Bhutan is traditionally called ‘Druk Yul’. It is a land-locked country with no access to sea. It is located in the eastern Himalayas bordered by India in the south, east and west and by the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China in the north. It has an area of 46,500 Sq. Km. between latitudes 26 45 0 North and 28 10 0 North and between longitudes 88 45 0 east and 92 10 0 east. At its longest east-west dimension, Bhutan stretches around 300 kilometres and it measures 170 kilometre at its maximum north-south dimension. Bhutan shares about 1075 km of land boundaries with its neighbours - China 470 km, India 605 km. It is roughly the size of Switzerland.

The origin of Bhutan and its earlier history is unknown. Guru Padma Sambhava, an Indian saint made his legendary trip from Tibet to Bhutan at the end of eighth century.

At the beginning of the 17th century the territory of present-day Bhutan consisted of various small regional principalities. The east was controlled by old aristocratic families, who mostly based their authority on divine descent. In central Buthan monasteries formed alliances with the ruling families, and in the west various religious schools started to play an ever increasing political role. Despite the increasing importance of the Drukpa school, they could not come to an agreement with various independent local realms, which would have allowed a unification.

Early history

The first immigrants apparently reached Bhutan 2000 B.C. Until today, however, there have not been any archeological investigations in Bhutan. It is therefore difficult to shed light on its history before the arrival of Buddhism.

Occasionally, while ploughing their fields, farmers found tools made out of stone, which they considered to be the weapons of gods or celestial deities which had fallen down on Earth during their wars. The only stone axe that has so far been investigated scientifically could be dated in the period from 2000 to 1500 B.C.

The native population

In Bhutan the native inhabitants are called Mönpa. This name is used for a people of mongolian origin who lived in the woodlands south of the Himalayas. At that time the religion of the Mönpa was not Buddhism, but probably a mixture of animistic ideas and shamanistic customs. In Bhutan this religion is usually called Bön.

First Buddhist temples

In the seventh century an event occurred that was decisive for Bhutan’s history: the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (619-649) erected the first Buddhist temples, the Kyichu-Lhakhang in Paro and the Jampe-Lhakhang in Bumthang.

The erection of the monuments marked the victory of Buddhism over pre-Buddhist deities. Songtsen Gampo wanted to tame a huge demon whose body covered all of Tibet and its neighbouring areas, which posed a particularly big problem to the spreading of buddhism. The king thus decided to erect a temple on each of the demon’s joints so that she would no longer be able to move.

Songtsen Gampo was said to have magically multiplied himself and to have sent all of his emanations into the various areas of Tibet so as to erect 108 temples in one day. Towering over the heart of the demon there is the famous Jokhang-Temple in Lhasa. The demon’s left knee is held by the Jampe-Lhakhang of Bumthang and her left sole is fixed by the Kyichu-Lhakhang in Paro.

This, however, does not imply that Tibet held sovereignty over the southern valleys of the Himalayas. At that time, Bhutan's valley people did not seem to have any objections against the erection of the temples.

Guru Rinpoche

Buddhism was lastingly and successfully introduced in Bhutan by the mystic and magician Guru Rinpoche in the eighth century. At that time the country was ruled by demons and powerful local deities, which seems to indicate that the spreading of Buddhism, after the erection of the first two temples, had made little progress.

Excerpt from a thangka, size: 128x66 cm; original privately owned.
Coming from India, Guru Rinpoche embodied Buddhism in the various Himalayan countries.

A mural in the monastery of Taktsang shows the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. He was an important promoter of Buddhism.

The Temple of Kyichu in the Paro valley is one of the most important shrines of Bhutan. It is an important place of pilgrimage and of ceremonies for the royal family.

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Although knowledge of prehistoric Bhutan has yet to emerge through archaeological study, stone tools and weapons, remnants of large stone structures, and megaliths that may have been used for boundary markers or rituals provide evidence of civilization as early as 2000 B.C. The absence of neolithic mythological legends argues against earlier inhabitation. A more certain prehistoric period has been theorized by historians as that of the state of Lhomon (literally, southern darkness) or Monyul (dark land, a reference to the Monpa aboriginal peoples of Bhutan), possibly a part of Tibet that was then beyond the pale of Buddhist teachings. Monyul is thought to have existed between 500 B.C. and A.D. 600.

The names Lhomon Tsendenjong (southern Mon sandalwood country) and Lhomon Khashi (southern Mon country of four approaches), found in ancient Bhutanese and Tibetan chronicles, may also have credence and have been used by some Bhutanese scholars when referring to their homeland. Variations of the Sanskrit words Bhota-ant (end of Bhot, an Indian name for Tibet) or Bhu-uttan (meaning highlands) have been suggested by historians as origins of the name Bhutan, which came into common foreign use in the late nineteenth century and is used in Bhutan only in English-language official correspondence. The traditional name of the country since the seventeenth century has been Drukyul- -country of the Drokpa, the Dragon People, or the Land of the Thunder Dragon--a reference to the country's dominant Buddhist sect.

Some scholars believe that during the early historical period the inhabitants were fierce mountain aborigines, the Monpa, who were of neither the Tibetan or Mongol stock that later overran northern Bhutan. The people of Monyul practiced the shamanistic Bon religion, which emphasized worship of nature and the existence of good and evil spirits. During the latter part of this period, historical legends relate that the mighty king of Monyul invaded a southern region known as the Duars, subduing the regions of modern Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar in India.