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Begin New Search Political Geography Bhutan Author Dorji Penjore

1. Luminaries and Legacies of Nenyingpa in Western Bhutan

Author:
Dorji Penjore
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
Nenyingpa (gnas rnying pa) was one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism to spread in proto-Bhutan or Lhomon Khazhi (lho mon kha bzhi) as Bhutan was then known. Some of the other schools were Lhapa (lha pa) of Drigung Kagyu (’bri gung bka’ brgyud), Kathogpa (ka thog pa) of Nyingma (rnying ma) school, Chakzampa (lcag zam pa) of Thangtong Gyalpo (thang stong rgyal po), Barawa (’ba’ ra ba) school of Gyaltshan Palzang (rgyal mtshan dpal bzang), and Gaden Shingtapa (dga’ ldan shing ta pa?). Several centuries later, the school, its lamas (bla ma) and their legacies are not known in Bhutan for various reasons. They were a member of the coalition of five lamas (bla ma khag lnga) who opposed Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal’s (1594- 1651) consolidation of political power under Drukpa Kagyu (’brug pa bka’ rgyud) school in western Bhutan.
Topic:
Religion and Buddhism
Political Geography:
Bhutan

2. A Note on Tsangmo, a Bhutanese Quatrain

Author:
Dorji Penjore
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The villages of Shingkhar and Wamling in Zhemgang District decided to celebrate the 2007 New Year by organizing an archery match. On the second day of the match held at Shingkhar, the women were taking a break from dancing and singing folksongs when a woman from Wamling sang one tsangmo, and without being asked, a woman from Shingkhar responded … until the women from one village ran out of tsangmo. Tsangmo (gtsang mo) is the most popular Bhutanese oral tradition after folktales (srung). Other oral performance like folksongs are sung or danced mostly during village festivals or new year (blo gsar), whereas tsangmo is sung almost every day as young people go about their work, fetching water from fountains or ponds, collecting firewood, fodder, and leaf-litters, herding cattle, running errands to next villages, travelling to attend village meetings, and on the farm ploughing and digging land, sowing seeds, and weeding and harvesting crops. Such was the popularity of tsangmo then. But not anymore.
Topic:
Culture, Poetry, Oral Tradition, and Folk Songs
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

3. Causes and Conditions of Bhutan’s Democratic Transition

Author:
Dorji Penjore
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
After more than two and a half centuries of ecclesiocratic rule and one hundred years of absolute monarchy, Bhutan became democracy in 2008. This historic event was preceded by abdication of the Fourth Majesty in 2006. It is often described as one of the most peaceful democratic transitions in modern history without any role for internal crisis or external pressure. Rather than the people demanding democracy from the king, the latter voluntarily sacrificed his absolute power to empower his subjects for future peace and wellbeing. Mieko Nishimizu (2008) wrote, “The world, after all, had never known a monarch who not only spearheaded political reforms to democracy, but also chose to abdicate the throne on his own terms – at the peak of popularity, in the fullest of his time” (p. xi). It was for the first time in world history that a monarch had voluntarily surrendered his powers and eventually abdicated the throne with no other reasons than pursuing political reforms for the sake of the kingdom and the people (Mathou, 2008). However, it must be noted that democracy did not come overnight; it is rather the final fruit of more than 50 years of political reforms initiated by the monarchs. The reforms were made smooth and successful by the nature of traditional Bhutanese political and social structure, which was fundamentally democratic and egalitarian.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, Reform, and Monarchy
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

4. Digging the Past: The State of Archaeological Study of Bhutan

Author:
Dorji Penjore
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This is only a preliminary note on the current state of archaeology and potential of archaeological study in understanding Bhutan and its past. The author prepared the paper as talking points for an international conference on “The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Tibetan Plateau” (Chengdu, Sichuan Province, 21-24 August 2011) organised by the Centre for Tibetan Studies of Sichuan University and the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Science. Only a few points have been added. Archaeology or archaeological study of Bhutan is literally nonexistent. The country’s rich archaeological sites await excavation and systematic study to shed much needed light on the history of early settlers. Wedged between the two great civilizations of Tibet and India, settlement of what is today Bhutan must have predated that of Tibetan plateau because of the former’s fertile central valleys and favourable climates. In absence of any systematic archaeological study and findings, presence of stone tools and megaliths found across the country are the only existing evidence of pre-historic people in Bhutan. These stone artefacts and structures are found across the country, and stone tools (adzes) are ubiquitous in Bhutanese homes. Records that could have provided information on early settlers had been lost to warfare, fires, earthquakes, floods, and other natural calamities. The entire historical documents of the Punakha dzong were lost when fire destroyed it in 1832 followed by an earthquake in 1897. Most places and sites with potential association to early or pre-historic people are being lost to time, natural forces, and human activities. Fragility of the Himalayan ecology does not help the situation
Topic:
History and Archaeology
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan