Recently, the Tamangs of the world celebrated Sonam Lhochar or the Tamang New Year. Constituting as one of the most important segments of the Buddhist population, the Tamangs are also known by various appellations, such as ‘Bhootiya’, ‘Ishang’, ‘Lama’, ‘Lama Bhotey’ ‘Moormi’, ‘Murmi’, ‘Nishung,’ ‘Saing’, ‘Siyena Bhutia’, and ‘Tamang-Bhotiya’ *****Tamangs as Rulers of ancient Nepal Valley***** Eden Vansittart in Gurkhas, Handbook for the Indian Army, Compiled under the Orders of the Government of India, 1906/1991: “Ancient history would seem to point out that they [the Murmis] were the original inhabitants of the Nepal Valley”. [Page 141]. “It is probable that the Rais conquered the Tibetan tribe (now called Murmis), which originally held the Nepal Valley”. [P 128]. The Murmi “was probably a pure Tibetan tribe”.[P 141]. An authority on the subject, “Suniti Kumar Chatterji, has verified the historical fact that the term Nepal is derived from the Tibetan language Nebal meaning ‘a house of wool’ ”.[Net]. Moreover, “Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 9,000 years. It appears that people who were probably of Tibeto-Burman ethnicity lived in Nepal 2,500 years ago”. [Net]. The later history of the Tamangs, particularly after the installation of the Shah dynasty in 1768 and the commencement of the de facto rule of the Ranas from 1846 onwards, however, is a long saga of man’s inhumanity to man. The community suffered in its own land at the hands of a succession of brutal and merciless foreigners from Rajputana who became rulers of Nepal. ****Tibetan genesis:**** Before 1932, the community was never called “Tamangs” in the kingdom of Nepal; and the rulers deliberately kept all other Mongoloid people ignorant about their origin and history. The rulers also destroyed their language, culture, and distinct identities and made them believe some thing else to suit their [rulers’] convenience. The first step for any people to achieve something is to know about themselves and their history. Daniel Wright, Cambridge, England, published HISTORY OF NEPAL, printed at the University Press in 1877. According to the Preface dated 12 January, 1877, the book is the translation of “the original manuscript, written in Parbatiya [now called Nepali language] with an admixture of Sanskrit and Newari,”; and that “The translation of the History has been made by Shew Shunker Singh, the Mir Munshi attached to the British Residency, who has lived in Nepal for nearly thirty years. He was assisted, when necessary, by Pandit Shri Gunanand, who is a native of Nepal, residing at Patan, and whose ancestors, for many generations, have been the compilers of this History”. I have mentioned the background to the book to show that the Tamang, constituting, perhaps, the single largest Nepal population community-wise, is mentioned as “Bhotiyas”. For, Wright writes: “For the size of the country Nepal possesses a great variety of races in its population. The principal of these are the Gorkhas, Newars, Magars, Gurungs, Limbus, Kiratis, Bhotiyas and Lepchas. The Gorkhas, or Gorkhalis, so named from the former capital of their country, are the dominant race. They are said to be of Rajput descent, and to have been driven out of Rajputana on the occasion of an invasion by Musulmans”. [Page 25]. “The Bhotiyas are the hillmen living around the valley, and between it and Tibet. They are powerful, muscular, but ugly people. Most of the carrying of burdens is performed by them, and the load they can bear is surprising. The Bhotiyas always carry load on their backs, supported by a strap across the forehead, whereas the Newars invariably carry theirs in baskets with a pole across the shoulder”. [P27] Wright also writes: “The Newars, Limbus, Kiratis, and Bhotiyas are all Buddhists”. [P32]. Here the “Bhotiyas” refers to Murmi or Tamang. Joseph Dalton Hooker,[1848],writes in Himalayan Journals (Vol I P130): “The Moormis are the only other native tribe remaining in any numbers in Sikkim, except the Tibetans of the loftier mountains. The Moormis are a scattered people, of Tibetan origin, and called “Nishung,” from being composed of two branches, respectively from the districts of Nimo and Shung, both on the road between Sikkim and Lhassa. Both their language and religion are purely Tibetan”. W. Brook Northey and C. J. Morris write: “It would seem most probable that they [Murmis] were originally a Tibetan tribe that somehow or other had managed to find its way into Nepal thence to settle and never to return”. The alien Hindu rulers of Nepal placed the Tamangs very low in the social hierarchy. The authors add: “While the exact social status of the Murmi is not very easy to define, it is certainly below that of the Magar, Gurung, Limbu, Rai and Sunwar, and the men of these tribes would always consider themselves superior to them”. [The Gurkhas, 1927/1974, P 258-9] According to Pal Kazi Man Tamang, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama states that “the Tamangs were originally a group of Tibetan cavalry. They led an expedition to the famous Magadha city in order to obtain the Buddhist relic. With the relic, the victorious army returned to Tibet. Some of the groups, however, settled on the way. It is believed that they were the ancestors of the Tamangs of Nepal. This fact is supported by striking similarities in attire, culture, customs, language, religion, script, etc between the Tamangs and the Bhutias”. Furba Lama in The Statesman, Siliguri, 9 April, 2010 wrote: “The Tamags were the first Tibetan sub-sect to embrace Nyingmapa Buddhism in Tibet at Palyul [Nepal], where the first Nyingmapa Buddhist gompas (monasteries) were built. The word Tamang is wrong, neither is it a Nepali nor a Tibetan word. In fact, Tamag is the correct word and its pronounciation [sic (pronunciation)] is correctly mentioned in the Tibetan-to-English dictionary (page 980) prepared and published by Sarat Chandra Das of Lhasa Villa, Darjeeling, in 1834 [sic (1902)]”. He also penned: “The letter or word Ta, meaning horse, and Mag meaning army, gives the word Tamag, meaning Mounted Army (in Nepali Ghorchari Sena, Risalla, Aswarohi Sena). There were so many Tibetan sub-sects of which the Tamags were the main security and protection force of the palace and king. That is why Tamag is a Tibetan word that was willfully mispronounced and intentionally changed to Tamang by the so-called first Hindu monarch just after the creation of Nepal”. Furba Lama continues: “The Tamags were compelled by the so-called first Hindu king of “unified” Nepal in 1767 to give up their culture, costumes, language and main festivals (Sonam Lochar). Defiance invited severe punishment from the so-called Hindu King’s forces, who intruded from Kanauj (Rajasthan) and included the Rajputh communities of Chettris and Bahoons. This explains why the Tamags lost everything after the unification of Nepal.” [Emphasis added] Lama concludes: “Tamags should come forward and do something about the preservation of Nyingmapa Buddhism and their culture, rituals and lifestyle. If these vanish, all Tamags will face an identity crisis. Each and every Tamag must keep in mind that they are [sic he is] different than [sic (from)] the other communities”. [Emphasis added]. In a letter to the Editor, however, Diganta Thapa, Siliguri, in his response dated 14 April, 2010 wrote that “the article [by Furba Lama] was a little divisive and politically motivated”. “To this day other races in Nepal look upon Murmis as Bhutias and I have myself heard a recruit return himself as a Bhutia Murmi. There is no doubt that many Tibetans and Lepchas have been admitted into the Murmi nation, as members of the same.” [Vansittart P 140]. Source: isikkim
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:55:11 +0000
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