Abstract
The Tawang Monastery that is the centre of ethno-religious and sociopolitical edifice of the kingdom of ‘Mon’ that was incorporated into Tibet during the late seventeenth century by the Lhasa Tibetan Government is today an integral part of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas. The available Tibetan sources referred it as the seat of ethno-political authority of the ‘Mon’ a distinct ethnic group inhabiting that region known as ‘Monyul’. The historical cross cultural interface that Mon and Tawang Monastery cropped up with Tibet was spiritual interaction but as far as with other Trans Himalayan Buddhist kingdoms such as Bhutan, Ladakh, Spiti, Gilgit Baltistan and Mustang are concerned it was largely undertaken through a sort of forced migration. Today, the Mon and Monpas and their traditional religious culture are withhold by the Tawang Monastery, which is one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the entire Trans-Himalayan belt. This chapter examines the Tibetan cultural and religious influence of Monpas and the centrality of Tawang Monastery.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aris, M. 1979. Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom. Warminster: Aris and Philips Ltd.
Beal, S. 1996. Buddhist Records of Western World, vol. II. London: Kegan Paul.
Bod kyi lo rgyus rig gnas dpyad gzhi’i rgyu chhab dbsab sgraigs/ bod rang skyon gljong schhab grogs rig gnas dpyad gzhi’i rgyu chha au yon lhankhang gi srtsyom sgrig byas pa// published by Mi rigs dpyes krunkhang, Dharamsala, HP India.
Chakravati, B. 2003. A Cultural History of Bhutan, vol. I. Kolkata: Sagnik Books.
Dai, Manang. 2009. Arunachal Pradesh the Hidden Land. USA: Penguin Enterprise group.
Das, S.C. 2007. A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. New Delhi, India: Rupa & co.
Dhar, Bibhash. 2005. Arunachal Pradesh the Monpas of Tawang in Transition. Guwahati, Assam India: Geophil Publishing House.
Dutta, S. 2002. Cross-Border Trade of North East India: The Arunachal Perspective. Delhi: Hope India Publication.
Francke. 1975. A History of Ladakh. New Delhi: Sterling Publication.
Jha, D. 1985. The Wealth of Arunachal Pradesh. Delhi: Mittal Publications.
Kumar, B.B. 2002. Border Trade in Arunachal Pradesh: An Historical perspective. Delhi: Hope India Publication.
Lamb, Alastair. 1966. The McMahon Line, vol. I, II. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Metha, P. 1980. The North Eastern Frontier: A Documentary Study of the Internecine rivalry Between India, China, and Tibet, vol. 2., 1914–54. Oxford University Press.
Namgyal, Lhamu. 2014. Stories from Monyul. Dharamsala, HP: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives.
Norbu, N.Drung. 1995. Deu and Bon (Narrations, Symbolic Languages and the Bon Tradition in Ancient Tibet), 58–59. Dharamshala, HP, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Nyman, L. 1976. Tawang-A Case Study of British Frontier Policy in the Himalayas. Journal of Asian History 10 (2): 151–171.
Osik, N.N. 1986. A Brief History of Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi: Omsons Publication.
Petech, L. 1972. China and Tibet in the Early eighteenth Century, 17–20. Leiden.
Phuntsho K. 2013. The History of Bhutan. Random House India.
Rahul, R. 1971. Modern Bhutan. New Delhi.
Ramble, C. and M. Brauen. 2008. Anthropology of Tibet and the Himalaya. Kathmandu, Nepal: Vajra Publications.
Rizvi, J. 1983. Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia. YMCA, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Rta wang dgonpa’i lo rgyus Mon yul gsal ba’i me long/ rtom pa po or composed by rgyal sras sprtayulsku, Published by Amnye Machen Institute, Dharamsala(HP) India.
Sarkar, N. 1981. Tawang Monastery, published by Director of information and Public Relations. Shillong: Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
Sbas yulskyid mo ljong skyi chos ‘byung bzhugs so/ Mon gyi bstan rig gzhung ‘zhinskyong tshogs pa, published by Buddhist Culture Preservation society, Bomdi la, Arunachal Pradesh, India, 2002.
Schaeffer, K.S., and M.T. Kapstein. 2013. Sources of Tibetan Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press.
Shakapa, T.W.P. 1967. Tibet: A Political History. London: Yale University Press.
Sharma, K. 1993. Painted Scrolls of Asia. New Delhi, India: Intellectual Publishing House.
Sharma, Ramesh. 1983. Images of Sikkim: The Land, people, and culture. Rigsum Publications.
Snellgrove, D. and H. Richardson. 1968. A Cultural History of Tibet. London.
Tenpa, L. 2018. An Early History of the Mon Region (India) and its Relationship with Tibet and Bhutan. Dharamshala, India: The Library of Tibetan Works & Archives.
Vohra, S. 1993. The Northern Frontier of India-The Border Dispute with China. New Delhi, India: Intellectual Publishing House.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Namgyal, T. (2020). Monpas, Tawang Monastery and Tibetan Buddhism: Ethno-Religious Links. In: Mayilvaganan, M., Khatoon, N., Bej, S. (eds) Tawang, Monpas and Tibetan Buddhism in Transition. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4345-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-4346-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)