The hiking monk I met by chance on a pilgrimage to the holy mountain Gang Rinpoche in 2002 was renewed eighteen years later by the holy mountain and the Epidemic, and it turned out that he was a Tibetan of Nepalese origin south of the holy mountain, an accomplished Lama Dachung. The photo is just the opportunity, and the story that extends from it is richer and more complex: interwoven but abruptly changing history, symbolic geographical landmarks, the fate of a single character, and the more treacherous present …… I then wrote this 20,000-word long article, which is serialized here.
- Where is Limi?
“Zahidler (good luck), he’s my grandfather.” Someone left me a message on Instagram, with a smiling young Tibetan in the avatar.
I was very surprised: “What a small world! I met him eighteen years ago in Gang Rinpoche. So where is he now?”
“Thank you for photographing my grandfather, Vaisela,” he thanked me in a Tibetan salutation, “he is now in a monastery in Kathmandu.” He passed along several photos of the same old, benevolent-looking walking monk, either walking in a congregation with a bowl or wearing a solemn crown of Dharma as he practiced his Buddhist rituals.
“Where is your hometown in Tibet?” I wondered.
“No,” he replied, “not in Tibet, in Nepal, we are Himalayan people.”
Lama Dachung, 81, at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Kathmandu. (Courtesy of Limi Tibetan)
For a moment I didn’t respond, and this was because I had always identified the walking monk in the photo as a Khampa: “Is your grandfather Tibetan?”
“We are Tibetans, but of Nepalese nationality, and since the border between Tibet and Nepal was demarcated in 1961, our place became part of Nepal.”
“What is your place there?” I seemed to see clouds of what could be named history floating by.
“Limi,” he said, as if I knew.
“Where is Limi?” The cloud of history that drifted before my eyes grew thicker.
“On the other side of Mount Kailash, across the border is the Limi Valley.” That’s what he said about Gonzales: Mount Kailash.
“Did the Limi Valley belong to Tibet before 1961?” I asked.
“How can I say that?” He said, “But Grandpa said that at that Time the poll tax was given to the Puranjong and at the same time the land tax was paid to the Kingdom of Nepal.”
Wikipedia on the Limi region.
“It’s a long story.” I felt like I was falling into a historical cloud. And this cloud is white, like a blind spot. I had to reply with that, kind of wanting to end this English conversation that was relying on Google Translate and then go fill in the gaps.
He posted a photo, introducing it: “This is the summer of 1993, looking at Gang Rinpoche from our border. You may have heard about the border dispute between Nepal and China, talking about this very spot.”
The photo shows a middle-aged Rinpoche, very familiar, bowing slightly to appear humble. Behind him is a large, flat valley that connects to a more distant sacred mountain, revealing only a rather vague summit. Of course the peculiarly shaped summit was instantly recognizable as one of all the mountains.
Still confused, I said, “I’d like to see the Ganges from where you’re from.”
He said, “You can only see from the border, you can only see a distant view of Gang Rinpoche.” He sent another photo, still more distant of the holy mountain, across a shimmering lake.
Not quite convinced that this was the holy mountain they could see, I asked again, “Is the view of Gang Rinpoche from your hometown that far away? Do you have a more recent picture?”
Instead, he suddenly asked, “Is it safe here?”
I froze. Here? Instagram?
“It’s supposed to be safe.” I said, “What are you afraid of? Afraid of …… China?”
Drikung Kagyu sect Dharma King Drikung Janggon Chetsang Rinpoche on his 1993 pilgrimage to Gang Rinpoche. (Courtesy of Limi Tibetan)
There was a pause for a moment. I waited, not continuing the question, feeling vaguely impolite.
“Yes, a little.” He finally replied, “But not for myself, but for my homeland. The Nepalese government is poor, and all our supplies come from Pulan, which is why we are afraid of China. Look,” he posted a photo of a large, nearly flat mountain range in front of the distant Gompa, with long rows of houses between the valleys, like military barracks and simple houses on construction sites: “These houses were built by the Chinese.”
Were they built across the border? I don’t know enough about these things to discern the complexities. What I need now is to pause this conversation and hurry up to catch up.
- Early research articles about Limi
Drikung Kagyu sect Dharma King Drikung Janggon Chetsang Rinpoche’s 1993 pilgrimage to Gang Rinpoche. (Courtesy of Limi Tibetan)
There is not much information about the Limi valley to search online, or rather, very little to my ability to find. But an article by Tibetan scientist and anthropologist Melvyn Goldstein, “Adaptation Strategies of the Semi-Agricultural, Semi-Pastoral Tibetan Language Group of Limi to the Himalayas” [1] is an overview of sorts. The original article was published in 1974 in the International Journal of Tibetan Studies, and the Chinese translation was published in 2002 in Tibetan Studies. I don’t know whether it is a full translation or an abridged translation, but the article is not very long, but it has been very helpful for me to know this place of Limi (Limi). I didn’t realize that this American scholar, who is famous for his research on the recent history of Tibet, had done fieldwork here long ago, so let me excerpt from it as follows.
“…… Limi is a gorge located in northwestern Nepal on the border with Tibet. …… Limi Gorge is the most distant part of the Humla District in the Kalali Region. The gorge extends from northeast to southwest at a high altitude, surrounded by high mountains and a river in the interior of the gorge, and is inhabited by Tibetan-speaking people living in three villages. …… From east to west, the three villages are named Tsaan, Arzhi and Syr in that order; their altitudes are 3932 meters, 3688 meters and 3871 meters in that order.
“Limi is connected to the rest of the country by three trails, only one of these trails crosses the whole of Nepal in its entirety. …… The other two trails need to pass through Tibet, and one route is the most important because it leads to Puran in Tibet. …… Limi is connected to Tibet by two major roads. …… is unobstructed all year round.
“In winter, Limi is largely cut off from the rest of Nepal geographically, while the road from Limi to Tibet is open all year round. In a sense, this situation symbolizes the dual Eastern nationality of Limi’s inhabitants. Linguistically and culturally, they are fully Tibetan, but historically and politically, …… Limi has been associated with Nepal since centuries ago. In fact, although the Limi had a tradition of paying poll tax to Tibet during the Mi-Kalar period, more importantly during the Sakalar period, the Limi were required to pay land tax to Nepal. This twisted political practice finally ended with the signing of the 1961 Sino-Nepalese border agreement, which allocated Limi to Nepal.
“The population of Limi is 791 [2], and the largest village is Arzhi, with 320 people. Tsaan was the next largest, with 288 inhabitants. Syr is the smallest, with only 183 people. The villagers of all three villages practice endogamy.
Limi place hidden in the high valley. (Photo from instagram)
“Limi subsistence techniques include agriculture and nomadic animal husbandry, a subsistence pattern of both farming and herding that can be seen all over the vast Tibetan region ……. …… Many families have large herds of sheep, yaks & horses that graze in Tibet in the winter and in Limi in the summer. …… Limi herders have a tradition of driving their herds of yaks and sheep to Tibet for the winter. This shortcut is necessary to sustain their survival. However, with the events of 1959, the hitherto unquestionable way of driving livestock to Tibet for the winter was suddenly changed. …… cannot cross the border to use Tibetan pastures at will ……
“With the events of 1959, the old type of trade was substantially altered. Limi traders were no longer allowed to trade freely with Tibetans, and commerce was restricted to the commercial centers of Pulan. …… Such and such restrictions have seriously affected the traditional type of Limi-Tibet trade. On the other hand, the camps in India and Kathmandu where large numbers of Tibetan refugees gathered became new markets for Limi’s famous wool and wooden bowls. …… In any case, the changing situation in Tibet has taken its toll on Limi.”
Notice Goldstein’s reference to Limi wooden bowls. It turns out that the “Phuru”, known throughout Tibet as the “Ali Wooden Bowl” or “Pulan Wooden Bowl”, is made by Limi Tibetans and is part of their traditional craft and an important source of income. The wood, in particular, comes from the forests of northern India, “where groups of Limi men come in groups through the Datura region every November after the farm work is done. They collect wood, make wooden bowls, and spend several long months of winter before returning to their villages in March and April of the following year. In June and July, after planting the crops in the fields, they come to finish polishing, staining and painting the wooden bowls. 70 Limi men went to collect wood and make wooden bowls in the winter of 1973-1974, bringing back an average of 325 bowls each. …… Usually these bowls are either shipped directly to Tibet by the makers or sold to the Limi and the Lhasa. sold, or sold to Limi and Mugu traders who then took them to India, Kathmandu and other parts of Tibet to sell.”
The Limi place hidden in the high valley. (photo from instagram)
The wooden bowls made from this wood are said to be more expensive as they have the effect of eliminating toxins and are durable and will not crack. Besides wooden bowls, they also make other utensils from local birch and pine trees and ship them to Pulan to sell “in exchange for commodities such as brick tea, industrial goods and Chinese renminbi”. I remembered that my Family in Lhasa has a “Phuru”, very beautiful, from Ali back to the mountains of friends to give, and my mother’s family has several, also relatives and friends from Ali to bring back, so it should be Limi Tibetan handmade. But like that Limi youth said: “The key is the trees of that forest in India is good. In the past, Indians did not know the usefulness of that kind of trees. Now there are fewer trees, and the Indian government won’t let them be cut down. But there are still people who cut the trees and use them again to make wooden bowls, not all Limi people, but today there are Nepalese who do it too.”
Unfortunately, Goldstein’s article doesn’t mention Gonzaga. For Limi Tibetans, the holy mountain, which is close at hand and visible from afar, should have been accessible whenever they wanted to make a pilgrimage in the past, except during the season of heavy snowfall. However, “with the events of 1959”, Limi Tibetans, like their yaks and sheep, must not be able to “cross the border at will” to go to Gang Rinpoche.
(serialization to be continued, written in November-December 2020, somewhere in Anhui and Beijing)
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