assam. Thus to maintain grelations and mutual help, both the counexchanged their Mohars. The Lalmohar of 1772provided the facility of Jhara (forced or statulabor) to theLamas of Nagathali Gompa tocarry load between Nepal and Bhutan.Theother Lalmowere issued to provide them land as Dan Birta.

Nepal's relations with Bhutan remained ineven after Prithivi Narayan Shah. To give continto the age-lod relations, Pratap Singh Shah in 1AD (VS 1833) sent a new Lalmohar to BhutaDharmaraja, Phrin-las-brug-rgyal.He, after thedof Pratap Singh Shah, visited Nepal at the requequeen Rajendra Laxmi performed Tancommencement for blessing long life of the year-old King Rana Bahadur Shah. Pleased withperformance, Nepal Darbar provided land in giSinduri and Chene. Similarly, Prince Bahadur Salso had good relations with the Bhutanese LTanjin Dugyal. Bahadur Shah invited him to Nand provided Thon-mon and Kalari VillageDharmaraja i n gift.


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