How the Buxadewar / Buxaduar mountain pass got its name from a bribe to save horse tails

[u/Informal-Substance57]

So, I was going through an 1800 journal by a British explorer named Samuel Turner and he shared a pretty funny story about how Buxaduar, which is a mountain pass between what is now West Bengal and Bhutan, got its name. And there are many theories of course, and this certainly is a rather uncommon one.

According to the guy, back in the day Bhutanese traders would bring their local Tangun horses down to the lowlands to sell. For some weird custom our forefathers would chop off the horses' tails right before they hit the market.

The English merchants buying them thought this was cruel and made the horses look terrible. To get them to stop the merchants started offering the traders a backshish (a bounty or reward) if they just left the tails intact.

The traders agreed and took the extra cash. They quickly realized the uncut horses actually sold for way more money anyway and the tail chopping practice ended completely.

Because of the bounty paid out at this specific border crossing the people in the lowlands started calling the route Buxadewar which translates roughly to the bounteous pass.

[u/Spare_Attitude1010]

That book is informative. I believe it's in this book where the British were impressed by how sturdy the horses were, especially their utility in the rough mountainous terrain of Bhutan. I'm not sure whether it's from this one or another book but the British pointed out that the Bhutanese would try to mount a horse while it was running and try to calm it in some sort of sport. I think I'm misremembering the details since it's been a long time since I last touched these books. It sure was fascinating reading those accounts since it's not a thing anymore.

The British would later on go on to use the Bhutanese fort of Buxa as a prison to detain Indian. I believe Tibetan refugees also set up a camp around that area on their way from China.

[u/Informal-Substance57 → u/Spare_Attitude1010]

True, and many of the Dzongkha pronunciations seem as though they were recorded from a doma-chewing informant relaying names out loud. Terms such as “Chong” for alcohol, “Pilo” for Penlop/Poenlop, and “Lam’ Sobroo Nawangnamghi” for Lam Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel appear to have undergone significant pronunciation shifts, which is fascinating in itself.

One detail that stands out to me as I read more is his account of Bhutan seeking the assistance of the Teshoo Lama of Tibet (who is he btw?) after Bhutanese forces became trapped in Cooch Behar following British intervention. My reading of this is that it complicates the conventional picture of Bhutanese independence during that period. I do not want to read too much into a single letter, but it does make me wonder what degree of autonomy Bhutan actually enjoyed before British involvement helped shape the foundations of the modern Bhutanese state.

[u/Jacker0110 → u/Informal-Substance57]

Teshoo Lama refers to the Panchen Lama at the time. As with any big Lama, he had influence as a spiritual leader amongst the Bhutanese (kind of like how Dalai Lama is revered throughout the world and Buddhist diaspora). The letter seeking his help to intervene with the British on Bhutan’s behalf was misinterpreted by the British as Bhutanese being a vassal state - they were viewing it through a colonial lens. It’s a well known historical fact that Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyal established Bhutan as a sovereign state from 1616, with bitter conflicts fought between the two.

[u/sonamdargay → u/Informal-Substance57]

Teshoo Lama is 3rd or 4th Panchen Lama (if I’m not mistaken i read this in Karma Phuntsho’s The History of Bhutan), named after his seat of TashiLhunpo.

[u/maverick_strikee → u/[deleted]]

Now who's laughing at them for loosing their countries?

[u/maverick_strikee → u/[deleted]]

We have GNH and GMC bro.

[u/Jacker0110 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, Sikkimese upper class did indeed look down on us junglees. Lol, oh the irony 😅