BHUTAN HISTORY AND CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION

STRAND GOVERNANCE AND PEACE

CHAPTER 1: MONARCHY: AN ERA OF STABILITY OF KING JIGME SINGYE WANGCHUCK
TOPIC 1: Birth Prophecies of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck
Guru Padma Sambhava’s revelation in the records of Terton Drugdra Dorji explains the birth of a boy in “Southern
Baeyul,” who would become a great King, spread the Buddha’s teachings and shower peace and happiness upon
his people. The boy would be born in the Female Wood Sheep Year, in a place called Wodrong (present day
Dechhencholing), and would “possess good mole and dimple on his face”. The revelation mentions that:

“In the Southern Baeyul;

Surrounded by three mountains;
The land of peace and happiness;
In a place called Wodrong (Kabjisa);
A person born in the Female Sheep Year;
Would possess good mole and dimple on his face;
If he becomes a King;
He would bring good changes in the country;
Within twelve years;
He would benefit Buddha’s teachings;
All the people would enjoy peace and happiness.”

So, His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Singye Wangchuck was born on November 11, 1955 in the
Female Wood Sheep Year to the Third Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck and Her Majesty Ashi Kesang
Choden Wangchuck at Dechhencholing Palace. It is said the holy water of Menchu Kaba turned its color and a
marigold blossomed in front of the National Assembly Hall. Both the observations were regarded as good omens
for the prosperity of kingdom’s future. The Third Druk Gyalpo declared a three-day national holiday to celebrate
the birth of the Prince.
Topic 2: Contributions of Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck as the Crown Prince.

In 1971, His Majesty Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck appointed the Crown Prince Jigme Singye
Wangchuck as the Chairman of the Planning Commission. He took on the responsibilities of planning and
coordinating the Five Year Plan.
In April 1972, the Lhengye Zhungtshog (Cabinet) recommended His Majesty the Third Druk Gyalpo to install the
Crown Prince as Trongsa Penlop. Subsequently, on June 16, 1972, the Crown Prince became Trongsa Penlop
and was directly awarded the yellow scarf by His Majesty.

In September 1972, the Crown Prince was installed as head of the Government during the 37 thsession of the
National Assembly. He was only 17 years old. Two years later, on June 2, 1974, His Majesty King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck was formally enthroned as the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.

Topic 3: Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck as a selfless leader— Bodhisattva King

a/ Founding of Gross National Happiness (Gyalyong Gakyi Pelzom)

 In 1979, His Majesty coined the term, Gross National Happiness, in response to a question from a
Journalist asking about Bhutan’s GNP. The response being, “GNH is more important than GNP.”
 HM believed in happiness as an indicator, a signifier, and a sign of good development and good society.
 GNH stresses the importance of a balance between material (Peljor Gongphel) and non-material (Gakid)
components of development.
 Gross National Happiness consists of four pillars, nine domains and around 33 indicators.
 So, GNH is defined as a “multi-dimensional development approach seeking to achieve a harmonious
balance between material well-being and the spiritual, emotional and cultural needs of society.” The
keywords being harmonious balance – that may be achieved by balancing the needs of the body with
those of the mind.
Pillars Domains Indicators
Sustainable and equitable 1. Living standards  Assets, housing, income.
development: Developing 2. Education  Literacy, schooling,
without adverse effects on the 3. Health knowledge, values.
future generation of the  Mental health, self-reported
country. health status, healthy days,
disability.
 Conservation of 4. Cultural diversity  Speak native language,
Environment: and resilience cultural participation, artistic
Not only to prevent natural 5. Community skills, Driglam Namzha.
calamities but also to serve as a vitality  Donations (time & money),
source of revenue for our 6. Time use community relationships,
government. 7. Psychological family, safety.
well-being  Work, sleep.
 Life satisfaction, positive
emotions, negative
emotions, spirituality.
Preservation and promotion 8. Ecological  Ecological issues,
of Culture: Despite modern diversity and responsibility towards
development, Bhutan should resilience environment, wildlife
preserve its culture and damage (rural), urbanization
promote as an integral part of issues.
the Nation’s effort towards
socio-economic development.
Good governance: 9. Good governance  Government’s performance,
The most important pillar. fundamental rights, services,
Guarantees that there is political participation.
sustainable and equitable
development, the environment
is conserved and culture is
preserved and promoted.

b/ Initiation of decentralization
Meaning of Decentralization
 Decentralization is a process of sharing ones power to several people to have effective participation and
better development.
Features of decentralization
1. Self-reliant development plans.
2. Fostering effective progress.
3. Reduction of bureaucracy
4. Increase mobilization and optimum utilization of internal resources.
 5. Greater people’s participation.

Establishment of Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdu (DYT) or District Development Committee

The DYT was established at the end of the Fourth Five Year Plan (1976 – 1981). For the Fifth Five Year Plan
(1981-1986), His Majesty envisioned an entirely different planning system that was based on decentralization.
Dzongdags were appointed in all districts and as Chairpersons of the DYT had the powers and responsibilities to
manage public funds and coordinate development works together with the local leaders. These reforms were
aimed at encouraging citizens to participate in the process of decision-making.

Establishment of Gewog Yargay Tshogchung (GYT) or Block Development Committee

The establishment of the DYT provided the framework for the establishment of Gewog Yargye Tshogchung
(GYT) in 1991. His Majesty saw the gewog as the centers where all future plans would start. The gewogs would
themselves be responsible for the implementation and realization of development activities.
Headed by the Gup and assisted by Mangap, Tshogpas, and Chipons, the office bearers are elected by the villagers
through a secret ballot. GYT became the bridge between people at the grassroots and the government.

Devolution of Power
In 1991, HM surrendered the Chairmanship of Planning Commission.
The greatest leap in the process of devolution of power took place in June 1998 when His Majesty Jigme Singye
Wangchuck dissolved the existing cabinet and delegated executive powers to an elected Council of Ministers.
Accordingly, a six-member Cabinet was voted to power by the Assembly for a term of five years. The government
would be headed by the Prime Minister, a post that is rotated among the ministers after a term of one year. The
exemplary devolution of power with the initiative from the Throne is unprecedented.

c/ Drafting of constitution
1. Commencement of Drafting Constitution
 On 4th September, 2001 His Majesty issued a royal command to form the Constitution Drafting
Committee.
 Drafting started on 30th November 2001
2. Submission of the first draft
 Submitted the first formal draft to His Majesty on 9th December, 2002.
 His Majesty stressed that the constitution is for a political and democratic framework, and safeguard
the security and sovereignty of the nation.
3. Distribution of the Draft Constitution
  On 26th March, 2005 the first draft was released to the public followed by the second draft on 18th
August, 2005.
 Website was launched to gain the views from outside Bhutan.
4. Dissemination of the provisions of the draft constitution
 Done through radio and television.
 Panel discussion on each Article was held.
5. Public consultations with the Dzongkhags
 Started on 29th October, 2005 from Thimphu and ended in Trongsa on 27th May, 2006.
 His Majesty the 4thDrukGyalpo met with the people of seven Dzongkhags and the Chhoetse Penlop
met with the other 13 Dzongkhags.
 Mass awareness, mass participation and recommendations were the purpose of the consultations.
 The Constitution of Bhutan was implemented on 18th July, 2008.

Selfless Leadership of 2003

Operation Flush-out
During the 74th National Assembly session in 1996, representatives from Southern Bhutan reported the presence
of militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB), in Bhutanese territory.
Later, it was known that another militant group, the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) formed by the
Rajbangsi tribes of North Bengal had also entered Bhutan and built bases.

The three organizations had different aims and were fighting the Indian government and military. The ULFA
wanted a separate state of Assam from the Indian Union and make it an independent country. The NDFB wanted
to create an autonomous Bodoland in Assam. The KLO’s goal was to separate Kamtapur from West Bengal. As
the Indian military launched operations against them, they had crossed into Bhutan through the unguarded
borders. In Bhutan, they had established several camps from where they attacked the Indian military and ran back
when confronted.

His Majesty knew that this was a great threat to Bhutan’s prosperity, stability, security and sovereignty. He was
concerned about the safety of people living in the border areas. Apart from security, the presence of the militants
would affect the Bhutanese economy if it led to the closure of trade and communication links with Assam. In
1997, His Majesty personally visited southern Bhutan to explore the possibility of resolving the problem.

The situation gradually worsened and there were frequent cases of violence by the militants against Bhutanese
and their vehicles. Beginning 1998, the government-initiated talks with the militants and asked them to leave
Bhutanese soil peacefully. When several rounds of talks did not lead to anything positive, His Majesty issued a
decree on August 2, 1999, highlighting security concerns and the need to strengthen security measures on priority
basis in the southern regions. In 1999, His Majesty visited New Delhi, India twice to discuss the problem with
senior Indian leaders.

Within the National Assembly, there were calls for military action against the Indian insurgents. However, His
Majesty wanted to resolve the issue through peaceful means. The militants were people of Assam and Bengal.
They had long standing relations with the people of Bhutan and His Majesty did not want to break these relations.
His Majesty travelled several times to the camps on foot asking them to leave Bhutan. But the militants refused
to listen.

During the National Day celebrations at Kanglung in 2000, His Majesty informed the people about an approaching
difficulty. During the 81st session of the National Assembly in 2003, members decided that a talk with the militants
would be held for the last time. If they refused to leave Bhutan peacefully, a military offense would be launched
against them.

As decided by the National Assembly, talks with different insurgent groups were held beginning October 2003.
From October 28 to 31, 2003, talks were held with the leaders of ULFA and with NDFB leaders from November
27 to December 1, 2003. Leaders of the KLO refused to come for the talks. Even the ULFA and NDFB had sent
only their mid-level leaders for the talks. When asked to leave Bhutanese soil peacefully, they said that they were
unable to do so. While the ULFA said that it would be suicidal for their cause of independence of Assam to leave
Bhutan, the NDFB said that even if they left their present camps, they would have to come back and establish
camps in other parts of Bhutan. Military action became the only option.

His Majesty took the sole responsibility of resolving the problem and called upon the people to place their faith
and confidence on the security forces and give them whatever support they could. On December 12, 2003, two
days before the military operation, His Majesty addressed the soldiers and militia.
A 48-hour notice was provided to the militants to leave the country peacefully. The militants refused to do so. On
December 15, 2003, the military operations against all the three armed outfits began. The Bhutanese forces were
led at the frontlines by His Majesty The King. Following the King’s footsteps was Prince Jigyel Ugyen
Wangchuck.

Within three days of the operation, all the 30 main camps and 35 training camps were destroyed. About 841 arms
and 144,000 ammunitions, canons, anti-craft guns and missiles were recovered. 485 militants were arrested and
handed over unharmed to the Indian Army. Women and children who were at the camps were handed over safely
to the Indian civil authorities. 11 Bhutanese soldiers lost their lives.

This military action saw Bhutanese forces getting involved in a war after 138 years of peace. Comprising of the
Royal Bhutan Army, Royal Body Guards and militia volunteers, the Bhutanese forces had never fired their guns
to harm and kill anyone. The militants were hard-core, hardened and experienced people, who were rated as one
of the toughest organizations in the world. However, drawing inspiration from His Majesty the King, the soldiers
fought with enthusiasm and in a spirit of sacrifice, and emerged victorious.

The Fourth Druk Gyalpo had no intentions to take such a decision. A peaceful solution to the issue was what His
Majesty desired. As the militants refused to leave Bhutan peacefully, military action became the last and only
solution left to ensure Bhutan’s security and sovereignty.

His Majesty’s action against the militants is a leadership trait modern history has not known. It is the ultimate
sacrifice and an unprecedented action. There are no examples of any modern leader leading and going into the
battlefield with soldiers. It was a selfless and self-sacrificing action.

Selfless leadership of 2006

During the National Day celebrations of 2005 at Trashi Yangtse, His Majesty reminded the people of the change
in governance that awaited the country. His Majesty told the people that the first national elections to elect a
government under a system of parliamentary democracy would take place in 2008.
His Majesty had another surprising announcement to make. “I would also like our people to know that the
Chhoetse Poenlop will be enthroned as the Fifth Druk Gyalpo in 2008. As it is necessary and important for a King
to gain as much experience as possible to serve his country to his fullest capacity, I will be giving my
responsibilities to the Chhoetse Penlop before 2008,” His Majesty said.
On December 9, 2006, His Majesty summoned the Lhengye Zhungtshog and leaders of other important
institutions. An announcement declaring his formal abdication was passed. The transition was formally
announced on December 14, 2006.
Beginning from the formal enthronement in 1974 till the abdication in 2006, His Majesty had served the country
for 32 years. However, His Majesty had to assume the role of Head of State from 1972 itself. Thus, His Majesty
abdicated after 34 years as King of the country. His Majesty was just 51 years old.
The Constitution of Bhutan states that the King has to step down at the age of 65. Going by the Constitution too,
the Fourth Druk Gyalpo had fourteen more years to remain as King. However, in the interest of the Nation, at a
very prime age His Majesty abdicated. This was another selfless act, from a Monarch who is referred to as “the
jewel of men.”
Institution of democracy
The reign of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo is known as the “Golden Era” in the history of modern Bhutan.
However, a prominent contribution of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo is in the area of governance, whereby His Majesty
gradually established the foundations for democracy and ensured the successful transition of Bhutan from an
Absolute Monarchy to a Democratic Constitutional Monarchy.

Since taking on the sacred responsibilities of King, His Majesty had emphasized on the importance of people’s
participation in development. His Majesty wanted to grant power and governance to people at the grassroots. In
the 1980s itself, His Majesty had desired that Bhutan should become a constitutional democracy.

1. The institution of decentralized planning provided His Majesty the platform to plan the process of
democracy. The establishments of the Dzongkhang Yargay Tshogdu (DYT) and the Gewog Yargay
Tshogchung (GYT) in 1981 and 1991 respectively facilitated participation of people in development.
Additionally, these served as the foundations for the transition to a democracy.

2. On June 10, 1998, His Majesty issued a Kasho further delegating his executive powers with the
establishment of the Council of Ministers. His Majesty served as the Head of State and the Head of
Government was assumed by the minister who has the highest number of votes in National Assembly.

3. The same year saw His Majesty reintroducing the system of registering the vote-of-no-confidence against
the King.

4. On July 26, 1999, the National Assembly passed the Lhengye Zhungtshog Act 1999. The Lhengye
Zhungtshog comprised of the elected Ministers, members of the Royal Advisory Council and the Kalyon.
While Royal Advisory Councilors were elected as per the Royal Advisory Council Act, the ministers were
elected by National Assembly members from a list nominated by His Majesty. The ministerial candidates
securing 51 percent and above of the votes cast through secret ballot were considered elected. The tenure
of the ministers was for five years and the Act specifies that a member shall not serve for more than two
terms. The Chairman of the Lhengye Zhungtshog was an elected minister. However, it was rotated amongst
the ministers after one year. The establishment of the Lhengye Zhungtshog and election of the ministers
was another step towards democracy. Ministers in Bhutan were elected by National Assembly members
for the very first time. The Fourth Druk Gyalpo was carefully taking the nation and its people towards a
new political system.
 5. The Royal decree to draft a written Constitution of September 4, 2001 and the subsequent formation of
the drafting committee were the next steps. By October 2005, His Majesty and then the Crown Prince
Chhotse Penlop Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck began the public discussions on the Constitution.

6. This was followed by the declaration during the National Day Celebrations of 2005 at Trashiyangtse. His
Majesty announced that he would soon abdicate and that democratic elections would be held in 2008.

7. His Majesty established new constitutional bodies like the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption
Commission and Office of the Attorney General. New legislations like the Election Act, Code of Conduct
for Parliamentarians and others were passed.

8. In December 2007, a new chapter was written in Bhutan’s history. The elections for the National Council
(NC) were held. It recorded a turnout of 53.14 percent and NC members from the 20 districts were elected.
Following this, the National Assembly elections were held on March 24, 2008. The turnout was 80 percent.
Bhutan’s first elected government was formed.

Their Majesties the Queen Mothers

While His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo had married their Majesties the Queens earlier, the formal Royal
Wedding of His Majesty and Their Majesties the Queens, Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, Ashi Tshering Pem
Wangchuck, Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck and Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck, took place at Punakha
dzong on October 31, 1989. Their Majesties are the daughters of Yab Ugyen Dorji and Yum Thuji Zam. Yab
Ugyen Dorji is the elder brother of Zhabdrung Chogley Jigme Tenzin (1919-1949), the sixth speech incarnation
of Zhabdrung Rinpoche. He is also the nephew of Zhabdrung Jigme Dorji (1905-1931), the sixth mind incarnation
of Zhabdrung Rinpoche.
Their Majesties are also descendants of the religious nobility of Sersang Lamas from eastern Bhutan, who have
descended from Lhase Tsangma. Lhase Tsangma arrived and settled in Bhutan in the ninth century because of
civil strife in Tibet. His Majesty and Their Majesties have ten children.
Her Majesty Gyalyum Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck – Championing the cause of Poverty Alleviation

Her Majesty Gyalyum Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck is the eldest Queen Mother and was born on June 10, 1955.
Her Majesty is the mother of Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck (born in 1981) and His
Royal Highness, Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck (born in 1984).
An accomplished author and supporter of literary works, Her Majesty has edited a number of books on poetry
and essays. Her Majesty is the author of “Of Rainbows and Clouds: The Life of Yab Ugyen Dorji as told to His
Daughter,”“Treasures of the Thunder Dragon- A Portrait of Bhutan” and “Dochula: A Spiritual Abode in Bhutan.”
Her Majesty is the Chief Patron of Mountain Echoes, a literary festival in Bhutan that brings together renowned
national and international authors and poets.
Her Majesty has also been the Chief Patron to the Ministry of Agriculture since 1999.
Formally launched in 2003 by His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who was then the Crown
Prince, the works of Tarayana Foundation are seen in remote, rural parts of Bhutan. The Foundation complements
and supplements the efforts of the government in poverty reduction. Through different programs aimed at poverty
alleviation, there has been holistic community growth and development in the communities. The Foundation also
serves to bridge the gaps between larger national initiatives and local grassroots requirements. It focuses on social
mobilization, capacity building and empowerment processes wherein communities make the main decisions for
the kind of development they want in their villages.
Under the guidance of Her Majesty, Tarayana Foundation has successfully intervened and improved rural
livelihoods and transformed the lives of the poor and under privileged. Through the Foundation, participation of
the people in mainstream development initiatives is promoted and income generating activities were enhanced.
The Foundation helps those experiencing financial difficulties through housing schemes, scholarships, training,
production, and marketing of rural products.

Since its establishment, Tarayana Foundation has assisted in mobilizing communities and empowering them
through awareness raising, capacity building, and collective actions. The spirit of volunteerism is promoted in
communities and also by using schools in the areas where interventions are pursued. For those who lack the most
basic needs and services, Tarayana Foundation provides services to improve housing and facilitate access to
health, water and sanitation. Assistance is also provided to increase opportunities for education by supporting
deserving students (mostly girls) to pursue tertiary education. Livelihood prospects are enhanced through income-
generating activities, facilitating micro-credit for establishing micro-enterprises, and marketing of rural products.

Her Majesty the Queen Mother Gyalyum Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, was honored with the Pope Francis Charity
and Leadership Award by Caritas in Veritate International at a ceremony in New York City on October 22, 2016.
The award was offered in recognition of the work that the Tarayana Foundation was doing under Her Majesty’s
leadership in uplifting the lives of the remote communities in Bhutan. Caritas in Veritate International is an
alliance of organizations dedicated to equipping and mobilizing youth in bringing charity and truth to the poorest
of the poor.

Her Majesty Gyalyum Tshering Pem Wangchuck - Champion of Youth Wellbeing

Her Majesty Gyalyum Tshering Pem Wangchuck was born on December 20, 1957 and is the mother of Their
Royal Highnesses, Princess Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck (born in 1980), Princess Kezang Choden Wangchuck
(born in 1982) and Prince Ugyen Jigme Wangchuck (born in 1994). Alongside the duties and responsibilities of
a Queen, Her Majesty has championed the cause of youth wellbeing in Bhutan. In 1999, Her Majesty launched
the Bhutan Youth Development Fund (BYDF), a non-profit organization, whose vision is to “ensure a better today
and bright tomorrow for the youth of Bhutan.”
As President of the BYDF, Her Majesty relentlessly works towards making youth in Bhutan achieve their full
potentials, while helping them through the provision of social, educational and financial support. With youth
comprising more than half of Bhutan’s population, they are an important target group. And in the words of Her
Majesty, “the way we handle the development of youth will have a crucial bearing on every development goal
that this nation has set collectively.” Based on these premises, BYDF assists the youth of Bhutan through a variety
of programs.
In close coordination with the Ministry of Education, BYDF is engaged in conducting youth programs through
the formal school curriculum as well as through extracurricular activities. BYDF also supports activities that
promote values in youth, preservation of culture and traditions, and recreational and sporting events. Some of the
programs include career counseling, guidance units and training of counselors, special programs for physically
and mentally challenged children, scholarships for disadvantaged youth, addressing the needs of juvenile
delinquents and school dropouts, and skills development to enhance employment opportunities for youth.
Steered by Her Majesty, BYDF is committed to make every youth a leader. As Bhutan’s leading youth
organization, BYDF aspires to ensure that all youth have equal access to education, and meaningful employment
and opportunities to develop their potential. It also addresses the growing needs of Bhutan’s youth.
Apart from this, BYDF is actively engaged in youth issues like substance abuse. Under the visionary initiative of
Her Majesty, the Bhutan Institute of Youth Well Being has been established at Tshaluna in Thimphu district. The
Institute offers a variety of facilities and services for drug dependent young people and other practitioners. In
order to address the growing challenge of substance abuse across Bhutan, the Institute also trains and supports
organizations involved in substance use treatment.
Her Majesty Gyalyum Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck - Dharma Patron

Her Majesty Gyalyum Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck was born on June 21, 1959 and is the mother of His Majesty
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (born in 1980), Her Royal Highness, Princess Dechen Yangzom
Wangchuck (born in 1981) and His Royal Highness, Prince Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (born in 1986).

From very early in her life as the Queen of Bhutan, Her Majesty has been involved passionately in the preservation
and enrichment of Buddhist values and traditions. In 1995, Her Majesty founded the Bjachung Karmo Society for
the advancement of nuns and social service. The society came into being after successfully supporting the
renovation of a nunnery in Punakha constructed in the 18th century, which until today is a renowned seat of
learning for Buddhist women practitioners.

Her Majesty initiated the construction of Khamsum Yuelly Namgyel Chorten at Punakha in 1992 that was
prophesized by the renowned Buddhist teacher, Thragthung Dujom Lingpa. Consecrated in 1999, the Chorten
houses invaluable sacred Buddhist relics and is one of a kind in Buddhist architecture. The Chhorten is a religious
edifice believed to remove all negative forces and promote peace, stability and harmony in the world.

Her Majesty’s vision to enhance and strengthen nuns within Bhutan was further strengthened with the
establishment of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF) in 2009. A non-profit organization, BNF operates under the
patronage of Her Majesty. The Foundation aspires to improve the living conditions of Bhutanese girls and women
in nunneries, and enhance access to basic and higher education for Buddhist nuns.

Under Her Majesty’s patronage, the BNF has steadily grown in the last couple of years. The foundation now
works with about 28 Buddhist nunneries across the country, educating and training nuns to be community leaders
and teachers. With empowerment of the nuns, nunneries are increasingly becoming self-sufficient and healthy
environments of Buddhist studies. This enables nuns to actively engage with and contribute to lay society.
Simultaneously, this aids the preservation of the country’s rich Buddhist culture.

In a major milestone of BNF’s history, the 21st of June is now being observed as the Bhutan Nuns’ Day. Further,
the Foundation has established the Training and Resource Centre (TRC) on the outskirts of Thimphu. The TRC
is envisioned as a vibrant, dynamic institution that will focus on enabling nuns, women, and girls - primarily those
at the grassroots level - to become skilled and empowered, promoting the well-being of themselves and others.
With a broad curriculum, life skills and social engagement will be taught to nuns and lay women following
the spiritual path. Courses will include counseling training, hospice, basic healthcare, palliative care, leadership
and management, and teaching methodology for Buddhist nuns. These nuns will then go on to teach others. In
addition, resident nuns will provide meditation retreats for lay women at the center.

While Bhutan’s monk body is a well-established institution, nunneries in the country lag behind. Under the
guidance of Her Majesty Gyalyum Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck, BNF is on track to strengthen and empower
nuns. Nuns of Bhutan are beginning to play vital roles in disseminating the Buddha Dharma to people.

Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck - Champion of Women’s empowerment

Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck was born on May 11, 1963 and is the mother of Their Royal
Highnesses, Prince Khamsum Singye Wangchuck (born in 1985) and Princess Eeuphelma Choden Wangchuck
(born in 1993). Over the years, Her Majesty has been actively combating social causes in Bhutan, including health,
education and family issues. Her Majesty has travelled across the country to raise awareness about issues like maternal
health, sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and Gender Based Violence. Her Majesty has been a United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador since 1999. From the many areas that Her Majesty is engaged in,
a significant one is women’s empowerment.

In 2004, Her Majesty established RENEW (Respect, Educate, Nurture and Empower Women), a Civil Society
Organization (CSO) dedicated to the empowerment of vulnerable women in society, especially victims and
survivors of domestic violence. Assistance like skills development is provided to make these women emerge as
socially and economically independent members of their communities. Through its core services of advocacy,
outreach, counseling, education and rehabilitation, RENEW plays a very vital role in empowering women.
RENEW promotes gender equality and provides advocacies on violence against women and children.

Families or individuals requiring counseling services throughout the country are catered to by RENEW, free of
cost. Through its Community Based Support System (CBSS) volunteers, RENEW has reached all parts of the
country. Counseling includes medical counseling, where people are told about health issues like HIV/AIDS,
contraception and others. In conjunction with counseling, RENEW also provides free legal aid, which varies from
writing legal letters to representing the cases in court.

Victims of domestic and gender based violence can also avail emergency and basic health care assistance from
RENEW. Severe or complex cases are referred to hospitals. Additionally, RENEW’s shelter home called
Gawailing Happy Home, caters to the needs of those who require physical and psychological safety. Recognizing
that access to education is at the heart of social inclusion and social transformation, RENEW provides
scholarships to under-privileged children and youth around the country. Since 2011, educational support has been
provided to vulnerable children, mostly survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and those
abandoned or neglected.
In 2019, UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem presented Her Majesty with an award celebrating twenty
years as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, and commending her for her outstanding achievements in advancing sexual
and reproductive rights throughout Bhutan. In 2020, Her Majesty was announced as the individual laureate for the
2020 annual United Nations Population Award.

Chapter 2: Monarchy: An era of Stability and Reforms Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was born 21st February, 1980 in Kathmandu. He is the eldest son of the
fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and his third wife, Queen Ashi Tshering Yangdon. He has a younger sister,
Princess Ashi Dechen Yangzom, and brother, Prince Gyaltshab Jigme Dorji, as well as four half-sisters and three
half-brothers.

After completing his higher secondary studies at Yangchenphug High School, as crown prince Jigme Khesar
Namgyal Wangchuck was educated in India and the US before attending Oxford University to read politics and
international relations.

Crown Prince Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

The Crown Prince, accompanied his father on his many tours throughout the Kingdom to meet and speak to the
people. He also officially represented Bhutan on several international events.

On 8th May 2002, he represented Bhutan at the 27th UN General Assembly and made his first speech to the United
Nations, addressing issues related to the welfare of millions of children around the world.

He attended Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 60th Anniversary Celebrations on 12–13th June 2006
in Bangkok along with royals from 25 countries.

On 25th June 2002, the Crown Prince was awarded the Red Scarf by his father.

On 31st October 2004, Khesar was installed as the 16th Trongsa Penlop in Trongsa Dzong.
 The Coronation of the Fifth Druk Gyalpo

The coronation took place after 2 years of ascension on 1st November, 2008. Essentially, the Coronation had three
main sequential stages:

The FIRST stage was carried out in the presence of the founder of Bhutan, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. It was
marked by His Majesty draping his shoulders with the silken bolts of five colors at the shrine of Marchen, the
entombed holy body of the founder in the golden reliquary in Punakha Dzong.

The SECOND stage consists of the crowning of His Majesty the King with the Raven Crown by His Majesty the
Fourth King in the Throne Room in Tashichhodzong in the presence of assembled dignitaries, from both within
the country and abroad. Among the foreign dignitaries present were the President of India, Pratibha Patel, and
members of the Gandhi family led by Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

The THIRD stage of the Coronation consisted of His Majesty addressing the nation from Changlingmethang on
his aspirations for the reign, and presenting himself to his people. Celebrations at Changlingmethang pavilion
featured three days of spectacle and pageantry from all parts of the country.

The Royal Wedding- Union of two souls

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 31, weds Jetsun Pema, 21, in a rich and solemn traditional
religious ceremony fulfilling the wishes of the Bhutanese people in the Puna Dewachen Phodrang in Punakha.
The sacred marriage ceremony proclaims royal bride Jetsun Pema as the Druk Gyal-tsuen (Queen of Bhutan).

The Day of the Royal Wedding (13th October, 2011)

His Majesty said the royal wedding would be in accordance with age-old tradition, to seek the blessings of our
Guardian Deities,

The ceremony began at 4 am with the initiation of soong-chhoe prayers at the Marchen Lhakhang and Kuenra of
the Punakha Dzong. The religious ceremonies for the royal wedding begins with His Holiness the Je Khenpo
conducting the prayer of Zhabdrung Dag Nangma at Machhen lhakhang; while the Dorji Lopon and 100 monks
initiate Tshepa Mey prayers at the grand Kuenra.

His Majesty the King, escorted by the sacred retinue, arrived at the Dzong from the Royal Lingkha and lit a golden
lamp and offered prayers before the Thongdroel of Zhabdrung in the first courtyard of the Dzong.

The Royal Bride was led in chhipdrel procession into the Dzong, where she lit a golden lamp before the
Thongdroel, and exchanged Tashi Jel-Dhar with His Majesty the King.

The Raven Crown and the crown for the Queen of Bhutan were brought out from the Most Holy Macchen
Lhakhang, along with a Golden Bumpa and the sacred five colored dhar.
The Fourth Druk Gyalpo bestowed the sacred dhar upon the Royal Bride, sanctifying the Royal Wedding.

In the Kuenrey, The Royal Bride offered the ambrosia of eternal life, signifying her devotion to the glorious
continuity of the Wangchuck Dynasty, from the Golden Bumpa, to His Majesty the King.

His Majesty then bestowed the crown of the Druk Gyal-tsuen to the Royal Bride, and Ashi Jetsun Pema, now as
Druk Gyaltshuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, ascended to the throne of the Queen of Bhutan, to the left of His
Majesty the King.

The ceremony at the Kunrey ended with the offering of Tashi Nga Soel, symbolic offerings to their Majesties the
Queen and King of Bhutan. His Holiness the Je Khenpo, The Fourth Druk Gyalpo, and members of the Royal
Family and guests offered tashi khadar to the royal couple.

The representatives of the zhung dratshang, government, and the people will offer the Mendrey, Ku, Sung, Thud,
Yonten and Thrinley (mandala, body, speech, mind, qualities and deeds), Tashi Ze-gye (eight auspicious articles),
Gyal Sid Naduen (symbols of the universal emperor) and Tashi Tagye (eight auspicious symbols) to Their
Majesties the King and Queen.

Their Majesties the King and Queen then joined the people of Punakha and guests in a public celebration outside
the dzong. His Majesty granted tokha to the people gathered at the celebration ground.

Significance of the Royal Walk:

 The love that His Majesty has for the People is signified with Their Majesties decision to walk to the
Capital.
 Shows simplistic nature of our King Jigme Khesar Namgayal where, the king mingles freely with the
people, hugs and gives kisses to the public.
 To honor the respect shown people to Wangchuck dynasty.

Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as the People’s King

1. Safeguarding the national security

a. Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty-2007

The Friendship treaty between the India and Bhutan was signed during the reign of Third King
Jigme Dorji Wangchuck on 8th August, 1949 with the India’s first Prime Minister Jawwaharla
Nehru.

So, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck’s first state visit was to India on 7th February,
2007 and the main reason was to revise the 57 year old treaty of friendship.
The revised treaty was signed on 8th February, 2007 at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi by His
Majesty and Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan [Link] treaty knitted the close ties between
these two nations into a solid fabric of close regional tie and brotherhood that was shared from
times immemorial. His Majesty will always be remembered as a champion of India-Bhutan
relations.

b. De-Suung: Guardians of Peace and Harmony

The term De-Sunng means a guardian of peace and harmony.

The De-suung Integrated Training was started on February 14, 2011, where 125 candidates (80
male and 45 female), participated.

Aim of De-Suung are:

1. This institution awakens the Bhutanese spirit, lying dormant.

2. It prepares and provides opportunities for every Bhutanese to partake in the sacred responsibility
of nation building.

3. It stirs the sense of community vitality, which has been eroding over the years.

4. It inculcates the spirit of volunteerism.

5. It reminds people of civic responsibility and unity.

6. It shows the path towards harmony and it has a place for every Bhutanese.

c. Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS)

The Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGGS) is a training ground and was
inaugurated on October 10, 2013 by His Majesty the King. It is located at Bhutan India Friendship
Association (BIFA) Building in Phuentsholing.

Training Courses provided are:

1. Development of intellectual capacity of Bhutan’s leaders and promotion of good governance.

2. High quality education and discourse on public policies, leadership and strategic management.

3. Different leaders to discuss real life issues and generate solutions.

 2. Democratic Consolidation

a. Public consultations of the Draft Constitution

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck conducted his first public consultation in
Lhuentse on 24th December 2005.

He covered thirteen Dzongkhags namely Lhuentse, Trashi Yangtse, Pemagatshel, Dagana,

Tsirang, Sarpang, Chukha, Samtse, Samdrup Jongkhar, Zhemgang, Gasa, Bumthang and Trongsa.

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck concluded the public consultation at Trongsa on
24th May 2006. The draft Constitution was translated and read in three dialects namely Dzongkha,
Tshangla and Lhotshamkha.

Forum for them to raise issues, and to try and make the Constitution beneficial for the country.
After reading every Article, opportunities were given to the public to comment and raise questions.

There were about 327 persons who gave their opinion on the draft Constitution during the
consultation process. Some of the opinions received led to corrections and modification in the
language of the final document.

b. Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2011

The bill was passed on 30th May, 2011 with more power to the ACC to conduct their activities.

Cases ranging from embezzlement of a few thousand ngultrums to illegal ownership of

government land was unraveled.

Objective was to secure 20th spot by 2020 in the Corruption Perception Index ranking, but the
current standing is at 24th place.

ACC is specially created to promote a lively democracy and it can be achieved if every individual
speaks out on corruption rather than ignoring it.

c. Election Commission of Bhutan

Established on 16th January, 200 with the demand of strong leadership to lead the capable human
resources.

His Majesty also participated in the mock elections of 21st April, 2007 in Lhuntse.
The ECB was established to:

1. Hold elections to Parliament and local government in free and fair manner.

2. Hold National Referendums (Yes/No Vote).

3. Act as the head body to spread and create awareness on democracy.

d. Judiciary-upholding the Rule of Law

To strengthen the people’s awareness on laws, the judicial system and its functions, the Royal Law
Project (RLP) was instituted, comprising of the Bhutan National Legal Institute (BNLI), Royal
Institute of Law (RIL) and the Law Library, with Her Royal Highness, Princess Sonam Dechan
Wangchuck as President.

Bhutan National Legal Institute provides support and trainings to in service legal personnel
whereas the Royal Institute Law is responsible for conducting courses for the pre-service legal
personnel and the Law Library functions as the Legal Research Centre.

The main objectives of the RLP are:

1. Ensure justice and unity, happiness and well-being of people under the rule of law.

2. Support and contribute towards building a vibrant judicial system and democracy.

3. Preserve and promote indigenous Bhutanese legal system as in the Tsa-yig (Charter) of
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and Buddhist teaching.

Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law

Chairman Hugh Verrier offered the services and support of White and Case Frankfurt for
establishment of a law school in the country.

Bhutanese study law in India and Australia as Royal Institute of Management (RIM) in Semtokha
offers only Post-Graduate Diploma in National Law which makes the need for our own law school
imperative.

On 21st February, 2015, a Royal Charter was granted for the establishment of a law school.
Bhutan’s first law school was established to:

1. Provide legal education and facilitate research for cultural enrichment and traditional Bhutanese
values.

2. Promote rule of law to ensure a fair and just society.

3. Ensure peaceful co-existence, unity, happiness and well-being of the people.

4. Ensure the security and sovereignty of the nation.

The school is located at Pangbisa, Paro and is named in reverence to the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.

e. Historic Local Government Election of 2011

On 27th June, 2011, the elected gups were granted dhar and kabney by His Majesty in a historic
gesture and said that Local Government is not the lowest level of government but one that is nearest
and closest to the people.

f. Bhutan Media Foundation

Through the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of kidu, on 21st February, 2010, His Majesty
established the Bhutan Media Foundation as an autonomous and independent agency to:

1. Support Journalist Association of Bhutan and Press Clubs.

2. Invest in future readership by providing all newspaper to schools and colleges.

3. Promote national language and civic education programs in media.

During the National Day Celebration of 2012, His Majesty awarded medals to all media agencies
for constructive roles played and expectations to achieve vibrant democracy.
 3. Economic Initiatives

a. Druk Holdings and Investments

Established through a Royal Charter in 2007 to achieve the Royal vision of economic self-
sufficiency.

It can be referred to as the Commercial Arm of our country as:

1. It has contributed in increasing the country’s revenues substantially.

2. High employment generation at all rungs of management.

3. Opened the door towards excellence.

DHI manifests Good Governance where integrity, transparency, accountability and responsibility
is promoted.

DHI owned companies DHI controlled DHI linked companies

companies
1. Bhutan Power 1. Bank of Bhutan 1. Bhutan Board Product
Corporation Ltd. Ltd. Ltd.
2. Bhutan Telecom Ltd. 2. Dungsam 2. Bhutan Ferro Alloys Ltd.
3. Druk air Corporation Ltd. Cement 3. Bhutan National Bank
4. Druk Green Power Corporation Ltd. Ltd.
Corporation Ltd. 3. Dungsam 4. Koufuku International
5. Natural Resource Polymers Ltd. Private Ltd.
Development 4. State Trading 5. Penden Cement
Corporation Ltd. Corporation of Authority Ltd.
6. Thimphu TechPark Ltd. Bhutan Ltd. 6. Royal Insurance
7. Construction Corporation of Bhutan
Development Ltd.
Corporation Ltd.
8. Wood Craft Center Ltd.
9. State Mining Corporation
Ltd.
b. Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited

In 2007, the Forestry Development Corporation Ltd. (FDCL) transformed to NRDCL.

Ensure continued supply of stones, sands and timber at affordable rates.

NRDCL prevent corruption, inefficiencies and undue profiteering in collection, delivery and sale
of natural resource products.

Affordability of these products help people to construct own houses aligning with His Majesty’s
vision of a house for every Bhutanese and Government benefits from dividends and taxes.

c. National Cadastral Survey Program

To have the feeling of ownership and towards the country, His Majesty commanded the National
Land Commission Secretariat to carry out the National Cadastral Survey Program. And it started
from June, 2008 till December, 2013 for following reasons:

1. Resolving all land issues.

2. Strengthen land tenure system and security of ownership.

3. Accurate, reliable and multipurpose land information system.

4. Enhancement of land administration services while promoting good governance.

From a social angle, land ownership is a measure of prosperity, especially in rural areas, and it
also helps in confidence and breaking of social division.

4. Social Initiatives

a. National Rehabilitation Program

Instituted in 2011, with the aim to contribute towards poverty reduction by enhancing sustainable
livelihoods through the following:

1. Increasing the productive asset base of the beneficiaries by providing adequate land and other
complementary supports.

2. Creating and enhancing income generation opportunities.

3. Providing necessary socio-economic facilities and services to enable beneficiaries to improve
and sustain their livelihoods.

2011: The first NRP was established in Khenadrang, Pemagatshel “The Lotus of Happiness”.

Around 44 families from Wafay, Chongmashing, Namkhari, Bainanwoong, and Phasari under
Shumar Gewog and nine for Borphu, were benefited from the program.

Families received lagthram (land register) from Gyalpoi Zimpon for 124.36 acres as Kidu and
support to enable settlement at the earliest possible was provided.

In October, 2014, His Majesty’s representative in the east, Gyaltshab Jigme Dorji Wangchuck
inaugurated the village and the people once living in the medieval era joined the 21st century.

Following Kkenadrang, in 2012, the second national resettlement project began in Borangmo,
Nganglam, where 51 households were resettled.

Another example is the project in Dewathang, where the land was cleared and surveyed upon the
Royal Command, and now the transformed villages are living with hope and confidence.

Similar projects were implemented at Ney in Lhuentse and Bebji in Haa.

b. Royal Education Council

His Majesty believed that educating youth is the building blocks of a country. So, through a Royal
Command, Royal Education Council was formed in August, 2007. It was built on the
acknowledgement of the people that the present system requires reforms in providing high quality
education and the need to resuscitate the education system.

Royal Kasho on civil service

His Majesty the King symbolically handed over to the people of Bhutan two kashos (Royal edict)
on the reforms commanded for the education and civil service during the 113th National Day in
Punakha Dzong on 17th December 2020.

The Kasho on the civil service states that a Civil Service Reform Council be established to
recommend the government the directions for fundamentally restructuring the civil service so that
it has a renewed vision for the 21st century. In order to realize the vision, the civil service has to:
1. Be grounded as a strong organization that is apolitical, meritorious, innovative and resilient.

2. Be driven by a culture of research and state-of-the-art technology

3. Enable legislations and indeed the highest ethical standards of its leaders and personnel.

Royal Kasho on Education Reform

The kasho on education reforms states that a time-bound Council for Education Reform be
established to prepare a visionary and workable roadmap for the 21st century. Key points in the
Kasho:

1. We must revisit our curriculum, pedagogy, learning process, and assessments to either transform
or rewrite them in view of the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

2. By developing their abilities for critical thinking, creative thinking, and learning to be life-long
learners, we have to prepare them to be inquisitive, to be problem-solvers, to be interactive and
collaborative, using information and media literacy as well as technological skills.

3. We must select self-discovery and exploration, and involve learners in the creation of knowledge
rather than making them mere consumers of it.

4. We must make STEM subjects part of their everyday language.

5. We must equally prioritize their holistic development so that they become caring, dependable,
and honest human beings as well as patriotic citizens.

5. Other Initiatives

a. Royal Society for the Protection of Nature

It’s a non-governmental organization, which started in 1987 with His Majesty as the Patron from
1999 till 2012. The Gyaltsuen Jetsuen Pema Wangchuck is now the patron of RSPN.

RSPN looks into environmental concerns like climate change, sustainable forest and land
management, species and habitat management, water resource management, sustainable
development and livelihood, environmental education and advocacy, and research.

RSPN is called as the Champion of Blacked Necked Cranes because of Blacked Necked Crane are
found at Phobjikha and have the Annual Black-necked Crane festival.
It is an integral part of Ecotourism (now Community based-sustainable tourism) to promote local
economic welfare.

b. Diplomatic relations

i. Bhutan-Japan relations

Commemorating the 25th anniversary year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between
Japan and Bhutan, His Majesty accompanied by Her Majesty the Gyaltsuen visited Japan on
November 15, 2011.

During the state visit, His Majesty:

1. Delivered deep appreciation of the support that Japan provided toward Bhutan’s developmental
efforts.

2. Paid tribute to late Keiji Nishioka’s contribution.

3. Offered prayers at the sites affected by the earthquake.

4. Received farewell call from His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince followed by a visit by Her
Majesty the Empress.

The visit was important as it provided great momentum towards deepening the relation with Japan
being the second largest development partner after India.

Japan provided the latest agricultural tools, technology and equipment, and Japanese tourists make
up a sizeable portion.

ii. Bhutan-Thailand Relation

His visit to Thailand as Crown Prince, in 2006 for the 60th anniversary of Thailand’s late King,
and King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s ascension to the throne left a mark of love and affection.

His Majesty was affectionately known as “King Jigme” by the people of Thailand.

In May, 2016, His Majesty granted an audience to Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand
at Tashichhodzong.
The relation of the two countries shown during the demise of the His Majesty King Bhumibol,
where the country declared a day of mourning and lighted a thousand butter lamps with prayers.

Following Their Majesties visit, the Thailand Pediatric Surgeon Foundation offered heart surgeries
to 99 Bhutanese Children suffering from heart disease.

iii. Nepal, Singapore and Beyond

Nepal still remembers Bhutanese help in treating more than 2000 patients when they were reeling
under the shock of the earthquake.

Bhutan presented one million USD to Prime Minister of Nepal and showed the power of
brotherhood and unity.

In March, 2015, when the people of Singapore lost their leader His Excellency Lee Kuan Yew,
father of modern Singapore, His Majesty accompanied by Her Majesty the Gyalttsuen, in a show
of solidarity, flew to Singapore to attend the funeral services and pay homage.

Important state visits to Bhutan:

1. 14th April, 2016: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton.

2. 8th June, 2016: His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf and Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden.

3. February, 2013: leader of opposition and the Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party,
Begum Khaleda Zia.

4. July, 2016: president of Bangladesh, His Excellency [Link] Hamid in July 2016.

5. October, 2012: Nancy J. Powell, Ambassador of the USA to India.

6. December, 2012: Delegates from European Bhutan Friendship Societies.

 Her Majesty Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck as Patron of the Environment

Jetsun Pema was born at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu on 4th
June 1990. Her father, Dhondup Gyaltshen, is the grandson of two Trashigang Dzongpons,
Thinley Topgay and Ugyen Tshering (governors of Trashigang). Her mother, Aum Sonam Choki,
comes from the family of Bumthang Pangtey, one of Bhutan's oldest noble families. Sonam
Choki's father was a half-brother of two queens consort of Bhutan, Phuntsho Choden (great-
grandmother of the present king) and her sister Pema Dechen.

Her Majesty Gyaltsuen as an advocate for environment conservation.

Her Majesty the Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck is the United Nations environment program
ozone ambassador.

Her majesty is also royal patron of environment and works closely with National Environment
commission (NEC), Royal society of protection for nature (RSPN), Clean Bhutan and other
governmental and non-governmental agencies on conservation, waste management and other
important environment matters.

Advocate of environmental issues

In 2019 with the support from her majesty government initiated a flagship program on waste
management and redrafted the waste management strategy.

Her majesty also initiated the waste management practice called “zero waste hours”, where every
second day of the month has been pledged to clean waste and mark the zero waste hour.

The climate change is one of the initiatives her majesty has undertaken, which includes to reduce
the pollution not only by waste but by electric cars, wildlife and forest protections.

Her Majesty is UNEP Ambassador for ozone in 2012 and thereafter her majesty provided
continued guidance and leadership on environment and ozone related matters.

Her Majesty accords high importance to the environment and ozone issues. Her Majesty has
personally grace the World Environment day and world ozone day (WOD).
The Patron of the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN)

Her Majesty Gyaltsuen is a passionate environmentalist and through Her Majesty’s visionary
RSPN is able to institute strong sustainability mechanism in national and international investment.

RSPN has established a donation fund managed by Bhutan Trust Fund for environment
conservation (BTFEC) at US stock market and also maintains long term fixed investment with the
Bhutan Development Bank and Bhutan Insurance Limited.

RSPN has received the Highest National Order of Merit Gold from His Majesty the king in 2016.
International awards such as Macarthur award for creative and effective institution, Asian
Development Bank award for gender inclusive in conservation programs, Energy Globe Award
for sustainable development goal achiever.

Her Majesty has always been the guiding star for Clean Bhutan, without her Majesty’s clean
Bhutan wouldn’t have achieved the success.

Clean Bhutan follows Her Majesty’s Golden wisdom to keep Bhutan clean and beautiful with
volunteers.

The significance of the birth of Gyalsey Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck

The first Royal Child of His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Her Majesty
Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema was born on February 5, 2016.

The most auspicious name include names of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, Desi Jigme Namgyel,
and His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and indeed of all our former Kings.

The great joy for the Bhutanese people arises from many significances associated with The
Gyalsey’s birth.

1. His Majesty the 5th King was also born in the Iron Monkey year. Not only do His Majesty and
His Royal Highness share the same birth sign, both were born in the same month, February, and
in leap years too, 1980 and 2016.

2. Year of the Birth of Guru Rinpoche: The Monkey year is the one in which the second Buddha,
Guru Rinpoche was born and it made the birth of The Gyalsey a very auspicious and holy occasion.
3. Four Hundredth Year of the Arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel: The Gyalsey was also
born during the 400th anniversary of arrival of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel in Bhutan.

4. One Hundred and Eighth Year of Founding of Monarchy: The year 2016 also marks the 108th
year of the founding of monarchy from 1907. For both Buddhists and Hindus alike, 108 is a sacred
number.

5. Sixtieth Birth Anniversary of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo: For Buddhists, the 60th year is very
important. It marks the completion of five sexagenarian cycles consisting of 12 years each. On
November 11, 2015, the day the Fourth Druk Gyalpo attained sixty years of age, His Majesty The
King announced to the great joy of the Bhutanese people that Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen was
expecting the birth of The Gyalsey in about three months.

6. Ninth Year of His Majesty’s Reign: On December 9, 2015, His Majesty The King completed
the ninth year of a very successful reign. From the Buddhist point of view, this is a very auspicious
number. A major significance is the nine stages or vehicles to enlightenment according to the
Nyingma School of Buddhism.

7. Age at Enthronement in the Future: The Gyalsey will/may be enthroned as the Sixth Druk
Gyalpo in his late twenties. Assuming kingship at such an age is very important.

8. Long Future Reign of the Gyalsey: Assuming that The Gyalsey succeeds His Royal Father at
age 29, he would reign for 36 long years. For Bhutan and the Bhutanese people, this is good news.
It ensures political stability by way of continued national leadership over an extended period of
time.

9. Continuity of National Leadership: The birth of The Gyalsey also ensures continuity of national
leadership over a long period of time in contrast to short-term political leadership. By the time His
Majesty retires, he would have presided over eight governments. Similarly, The Gyalsey would
reign and preside over seven different governments.

10. Continuity of the Wangchuck Dynasty: The birth of The Gyalsey ensures the continuity of the
Wangchuck dynasty. For Bhutan and the Bhutanese, the continuity of this dynasty is crucial for
our ability to continue surviving as a nation.
Chapter 3: Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal – The Architect of the Nation State.

1. Explain the Choe-sid System established by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

The Choe-sid system or the dual system of government is a political or government system
established by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century. The two heads of the
government are Desi and Je Khenpo; the powers of the government of Bhutan were ideally split
between the religious branch, headed by the Je Khenpo, and the administrative branch, headed by
the Druk Desi.

Desi looked after the political administration and was assisted by Poenlops. The country was
divided into three large provinces, viz. Paro, Dagana and Trongsa. These provinces were ruled by
Poenlop (governor). The Poenlops of these three regions were known as Chog gi Chila Namsum.
The first Chilas were Minjur Tenpa as Choetse Poenlop, Tenpa Thinley as Daga Poenlop and
Tenzin Drugda as Paro Poenlop.

The other regional heads who had equal status with the Poenlops were the Dzongpoens (Chief of
Dzongs) of Thimphu, Punakha and Wangdue Phodrang. These three regions were known as Densa
Zhung Sum or the Three Central Seats. The first three central Dzongpoens were Namkha Rinchen
as Wangdue Phodrang Dzongpoen, Au Tshering as Thimphu Dzongpoen and Pekar Rabgye as
Punakha Dzongpoen.

The other posts having the same status with the three Chilas and three central Dzongpoens were
the Droenyer (Chief of Protocol) and Kalyoen (Executive Minister). The Droenyer also served as
the Chief Justice while the Kalyoen passed the orders of the Zhabdrung to other officers. The three
Chilas, the three central Dzongpoens along with Kalyoen and Droenyer formed the Lhengye Tshog
or the Council of Ministers.

The other posts were those of Dzongpoens under Chilas (Poenlops). These Dzongpoens who had
large areas under their jurisdiction also had Drungpas, the Gups, and the Village Headman to assist
them. The other office bearers who assisted the Desi, Poenlops and the Dzongpoens were Droenyer
(Chief of Protocol), Zimpoen (the Chief Supervisor of attendants), Darpoen (Army in charge),
Nyerchhen (Officer in charge of rations), and Norpoen (Officer in charge of cattle), etc.
Thus, the institution of the Dual System of Government ensured the continued progress towards
Bhutan’s emergence as a modern state. Though some of the posts do not exist anymore, the general
structure of the government at present is similar to that established by Zhabdrung Ngawang
Namgyal. For instance, the existence of Lhengye Zhung Tshog, Dzongda, Drungpa, gup, etc. are
derived from the time of the Zhabdrung.

2. Trace the origin of the first set of laws promulgated by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

One of the greatest achievements of the Zhabdrung was the codification of laws. The code of laws
known as Kathrim was written down only in 1729 by Tenzin Choegyal, the tenth Je Khenpo. The
Kathrim brought order in the system and protected people from exploitation and harassment and
minimized corruption as well as social problems. These laws ensured that justice was imparted to
all and peace and order prevailed in the country.

Some specific examples of the laws set by the Zhabdrung are:

1. Codified laws that define the responsibilities of a Desi. For instance, the duties of the Desi were
to ensure the contentment of the public by imparting fair justice, ensure peace and security of the
country and support the monastic body.

2. codified laws that establish relationship between the monastic community and the people. For
instance, the monks performed prayers and rituals for the community while the latter provided
material support to the former. To ensure the continuity of this rapport, the system of maintaining
of sathram, a register in the Dzongs that contained the names of the family members of each
household and their land properties was introduced.

3. Codified laws about the payment of tax. The public had to contribute compulsory labour to the
state besides paying tax in kind. The woola was used for building bridges, monasteries, for
renovation works, clearing of paths as well as transportation of government loads.
3. Explain the significance of the laws codified by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.

The law codified and established by the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal is very important and
significant for the Bhutanese due to the following reasons;

1. Zhandrung’s law is based on the Buddhist principles and values

2. The Zhabdrung’s law or code serves as the foundation of the contemporary Bhutanese legal
system.

3. The zhabdrung’s code was based closely on Buddhist principles and addressed the violation of
both temporal and spiritual laws. These laws contain specific reference to the ten pious acts, known
as Lhachoe Gyewa Chu and the sixteen virtuous acts of social piety, referred to as the Michoe
Tsangma Chudrug.

4. The spiritual laws are said to resemble a silken knot (dargye duephue) as the silken knot is light
and loose at first but gradually tightens with the accumulation of negative deeds,

5. The secular or temporal laws are compared to a golden yoke (sergyi nyashing) that grows
heavier and heavier with the degree of the crimes committed.

6. Today’s Thrimzhung Chhenmo or the Supreme Law which was based on Zhabdrung’s code
covers almost all civil and criminal matters and includes sections on land law, marriage,
inheritance, weights and measures, theft and murder.

4. Discuss the legacy of Zhabdrung’s Code of Law.

The laws codified by the Zhabdrung touched all aspects of Bhutanese life. There were laws that
took care of religious, political, economic and social life of the Bhutanese. The taxation law, the
law on relationship between the state and public, crime and punishment law, law on corruption
and murder, inheritance law, among many others are just some examples of the laws codified by
Zhabdrung. Even today, the fundamental elements of the Thrim zhung Chenmo the Supreme Law
is based on the Kathrim.
5. Explain ‘national identity’.

National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one state or to one nation. The
extreme expression of national identity is chauvinism, which refers to the firm belief in the
country's superiority and extreme loyalty toward one's country. The fundamental elements of this
concept as following: territory, or homeland; common myths and historical memories; a common,
mass public culture; common legal rights and duties for all members; and a common economy.

The Zhabdrung realized that the biggest threat to the Bhutanese sovereignty/independence was its
lack of a National Identity. The linguistic variety of Bhutan was so large that each region spoke its
own dialect. The dress code and food habits differed from one region to another. This diversity
was seen as a disadvantage because Tibet could take advantage of the situation. Thus, the
Zhabdrung felt the need to introduce customs, traditions, dress, ceremonies, festivals, and language
that are distinct/unique.

Thus, the following unique identity were created for Bhutan by Zhabdrung:

1. The introduction of the ceremony of Zhugdrel Phuensum Tshogpa after the completion of
Punakha Dzong. This ceremony symbolizes the Bhutanese Nationhood and unity amongst its
different valleys. Even today, this ceremony is popular for all degrees of celebration as a prelude.

2. The building of Dzongs with unique architectural designs not only safeguarded the Bhutanese
sovereignty from external and internal threats but also served as a source from where the Dharma
is diffused.

3. Other unique features include creation of dress code, festivals and even the rituals.
6. Explain the factors leading to the creation of national identity by Zhabdrung Ngawang
Namgyal.

Zhabdrung realized that Bhutan needed to differentiate itself from Tibet in order to preserve its
religion and cultural identity. He devised many of Bhutan's customs, traditions and ceremonies
in a deliberate effort to develop a unique cultural identity for the country.

These unique identities created by Zhabdrung not only distinguished the Bhutanese from others
but also safeguarded the Bhutanese sovereignty.

7. Analyze the legacy of Zhabdrung’s unique national identity.

1. Zhabdrung is highly revered in Bhutan and is regarded as the founder of the country.

2. In 1634, in the Battle of Five Lamas, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal prevailed over the Tibetan
and Bhutanese forces allied against him, and was the first to unite Bhutan into a single country.

3. Zhabdrung gave legal system through his Codes of law

4. Cho-sid Nyiden the dual system of Government

5. Unique National identity

6. Sa thram, land reform

7. Established first monastic education.

Chapter 4: Bhutan and British India: Bhutan’s Relations with Her Immediate Foreign
Neighbor.
Zhidar’s Early Life
Zhidar was an orphan and as a child he lived in miserable poverty, even sleeping in the cowshed
next to a bull to keep himself warm in winter. He started his career as a servant of the border patrol
officer in Tsirang. When 10th Desi Mipham Wangpo escaped from Tibet, Zhidar was one of the
servants among the escape party. From his humble beginnings, he gradually rose to be the Trongsa
Poenlop, where he invited Tenzin Chögyal and started the monastic community.
Monk tax was perhaps imposed for the first time in the Mangde and Bumthang valleys to recruit
monks for the new community. On this occasion, Zhidar himself received the ordination of a
novice and the name Sonam Lhendup.

He then served as the Wangdue Phodrang Dzongpoen, when he led the mission under Sherab
Wangchuk’s orders to Ladakh in order to mediate between the king and a disloyal minister who is
said to have invited the Kashmiri force to remove the king.
Zhidar was appointed as the 16th Desi in 1768 upon the death of Druk Tenzin. His candidacy for
the post of the Desi must have been supported by his former master 13th Desi Sherab Wangchuk,
who also passed away in 1768 after Zhidar was installed as the Desi.

Zhidar and Bhutan’s affairs with Cooch Behar (1768-1773)

Causes of the War

Bhutanese had greater influence on the politics of Cooch Behar toward the end of the 17th century.
By 1768, when Zhidar became the Desi, Cooch Behar was virtually ruled by the Desi through a
frontier official known as Pagsam drungpa or chief of Pasakha, later known to the British as Buxa
Subah.
In 1730, a family dispute aroused between Upendra Narayan and Din Narayan for the throne.
Muhammad Shah Rangila, a local official of the Mughals of Rangpur, interfered and supported
Din Narayan. Upendra Narayan sought the help from Bhutan. Bhutan agreed to support and in
1730 the Bhutanese defeated Din Narayan and his brother Diwan Dev who were imprisoned in
Chapcha Dzong.
So, Upendra Narayan was enthroned as the ruler of Cooch Behar and a Gya Chila (རྒྱ་སྤྱི་བླ་་-
Bhutanese Agent) with a Bhutanese small force posted at Cooch Behar to help the ruler. Cooch
Behar therefore became dependent on Bhutan since 1730 A.D.
In 1770 A.D. Cooch Behar’s ruler Raikat Ram Narayan joined forces with the Bhutanese when
the 16th Desi Sonam Lhundrub (alias Zhidar) invaded Sikkim and the principality of Morang
(Vijaypur). In 1772, Bhutanese were forced to intervene on Cooch Behar once again following a
succession dispute in the kingdom.
The political scene suddenly changed when Nazir (regent) Khagendra Narayan, one of the other
claimants to the throne, requested for help from the British East India Company and offered to
surrender half of the revenue of the State. The British accordingly sent a large force under Captain
John Jones to drive out the Bhutanese from Cooch Behar.

Courses of the War with British

On 22th December, 1772, the British and the Bhutanese fought their first battle at the fort of Cooch
Behar. The British troops had to bear with considerable losses, but were in the end victorious and
Dharendra Narayan was reinstalled as the new king.
A treaty was signed between the East India Company and Cooch Behar making the Company the
real ruler of Cooch Behar and the Bhutanese no longer be raiding the lands of Cooch Behar.
The Bhutanese were infuriated and in 1773, Bhutanese under Desi Zhidar attacked the Chichacotta
garrison held by the Collector of Rangpur. A fierce battle was fought and Desi Zhidar’s forces
were defeated compelling them to retreat into the mountains.
In April 1773, Captain John Jones occupied the post of Daling (near present day Kalimpong and
Desi Zhidar lost war against British. The Tsheney Lopen Kuenga Rinchen proclaimed the seat of
Desi as the 17th Desi and prevented Zhidhar from entering Bhutan. Yet Zhidhar reached Paro and
proceeded toward Tibet where he was killed by the bandits.
 Result of the War
The battle of Cooch Behar finally came to an end with the signing of Treaty of Friendship in 25th
April 1774.
Anglo-Bhutanese Treaty of 1774
Terms
1. Bhutan regained its lost territories such as, Chichacotta, Palaghat, Kyranty, Maraghat and
Luckypur.
2. The Bhutanese were permitted to trade in Rangpur.
3. Bhutan agreed to not offer shelter to Sanyasis or escaped criminals of British. And also to allow
British troops to follow the criminals into Bhutanese territory when needed.
4. The Bhutanese agreed to free the Raja of Cooch Behar and his brother.
5. The British were permitted to fell timber in the hill forests and the Bhutanese are to protect the
woodcutters.

18th Desi Jigme Singye (1776-1788)

Desi Jigme Singye was regarded as an open-minded and adventurous character where, George
Bogle described him as the most curious man in the whole country. Even according to Samuel
Turner, ‘he was tall, and strong in his mate with dignity and good comedy; he was serious, but
lively; his behavior cool and calm’.
Desi Jigme Singye formally received the Samuel Turner mission on 3rd June 1783, after they were
comfortably settled in a house near Tashichödzong, probably the same place where Bogle and
Hamilton were put up. They frequently met Jigme Singay as Bogle did during his trip.
After the first one, the meetings were mostly without formalities and they talked about various
things, including the similarities and differences of their cultures. They exchanged gifts and dined
together. With Robert Saunders, Jigme Singye shared local medical knowledge and herbs and, in
return, the English surgeon shared his skills and drugs. Samuel Davis showed his artistic works in
return for an exhibition of local artistic talents.
During Jigme Singye’s reign, Bhutan’s political relations with the East India Company to the south
were very friendly.
Trongsa Poenlop Jigme Namgyal
The Ashley Eden Mission of 1864
The Ashley Eden Mission departed for Bhutan on 4th January 1864 from Darjeeling and arrived at
Punakha on 15th March 1864. The main purposes of the mission were to discuss the stationing of
a British resident mission in Punakha and to have open free trade with Bhutan.
To Jigme Namgyal the mission was uninvited and the proposals were nothing but an indication of
British domination, therefore he rejected the draft treaty. Instead, Jigme Namgyal asked Ashley
Eden the return of Assam duars that the British had annexed in 1841.
To this, Ashley Eden said that the issue of Assam duars was long before solved and in addition, it
was not the purpose of the mission and therefore was not negotiable. The missionaries were
insulted and humiliated by the Bhutanese Council. The Wangdiphodrang Dzongpoen, Darlung
Tobgay insisted Dr. Simpson to eat betel and areca nuts (doma) that he was chewing.
Even Jigme Namgyal took wet bread and rubbed it on Ashley Eden’s face, slapped his back and
pulled his hair. On 29th March 1864, the Ashley Eden Mission returned to India and reported the
mission as a complete failure.

The Great Duar War of 1864-1865

Jigme Namgyal was aware that under any circumstance British would declare war on Bhutan and
it was the humiliation by Jigme Namgyal and Darlung Tobgay, which dragged the country into the
war against British on 12th November 1864.
Courses of the war
The Governor-General Sir John Lawrence (1864-1869) on 12th November 1864 announced the
declaration of war on Bhutan for humiliating the British missionaries. The British troops attacked
Bhutan from four fronts. Brigadier General Mulcaster, Colonel Campbell and Colonel Richardson
operated the right center columns, and Colonel Dunsford and Colonel Watson operated the left
center columns. By the end of January 1865, all the duar areas were captured by the powerful
British troops.
The Bhutanese Counter Attack and Recapture of Dewathang area
Suddenly, rumors began to circulate that the Bhutanese were prepared to attack along the whole
line of hill posts from west to east. The British did not take these rumors seriously and ignored the
warnings. This gave the Bhutanese a perfect opportunity to make a surprise attack on the otherwise
much better- equipped British troops.
Under the command of Jigme Namgyal, the factional misunderstanding was put aside and all the
leaders were united. The group led by Jigme Namgyal and Tsondru Gyaltshen counter attacked
British troops in Dewathang on 27th January 1865.
This attack caused heavy losses on the British side in terms of both the troops and weapons.
Bhutanese also took British as prisoners and captured two cannons (gun or mortar). These heavy
losses took British a month to recover. However, Bhutan lost Tsondru Gyaltshen in the battle.
By November 1865, Bhutan lost the entire duars including the recaptured Dewathang on 27th
January 1865. The Governor General threatened to capture the whole Bhutan. Jigme Namgyal
upon hearing this rushed towards Yongla Gonpa and surrendered the British prisoners and
cannons.
Results of the Great Duar War
The war ended on 11th November 1865 with the historic Sinchula Treaty.
Terms
1. The Bhutanese surrendered all the Bengal and Assam Duars including Ambari Falakata, Daling,
Teesta and Jaldhaka and Doethang.
2. The Bhutanese were to release all their captives and give back the treaty signed in 1864 by
Ashley Eden in Punakha.
3. The good imported into each country would be duty-free and the Bhutanese were supposed to
refer to the British in case of disputes with Sikkim and Cooch Behar.
4. The British agreed to pay to the Bhutanese a compensation of 25,000 Rupees the first year on
the fulfilment of the terms of the treaty and the return of the two guns captured at Deothang.
5. The compensation was to increase every year until it reached 50,000 Rupees.
Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck
Enhancement of Bhutan and British relations
The signing of Sinchula Treaty in 1865 was the benchmark of growing relation between Bhutan
and the British.
In 1888, the Tibetan forces captured a small strip of land in Sikkim (probably Chumbi valley).
The British detached 2,000 men to overthrow the Tibetans. At this time, the Tibetan forces sought
the support of Nepal and Bhutan. Trongsa Poenlop Ugyen Wangchuck had well understood the
power of British and decided not to support the Tibetan forces. Consequently, the British troops
expelled the Tibetan forces out of Sikkim.
The British acknowledged the neutrality of Bhutan and were confident that Bhutan would remain
neutral in the future in the external affairs of the British.

The Young husband Mission and Anglo-Tibetan War of 1904

To open free trade with Tibet was a traditional interest of the British. It was on 8th January 1903,
the British government sanctioned the mission to Lhasa. Lord Curzon appointed Colonial (later
Sir) Francis Young husband to head the frontier mission called the Young husband Mission in
June 1903, but could not proceed due to aggressive nature of the Tibetans.
Therefore, the British wrote to Ugyen Wangchuck on 9th October 1903 requesting him to support
them in mediating the issue with the Tibetans. Trongsa Poenlop was invited for the talks at Buxa
or Kalimpong. The main motive behind the British invitation was to seek either Bhutan’s
friendship or neutrality.
In 1904, Ugyen Wangchuck accompanied the British Expedition led to Lhasa by Colonel Young
husband to Lhasa and acted as a successful mediator between the Government of Tibet and the
British. His contribution to the mission, his talent for mediation and his diplomatic handling of
people were recognized.
It was partly because of his efforts that the Anglo-Tibetan Convention of 7th September 1904 was
signed at Potala Palace in Lhasa. The outcome of the mission was the development of friendship
with British India.
In 1905, the British government in appreciation of Ugyen Wangchuck’s contribution during the
Young Husband’s mission, John Claude White, the political officer in Sikkim led a mission to
present the title of Knight Commander of the Indian Empire (KCIE) to Ugyen Wangchuck.
In 1906, Sir Ugyen Wangchuck was invited to attend the reception of the Prince of Wales George
V in India. He attended the reception and made a tour of India and on 8th January Treaty of Punakha
was signed.
Treaty of Punakha
Terms
1. The annual British subsidy was raised from 50,000 Rupees to 10,000 Rupees.
2. Bhutan agreed to be guided by British advice in its external affairs and British were not to
interfere in Bhutan’s internal affairs.

Chapter 5: Civil Society

Topic: Concept of civil society as the third sector

Definition of Civil Society

All non-governmental groups, association and institutions that citizens form and join.

Examples:

Religious Association

Professional Associations

Charitable groups

Interest groups

Civil Society is not:

1. Government or elected officials (Political Sphere)

2. Not businesses or cooperation that looks for making profit (Economic Sphere)

3. Not private Aspects

Characteristics of Civil Society

1. Freedom of choice

Civil Society is based on an individual choice and volunteerism.

2. Freedom from profit making

Civil Society have rooms for creativity and new innovations, so civil society can adjust hopes,
needs and desires of the people and environment.

3. Freedom from administrative regulation

Civil Society is charitable nature in its activities so, they decides the activities they wants to
engage.

4. Common join forces

Civil Society is a combination of laypersons and professionals.

5. Chances to make differences

Civil society people act as same and works on same objectives where it provides opportunity and
ability to have and influence.

Emergence of civil society in Bhutan

The first similar civil society was the National Youth Association of 1973 founded by young civil
servants to provide weekend radio broadcast in English.

Later in 1979 it evolved into Bhutan Broadcasting Services.

Chronology of Civil Society Organization in Bhutan

1. Nascent Stage (1970 - 2007)

The Nascent stage refers to the period in which national non-governmental organization began
to emerge as government initiatives in the absence of any specific civil society law.

Fourth Druk Gyalpo, played an important role in setting up the civil society in Bhutan.

2. Engagement of International Non-governmental Entities

The Royal government of Bhutan initiated the engagement with International non-governmental
organization such as:

a. Havetal Swiss Inter-Cooperation (1975)

b. World Wildlife Fund (1977)

c. Save the Children (1982)

3. Support for Establishment of National Non-governmental Organizations

Established national NGOs such as:

a. RSPN- 1987

b. YDF- 1998

c. Tarayana Foundation- 2003

4. Fledging stage (2007 onwards)

The beginning of new stage of Civil Society Organization started.

The CSO Act was established.

CSO Authority was established in 2009

CSO rules and regulations was created in 2010

NGOs started to register under CSO in 2010.

Topic 2: Difference between state and government.

State Government
A geographic entity that revels in An organization that formulates, articulates,
sovereignty is called state. and enforces the law of a state is called
government.
Essential Elements
Four, including population, government, Three, including the legislature, judiciary, and
territory, and sovereignty. execution.
Members
Entire population. Few members of the state.
Physical Existence
No physical existence. Possesses physical existence.
Entity Nature
A state is an abstract entity. A government is a physical entity.
 Citizens’ Rights
Grants rights to citizens. Protects the rights of citizens.
Territory
The existence of a state is Territory A government can be established and function
dependent. optimally without any territory (Territory
independent)
Existence
A permanent organization. A temporary and transitory entity.

The four essential features of a state

1. Population – A state must have people governed by the government. These people are
commonly referred to as ‘citizens’ sometimes, and a number does not even matter.

2. Territory – A state must have a well and clearly defined territory. This is referred to as
‘border’ which is a mark that symbolizes the end of one state and where another begins
from.

3. Government – Government is powerful machinery that enforces rules and regulations

through common law of the land. Government is the institution which any society enforces
public policies through Bureaucratic institutions. Most states are governed through a
written document, known as ‘Constitution.’ Every government has three kinds of powers:
a) Legislative power – This is the power to make laws, decisions and policies at national
level.
b) Executive power – This is power to enforce law, administer law to people and country.
c) Judicial power – Through the arm of government judiciary, government has power to
interpret laws, pass to legislature for any changes the power to interpret laws, explain
meaning, and coordinating society by resolving conflicts.

4. Sovereignty – A state must have supreme power and authority to act. This includes
authority to make its own decisions, policies, reforms, public affairs, external affairs, etc.
with little or no interference from the other states or countries.
Topic 3: Bhutan as a Sovereign State
 Sovereignty is a political concept that refers to dominant power or supreme authority.
In a monarchy, supreme power resides in the "sovereign", or king. The Sovereign is the
one who exercises power without limitation. Sovereignty is essentially the power to make
laws.
 Sovereignty means the condition of being politically free: autonomy, freedom,
independence, independency, liberty, self-government.
 A sovereign nation is a nation that has one centralized government that has the power
to govern a specific geographic area.
 These nations have a permanent population and can enter into relations with other
sovereign countries.
 Bhutan is a sovereign nation because we are the members of UNO, The United Nations
only accepts sovereign state as her member nations.
 Four essential features of sovereignty are Population, Territory, Sovereignty, and
Government.
 Bhutan is a sovereign state because we have all four major aspects of sovereignty.

The role of Monarch as the Head of State

1) His Majesty the King in Bhutan is not only the head of state but is also a symbol of unity
of the nation and people of Bhutan.
2) His Majesty is responsible for the security and sovereignty of Bhutan.
3) His Majesty also has the very important responsibility of protecting and upholding “the
constitution in the best interest and for the welfare of the people of Bhutan.”
4) His Majesty has the duty to ensure that governments run in accordance with the constitution
and laws of the nation for the welfare of the Bhutanese people.
5) As per the constitution only His Majesty the King can grant Land Kidu or any other kind
of Kidu.

In his multiple roles, the Constitution grant’s His Majesty the King several other functions and
powers. His Majesty the King has:
 1) Legislative powers to call various sessions of the house and refuse to provide assent to
bad bills by sending them back for re-discussion. Also, a bill only becomes law after Royal
assent. When the government faces a no confidence vote by two thirds then His Majesty
has the power to dissolve the Parliament.
2) Executive powers to be the sole one to make important appointments in the government
or award titles.
3) Judicial powers to grant amnesty, pardon or reduction of sentences, granting of
citizenship, getting the opinion of the Supreme Court on any question of law and exercise
powers on matters not enshrined in the constitution or other laws.
4) Military Power as the Supreme Commander in Chief of the armed forces and the militia
with the power to declare war and all peace treaties are made in His name.
5) Financial power to use the relief fund instituted by the Parliament.
6) Diplomatic power to promoting goodwill and relations with other countries.
7) Emergency powers to declare a national and financial emergency on the advice of the
Prime Minister. In case of a deadlock where a joint sitting of Parliament can’t pass an
important bill, His Majesty can order a National Referendum.

Topic 4: Principles of State Policy

Meaning of Principles of State Policy

The Principles of State Policy are principles that direct and guide the Government to keep the
welfare of the people in mind while formulating its policies and framing laws.
They are essential in ensuring good governance of the country by inspiring the State and
Government to work for the prosperity and wellbeing of the people and the Nation as enshrined in
Article 9 of the Constitution of Bhutan.

Significance of Principles of State Policy

1) Ensure the promotion of conditions that would facilitate the pursuit of Gross National
Happiness.
2) Ensure that the Government strengthens the sovereignty of Bhutan by fostering goodwill
and cooperation with Nations and settling international disputes by peaceful means.
3) Promote justice for the well-being of the people by protecting human rights, dignity and
fundamental rights, among others.
4) Promote the unity of the Bhutanese by fostering conditions that are conducive for co-
operation and integrity in the community.
5) Provide liberty to the people by minimizing oppression, discrimination and violence and
by respecting the Fundamental Rights.
6) Act as an apparatus for measuring the performance of the Government. This means that the
Principles of State Policy become a checklist for the Government to see if they are
performing well in line with the principles. Moreover, the citizens can also refer to the
principles to check if the Government is working for the wellbeing of the Nation and
Society and then decide to reject or vote for the same Government.
7) Prohibit the Government from doing anything that they wish as they have to follow the
principles listed in the State Policy.
8) Eliminate inequalities of opportunity, for instance, by encouraging and fostering private
sector development through fair market competition and preventing commercial
monopolies, and offering basic education as well as higher education based on merit.
9) Minimize inequalities of income by providing fair and reasonable remuneration to one’s
work and by minimizing concentration of wealth.
10) Protect women and children from exploitation.
 Strand: Spirituality, Identity and Culture

Chapter 6: Constitution of Bhutan

Article 3 Spiritual Heritage

1. Buddhism is the spiritual heritage of Bhutan, which promotes the principles and values of peace,
non-violence, compassion and tolerance.
2. The Druk Gyalpo is the protector of all religions in Bhutan.
3. It shall be the responsibility of religious institutions and personalities to promote the spiritual
heritage of the country while also ensuring that religion remains separate from politics in Bhutan.
Religious institutions and personalities shall remain above politics.
4. The Druk Gyalpo shall, on the recommendation of the Five Lopons, appoint a learned and
respected monk ordained in accordance with the Druk-lu, with the nine qualities of a spiritual
master and accomplished in ked-dzog, as the Je Khenpo.
5. His Holiness the Je Khenpo shall, on the recommendation of the Dratshang Lhentshog, appoint
monks with the nine qualities of a spiritual master and accomplished in ked-dzog as the Five
Lopons.
6. The members of the Dratshang Lhentshog shall comprise:
(a) The Je Khenpo as Chairman;
(b) The Five Lopons of the Zhung Dratshang; and
(c) The Secretary of the Dratshang Lhentshog who is a civil servant.
7. The Zhung Dratshang and Rabdeys shall continue to receive adequate funds and other facilities
from the State.

Importance of Spiritual Heritage are:

1. It is the basic tenet of democracy to guarantee and protect the personal right of “freedom of
thought, conscience and religion” and not to enjoin on people of diverse faiths, a monolithic faith.
2. The Constitution provides, in accordance with universal human rights concepts that there should
not be any discrimination based on religion and as the Head of State, the King should be the
protector of all religions.
3. It promotes the norm in the Bhutanese society, environment, behavior, architecture and dress,
and its influence.
4. It stipulates the promotion of the principles and values of peace, non-violence, compassion and
tolerance.
5. It envisions Bhutan to be a Kingdom of national integrity, unity, harmony, and co-operation
among all sections of society without divisive and sectarian roles.
6. It combines religion with politics where the country will be divided, which would impair the
security of the sovereign nation. Religion and politics will flourish independent of each other and
will ensure symbiotic growth, and promote tolerance among the people.

Article 4 Culture
1. The State shall endeavor to preserve, protect and promote the cultural heritage of the country,
including monuments, places and objects of artistic or historic interest, Dzongs, Lhakhangs,
Goendeys, Ten-sum, Nyes, language, literature, music, visual arts and religion to enrich society
and the cultural life of the citizens.
2. The State shall recognize culture as an evolving dynamic force and shall endeavor to strengthen
and facilitate the continued evolution of traditional values and institutions that are sustainable as a
progressive society.
3. The State shall conserve and encourage research on local arts, custom, knowledge and culture.
4. Parliament may enact such legislation as may be necessary to advance the cause of the cultural
enrichment of Bhutanese society.

Significance of Cultural Heritage are:

1. Cultural Heritage protects tangible and intangible arts.
2. Cultural Heritage preserve and promotes good old traditions and customs.
3. It recognize and preserve Bhutan’s rich culture and ensure its evolution for eternity.
4. It mandates the State to conserve and encourage research on local arts, knowledge and culture
as history is a continual expression of the individual's desire to live in a society.
5. Parliament has the legislative responsibility to enact legislations in order to advance the cause
of cultural enrichment of Bhutanese society.
 Article 5 Environment
1. Every Bhutanese is a trustee of the Kingdom’s natural resources and environment for the benefit
of the present and future generations and it is the fundamental duty of every citizen to contribute
to the protection of the natural environment, conservation of the rich biodiversity of Bhutan and
prevention of all forms of ecological degradation including noise, visual and physical pollution
through the adoption and support of environment friendly practices and policies.
2. The Royal Government shall:
(a) Protect, conserve and improve the pristine environment and safeguard the biodiversity of the
country;
(b) Prevent pollution and ecological degradation;
(c) Secure ecologically balanced sustainable development while promoting justifiable economic
and social development; and
(d) Ensure a safe and healthy environment.
3. The Government shall ensure that, in order to conserve the country’s natural resources and to
prevent degradation of the ecosystem, a minimum of sixty percent of Bhutan’s total land shall be
maintained under forest cover for all time.
4. Parliament may enact environmental legislation to ensure sustainable use of natural resources
and maintain intergenerational equity and reaffirm the sovereign rights of the State over its own
biological resources.
5. Parliament may, by law, declare any part of the country to be a National Park, Wildlife Reserve,
Nature Reserve, Protected Forest, Biosphere Reserve, Critical Watershed and such other categories
meriting protection.

Roles of Article 5 in Conserving Environment are:

1. Article 5 mandates every Bhutanese to be a trustee of the Kingdom’s natural resources and
environment for the benefit of the present and future generations.
2. The provision entails the mandatory constitutional responsibility upon the government to
improve, protect and conserve our pristine environment and rich biodiversity from pollution and
degradation.
3. It provides for the principle of balanced sustainable development between the country’s
economic development and the ecological protection, where it mandates the government to ensure
a safe and healthy environment.
4. The provision mandates sixty percent of forest coverage to preserve the environment for
posterity.
5. The Article 5 grants statutory power to Parliament to declare any part of the country as a
protected area.
World History

Strand: Historiography

Chapter 1: Medieval Historiography

Topic 1: Oral History

Definition of Oral History

Oral history is a sound recording of historical information, obtained through an interview that
preserves a person’s life history or eyewitness account of a past experience—but read on.

Creating Oral History

1. Recording

Help listeners better understand how individuals from various view points and different stations in
society encountered the full range of life in their day, from everyday routines to catastrophic
events.

Carefully preserved, the recordings carry the witness of the present into the future, where through
creative programs and publications, they can inform, instruct, and inspire generations to come.

2. Interviewing

Allows interviewers to ask not only, what happened? But also, How did you feel about what
happened?

The partnership of co-creation, which invites narrators to interpret and analyze their personal
experiences through their own points of view and in their own words.
3. Preserving

Preservation begins with making recordings safe, advances to making them useful and accessible,
and culminates with sharing them in creative ways with others.

Importance of Oral History

1. Oral history helps round out the story of the past.

Oral history provides a fuller, more accurate picture of the past by augmenting the information.

Eyewitnesses to events contribute various viewpoints and perspectives that fill in the gaps in
documented history, sometimes correcting or even contradicting the written record.

Interviewers are able to ask questions left out of other records and to interview people whose
stories have been untold or forgotten. At times, an interview may serve as the only source of
information available about a certain place, event, or person.

2. Oral history helps us understand how individuals and communities experienced the forces of
history

Oral history brings depth to our understanding of the past by carrying us into experience at an
individual level.

3. Oral history teaches us what has changed and what has stayed the same over time.

Oral history allows people to express the personal consequences of change, from the simple things
of life—wood stove to microwave, dial phone to cell phone, phonograph to I-Pod—to the more
complex—Yellow Dog Democrat to Moral Majority, local production to global outsourcing,
country living to suburban sprawl.

During interviews, narrators may also reflect on ways their lives remained the same in spite of
change, particularly in the area of values, traditions, and beliefs.

4. Oral history preserves for future generations a sound portrait of who we are in the present and
what we remember about the past.

Future generations will view—and judge—today’s generation through the lens of their own
experiences in their own time.
Oral history enables people to share their stories in their own words, with their own voices, through
their own understanding of what happened and why. With careful attention to preserving our sound
recordings, the voices of our narrators will endure to speak for them when they are gone.

5. Oral history provides a rich opportunity for human interaction.

History, after all, is all about the human experience. Through oral history, researchers and
interviewees come together in conversation about a commonly shared interest — as with all human
interactions, this has the potential to be tremendously rewarding for both parties.

Topic 2: Medieval and Modern Traditions of Historical Writing

Why do we need to study Historiography?

1. The ability to assess evidence.

2. Assess to different perspectives

3. The ability and scope of reviewing history.

4. The art of writing methods adopted by different historians.

Historiography (Definitions)

First began in Ancient Greece as the historians started recording events, people and places.

In the early modern period, the term historiography meant “the writing of history,”
and historiographer meant “historian.”

Historiography was more recently defined as “the study of the way history has been and is
written – the history of historical writing,” which means that, when you study ‘historiography’
you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in
the works of individual historians.

The concept of Medieval Historiography

Medieval – medi- meaning ‘middle’ and ev- meaning ‘age.’ Thus, Medieval literally means ‘of
the Middle Ages.’

It is also known as Dark Ages as disorder and chaos reigned whole of Europe.
Middle Ages- The period of European history from the fall of the Roman Empire in the west (5th
Century) to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (15th Century)

Medieval history is thus defined as the history that runs from the 5th century to the end of 15th
century.

It’s marked by technological advancement and Agricultural innovations that led to rise of trade.

It also saw various famines, plagues and wars (famine-a period of extreme shortage of food,
plague- a widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population). This diminished the
population in the later period of Middle Ages.

The end of Middle Ages marks the beginning of the early modern period.

Why medieval historiography is important?

Studying Medieval European history is important in forming our identity as we are all from
different ethnic and national backgrounds, but Europe's origins and contributions to history are
still significant to our past, present, and future.

The concept of Modern Historiography

Universally began from the 16th century and continues on today and is divided into early modern,
modern and late modern historiography.

Modern historiography was influenced by different ideas and progress of the world like:

• Age of reason

• Renaissance

• Scientific developments/progress

• Industrial revolutions

• Colonialism

• Nationalism

• Economic trends

• Urbanization
 • Capitalism, etc.

Transition from medieval to modern historiography

Historians have divided the history of mankind into three periods the Ancient, the Medieval and
the Modern.

The year 476 AD in which the last West Roman Emperor was deposed, is taken to mark the end
of the ancient period and beginning of the Middle Ages.

The middle age is supposed to have ended in 1453 AD., the year of the fall of Constantinople, the
capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, into the hands of the Turks.

The modern period is said to begin from this year. The theory of ‘socio-economic formation’ as
basis for the periodization of history. The modern age can be said to have begun with the
development of capitalism in the world.

As a new socio-economic formation capitalism first appeared in Western Europe. It was in the
late Middle Ages, approximately between the 15th and 17th centuries, that Capitalism had its
embryonic origin.

As far as Europe was concerned this was a period of Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.

During the late Middle period witnessed a revolutionary change in the socio-economic structure
of Europe. This change was reflected in a set of major inter related historical developments which
were to stem the tide of capitalist expansion as the Renaissance (Rebirth/Recovery), the
Reformation, the birth of modern science, the discovery of new continents and sea-routes resulting
in the European colonization of globe’s vast regions etc.
Medieval historiography Modern Historiography

The period begins from 5th century to the 15th The modern century extends from 15th to the present
century for the total of 10 centuries. day.

The world population rose from 210 million According to the most recent data, the population of
at the beginning of the middle age to around globe stands at 7.8 billion.
461 million in the 15th century.

The fall was marked by the fall of Roman The modern age is influenced by the world wars, rise
empire. of British empire and industrial revolution.

It made way for technological and agriculture The period saw the rise of discipline information and
advancements reasoning.

The middle age divided into early, high and It is divided into early modern, modern and modern
late middle age. times.
 Strand: Evolving Civilization

Chapter 2: Indus Valley Civilisation

Factors that favoured the location of the Indus Valley Civilization

1. The climate was moist and humid.

2. The rivers provided an abundant supply of water, which could support large settlements.

3. Annual flooding of the Indus made the land fertile.

4. The rivers also provided abundant fish.

5. The rivers were a means of cheap and easy transport.

Origin

The settlement in India dates back as far as 7000 BC and has been found in Burzahom in the
Kashmir valley, Chirand in Bihar and the Godavari River valley in South India.

In fact, they were uncivilized people and it took thousands of years to learn to build houses,
develop towns and cities, organize governments, learn crafts and develop scripts for
communication.

In about 2500 BC a civilization did flourish in the north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent,
covering Baluchistan, Sindh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Western Uttar Pradesh and came to
known as the Indus Valley Civilization.

The Civilization was so called, because all its major sites were situated in the valley of the River
Indus.

Discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization

Existence of the Indus Valley Civilization was accidentally discovered by an employee of the
Archaeological Survey of India who was working in this region under the supervision of Sir John
Marshall.
In 1921, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni discovered the ruins of a city in Harappa on the banks of
the Ravi River in Montgomery district of West Punjab (now Pakistan).

In 1922, Rakhaldas Bannerjee, superintendent of the western circle of the Archaeological Survey
of India, found a huge mound covering the remains of a highly planned city in the Larkhana district
in Sindh. Local people called it Mohenjo-daro meaning “the mound of the dead.” Since then many
other sites have been excavated.

The Indus Valley Civilization is also referred to as the Harappan Culture as Harappa was the first
site discovered and the planning of other sites and the artefacts found in them was similar to those
of Harappa.

Characteristics of the Indus Valley Civilization

1. Town planning and City Life

As early as 2500 BC, they built their cities with proper planning and according to as set pattern.
Big cities were generally divided into three distinct areas namely:

a. The citadel/the centrally located elevated area (Reserved for public buildings and for the ruling
commercial classes).

b. The residential area (Houses made of burnt bricks and located around the citadel).

3. The huts and mud houses (Belongs to farmers and other producers and located beyond the
residential area).

2. Roads

The Harappans followed the grid system according to which roads cut each other at right angles.

The roads were arranged in such a way that the sea or river breeze could sweep the dirt off from
them easily.

The main road in Mohenjo-daro was about 10m wide and 800m long.

To avoid blind corners, the corners of the straight roads were curved.
3. Drainage System

The drainage system was so well-planned that it can be compared with that of any modern city.

Drains were built alongside roads.

The waste and the water from kitchen and the bathrooms emptied directly in to the main drains.

Drains were usually covered with the stone slabs.

There were supply for the soak pits and the man holes at the regular intervals to aid cleaning.

4. Buildings

The following were remarkable buildings built by the Indus Valley people:

a. The Great Bath (This was found at Mohenjo-daro. This served the purpose of ritual bathing
which is so important to any religious ceremony in India).

b. Assembly Hall (This was found at Mohenjo-daro. The building was most probably used for
taking important decisions).

c. Granary (This was used for storage of surplus food grains. All cities near the sea or the river
had granaries).

d. Dockyard (The place where ships are built, serviced, repaired, loaded and unloaded).

The first dockyard of the Indus Valley was discovered Lothal and Gujarat.

The beautifully made dockyard testifies to the engineering skills of the people and also suggests
that these people were engaged in maritime activity including trade and fishing.

3. Main occupation of the Indus people

Agriculture and domestication of animals were two main occupations.

They cultivated wheat, barley, rice, peas, mustard, fruits, vegetables and cotton.
The most remarkable agriculture achievement was cultivation of cotton, because they cultivated
cotton in large scale.

The Indus people domesticated animals on large scale. They domesticated animals like goats,
sheep, buffaloes, elephants, cows, bull, camel, dogs, cats etc.

Art, Craft and Sculpture (Sculpture in terracotta)

Indus people made terracotta pottery, i.e. pottery made of fine fire-baked clay in various shapes
and sizes.

Pots and utensils were decorated with a variety of pleasing designs, floral, and geometric.

Birds, animals and human figures were also depicted.

Eg: The female figure, with their pannier head-dresses and decorated bodies, toys and the beautiful
figure of a Mother Goddess are unique examples of their skills.

Sculpture in metal

Copper and bronze were the main metals used for making tools and put into action.

Bronze tools and weapons have been discovered from many Harappan sites.

Iron was not known to them.

Bronze was used for statues as well as for models of animals and carts.

Eg: The famous bronze female figure from Mohenjo-daro representing a dancing girl with
beautiful jewellery such as bracelet, necklace, amulet, nose-pin and ear-rings and a neat hairstyle
is a perfect piece of art.

Sculpture in stone

The harappan were also good at sculpture in stone.

Eg: A male ‘torso’ made of red limestone.

The statue of the ‘Breaded Man’ who appears to have been a noble man or a priest, wearing a
shawl over his left shoulder and under his right arm and with his eyes half closed.

Spinning, weaving, masonry, brick laying, and bead making were other crafts.

The existence of spindles and whorls prove that they knew how to spin and weave.

4. Trade/commercial relations

The granaries found in Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Lothal and the presence of seals with uniform
script and uniform weights and measure proved that the Indus Valley people had trade relations
with other countries.

They had commercial links with Afghanistan, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Iran.

Internal trade was most probably carried out by bullock carts and boats.

External trade was most probably carried out by ships or large boats.

The Indus people exported food grains, pottery and jewellery, and imported copper, tin and
precious stones.

They carried out trade through barter system.

5. The Indus seals

A seal is an engraved gem or other hard substance used to form an impression upon soft clay,
wax, etc.

The seals are made of terracotta and steatite/soap stone.

The Indus seals were rectangular or square with inscriptions at the top and are designed with
figures of animals such as unicorn, humped bull, rhinoceros, goat, buffalo, tiger, and elephants.

More than 2000 seals have been discovered from in various sites of the Indus valley.
Among animal seal and unicorn seal, the Shiva Pashupati seal (a three-faced deity seated in yogic
poster with a horned head-dress surrounded by animals like, rhino, buffalo, elephant, tiger and
deer) is indeed remarkable.

Importance of seals

The seals are a valuable source of information about the life and culture of the Indus people.

The seals provide much knowledge about the physical features of men, women, animals and birds
of the period.

They reveal the artistic skill of the artist and craftsmen of the Indus valley.

An idea of the dress, ornaments, hairstyle, etc. of the Indus valley people can derived from the
figures engraved on the seals.

The seals also throw a good deal of light on the religious faiths and commercial activities of the
Indus valley people.

The seals were used for various purposes in trade such as marking goods.

6. The Indus way of life

Absence of weapons suggests that the Indus people were peace loving people.

Their food consisted of milk, cereals, fruits, vegetables and meat.

They wore two piece dresses made of cotton. Both men and women adorned themselves with
jewelry.

Playing dice, hunting, dance, and music were their forms of entertainment. Younger children
played with a variety of toys.

The absence of any palace-like building or temple proved that the Indus Valley people did not
have kings or priests.
7. Religious life

The Indus valley people worshipped forces of nature, Mother Goddess (as a source of fertility),
Lord Pashupati, peepul trees and plants.

Absence of temple or church suggests that they most probably worshipped in the open air.

They practiced ritual or religious bathing (The Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro).

They believed in charms and spells, and shows they were afraid of demons.

They believed in life after death and buried people along with objects of daily use.

8. The Indus valley Script

The Indus people knew the art of writing, and had developed a script, but their writing has not yet
been deciphered or understood.

The decline of the Indus valley civilization

1. The Indus people fell prey to ruthless invaders – maybe the Aryans.

2. Due to natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, droughts or epidemics.

3. The increased salinity (chemical salt) of the soil might have destroyed the agriculture (the
backbone f the Indus economy).

4. The earthquake might have changed the course of the Indus River leading to drastic climatic
changes destabilizing the economy, which may have been the cause of the desertion of the
settlements.
 Strand: Governance and Peace

Chapter 3: Age of Exploration.

Topic: Age of Enlightenment and the idea of exploration

What is Age of Enlightenment?

Enlightenment is the period of time in the 16th-18th century where people began to change the way
they felt and thought about themselves, the role of the church and their views of the world. People
challenged the power of the church, old ways of thinking, discarded the old beliefs, and questioned
the Divine Right Rule of the King.

Causes of Enlightenment

1. Scientific Revolution…how?
 Made people to view the world in different light.
 People realized that the nature and universe could be explained through reason.
 People believed that they would understand the working of people and society through
scientific study.
 So led to the Age of Enlightenment.
2. 30 Years of War (1618-1648)
 It was the war between the Holy Roman Empire.
 It compelled German writers to pen harsh criticism regarding the nationalism and
warfare.

The main ideas of Age of Enlightenment were:

1. Religion, tradition and superstition limited the thoughts of the people.

2. They were against the blind faith and the absolute monarchy.

3. People must accept knowledge based on observation, logic and reason and not on blind faith.

4. Scientific and academic thinking must be based on reasoning and not on church.
Age of Exploration

Introduction

 The Age of Exploration is also known as the Age of Discovery.

 It begins from early 15th Century till 17th Century.
 Age of Exploration is a time when European began exploring the world by sea in search of
new trading routes, wealth and knowledge.

Causes of Exploration

1. Reputation- Name and Fame

- Some explorer wanted to become famous in their homeland and in history by making new
discoveries.
2. Wealth and Glory
- Explorers wanted to find gold and other treasures.
3. Better Trading Routes for Trade and Commerce
- They looked for better, faster, easier or safer ways to travel to places where they would trade.
Some wanted to conduct the business
4. Religious Propagation
- Many explorer wanted to travel to different parts of the world to spread their religion,
especially the Christianity.
5. National Pride
- Explorers wanted to get more land for their home country.
6. Curiosity
- Explorers were curious about different lands, animals, people and goods.

Explorations
- When- 1450-1650
- Who? The Spanish and the Portuguese.
- Where?
- Spanish went west and Portuguese went towards east
How could the Portuguese able to lead the exploration?

1. King Henry, the navigator set up the School for Navigation at Sagre.
2. Bartholomew Diaz sailed at the Cape of Good Hope at the Tip of Africa
3. Vasco Da Gama sailed from Africa and reach the Spice land through Indian Ocean.

How could the Spanish able to lead the exploration?

1. Christopher Columbus an Italian, sponsored by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of

Spain, planned to come to the spice land but landed in the present day America.
2. Amerigo Vespusci, an Italian realized that it was not India and it was named America after
him. He first discovered South America and called it as the ‘New World’

Treaty of Tordesillas

The treaty was an agreement to divide the world between Spain and Portugal

Any new land found to the west went to Spain.

Spanish went west and the Portuguese went towards East.

They did this to prevent war.

Impact of Age of Exploration

1. The American Cultures such as Aztecs and Incas were destroyed(art, religion, way of life
and language)
2. Europe became very rich on gold, silver and valuable stones.
3. Colonization began which resulted in exploitation and slavery in the countries colonised.
4. War broke out between European countries over their colonies.
5. Migration took place where people began to leave Europe to their colonies (new world).
Topic 2: The effects of Columbian exchange to the world

Goods introduced by Europe, produced in New World

As Europeans traversed the Atlantic, they brought with them plants, animals, and diseases that
changed lives and landscapes on both sides of the ocean. These two-way exchanges between the
Americas and Europe/Africa are known collectively as the Columbian Exchange.

Of all the commodities in the Atlantic World, sugar proved to be the most important. Indeed, in
the colonial era, sugar carried the same economic importance as oil does today. European rivals
raced to create sugar plantations in the Americas and fought wars for control of production.
Although refined sugar was available in the Old World, Europe’s harsher climate made sugarcane
difficult to grow. Columbus brought sugar to Hispaniola in 1493, and the new crop thrived. Over
the next century of colonization, Caribbean islands and most other tropical areas became centers
of sugar production, which in turn fueled the demand to enslave Africans for labor.

The Columbian Exchange: from the New World to the Old World

Though of secondary importance to sugar, tobacco also had great value for Europeans as a cash
crop—a crop cultivated for sale instead of personal consumption. Native Americans had been
growing tobacco for medicinal and ritual purposes for centuries before European contact, believing
tobacco could improve concentration and enhance wisdom. To some, its use meant achieving an
entranced, altered, or divine state.

Tobacco was unknown in Europe before 1492, and it carried a negative stigma at first. The early
Spanish explorers considered native people's use of tobacco to be proof of their savagery.
However, European colonists then took up the habit of smoking, and they brought it across the
Atlantic. Europeans ascribed medicinal properties to tobacco, claiming that it could cure headaches
and skin irritations. Even so, Europeans did not import tobacco in great quantities until the 1590s.
At that time, it became the first truly global commodity; English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and
Portuguese colonists all grew it for the world market.
Native peoples also introduced Europeans to chocolate, made from cacao seeds and used by the
Aztec in Mesoamerica as currency Chocolate contains the bromine, a stimulant, which may be
why native people believed it brought them closer to the sacred world..

Why did Europe benefit the most from the Columbian Exchange?

The Columbian Exchange caused population growth in Europe by bringing new crops from the
Americas and started Europe’s economic shift towards capitalism. Colonization disrupted
ecosystems, bringing in new organisms like pigs, while completely eliminating others like beavers.

What impact did the Columbian Exchange have on Africa?

It caused mass African migration, African populations to grow, African empires to topple, and
racism against slaves to emerge.

Why the Columbian Exchange is considered a significant event?

Why the Columbian Exchange is considered a significant event? Because it helped brought the
Eastern and Western hemispheres together by transferring plants, animals, disease and food. It
spread diseases like small pox, which killed millions of Native Americans.

What were four lasting effects of the Columbian Exchange?

New food and fiber crops were introduced to Eurasia and Africa, improving diets and fomenting
trade there. In addition, the Columbian Exchange vastly expanded the scope of production of some
popular drugs, bringing the pleasures — and consequences — of coffee, sugar, and tobacco use to
many millions of people.

What was the most negative consequence of the Columbian Exchange?

Some of the negative effects of the exchange included the diseases, like smallpox and influenza
that Europeans brought to the “New World.” The Native Americans had no prior exposure to these
diseases and had not built up any immunity. As a result, these diseases were deadly to them and
decimated their populations.
Positive Impacts Negative Impacts

1 Introduced and production of new Foods 1 Exchange of diseases that affected humans
and Crops in both new and the old world and animals which infact killed lots of
that enhanced nutrition and increased the native Americans.
life span.
Diseases such as small pox and syphilis
Various crops such as wheat, barley, and
were brought to the Americas by the
rye, were introduced by Columbus and his
Europeans and wiped out a large amount of
followers.
the New World’s population.
2 Exchange of animals, where both the old 2 Rat infestations in the new world. The rats
and the new world got to domesticate hitched a ride on the British and European
animals new to them. ships and America became infested with
rats.
Europeans brought domesticated animals
such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and
horses to America.

3 There was migration of people from 3 Exploitation of workers and slavery of

Eastern to the Western Hemisphere and African and Americans who were forced to
vice-versa. work in the coffee and sugarcane
cultivation.

4 European trade and commerce flourished 4 The native American cultures such as
and were able to generate lots of profits. Mayan, Incas and Aztecs were destroyed.

5 Over the time, European became rich with 5 There were intermittent warfare between
Gold and Silver and diamonds. . the native Americans and the Europeans

6 Enable the growth of the colonial empires

and spread Christianity.
Topic 3: Colonization of America, Africa and Asia.

Colonization- defined as the process of establishing foreign control over target territories or people
for the benefit of the mother country.

Why were Africa, America and Asia colonized?

1. For the supply of raw materials.

2. To make the colonized territories as the markets to the European finished goods.

3. To extract gold and silver from the colonized territories and bring into Europe.

4. To have continues supply of labors to work in the farms and mines within the territories of
colonies

Colonization of AMERICA- 15th-18th century

1. Colonies of Spain
With the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain colonized central and South
America, Mexico, Florida and West Indies.
2. Colonies of Portugal- Brazil
3. Colonies of England- North America (established 13 colonies)
4. Colonies of France- Canada, Louisiana and West Indies

Colonization of AFRICA- 19th century

Colonizers- Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy

The colonization of Africa was part of a global European process reaching all the continents of the
world. European colonization and domination changed the world dramatically. Historians argue
that the rushed imperial conquest of the African continent by the European powers started with
King Leopold II of Belgium when he involved European powers to gain recognition in Belgium.
The Scramble for Africa took place during the New Imperialism between 1881 and 1914.
 Triangular Trade

In a system known as the

triangular trade, Europeans
traded manufactured goods for
captured Africans, who were
shipped across the Atlantic
Ocean to become slaves in the
Americas. The Europeans, in
turn, were supplied with raw materials.

Colonization of ASIA- 16th-18th century

Japan- Manchuria, Philippines, Korea

British- India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

France- Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia

Russia-Mongolia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan

USA- Philippines, South Korea

Impacts of Colonization.

1. Exploitation of the land, resources and the people.

2. Eradication and transplantation of culture and religion.
3. Introduction of slavery and forced labor.
4. Increased trade (mercantilism) and booming of European economy.
5. Exchange of foods and diseases.
6. Enhanced globalization.
7. Development of the colonies and also education,
8. Migration of people across the globe.
9. Militarism and war.
10. Christianity got spread far and wide across the globe
 Strand: Identity, Spirituality and Culture

Chapter 4: Socio-Cultural Movement

When?

 During the 6th century BC there was great religious upheaval as existing religions did not
satisfy all sections of society.
 There emerged various reformers who began to think about new ways of worship.
 This led to the beginning of various religious faiths, the important among them being
Jainism and Buddhism.

Hinduism was the dominant faith in India in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE when a wave of social
and cultural reform swept the land. The century of the Buddha’s birth was also a century of
upheaval and strife marked by complex rites and expensive sacrificial rituals, and discriminatory
caste divisions breeding social and economic inequality.
The Buddha developed the belief system at a time when India was in the midst of significant
religious and philosophical reform. Buddhism was, initially, only one of many schools of thought
which developed in response to what was perceived as the failure of orthodox Hinduism to address
the needs of the people.
Topic: [Link] for the Rise of Socio-cultural Movements

1. Reaction against Existing Religion / Change in the Nature of Worship in Later Vedic
Period

The Vedic (classical Hinduism) religion had lost its original purity and simplicity.

It had become rigid, ritualistic, complex and expensive. Prayers and worship were no longer a
joyful experience. There was a great dislike for the existing religion among the people.

2. Rigid Caste System and Supremacy of the Brahmins

During the Later Vedic Period, the varna system had become rigid and hereditary. Society was
divided into four castes, which could not be changed.

People belonging to each caste were assigned a fixed position in society.

 Brahmins
The priestly class

Kshatriyas
The warrior class

Vaishyas
The merchant class

Shudras
The servant class

Figure 4.2 Caste System during Later Vedic Period

i. The Brahmins:
Who no longer lived an austere (strict) or ascetic life, claimed the highest status in the social order.

ii. The Kshatriyas:

 Though rulers, were lower in position to them. The Kshatriyas now began to react against
the domination of the Brahmins.
 Both Jainism and Buddhism were founded by saints who originally belonged to Kshatriya
clans.
 The Kshatriya reaction against the supremacy of the Brahmins was one of the major
reasons for the rise of new religions.
iii. The Vaishyas:
Who included merchants and traders, too were unhappy. They were major tax payers and some of
them had accumulated great wealth. Yet they did not enjoy high social position.

iv. The Shudras:

Were unhappy because they were exploited. They welcomed a new religion which offered them
better treatment and equality.
3. Difficult Language
 The Vedic scriptures had become the monopoly of Brahmi Vedic prayers and mantras were
recited in Sanskrit which was beyond the comprehension of the common people.
 Both Mahavira and Buddha, the founders of new religions, spoke and preached in Prakrit
and Pali, the languages of the common people.
4. Sacrifices
 Sacrificial rituals were an essential feature of the Vedic religion. Sacrifices were
performed to appease gods in order to receive blessings. Milk, butter, cereals, vegetables,
etc. were offered to the fire and the gods were evoked to partake in the offerings. However,
in the Later Vedic Period sacrifices became bloody with large scale killing of animals.
Sacrificial offerings varied from small animals like goats and rams to buffaloes, bulls,
horses, and even humans.
 The society was fully exploited by the priestly class. The sponsoring family had to reward
the priests with customary gifts (gold, cows, horses and clothes being the ideal form of
payment) while the family would receive spiritual benefits of the ritual. There was
widespread discontentment among the common people against the costly religious rituals
and bloody sacrifices. As a result, new socio-cultural movements began gaining popularity
and gradually made their way to the forefront of the early Indian society.
5. New Agricultural Economy/sacrifices
 During the 6th century BCE agricultural economy flourished in the Gangetic Plains
because of the extensive use of iron for producing agricultural tools and implements.
The agriculturalist used iron ploughshares and cattle were required to draw the ploughs.
The rampant practice of animal sacrifices posed a great threat to the agricultural
economy.
 The people supported a religion that restricted animal sacrifices. The new faith based
on the ideas of non-violence and compassion preached by the Buddha checked animal
sacrifices.
6. Preference for Simple and Ascetic Life
The later Vedic society reflected inequality in the social and economic conditions of people. There
was a general preference for a new social order based on simple and ascetic values.
7. New liberal thinkers
There emerged forceful thinkers like Mahavira and Buddha who introduced new ideas and new
principles of religion, making religious practices simple and more acceptable to the people.

They did away with meaningless rites and rituals, ignored the priestly class and taught people to
lead an honest and truthful life.

Topic: 2. Creed [Faith] of Buddhism and its significance on socio-cultural awakening/

Explain the significance /importance of liberal ideas (Freedom/rights) on socio-cultural
awakening.

 The Buddha’s ideas and vision captured the hearts and feelings of a huge cross section of
the society of his time and eventually spread all over Asia.
 He questioned the ways of life and attitudes influencing the rich, the powerful, religious
authorities, householders, yogis and seekers after truth.
 He outlined radical changes motivated by a determination to create a harmonious society
between people, animals and environment.
 He sought an end to war and unhealthy social divisions.
 He offered clear and direct teachings to end greed, violence and fear in society.
 He offered the Noble Eightfold Path as the basis for a life of collective wisdom.
 He expressed doubt about unprovable religious beliefs.

2.1 The middle path in the pursuit of nirvana

 Sanskrit word ‘Nirvana’ means ‘blowing out, to become extinguished’. Early Buddhists
considered it as the only escape from Samsara (cycle of birth and death).
 He showed to the world that enlightenment can be achieved in a peaceful and pleasant
place, in a well-nourished state, with right mental and physical energy for thought and
meditation.
 This idea was revolutionary as it opened the door of Nirvana, to a larger section of the
society. Initially it was believed that Nirvana can be attained only by ascetics. The middle
path made the path of deliverance, for the first time, accessible to all.
 Extreme
asceticism

Indulgence in
sensual
pleasures

Figure 4.3 Sketch depicting Buddha’s Middle Path

2.2 Faith in the basic principles

 Buddha’s main object was to bring about a reformation in religious practices and
return to the basic principles of kindness, compassion, humanity, equality and reason.

 The Buddha campaigned against animal sacrifice. He encouraged bloodless sacrifice –

a kind of sacrifice in which no harm comes to living beings and vegetation. Non-violent
sacrifices based on generosity, morality, and renunciation, such as offerings to ancestors,
holy people and Buddhist sangha were declared to be fruitful and beneficial. He
emphasized on reason and experience of the individuals to achieve enlightenment.

 Another feature of Buddha’s creed is that it refuted all claims to superiority on grounds
of birth as the Brahmins did. When the Buddha came to the scene, the social, cultural and
spiritual life of the society was under the control of the Brahmins.

 There were restrictions and limitations placed in the way of the commoners to acquire
knowledge. For the Buddha, anyone who had faith in his ideal of the Dharma was
eligible to admission into his order. The people welcomed the new belief system introduced
by the Buddha as it offered them better treatment and equality. He preached that the
equality of status was achievable by one’s actions and not one’s birth.
  Buddha’s policy of equality opened the doors of organized Buddhist religious order to
men and women alike. In the order women enjoyed the same right as men of access to the
highest position. This was formal recognition that women could also be as learned and wise
as men.

2.3 Sangha- the democratic monastic community

Buddha organized a monastic order called the Sangha consisting of monks or nuns and lay
devotees.
 Sangha was governed on democratic lines and had its own laws.
 The regulation of the monastic community was based on mutual respect and discussion.
 The monastic fraternity allowed the monks unrestricted freedom to argue and debate.
 Each monk was expected to think, reason, and decide for himself in all matters
relating to Dharma.
 There were procedural rules for submitting points of controversy. The sangha passed its
verdict through majority opinion established by ballot voting.
 The rules also allowed dissidents to form a party.
 This democratic atmosphere stimulated and sharpened the mind and promoted
independent thinking and intellectual ability.

Figure 4.4 Sangha: The Monastic Order

2.4 Social Fraternity (monks and the larger group of lay disciples).

 The teaching of the Buddha addresses itself above all to lay people without distinction of
caste, social status or gender.
 From the beginning of its formation the sangha consisted of both monks and the larger
group of lay disciples.
 While the monks devoted their life to spiritual development and to teaching the Dharma to
the people, the lay disciples also played an important role in supporting the Sangha by
providing daily meals, donating robes, bowls and shelter during rainy season.
 Lay devotees held together the Sangha, the family and the society promoting a brotherhood,
which is one of the reasons why early Buddhism was a great social force.

TOPIC 3: Describe Buddha as an icon of socio-cultural awakening.

 This socio-cultural milieu shocked the conscience of the Gautama Buddha.
 Gautama - a Kshyatria Shakya prince renounced his family, royal position and his life to
search a solution to the problem of universal human suffering.
 After his enlightenment, he announced a belief system which proclaimed that individuals
could gain salvation for oneself without the mediation of priests or reference to Gods.
 Buddha portrayed his respect and faith in human nature to achieve its own salvation.
 His liberal ideas of kindness, compassion, humanity, equality and reason brought about a
wave of socio-cultural awakening.
 The Buddha’s ideas and vision captured the hearts and feelings of a huge cross section of
the society of his time and eventually spread all over Asia.
 The Buddha addressed the royalty, Brahmins, caste system, judiciary, culture and lifestyles
of the wealthy and the poor.
 He questioned the ways of life and attitudes influencing the rich, the powerful, religious
authorities, householders, yogis and seekers after truth.
 He outlined radical changes motivated by a determination to create a harmonious society
between people, animals and environment.
 He sought an end to war and unhealthy social divisions.
 He offered clear and direct teachings to end greed, violence and fear in society.
  He offered the Noble Eightfold Path as the basis for a life of collective wisdom.
 He expressed doubt about unprovable religious beliefs.

Topic: 4. The Buddha: His life and teachings

Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563 - c. 483 BCE) who later came to be known as the ‘Gautama Buddha’
was a Hindu prince who renounced his position and wealth to seek enlightenment as a spiritual
ascetic. He attained his goal and preached his path to others, in the process, founding a belief
system called Buddhism in India during 6th to 5th century BCE. The events of his life are largely
legendary; however, he is considered an actual historical figure.

4.1 The Gautama’s Birth and Youth

Buddha’s birth in the garden of Lumbini.
Gautama Buddha was born in c. 563 BCE to King Suddhodhana, a Sakhya ruler of Kapilavastu
and his queen Mahamaya. Kapilavastu was a small kingdom in the Himalayan foothills or Terai
region of the present day Nepal.

Figure 4.5 Gautama’s Birth in the Garden

in Lumbini.

According to Buddhist texts, a prophecy was given at Siddhartha’s birth that if he

succeeded his father, he would conquer the world and become a Universal Monarch, but if he
renounced the world he would become an Enlightened Spiritual Teacher – a cakravartin – turner
of the wheel of Dharma (law).
He lost his mother seven days after his birth, and Siddhartha was brought up by Queen
Mahaprajapati, younger sister of Mahamaya and the King’s second wife. King Suddhodana
wanted his son to succeed him to the throne and become a Universal Monarch as was prophesized.
Therefore, the King spared no effort to keep his son on the course of the path he thought his son
should take.
Buddha’s luxurious youth at the royal palace and pleasure gardens

Siddhartha was isolated from the real world by the over-protective and apprehensive father who
feared that his son would forsake the world and he would lose his son and heir.
He was confined to the luxurious apartment of the royal palace. Women musicians and dancers
were kept solely to entertain him and he was allowed excursions only to pleasure gardens created
for him.
At the age of sixteen, to bind the young prince tighter to his royal destiny, Siddhartha was married
to princess Yasodhara, who later bore him a son, Rahula.

4.2 The Gautama’s Great Renunciation

Buddha’s restless and probing mind in his youth

Siddhartha lived thirteen years of family life, but neither wealth nor happiness of family life
attracted him. Despite all kinds of luxury and attention, the young prince was never really happy.
His sensitive, intelligent and probing mind remained restless.
He was deeply moved by the misery of the people around him. The King had removed afflicted or
distressed people from the pleasure gardens whenever Siddhartha made excursions, yet it was these
very gardens that later provide encounters with suffering and death that would precipitate his
leaving.
The four sights (An old, a sick, a corpse and an ascetic)

It is believed that on one such excursion in his chariot he saw an old man with wrinkled body, sick
man suffering with disease, and finally a dead man. These encounters disturbed and saddened him.
He then saw a religious ascetic who looked serene, composed and blissful. This made him realize
that only by abandoning material wealth can one remain contented. These events are known as the
four sights.

a sick
man an old man

a corpse

an ascetic

Figure 4.6 The Four Sights

Buddha’s renunciation
These individual instances of suffering were to him illustrations of a universal problem. He
realized the inevitability of pain and death, the futility of the worldly pleasures and was consumed
by the desire to discover remedy to the universal human suffering. Therefore, at the age of twenty
nine, turning his back on family, comfort and social position, leaving behind all that his society
valued, he set out as an ascetic into the wilderness, intent upon finding the truth of existence. This
event is referred to as the Great Renunciation.
Figure 4.7 The 2nd Century Gandhara Art Depicting Gautama’s Great Renunciation

4.3 The Gautama’s Enlightenment

Three-phase journey - mastering the art of meditation, self-mortification or asceticism, and
the middle-path.

Gautama’s search for the truth of existence can be seen as a three-phase journey.
i. The first part was his mastering the art of meditation.
ii. The second was his years of asceticism and self-mortification,
iii. The final was the pursuance of the middle path to transcend the darkness of human
negativity and moving into a state of clarity and wisdom in complete serenity.
i. The first part was his mastering the art of meditation.
 He began his quest by approaching several spiritual teachers for instruction and discussion.
The notable among his teachers were the two acknowledged masters of meditation in his
time viz., Alara Kalama, and Udakka Ramaputra.
 Gautama mastered meditation techniques in record time but realized that they only partially
helped him in his search for the truth.
 Many of his questions were unanswered; particularly his questions about suffering, how it
came about and how it could be eliminated.
ii. The second was his years of asceticism and self-mortification.
 Gautama continued his search for the truth. He joined a band of five ascetics and applied
himself to self-mortification with the belief that the body and all its accompanying desires
were the obstacle to spiritual growth and realization.
 Self-mortification was a popular practice in those days, generally believed to help man to
attain liberation. Gautama embarked on a new level of harsh austerities and mortification
of flesh and spirit.
 It is believed that he lived on one sesame seed or one rice grain a day and often with no
food at all.
 Even after six years of these austerities which left his body emaciated, he was no closer
to finding the answer. Coming to the realization that these austerities were not the way to
enlightenment, he renounced asceticism.

iii. The final was the pursuance of the middle path.

 Gautama was left alone in the wilderness of Uruvela, near present day Bodhgaya, where
he realized the idea of the ‘middle path’.
 The middle path gave him vision and knowledge and led to calm, realization, and
subsequently to enlightenment.
 After renouncing asceticism, he bathed in the river and ate the rice-milk offering made by
a village girl named Sujata. Vowing not to move until he attained enlightenment he sat
cross-legged under a banyan tree for next forty-nine days, neither moving nor taking any
food.
 He meditated intensely and uninterruptedly on the nature of life, nature of reality and the
nature of the self, and especially on the nature of suffering, its cause and its elimination.
 Through this purified mind he developed extraordinary knowledge that ultimately
destroyed all kinds of passions and mental defilements in him and gave him penetrating
insight into all phenomena in their true state. The Boddhisattva now became the Buddha
or ‘The Enlightened One’.
Figure 4.8 The Mahabodhi Temple Built at the Location of Buddha’s Enlightenment

4.4 The Gautama’s First Sermon (Teachings of Lord Buddha)

Buddha’s First Sermon and the teachings on Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path

The universal truth that the Buddha realized in Buddhist terminology is known as Dharma.
For seven weeks immediately following the enlightenment, the Buddha remained in the vicinity
of the Banyan tree in Bodhgaya, reflecting on the truth he has discovered.
To whom did he teach and where?
At the close of this period he decided to proclaim the Dharma, he had realized, to those five
ascetics who were once struggling with him for enlightenment. Knowing that they were living at
Isipatana (modern day Sarnath), still following extreme asceticism, the Buddha left for Sarnath.

There at the Deer Park he rejoined them and delivered his first sermon, which came to be known
as Dharma Cakrapravartana Sutra or “setting into motion the Wheel of Dharma”.
What did he teach?
During the first sermon the Buddha taught about the Four Nobel Truths and the Noble Eightfold
Path.
Figure 4.9 Gautama’s First Sermon: Setting into Motion the Wheel of Dharma.
The Four Nobel Truths
The first sermon that the Buddha preached after his enlightenment was about the Four Noble
Truths. The Four Noble Truths explain the basic fundamentals of Buddhism. They are the truths
realized by the Buddha- the Enlightened One. The four truths are:
i. Dukkha, the suffering (the truth of suffering).
ii. Samudaya, the origin of dukkha (the causes of suffering).
iii. Nirodha, the stopping of dukkha (the end of suffering).
iv. Marga, the path leading to the stopping of dukkha (the path to freedom from suffering).

They are called “Noble Truths” because, as the Buddha says, “they are real, infallible and do not
change.”

1 The First Nobel Truth: The Truth of Suffering (Dukkha)

All humans experience surprises, frustrations, betrayals, etc., which lead to unhappiness and
suffering. Acknowledging or accepting that we will encounter difficulties in daily life as an
unavoidable and universal part of life as a human being is the first truth. Within this, there are two
types of suffering: a) natural suffering – disasters, wars, infections, etc.; b) self-inflicted suffering
– habitual reacting and unnecessary anxiety and regret.
2 The Second Nobel Truth: The Causes of Suffering (Samudaya)
All suffering lies not in external events or circumstances but in the way we react to and deal with
them, our perceptions and interpretations. Suffering emerges from craving for life to be other than
it is, which derives from the 3 poisons: Ignorance (Delusion) of the fact that everything, including
the self, is impermanent and interdependent; Desire (Greed) of objects and people who will help
us to avoid suffering; Aversion (Anger) to the things we do not want, thinking we can avoid
suffering. We can learn to look at each experience as it happens and be prepared for the next.

3 The Third Nobel Truth: The End of Suffering (Nirodha)

Nirodha means to control. Control of the craving or thirst of attachment is the Third Nobel Truth.
The suffering will end if the fires of craving and thirst are extinguished by rooting out attachment.

4 The Fourth Nobel Truth: The Path that frees us from Suffering (Marga)
This is known as the “Middle Path” and avoids the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-
mortification.
The most rational methods of eliminating the causes of suffering are through understanding,
adopting and following the Middle Path.

This Truth contains the Eightfold Path outlining the eight categories through which purity of mind,
calmness and insight can be achieved, freeing us from suffering and leading to enlightenment. Of
the eight, the first two are grouped under Wisdom, the following three under Morality and the last
three under Meditation.

The Nobel Eightfold Path

Figure 4.11 The Noble Eightfold Path

Wisdom:
1. Right Understanding – acceptance of the fundamental Buddhist teachings;
2. Right intention – adopting a positive outlook and a mind free from lust, ill-will, and cruelty;
Morality
3. Right Speech – using positive and productive speech as opposed to lying, frivolous or harsh
speech;
4. Right Action – keeping the five precepts (refraining from killing, stealing, misconduct,
false speech, and taking intoxicants);
5. Right Livelihood – avoiding professions which harm others such as slavery, trading of arms
or intoxicating substances, prostitution, killing of animals;
Meditation
6. Right Effort – directing the mind towards wholesome goals;
7. Right Concentration – being aware of what one is thinking, doing, and feeling at all times;
8. Right Mindfulness – focusing attention in order to enter meditational states.
4.5 The Gautama’s Mahaparinirvana (The passing away of the Buddha)
Buddha’s last meal and his final moment.

 The Buddha worked hard to enlighten the people by helping them understand the truth.
 He corrected many wrongs in the society and established a belief system that attracted
people from all spheres of life and became a worldwide spiritual force.
 He established four assemblies of devotees: monks, nuns, male lay devotees, and female
lay devotees, who would carry on the mission of spreading dharma that he initiated.

Figure 4.10 Lord Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana

After many years of hard work and sacrifice, in his eightieth year, the Buddha was struck by serious
illness.
Despite his failing health, the Buddha never ceased to dedicate himself to the noble task of
teaching the truth to the people. Even in his final moment, he preached his last sermon exhorting
his followers to strive ceaselessly for their own liberation. With this last sermon he passed away
with absolute tranquility.
The passing away of the Buddha in c. 483 BCE is known as the Great Demise or, in Sanskrit,
Mahaparinirvana.

6. Conclusion
The social and cultural milieu of India during 6th to 5th Century BCE was characterized by upheaval
and unrest resulting from dilution of original force and meaning of the Vedic rites and rituals,
incorporation of bloody sacrifices, discriminatory caste division and social norms, and advent of
new thinkers and alternate school of thoughts. Moreover, growth of agricultural economy and
proliferation of merchants and traders resulted in the upsurge of philosophical speculation and
religious movements in north India.

This socio-cultural milieu shocked the conscience of the Gautama Buddha. Gautama - a Kshyatria
Shakya prince renounced his family, royal position and his life to search a solution to the problem
of universal human suffering. After his enlightenment, he announced a belief system which
proclaimed that individuals could gain salvation for oneself without the mediation of priests or
reference to Gods. Buddha portrayed his respect and faith in human nature to achieve its own
salvation. His liberal ideas of kindness, compassion, humanity, equality and reason brought about
a wave o of socio-cultural awakening.