Bhutan at Glance - Life, People and History of Bhutan

Bhutan is a Hidden jewel in the eastern Himalayas between giants China and India. In addition to this, Bhutan is also known as a country of the Thunder Dragon. Probably Bhutan is a unique cultural and exotic natural destination. Covering 47,000 square kilometers and as big as Switzerland, but is sparsely inhabited, Bhutan forms a gigantic staircase from a narrow strip of land, from the South at an altitude of 300 m up to high Himalayan peaks in the North with an altitude of 7,000 m.

LIFE IN BHUTAN

The mountains are magnificent, the forest is dense, the people are delightful. Air is pure, the architecture imposing, the religion exciting, and the art superb. The beauty of pastoral landscape can seem unreal to the travelers from the industrialized world: houses with brightly decorated window frames and shingled roofs: patchwork of green paddy fields, plots of tawny buckwheat, oak forest, a covered bridge, fences intricately woven bamboo, a man leaning on a wooden rail trampling his harvest, a women weaving in the open air, a baby placed into a horse's saddle bag, yaks browsing in groves of dense rhododendron forest. Check Trekking Trail Nepal Best Bhutan Tour.

HISTORY OF BHUTAN

The name Bhutan is deriving from the ancient Indian world Bhotanta which means the end of the land of BHOT. Bhot was the Sanskrit term which means Tibet, so this could mean the end of the land of Tibet. It could also be the extended form of the Sanskrit word Bhu-Uttan of High Land. The Bhutanese themselves refer to their country as Druk Yul or The Land of Peaceful Dragon

No archeological research has yet been carried out in Bhutan. While stone implements found on the surface of the ground indicates Bhutan was inhabited fairly early, probably around 2000 BC.

Secular moral theory is so perfect in Bhutan in between culture, religion, tradition, language and education the religious school, the Drukpa, which prevailed from the 17th century and even gave its name to the country it unified and its inhabitants (in the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is called Druk Yul and the Bhutanese people Drukpas).

Bhutan was not unified under a central authority until the 17th century. However, the religious presence in the country had been acting as a spiritual cohesion from many years. It was in 747 AD that Padma Sambhava, known as Guru Rimpoche made his legendary trip from Tibet across the mountains flying on a tiger’s back. He arrived in the rocky valley of Paro at Takstang Monastery also known as Tigers Nest. A monastery which perches precariously on the cliff face as a permanent memory to his name. Guru Rimpoche is the father of the tantric strain of Mahayana Buddhism practiced in Bhutan. Bhutan is the only country in the world where Mahayana Buddhism (also known as Tantric Buddhism) is the official religion.

Religion, tradition and ancestral customs constitute Bhutanese etiquette, the most visible elements of which are respect for all religious institutions and wearing of national dress Khos and Kiras.

PEOPLE OF BHUTAN

The first records of people settling in Bhutan go back 1400 years ago. It is very well possible though that Bhutan was already inhabited by scattered clusters of tribes. The Drukpa are the indigenous population of Bhutan. The major ethnic group is divided as Sharchops, Ngalops, and Lhotsampas.

The Sharchop were believed to be original inhabitants of Bhutan. Since they live predominantly in east part Bhutan. Sharecrop is started from Burma (Myanmar crossing northeast of India and reach to Bhutan.

The second tribe of Bhutan where the Ngalop on first. While Ngalop import Buddhist religion to the Kingdom of Bhutan. Much as they migrate in the late 19th century from the Tibetan plains. You find them mainly in Western Bhutan.

In the early 20th century, the Lhotshampa lives in the south of Bhutan, looking for agricultural land for livelihood. They are of Nepalese origin and you will recognize them by their TOPI a very specific headgear. This minority ethnic group of people was heavily discriminated in the late 1980s. As a result in 1990 Lhotshampa massively fled to Nepal. As a result, they are unable to return to their country.Most of them still live in refugee camps of United Nations in Nepal.

SOCIAL EQUITY

Bhutan is a relatively egalitarian society where women enjoy equal rights with men in every respect. This balance of gender equity makes the of social and economic development at its best. They are actively involved in all ranges of Bhutan sociology-economic development.

The kingdom of Bhutan never has a practice of stiff class system. People rank of birth does not influence their opportunities on the social and educational ladder.