Bhoutan - The Dragon Kingdom
The
splendour of the Himalaya with an emerald edge. Bhutan is
home to rolling hills all shades of green as well as looming
masses of snow, ice, and stone. Imagine a country the size
of Switzerland where the climate and landscape range from
subtropical to high altitude, rich with all manner of flora
and fauna. As lovely the physical aspect is of Bhutan, its
cultural and historical legacy is equally compelling. There
is stunning traditional architecture of wood, stone, and
brightly-coloured paint, especially in the old monasteries
and forts, or dzong, that protected various parts of Bhutan
from Tibetan and Indian invasions and now serve as the seats
of authority of administration as well as the prevelant
Mahayana Buddhism. It's a misconception that Bhutan and its
religion are mere reflections of Tibet. In truth, its
geography and history of even more extreme, but carefully
calibrated isolation make it truly unique. Its polygamous
Eton-educated monarch extols the virtues of thinking of
development in terms of Gross National Happiness rather than
GDP, and only allowed television into the country a few
years ago. Its numerous highly-educated citizens are still
required to wear traditional dress for everyday official and
professional purposes, and all the old festivals and arts
and crafts, such as weaving and woodwork still hold sway
over ordinary folk. Bhutan is the only country of its kind
left in the world, and one that no more than 5,000 visitors
a year can experience.
A quick historical
background
Like with Tibet, for most people the history of Bhutan
'really begins' after the introduction of Buddhism there in
the 7th century by Padmasambhava who brought this already
centuries-old religion from India. This has as much to do
with the prevelance of oral history up to this point as the
fact that there was no one central authority that defined
'Bhutan' as such; rather, there were a series of independent
valleys ruled by feudal masters. Mahayana Buddhism's
Kargyupa school became increasingly widely accepted by the
denizens of these various valleys, and slowly political and
administrative power shifted from being the exclusive
reserve of feudal lords, to being shared between them and
the monasteries and monks of what has come to be called
Drukpa Buddhism. In the early 17th century a Drukpa monk
called Ngwang Namgyal managed to pull together various
aristocratic and feudal families from all over what is now
Bhutan in support of his proposed theocratic government. The
cornerstone of this system was the division of powers
between two rulers, one responsible for the spiritual
matters of the country, and the other for the civil. An
ill-advised pact between the spiritual head and the British
East India Company brought to head various rivalries that
had been simmering under the surface, and after a lot of
wrangling and intrigue, finally in 1907, a new, single
monarch came to power assuming all responsibility.Urgyen
Wangchuk's great-grandson, Jigme Singye Wangchuk is now king
of Bhutan. Amid considerable continuing controversy over the
expelling of over 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepali origin in
1990, in 2003 the king put forth a controlled gradual form
of village-level democracy. There are interesting times
ahead, given the very cautious modernisation of many aspects
of Bhutanese life, the traditional acceptance for divided
forms of government, the refugee situation, and the new
'democratic' experiment
Geography
Bhutan is a little landlocked country,just about the size of
Switzerland. Small as it is, Bhutan is home to five climatic
zones - the tropical, subtropical, temperate, sub-alpine,
and alpine. It is bounded by Tibet on the north, and various
Indian states - West Bengal and Assam to the south, and
Arunachal Pradesh eastwards. In Bhutan the snow peaks and
alpine meadows give way to thickly forested hills and
ravines, which in turn give way to a small - 5-8 km wide -
strip of plains, part mangrove swamp, part permanent rice
fields, called the Dooars. Bhutan is home to the sacred
Chomolhari mountain (7,300 m).
Weather
While the summers are never blazing, temperatures in the
lower reaches of the Dooars, can go up into the high-20s
(Centigrade). Around Paro and Thimphu the lows in winter are
around 0 (C), while higher up it can be considerably below
freezing in the winter. The monsoon runs from June through
September.
People and language
Bhutanese society, once pastoral and nomadic, is now largely
(90%) agricultural. The hill farmers live in the temperate
central valleys, where there is access to good sources of
water and many hillsides to terrace.There are three main
ethnic/ linguistic groups in Bhutan: the Ngalongs from the
western and central parts of the country consider themsleves
descendants of 9th century Tibetan immigrants, and are the
most influential group in religion and politics; the
indigeneous Sharchops in eastern Bhutan: and the southern
Bhutanese Lhotsampa, people of Nepali descent of many
different ethnicities, castes, and religions, descendants of
workers brought in in the late 19th century to develop the
southern part of the country. Since the expulsion of a large
majority of the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese in 1990, the
population of Bhutan is at 600,000.
The national language is Dzongkha, which is related to
Tibetan. The Ngalongs and Sharchops speak Tibet-Burman
languages, while the Lhotsampas speak Nepali as their mother
tongue. Hindi is also widely spoken in Bhutan.
Religion and festivals
Prayer flags fluttering against a blue sky and verdant
rolling hills, and gnarled hands spinning prayer wheels -
this really is the most obvious manifestation of Drukpa
Buddhism. Then come the monasteries with their elaborate
thangka, frescoes, and murals, their elaborate
brightly-painted woodwork, and intricate statuary. The
festivals are a visual, aural, and theatrical delight with
deep horns and gongs, chanting, masks, and dances.
The most distinctive of Bhutanese festivities is the tsechu,
or masked dance. Differents villages and towns celebrate
their tsechu at different times of the year. People walk for
miles to attend these revelries and watch the masked dancers
tell stories of historical or religious significance, such
as how Buddhism was brought to Bhutan, or the triumph of
good over evil. They exchange news and dress up, and
reaffirm their commitment to their faith and their
community.
The
arts, architecture and culture
There is plenty of art and architecture, music and dance in
Bhutan, but the most sophisticated art form here is the
weaving tradition. The fabrics of Bhutan, all handwoven
according to a multitude of traditional regional patterns as
well s innovations, are stunning. There have been exhibits
at the Smithsonian and other major Western museums, and some
of the older samples are virtual national treasures. The
wood carvings, murals and frescoes in the dzong and
monasteries, as well as the thangka are sublime examples of
how religious art can display both brilliant craftsmanship,
as well as intricate systems of iconography. Thangka uses
pre-determined symbols and figures to tell various stories
about the life of the Buddha and his many manifestations.
Ideally the paints used are of a deep, dull sheen and made
from stone and other natural materials. There's a whole set
of conventions ruling the traditional consutruction of
palaces, temples, and gardens, as also the lovely coloured
furniture that you also see in Lhasa and Kathmandu, usually
in specialty shops.
Flora and fauna
In the more tropical parts of the country there are many
varieties of bamboo, as well as the golden langur monkey,
tiger, elephant, rhino, and bison. Higher up are the
obligatory yak and blue sheep, as well as the shy and
endangered snow leopard. Bhutan has an enornmous number of
different butterfly types, making it heaven for a TKTK.
The Bhutanese flora is a delight - over 600 kinds of
orchids, a few hundred of medicinal herbs, and some 50
rhododendrons. Not to mention, naturally,
Food and drink
Bhutanese food is, quite simply, delicious. It's also very
heavy on fresh, vitamin C-loaded, and spicy green chilli.
But don't worry - as a traveller you won't be expected to
scarf down all your food loaded with heat; chefs at hotels,
and cooks on tented treks are no strangers to catrering to
far milder palates. Bhutan is known for its delicious ema
datshi and kawa datshi, mushroom and potato respectively in
a thin, slightly tangy, fresh-smelling cheese sauce. The
cheese itself is the freshest farmer's cheese, available at
all the farmer's market at every city, town, and village.
These dishes are eaten with the fragrant, unique Bhutanese
'red' rice that is more like a shiny pink when uncooked.
Bhutanese love vegetables, as they do pork cooked in many
ways. They have in common with Tibetans the butter tea - yak
butter mixed in with brick tea to create a liquid that is
savory, almost soupy, and very very buttery. Other
preparations include the famous steamed or fried stuffed
ravioli called momo and a savory stuffed griddle bread
called shabhalay.
