IVth Je Damcho Pekar Did Not Do It

Ancient Bhutan was flush with coins of some 10 countries – including our own. The earliest silver coins called Narayanis that entered Bhutan were those of the Koch Kingdom - as gift to Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel during his visit to Chapcha – sometime in 1619 from the Maharaja of Koch Bihar. In addition to the silver Narayanis, we had coins from Assam, Bengal Presidency of British East India Company, British East India Company, British Raj, China, French East India Company, Nepal and Tibet.

In my collection: 1 Mohar silver coin of King Yoga Narendra Malla of Patan Kingdom of present day Nepal, hammered during his rule between 1685 to 1705 - around the time when Je Damcho Pekar ruled.

My coin book will carry few images of coins from these countries and a short background on the development of our relations with these countries. Other than the accounts of our relation with Nepal, rest are straight forward and without confusion.

Accounts by writers and historians with respect to our relations with neighbor Nepal is fraught with improbabilities and fallacies. But straightening out the inaccuracies is not a difficult task – because the history of our relation with that country revolves around the supposed, and grossly untrue, role of 4th Je Damcho Pekar and birth of Prithvi Narayan Shah, founder of the nation state of Nepal.

According to one account, 3rd Druk Desi Chhogyel Mingyur Tenpa is supposed to have sent Damcho Pekar to Gorkha land at the invitation of Gorkha king Nara Bhupal Shah. Consequent upon the Tantric rituals performed by Damcho Pekar, the childless Nara Bhupal Shah was blessed with a son - Prithvi Narayan Shah – the unifier of the Kingdom of Nepal.

This account cannot be true since Chhogyel Mingyur Tenpa ruled from 1668 – 1680 as the 3rd Druk Desi. Before that he was the Choetse Chila from 1646 – 1668.

Prithvi Narayan Shah was born only on 11th January, 1723.

According to another account, Damcho Pekar is said to have sent several monks to the land of the Gorkhas, at the request of Gorkha king – to help him beget a son. If this is true, the king would have to be the father of Prithvi Narayan Shah – Nara Bhupal Shah who was born in 1697 and died in 1743.

As per Bhutanese records, Damcho Pekar was the 4th Je Khenpo who ruled between 1697 and 1707.

Thus, this record too is flawed – because the reign of Je Damcho Pekar was already over by 1707 and thus could not have sent any monks to the Gorkha land at the behest of Gorkha King Nara Bhupal Shah. In fact in all provability Je Damcho Pekar would have been long dead and cremated, by the time Prithvi Narayan Shah was born on 11th January, 1723.

Regardless of the confusion in dates and personalities, there is no doubt that a Lama from Bhutan did go to Nepal. According to another account chronicled in Nepali literature, it is written that:

“……… according to the Bhasa Vamsavali (Chronicles of Nepal), Nara Bhupal Shah, being childless, invited Dharmaraja to Nepal and with the blessings and ritual and Tantrik commencement performed by him, he became the father of a child, Prithvi Narayan Shah - the founder of modern Nepal.”

In yet another record, portions of an article appearing in the “The Treasury of Lives” authored by Karma Rigzin, a researcher at the Institute of Language and Culture Studies, reads as follows:

“Migyur Tenpa, the Third Druk Desi is said to have sent him (Damcho Pekar) to build political relations in Kathmandu valley and he may have already been in Yambu (Kathmandu), possibly on pilgrimage, when he was invited to the court of the Gorkha king Ram Shah (r. 1609-1633, d. 1636).  According to legend, the king was desperate for a son, and following a prophetic dream by one of the queens, invited Damcho Pekar to conduct pujas and blessings. The queen subsequently gave birth to a son, and, crediting him with saving the dynasty, the king granted Damcho Pekar lands and villages in the Nepal Himalaya.”

There is problem with this account as well. When King Ram Shah ruled Damcho Pekar was not even born. King Ram Shah ruled from 1606 to 1636. He was born in 1550 and died in 1636.

From all the above, it can be concluded conclusively that it was not Je Damcho Pekar who went to Nepal to perform the Tantric rituals and to bless the royal couple that resulted in the birth of Prithvi Narayan Shah. It was most likely 5th Je Zodpa Thinley (r. 1707 – 1724) who performed the rituals. Or, it may have been 9th Druk Desi Ngawang Gyamtsho (r. 1720 – 1729) who may have sent a learned Lama to perform the rituals desired by Gorkha king Nara Bhupal Shah.

Regardless of what is true – relations between Bhutan and Nepal was at its zenith during the reign of Maharaja Prithvi Narayan Shah.  During the rule of Nepal's Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa (r. 1806 - 1837) – we even had a postal service running between Punakha and Kathmandu.