The Himalayas, NepaL & Bhutan-Day 0

Tuesday, April 1, 2025 - Preliminaries

Bhutan and Nepal

Two countries separated by less than 40 miles of the Indian state of Sikkim, but oh so different. Nepal, birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, is now predominantly Hindu, while Vajrayana Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, is the state religion in Bhutan, practiced by as much as 75% of the population.

There's an abundance of other differences but one major commonality, and it's a juggernaut - the Himalayas. The Himalayan mountain range is a formidable, 1500-mile barrier than sweeps across Asia from Afghanistan to China, separating the Tibetan plateau from the Indian subcontinent, and it's impossible to discuss Nepal and Bhutan without knowing a bit about the Himalayas and how they profoundly molded the beliefs, practices, and trajectories of these countries and their people.

The Himalayas

Stretching from the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges in Pakistan and Afghanistan, itself a formidable barrier and watershed that includes more than 20 mountains greater than 23,000 feet above sea level, the Himalayas continues on for another 1500 miles and boasts well over 100 peaks more than 23,000 feet. The range continues through the disputed lands of Arunachal Pradesh, terminating at the foothills of the Brahmaputra River basin near the northwestern border of Myanmar.

The mountain system creates a drainage basin that is home to over 600 million people - over 50 million of whom live in the Himalayan mountains themselves. North of the range lies the vast Tibetan plateau, highest and largest plateau on the planet, nearly a million square miles in area. To put that into perspective, the continental United States is just over 3 million square miles.

The Himalayas, historically, have been a barrier to people and commerce, but the range is also a barrier to weather. The 5-mile high barrier of the Himalayan range captures nearly all of the atmospheric moisture from the tropical latitudes, feeding massive glacier systems that are sometimes referred to as the Third Pole as they create the largest reservoir of fresh water outside of the polar regions. On the southern slopes and subtropical plains of the south, as much as 120 inches of precipitation falls, most of it as snow, whereas in the northern slopes that yield to the Tibetan plateau there’s an average of about 8 inches of annual precipitation, most of it as hail.

The Himalayan range is the result of tectonic forces as the upper crust of the Indian tectonic plate folds and is uplifted as it pushes north against the Eurasian plate. The lower layers of the plates continue to push against each other and that contributes to the overall uplifting of the mountains as well as creating some devastating earthquakes in the area as those immense pressures are released. In the past 100 years, there have been 4 earthquakes in the region that were greater than 8.0 on the Richter scale with the greatest recorded on April 15, 1950 - a staggering 8.6 according to the USGS. But the most deadly was the October 8, 2005 Kashmir earthquake, a 7.6, that killed nearly 90,000, injured another 100,000, destroyed over 30,000 buildings, and displaced millions of people.

So the setting for the states of Nepal and Bhutan is a mountainous region, prone to severe earthquakes, that experiences abundant rainfall. A bit of a mixed bag as a formula for growth and economic prosperity. But the valleys and passes tucked away in the Himalayas also created natural barriers and routes for both trade and conquest. The steep valleys were also conducive to the creation of isolated kingdoms with no no centralized government beyond one's valley and those enclaves needed protection. And that, in turn, gave rise to the “dzong” - the fortress monasteries that served as both economic, administrative, and spiritual centers, as well as providing defense and early warning of invaders. So the dzongs, literally “fortified palace” in the Tibetan language, gave rise to the tradition of the “warrior monk” as people sought spiritual guidance and enlightenment while defending their way of life against intruders. It is these dzongs, more than anything else, that define the cultural heritages of Nepal and Bhutan and they are found throughout the Himalayas at strategic locations, designed to fulfill their purpose.

The dzong system was so effective, that in 1874, when Great Britain dissolved the East India Company and its army of mercenaries that controlled trade in south and southeast Asia for centuries, the Brits imported Gurkas (Gorkas) from Nepal who were trained from an early age in the Nepalese warrior monk tradition. The Gurkas, with a reputation as fierce and fearless warriors, helped Great Britain maintain control of India until August 15, 1947 when the world’s largest democracy gained independence.

Religion

As mentioned earlier, Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, the Awakened One, was born within the borders of current-day Nepal, and he spread his teachings through his travels in search of enlightenment. Today, the various branches of Buddhism have about 500 million followers, and it is the state religion of Bhutan. For comparison, Christianity has about 2.3 billion followers; Islam, about 1.9 billion; and Hinduism, about 1.2 billion.

Nepal, on the other hand, the birthplace of Buddhism, is now predominantly Hindu. There does not seem to be any clear reason for such a transition. Some say it’s because of Nepal’s proximity to India, but that fails to explain why Bhutan, which, like Nepal, is surrounded by India on the west, south, and east (China marks the boundary on the north for both countries) is predominantly Buddhist. It does seem though that the Rana regime, which seized power in 1846, may be the prime factor. Jung Bahadur Rana staged a dramatic coup in September of 1846 that carried on for several days, culminating in the Kot massacre where many of the king and queen’s aides were killed by Rana’s army. Later, Rana further consolidated his authoritarian rule at the Battle of Alau and King Rajendra was imprisoned in a palace in Bhaktapur.

The Rana regime established a hereditary ascendency to the throne and they remained in power until the Revolution of 1951 when a new constitution was adopted. During the time of the Rama reign though, specifically between 1926 and 1944, the regime banished many Buddhist monks for teaching Buddhism in an effort to squelch a Buddhist revival which they viewed as a threat to their authority. That would certainly have a chilling effect on practicing Buddhism in Nepal, and it wasn’t that long ago.

Buddhism has a long history in Bhutan. Guru Rinpoche, also known as Guru Padmasambhava, is credited with bringing Buddhism to Bhutan in the 8th century, and it has been practiced uninterrupted since. Even Bhutan’s constitution, established in 2008, abolishing the absolute hereditary monarchy of the Wangchuck clan and establishing a constitutional monarchy, specifically recognizes Buddhism as the country’s spiritual heritage. And now, it is established as the national religion of the country.

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