Trashigang
Encyclopedia
Trashigang District is Bhutan
's easternmost dzongkhag
(district).
s, which means "easterner" in Dzongkha, the national language. The Sharchops appear to mix India
n and Tibetan
blood whereas the Ngalop
s of central and western Bhutan appear to be mainly Tibetan.
Dakpa language
and the Southern Bodish Brokpa language
. Dakpa is spoken by descendants of yak
herding communities, and may in fact be a divergent dialect of Brokpake
, heavily influenced by Dzalakha
.
to Tibet
, and still is a primary route for Bhutanese trade with India. Towns include Trashigang
, Radi, Rangjung
, and Phongmey. The district produces a lot of rice
and lavender
.
There are several tourist packages to Bhutan that include trips from Thimphu
to Trashigang, despite the 17-hour journey from the capital over the rough and dangerous Lateral Road
.
Trashigang dzongkhag is also the site of Sherubtse College
, the original college within the Royal University of Bhutan
system.
Trashigang Dzong, or fortress, was built in 1659 by the third Druk Desi
Chögyal Mingyur Tenpa to defend against Tibetan invaders. Because of its altitude invading armies remarked that "it is not a dzong on the ground, it is in the sky".
An ancient lhakhang or temple
in the district, known for its rock garden
, contains a sacred footprint said to be either that of Guru Rimpoche or that of a khandroma (angel).
Rangjung
, 16 km east of the district capital, is the site of Rangjung Ösel Chöling Monastery, established by Dungse Garab Dorje Rinpoche in 1989. The temple contains particularly fine images of Padmasambhava
, Shantarakshita
and Chögyal Trisong Detsen
(Khen-Lop-Chö sum).
, one of ten protected areas of Bhutan, was created in part to protect the migoi, a type of yeti, in whose existence most Bhutanese believe. The sanctuary covers the eastern third of the district (Merag, Sakteng Gewog
s), and is connected via biological corridor to Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary
in Samdrup Jongkhar District to the south.
s:
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
's easternmost dzongkhag
Dzongkhag
A dzongkhag is an administrative and judicial district of Bhutan. The twenty dzongkhags of Bhutan are further divided into 205 gewogs. Some larger dzongkhags have one or more of an intermediate judicial division, known as dungkhags , which themselves comprise two or more gewogs...
(district).
Culture
The inhabitants of Trashigang district are mainly SharchopSharchop
Sharchop is a collective term for the populations of mixed Southeast Asian and South Asian descent that live in the eastern districts of Bhutan.-Ethnicity:...
s, which means "easterner" in Dzongkha, the national language. The Sharchops appear to mix India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Tibetan
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
blood whereas the Ngalop
Ngalop
The Ngalop are people of Tibetan origin who migrated to Bhutan as early as the ninth century. For this reason, they are often referred to in literature as "Bhote"...
s of central and western Bhutan appear to be mainly Tibetan.
Languages
The dominant language of Trashigang is Tshangla (Sharchopkha), the lingua franca of eastern Bhutan. Two significant minority languages are spoken in the far eastern region of the district: the East BodishEast Bodish languages
The East Bodish languages are those Bodish languages not covered by the name Tibetan, such as those spoken by the Monpa. They include:*Dakpa*Dzala*Bumthang *Tawang*Black Mountain Monpa .The most divergent is Dakpa...
Dakpa language
Dakpa language
The Dakpa language is an East Bodish language spoken by about 1,000 people in northern Trashigang District in eastern Bhutan, mainly in Chaleng, Phongmey, Yobinang, Dangpholeng and Lengkhar near Radhi. Van Driem describes Dakpa as the most divergent of Bhutan's East Bodish languages...
and the Southern Bodish Brokpa language
Brokpa language
The Brokpa language is a Southern Tibetan language spoken by about 5,000 people mainly in Merak and Sakten Gewogs in the Sakten Valley of Trashigang District in eastern Bhutan...
. Dakpa is spoken by descendants of yak
Yak
The yak, Bos grunniens or Bos mutus, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population...
herding communities, and may in fact be a divergent dialect of Brokpake
Brokpa language
The Brokpa language is a Southern Tibetan language spoken by about 5,000 people mainly in Merak and Sakten Gewogs in the Sakten Valley of Trashigang District in eastern Bhutan...
, heavily influenced by Dzalakha
Dzala language
The Dzala language, also called Dzalakha or Dzalamat, is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in eastern Bhutan, in Lhuntse and Trashiyangtse Districts.- External links :**...
.
Economy and education
While it has no major urban area, Trashigang dzongkhag has the densest population in Bhutan. It used to be part of an important trade route connecting AssamAssam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
to Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, and still is a primary route for Bhutanese trade with India. Towns include Trashigang
Trashigang
Trashigang District is Bhutan's easternmost dzongkhag .-Culture:...
, Radi, Rangjung
Rangjung
Rangjung is a town on the Gamri River in the Radhi Gewog of Tashigang District, East Bhutan.The town is the location of Rangjung Ösel Chöling monastery, established by Dungse Garab Dorje Rinpoche in 1989; and the Rangjung Vocational Training Institute which offers certificate level courses in...
, and Phongmey. The district produces a lot of rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and lavender
Lavender
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. An Old World genus, distributed from Macaronesia across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South-East India...
.
There are several tourist packages to Bhutan that include trips from Thimphu
Thimphu
Thimphu also spelt Thimpu, is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's dzongkhags, the Thimphu District. The city became the capital of Bhutan in 1961...
to Trashigang, despite the 17-hour journey from the capital over the rough and dangerous Lateral Road
Lateral Road
Bhutan's Lateral Road is its primary east-west corridor, connecting Phuentsholing in the southwest to Trashigang in the east. In between, the Lateral Road runs directly through Wangdue Phodrang, Trongsa, and other population centers...
.
Trashigang dzongkhag is also the site of Sherubtse College
Sherubtse College
Sherubtse College was the first accredited college in Bhutan, founded in 1966. As of 2003 it became part of the newly created Royal University of Bhutan system that comprises all public post-secondary schools in Bhutan....
, the original college within the Royal University of Bhutan
Royal University of Bhutan
The Royal University of Bhutan , founded on June 2, 2003 by a royal decree is the national university system of Bhutan....
system.
Landmarks
Druk Desi
The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries...
Chögyal Mingyur Tenpa to defend against Tibetan invaders. Because of its altitude invading armies remarked that "it is not a dzong on the ground, it is in the sky".
An ancient lhakhang or temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
in the district, known for its rock garden
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden or Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a Sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India, also known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden after its founder Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. Today it is spread over an area of forty-acres , it is...
, contains a sacred footprint said to be either that of Guru Rimpoche or that of a khandroma (angel).
Rangjung
Rangjung
Rangjung is a town on the Gamri River in the Radhi Gewog of Tashigang District, East Bhutan.The town is the location of Rangjung Ösel Chöling monastery, established by Dungse Garab Dorje Rinpoche in 1989; and the Rangjung Vocational Training Institute which offers certificate level courses in...
, 16 km east of the district capital, is the site of Rangjung Ösel Chöling Monastery, established by Dungse Garab Dorje Rinpoche in 1989. The temple contains particularly fine images of Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ; Mongolian ловон Бадмажунай, lovon Badmajunai, , Means The Lotus-Born, was a sage guru from Oddiyāna who is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet and neighbouring countries in the 8th century...
, Shantarakshita
Shantarakshita
' was a renowned 8th century Indian Buddhist Brahmin and abbot of Nalanda University. Śāntarakṣita founded the philosophical school known as Yogacara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka, which united the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna, the Yogacara tradition of Asanga and the logical and epistemological...
and Chögyal Trisong Detsen
Trisong Detsen
Trisong Detsän or Trisong Detsen ཁྲི་སྲོང་ལྡེ་བཙན , was the son of Me Agtsom and one of the emperors of Tibet and ruled...
(Khen-Lop-Chö sum).
Protected area
The Sakteng Wildlife SanctuarySakteng Wildlife Sanctuary
Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary located mostly in Trashigang District and just crossing the border into Samdrup Jongkhar District, Bhutan. It is one of the country's protected areas.-Flora and fauna:...
, one of ten protected areas of Bhutan, was created in part to protect the migoi, a type of yeti, in whose existence most Bhutanese believe. The sanctuary covers the eastern third of the district (Merag, Sakteng Gewog
Sakten Gewog
Sagteng Gewog , also called Sakteng is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Sakten and Merak Gewogs comprise Sakten Dungkhag . Much of the gewog lies within the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary....
s), and is connected via biological corridor to Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary
Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary
Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary is the smallest protected area of Bhutan covering in Samdrup Jongkhar District along the southern border with Assam. Its elevations range between and . Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary is, despite its small acreage, an important habitat for elephants, gaur , and other...
in Samdrup Jongkhar District to the south.
Geography
Trashigang is divided into fifteen gewogGewog
A gewog, or geog refers to a group of villages in Bhutan. Gewogs form a geographic administrative unit below dzongkhag districts , and above thromde municipalities. Bhutan comprises 205 gewogs, which average 230 km² in area...
s:
- Bartsham GewogBartsham GewogBartsham Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Bidung GewogBidung GewogBidung Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Kanglung GewogKanglung GewogKanglung Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Kangpara GewogKangpara GewogKangpar Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Kangpara Gewog, along with Thrimshing Gewog, comprises Thrimshing Dungkhag ....
- Khaling GewogKhaling GewogKhaling Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Khaling and Lumang Gewogs comprise Wamrong Dungkhag ....
- Lumang GewogLumang GewogLumang Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Lumang and Khaling Gewogs comprise Wamrong Dungkhag ....
- Merak GewogMerak GewogMerag Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Merak and Sakten Gewogs comprise Sakten Dungkhag ....
- Phongmey GewogPhongmey GewogPhongmed Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Radhi GewogRadhi GewogRadi Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Sakten GewogSakten GewogSagteng Gewog , also called Sakteng is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Sakten and Merak Gewogs comprise Sakten Dungkhag . Much of the gewog lies within the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary....
- Samkhar GewogSamkhar GewogSamkhar Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Shongphu GewogShongphu GewogShongphoog Gewog , also spelled Shongphu is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Thrimshing GewogThrimshing GewogThrimshing Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan. Thrimshing Gewog, along with Kangpara Gewog, comprises Thrimshing Dungkhag...
- Uzorong GewogUzorong GewogUzorong Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....
- Yangneer GewogYangneer GewogYangnyer Gewog is a gewog of Trashigang District, Bhutan....