A History of Thakalis From YetiZone.com
The Thakali live along the Kali Gandaki river. Their territory comprises the southern Panchgoan region and the northern Baragoan area. Panchgoan has the meaning 'five villages' and the original villages are: Thini, Syang, Marpha, Chairo and Cimang. Baragoan is the area as far north as Kagbeni. Thak in Tibetan means 'distant country' because historically it was the most remote region under Tibetan influence.
The Thakalis are an entrepreneurial people who thrived in the region during the heyday of the trans-Himalayan trade. They traded Tibetan salt and wool for Nepalese rice. They built the villages and lodges along the trail. Today their business activities are mostly conducted in Pokhara and Kathmandu.
The traditional origins of the modern Thakali people is contained in the clan history. The Thakali's are comprised of four clans, representing the descendants of the four traditional ancestors. The ancestor of the Gauchan clan, Ani Airam, so the story goes, went on a journey from his home in western Tibet to the town of Sinja in the Kingdom of Jumla, in what is now western Nepal. He must have been a lumberjack for here he felled a sandalwood tree. Miraculously, three divine birds flew from the tree. These birds were:
(1) Lha Langha Nhurba, the jewel elephant god of the Gauchan clan.
(2) Lha Chiring Gyalmo, the sea monster queen, goddess of the Tulachan clan.
(3) Lha Ganga Sinki Karmo, the white lioness of the mountains, goddess of the Sherchan clan.
(2) Lha Chiring Gyalmo, the sea monster queen, goddess of the Tulachan clan.
(3) Lha Ganga Sinki Karmo, the white lioness of the mountains, goddess of the Sherchan clan.
At Sinja, Ani Airam met with Samledhen Samlecyang, the founder of the Tulachan clan and Dhakpa Ghyalsang, the patriarch of the Sherchan clan. All three of them left the Kingdom of Jumla for Mustang. The passed through Phalla, west of Kagbeni and then down the Kali Gandaki to Thini (near present day Jomosom). Here they ran into Paw Kuti, the ancestor of the present day Bhattachan clan. They continued on to Ghorepani. At Phallante they lost their way. They turned back and decided to settle in the area now known as Thak Khola, around the Kali Gandaki. They first tested the water at Kalopani, the soil at Nakhung and the rocks at Naurikot. They were obviously satisfied with the results of their tests, because the rest is history. They settled hereabouts and their descendants have intermarried ever since. These events have not yet been dated, but no doubt soon will be, using comparative linguistics and DNA analysis.
During the 8th century The ancient Kingdom of Serib appears to have included Panchgoan and Baragoan. By the 13th century Baragoan (the northern part of Thak Khola) had become detached from Serib and became known as Lower Lo. Today it is also known as Lower Mustang. In the 14th century a series of conflicts with the Kingdom of Jumla began, which were to continue, off and on, until the formation of the modern Nepalese state brought peace in the 18th century. In the 16th century, records show that the people of Lo were starving. In 1652 the people of Baragoan tried to separate from Lo (Mustang) and a conflict started between the king of Lo and his representative in Dzong, near Muktinath. The Kingdom of Jumla joined in this conflict, this time on the side of the Baragoan Thakalis. In 1719 the King of Lo married a Ladakhi princess. The princess was captured and imprisoned in Kagbeni fort, where she had to await liberation by the army of Ladakh.
Panchgoan was at one time known as Sum. In the 12th century, Sum was ruled by King Tangmican. He fancied himself as a bit of a landscape gardener on a grand scale. The king ordered his subjects to remove a hill that was blocking the view of the sunrise. Some of his subjects went up the hill to fell some trees. Whilst observing a little too closely, the king got his hands caught in the cleft of a trunk, and tumbled down the crag with the tree to his death.
In 1786 Thak Khola became part of the modern Nepalese state. Although this brought comparative peace, it also brought that blight of modern government, heavy taxation. In the 18th century this took the form of a homestead tax. In the late 19th century the government imposed customs duties on the north south trans-Himalayan trade between Tibet and Nepal. Thak Khola was a natural point to impose taxes for geographic and cultural reasons. Below Thak Khola is a narrow steep section of the Kali Gandaki which in those days prevented the Tibetan traders taking their salt further south on their pack animals. Furthermore, the Tibetans did not wish to travel further south than Khobang for they feared the health hazards of the Indian plains, the heat and the Hindus, whom they considered to be heretical revisionists. Likewise the southern traders, mostly Hindus, did not like to stay amongst the Tibetans, who they considered to be both filthy and ritually unclean. The Thakalis prospered by facilitating the exchange between these two immiscible groups. The area became a natural market place for the trade of rice and salt. But the government rewarded the Thakalis business success by taxing them to the hilt.
In the 1930s the path south of Khobang was improved allowing mules to travel south of Thak Khola. The range and quantity of goods traded increased to include Tibetan goats, Nepalese wood, sugar, cigarettes, clothes. As the trade increased it became viable for Thakali women to operate lodges to provide overnight accommodation to traders.
Life for the Thakali's was rosy until 1959 when the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet in the aftermath of a failed rebellion against the occupying Chinese. Three factors led to a dramatic decline in the traditional salt trade in the 1960s. Firstly the Tibetan resistance army, the Khampas hindered the movement of goods. Secondly, the distribution of Indian salt in Nepal became economically viable following the constructions of roads between India and Nepal. Tibetan salt was unable to compete. Thirdly, trade between India and China became restricted following the micro war between India and China in 1962. Today trade in Thak Khola is domestic Nepalese trade, trekking, agriculture and pilgrimage.
During the 8th century The ancient Kingdom of Serib appears to have included Panchgoan and Baragoan. By the 13th century Baragoan (the northern part of Thak Khola) had become detached from Serib and became known as Lower Lo. Today it is also known as Lower Mustang. In the 14th century a series of conflicts with the Kingdom of Jumla began, which were to continue, off and on, until the formation of the modern Nepalese state brought peace in the 18th century. In the 16th century, records show that the people of Lo were starving. In 1652 the people of Baragoan tried to separate from Lo (Mustang) and a conflict started between the king of Lo and his representative in Dzong, near Muktinath. The Kingdom of Jumla joined in this conflict, this time on the side of the Baragoan Thakalis. In 1719 the King of Lo married a Ladakhi princess. The princess was captured and imprisoned in Kagbeni fort, where she had to await liberation by the army of Ladakh.
Panchgoan was at one time known as Sum. In the 12th century, Sum was ruled by King Tangmican. He fancied himself as a bit of a landscape gardener on a grand scale. The king ordered his subjects to remove a hill that was blocking the view of the sunrise. Some of his subjects went up the hill to fell some trees. Whilst observing a little too closely, the king got his hands caught in the cleft of a trunk, and tumbled down the crag with the tree to his death.
In 1786 Thak Khola became part of the modern Nepalese state. Although this brought comparative peace, it also brought that blight of modern government, heavy taxation. In the 18th century this took the form of a homestead tax. In the late 19th century the government imposed customs duties on the north south trans-Himalayan trade between Tibet and Nepal. Thak Khola was a natural point to impose taxes for geographic and cultural reasons. Below Thak Khola is a narrow steep section of the Kali Gandaki which in those days prevented the Tibetan traders taking their salt further south on their pack animals. Furthermore, the Tibetans did not wish to travel further south than Khobang for they feared the health hazards of the Indian plains, the heat and the Hindus, whom they considered to be heretical revisionists. Likewise the southern traders, mostly Hindus, did not like to stay amongst the Tibetans, who they considered to be both filthy and ritually unclean. The Thakalis prospered by facilitating the exchange between these two immiscible groups. The area became a natural market place for the trade of rice and salt. But the government rewarded the Thakalis business success by taxing them to the hilt.
In the 1930s the path south of Khobang was improved allowing mules to travel south of Thak Khola. The range and quantity of goods traded increased to include Tibetan goats, Nepalese wood, sugar, cigarettes, clothes. As the trade increased it became viable for Thakali women to operate lodges to provide overnight accommodation to traders.
Life for the Thakali's was rosy until 1959 when the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet in the aftermath of a failed rebellion against the occupying Chinese. Three factors led to a dramatic decline in the traditional salt trade in the 1960s. Firstly the Tibetan resistance army, the Khampas hindered the movement of goods. Secondly, the distribution of Indian salt in Nepal became economically viable following the constructions of roads between India and Nepal. Tibetan salt was unable to compete. Thirdly, trade between India and China became restricted following the micro war between India and China in 1962. Today trade in Thak Khola is domestic Nepalese trade, trekking, agriculture and pilgrimage.
