The History of Bhutan

by Karma Phuntsho

In recent years, the remote kingdom of Bhutan has increasingly attracted the attention of the world. In 2008, it emerged as the world’s youngest democracy and in the same year crowned the world’s youngest monarch. This was followed by the new King’s colourful wedding in 2011. Today, it continues to enchant the rest of the world with its policy of Gross National Happiness and has become a very popular destination for travel. But, despite its growing popularity and the rising scholarly interest in the country, Bhutan remains one of the most poorly studied places on earth.

Karma Phuntsho’s The History of Bhutan is the first-ever attempt to cover the entire history of Bhutan in some detail in English, combining both traditional perspectives and modern academic analysis. Written by a leading expert on the country, the book tells the story of Bhutan in a narrative style interspersed with some analytical and topical discussion, and numerous citations and translations from earlier writings. It is primarily a historical account, but it also includes substantive discussions of Bhutan’s geography, culture and society to give the readers an incisive introduction to the country.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Asia, Travel, Religion, Buddhism

704 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan]

Before reading this comprehensive and ginormous book, I did not imagine what a person could learn about place as small and insignificant in world history as Bhutan. I was proven wrong. An exotic, mountain kingdom with thunder dragon on its flag. Bhutan used to be a respectable regional player in Tibetan region. Beginning its existence as a unified nation of theocratic republic in which regents put their authorities upon multiple incarnations of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, father of unified Bhutan state. who were used as convenient excuses for the regents like reincarnations of Lamas in neighbouring Tibet. However, the current modern form of Bhutan as a kingdom was only conceived in 20th century as Ugyen Wangchuck and his descendants were enthroned as Kings of Bhutan. As one of the latest nations on earth to embrace modernization, Bhutan faced unique challenges and threats to its traditional ways of life. As I said first, this book is quite comprehensive in describing Bhutan in many aspects such as tribal compositions, religions, geographical situations, and so on and so on, which can be quite tedious to read.

[Erik Champenois]

A beautiful history of Bhutan, though sometimes the flow slows or disrupts as the author stitches together different sources to comprehensively cover the history. At 600 pages, this book starts by presenting the linguistic and geographic diversity of Bhutan, and follows with the semi-historical/semi-mythical background of early Bhutanese history, through the history of unified Bhutan from the mid-1600s, and ending with an epilogue chapter on Bhutan's history since the 1950s. In the process an extremely interesting culture is revealed, similar to and often influenced by Tibet, but distinct as well.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the tertons (revealers of hidden treasures, usually spiritual teachings) and the selection of (and often contests between) reincarnations of significant figures (both concepts that Bhutan shares with Tibet). Though I admit to sometimes getting lost as to who was a reincarnation of who, and which families were fighting or allied together at various times.

I also enjoyed reading about Bhutan's relationship to Nepal, both in opposition to Sikkim and in the modern day mass immigration that has resulted in the southern third of Bhutan being majority Nepali. Finally, I enjoyed the apt ending note of the book - portraying a society in transition and cultural limbo - and evoking both nostalgia and progress. The book made me want to some day visit Bhutan.

[Christopher]

The fact that it is hard to find a detailed English language volume of Bhutanese history means this should be given an automatic 4 at least, but there are numerous past-romanticizing segments that undermine the soberness of the rest of the text-even when talking about the massive positive increases in living standards of the past several decades.

Still, if you want to learn about Bhutan and its unexpectedly interesting history, this is your best bet.

[N]

Meget grundig gjennomgang av Bhutans historie over 600 sider. Velskrevet og balanser, men så detaljert at kun spesialister har mulighet til å skille de mange aktørene fra hverandre: skogen forsvinner av og til for alle trærne.

[Surabhi]

A country and its people can be only fully understood by unravelling their past.

That is what pulls me to history. And this book is one of the firsts in the series of world histories I aim to acquaint myself with.

While reading this book it is abundantly clear that Buddhism has played an important role throughout the historical evolution of Bhutan which the author roughly demarcates into five separate periods viz:

The pre-historic period of which there are hardly any known historical records.
Early Historic period distinguished by the introduction of Buddhism after arrival of the famous Guru Padmasambhava.
Medieval or the period of Theocracy.
Monarchical rule or the Early Modern Period.
Modern Period marked by introduction of the legislative assembly, secular education, biomedicine and motor roads.

Though largely nestled high up in the mountains, it is amazing to realize that this small country of some 7 lac odd people has so much history and diversity burrowed in it.

Blending the mythological with the historical, the book tells the tale of this country from the point of the people, the languages they spoke and the Kings they had: from the popular Songsten Gampo through the establishment of the dual system of government-the Desis and Je Khenpo-by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of the present day Bhutan to the incumbent monarch.

We learn how the constant feuds as well as reconciliations between different clans and different schools of Buddhism have shaped the history of Bhutan. Another interesting topic dealt with is the country's shared history with its neighbors like India, Nepal, China and particularly Tibet which seems to have played the role of both the warmest ally and the coldest foe, the admired and the despised.

Also,though briefly the issue of Lhotshampa ethnic cleansing is discussed too providing a short background and the road ahead.

Woven through the book there are then sporadic commentaries on the country's interaction with modernity and the strain caused on the social fabric of the community because of the tussle between the traditional and the modern, which is aptly captured in these lines:

Paradoxically, not all can speak their ‘native tongue’ fluently. This linguistic conundrum of multiple imperfect tongues with no solid grounding in one as the first language aptly reflects the very fragmented but dynamic personality of many young Bhutanese, who are grappling between the traditional past and postmodern future. They have neither fully relinquished the old world and embraced the new, nor fully inherited the old and rejected the new; they linger in a limbo halfway between tradition and modernity, the East and the West, simplicity and sophistication, between linguistic poverty and proficiency. Out of such a diachronic situation emerges an interesting Bhutanese character, which is aptly captured by the state’s search for the Middle Way.

The linguistic landscape of Bhutan is changing very fast and dramatically. It is very likely that in a few decades most dialects and many minor languages will be dead. A few major languages may survive the onslaught of English and globalization but will nonetheless have changed significantly. As each word represents an idea, the death of each language will mean the loss of a whole set of ideas and culture. The situation of Bhutan’s languages in the long future will be the best yardstick to measure cultural changes, indicating both how much was lost and how much has changed due to the homogenizing affects of modernization.

Some bonus Interesting facts:

The modern habit of attaching the father’s or husband’s name to one’s name in imitation of foreign cultures is another case of a modern accretion. Bhutanese traditionally received their names from religious figures individually and did not have the tradition of a family name. However, many parents today choose either the whole or part of their children’s names, and some children and female spouses add the second name of the father as their surname. Trendy as it may seem, this has its own practical and social problems. Bhutanese first names are generally gender-neutral and one has to tell the gender of the person by their second name. This is now impossible in the case of a girl who adopts her father’s second name as her second name. It is also a socially regressive practice in embracing a patriarchal symbol in favour of Bhutanese tradition with gender equality.

Ceremonies for nuptial bonds were rare in the past and limited to certain areas and some aristocratic families who adopted Tibetan customs. The Buddhist tradition does not have wedding rituals. However, today, new wedding rituals incorporating an element of Buddhist prayers and a big luncheon are common in Thimphu and other urban centres. Such invention of tradition, inevitably, comes with its own set of problems and challenges. While most people still approach such public displays of affection and novel rituals with some discomfort, the rituals have led to economic pressures amongst peers to throw grander parties or give more expensive presents. In a small society where most people know each other, it is also causing a stigma for those who cannot have these ceremonies.

[Vijay]

Very detailed and lots of information to go through. If you're in anyway interested in Bhutan and its history, this is a book to read.

It does contain plenty of detail, some of which may be too much if you're only interested in something a bit more brief and concise.

The author deserves plenty of praise on this marvellous piece of work which his country should be proud as well.

[Patricia]

Overall, this is a great choice for learning more about Bhutan. Pretty much the only option available in English also. I think it could have benefited from some closer editing. Parts of it read like an exhaustive list rather than a narrative or analysis.

[Danielle Service]

The definitive guide on Bhutan. It helped me understand this small Himalayan country as much as living there did.

[Michal Thoma]

Karma Phutnsho's History of Bhutan is probably most comprehensive history on the country written so far. It covers history from early beginning to nearly today and it's written both scholarly and in entertaining way. It's main strength lies in the medieval history of Bhutan, which is the author's main scholar focus. Trained as Buddhist monk in his early age, Karma Phutnsho can deliver very great understanding of country's religion oriented and propelled history. The book doesn't even lack a sense of subtle academic humour.

Anyway while reading you definitely should have in mind, that this is book about Bhutan written by Bhutanese who often feels need to cover up some less virtuous deed of Bhutan and it's leader. This is especially true when the book reaches the beginnings of the monarchy. While writing about the father of the first king, Jigme Namgyel and Ashley Eden expedition, one even feels he is reading two books, in one part, blame for diplomatic disaster is put on Eden, in next paragrapsh the same blame is put on Jigme Namgyel. With the first and the second king, the book actually just follow the official history without much trying to give more complex insight. Reading in between the lines, I believe that author deliberately inhibited himself as criticism of the Monarchy is very sensitive in Bhutan. So the author is giving us glaring picture of the events while we can see some more dire backstage which is not commented openly.

With the third king and modernization, this book is no longer relevant history as it doesn't give detailed account of any event. While the author makes honest try to explain about the so called "southern problem" (eviction of Nepali population) it wrongly says, that southern Nepali people came as labourers while they were explicitly invited as settlers. It also make no notion of the changes to citizenship laws which later made it easy to deny citizenship to people, who were counted as citizens before.

The book is very great, but author would make a favour to his own academic credentials, if he didn't venture to history of monarchy, where the book has to be consulted with other sources to get complete picture. If the book consist of medieval history only, it would definitely be the best one.

[AskHistorians]

This is an in depth look in Bhutanese society and history coming from one of the country's premier academics. It begins with all of the information on Bhutan's languages, people, and names for their country before going into the beginnings of recorded history in the 700s going to the present day. Most histories of Bhutan gloss over the period from 1705 (the reveal of the Zhabdrung's death) to 1907 (the establishment of the monarchy), with a brief detailed interlude in 1864 (the Duar War). Phuntsho's work goes into this long period of disunity and even covers some of the monarchy's failures in the 20th Century (though not quite as detailed as we would all like, this is probably a matter of self-preservation).

[Daniel Simmons]

A comprehensive (and how!) but rather clunkily written history of this tiny Himalayan kingdom. Certainly it makes a terrific reference, but as a memorable narrative of Bhutan's foundations and historical figures, it falls rather short.

[Garrett Johnson]

Incredibly encyclopedic. It should be read slowly and thoroughly, keeping notes. It gives a very good perspective from a former Bhutanese monk with an Oxford education. Honest with the subject and detailed.

[Matt]

An extremely comprehensive book about Bhutan. Well-written and accessible. However, I probably wouldn't recommend this for the average reader unless you have an interest in Bhutan and/or history.

[Prabhakar Singh]

A wonderful, erudite, and engaging book. Phuntso gives an insider's perspective on Bhutan.