The Kingdom of Lo (Mustang): A Historical Study

365 Pages·2002·25.976 MB·English

by  Ramesh Dhungel

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h u tth e Book
This bod is a histarkat study of ow sf
prominent medievat kingdoma in the
trans-Himstayan region of Nepal. The core
territory ~f this kindom is known today as
'Mustang' of Notth-western Nepal. This is the
fink effort of a Nepali scholar to sketch a
fuil..ffedgad hjstbrical outline of the kingdom by
emplaying both Nepali and Tibetan sources.
The book is based on several fieldworks
m d u din Mustang and surrounding districts
of western Nepal during 1982-84 and 1995.
This research work has also utilized extensive
published and unpublished archival sources,
bdh in Nepali and Tibetan.

THE KINGDOM OF LO (MUSTANG)
A Historical Study
RAMESH K. DHUNGEL
Jigme S. P. Bista
for
TASMI GEPHEL FOUNDATION
Katlumandu, Nepal
2002
Published in Nepal by
Jigrne S. P. Bista for Tashi Gephel Foundation
G.P . 0. Box No. # 10489 Kathmandu, Nepal
Telephone : [phone]
Fax : [phone]
O Copyright Ramesh K. Dhungel 2002
First edition 2002
lSBN: 99933-57-93-6
Printed in Nepal by Lusha Press, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel./Fax : [phone], email : [email protected]
Dhanavajra Vajacharya,
Dedicated to the late
prominent epigrphist,
Sanskritist and historian of Nepal,
who inspired me to plunge into he quest of '
.
Nepali history in general .
and cultures, history and languages
.of the Himalayan region ofN epal in par ticular

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................... vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................... x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................. xi
IMPORTANT POINTS FOR READERS .................................... xiv
CHAPTERS
I INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1
Field Work and Primary Sources ............................................6
Physical Setting, Geographical Location ................................ 8
Climate and Vegetation ...................................................... 13
The People .............................................................................. 14
Major Settlenlents and Housing ............................................ 19
Published Sources on LoIMustang and the Nepal Himalayas.. 2 1
Works on LolMustang .......................................................... 25
I1 POLITICAL AND CULTURAL AFFILIATION WITH TIBET AND
THE NGARl (MNGA8-RIS)R EGION .......................................... 4 1
The LoIMilstang Region Under the Early Tibetan Empire
(Seventh through Tenth Century) ............................................4 3
LoIMustang under Ngari (mNga8-riss kor-gsum), KhasatYa-tshe
Kingdom. and Gung-hang (Tenth Through Fourteenth Century)
.............................................................................................. 47
Lo Undcr the KhasaIYa-tshe ~ingdomo f western Nepal and the
GungThang Principality of Western Tibet (Twelfth through
Fourteenth Centuries) ............................................................ 54
The Fall of thc KhasaIYa-tshe Kingdom and Lo's Movc Toward
Indepcndcncc from both the KhasatYa-tshe Kingdom and Gung-
thang (Latc Fourteenth through the First Half of the Fifteenth
Century) ................................................................................6 7
I11 THE FOUNDATION. RISE. AND STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
OF THE KINGDOM OF LOIMUSTANG ................................... 73
The Emergence of the Kingdom under King A-ma-dpal and His
descendants (Early Fifteenth through Mid-Fifteenth
Century) .................................................................................7. 5
rDzong-dpon and Chos-rgyal A-ma-dpnl (b . 1387 .d . 1447.
Comn~issionera nd First Independent Ruler of LolMustru~g.. . 83
LoIMustang under Chos-rgyal A-mgon-bstan-'dzin-bzang-po and
the Territorial Expansion of the Kingdom (1 447 .L ate Fifteenth
Century) ................................................................................ 88
LoIMustang undcr Chos-rgyal bKra-shis-mgon and mGon-po-
rgyal-mtshan (Late Fifteenth through the Mid-Sistecnth
Century) .................................................................................. 92
Struggle for Existence ( 1540s- 1788) ..................................... 99
King bSam-grub-dpal-'bar and his Attempt to Maintain
LoIMustang's Independence ................................................... 105
LoIMustang after bSam.gn~b.dpal.'bar. and the Age of Jul~ili
Suzerainty ............................................................................ I09
IV LOIMUSTANG UNDER NEPAL (SINCE 1789) ......................... 117
King (sDe-pa or Raja) dBa~g-rgyalr do.rje. His Policies and
Achievements. and the Military Campaign of Gorkha
(Nepal) ....................................................................................1. 19
State of Mustang under the Local Leadership of thc Rajas After
dBang-rgyal-rdo-rje (Since c . 1795) ..................................... 128
Mustang's Position after Dependency to Nepal ...................... 139
V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSlON ............................................... 147
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................... 157
APPENDICES ............................................................................ 183
i . Etylllology of Place naines ............................................. 185
. .
11 . Nepali Documents .............................................................. 191
iii . Tibetan Docun~ellts....... ................................. 207
PHOTO PLATES AND FACSIMILES 291
..........................................
INDEX ..........................................................................................3..3 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Most of the field data and the historical documents on which this study is
based were collected during the years 1982-83 under a historical survey
program that I conducted through the Research Centre for Nepal and Asian
Studies (CNAS), Tribhuvan University (TU). The project was funded by the
Integrated Development and Research of Canada (IDRC). I thus, gratefully
acknowledge the financial support provided for this purpose by the IDRC
through CNAS. I would also like to express my gratitude to CNAS and TU
for providing me the opportunity to conduct a historical survey on Mustang
and granting me an extensive leave of absence to advance my study focusing
on the same subject in the United States of America.
In the course of conducting the field survey of this research work, I have
incurred debts to at least several hundred people from Mustang and
elsewhere. The fieldwork for this research was conducted not onlv in
Mustang but also in the neighboring districts of Manang, Myagdi, Baglung,
and Parvat. Dozens of people fiom these districts either provided or helped
me to collect historical documents. I want to thank all of them.
In Mustang, the most instrumental help I obtained was fiom Wangd~
(dBang-dus) Lama and Dondup (Don-grub) Gurung of Lomanthang (Mon-
thang). Wangdi Lama was my first Tibetan language teacher at CNAS. and
he later worked as my assistant both for the fieldwork and for document
processing and translation. Dondup Gumg assisted me through several
months of fieldwork undertaken in the eastern (Shar-ri) and southern (south
from Dar-lha pass to the Muktinath area) villages of Mustang. Surendra
Bista, Gyacho (rGya-mtsho) Gurung (now a prominent Amchi). and Tenpa
Gyalchen (bsTan-pa-rgyal-mtshan) Bista, of Lomanthang (mon-thang) also
provided valuable assistance in the collection of historical documents.
The personal secretary and bilingual interpreter to the present Raja of
Mustang, Chandra Bahadur Thakali showed heart-felt interest in my project
and showed me hundreds of historical documents from the palace of
Mustang. Similarly, Venerable mKhan-po rin-po-che Tashi Tenjin (bKra-
shis-bstan-'dzijn) of Mon-thang-chos-sde monastery, venerable bCo-brgvad
Khri-chen rin-po-che Ngag-dbang-thub-bstan-rgya-mtsho of the ~ u s t k ~
monasteries in Lumbini and Baudhanath, Katharnndu, Pema (Padma) Lama
of Gar-phug also offered their valuable time to provide historical
information, documents, and allowed me to conduct a survey of religious
and cultural artifacts in and from Mustang. The Right Honorable Mustangi
Raja 'Jig-med-dpal-'bar Bista, Mr. Lobsang (Lo-bzang) Bista of Tsarang, Mr.
Sherab Gurung of Jarkot, Mr. Laxmi P. Thakali of Thini, Mr. Sankarmm