How Tsalumaphey is Historical

Consequent upon the posting of my blog article titled “Giving Environment a Helping Hand” on June 5, 2022 some readers called up wanting to know how Tsalumaphey was historically significant - thus this article.

The campsite at Tsalumaphey where Sir Ashley Eden and his entourage set up their camp on the night of 12th March, 1864 - on their way to Punakha. One of the two Cypress trees mentioned by Eden in his report still stands to this day.

Tsalumaphey is that patch of land where currently Thimphu’s sewerage treatment plant is located. I call it historical because the area is linked to the following:

Ashley Eden

He was the British India Government’s Special Envoy to Bhutan. His forced and failed mission to Bhutan during 1864 resulted in the great Dewnagiri war between Bhutan and British India during 1864-65, which Bhutan lost.

On his way to Punakha from Paro, Ashley Eden and his entourage night-halted at Tsalumaphey – on 12th March, 1864. In his report (EDEN: Political Missions to Bhutan, published in Calcutta in 1865), he writes as follows:

“We halted at Chalamafee, a large village situated where the two roads to Poonakh and Tassishujung meet. Our tents were pitched under two splendid cypress trees, the stem of one of which was six spans around.”

Settlement of Pahari Artisans from Kingdom of Kathmandu

In another section of the report, Ashley Eden writes as follows:

“The village was full of Bengallee slaves; many of them had been born in slavery; others were carried off in early youth, and were ignorant of their own homes. Every village we now came across had a number of Bengalle inhabitants, and gangs of them were to be found in the forests hewing wood and collecting pine leaves for manure for their owners.”

Although he identifies them as Bengallee, I suspect that they may well have been descendants of the Paharis from the Kingdom of Kathmandu who were brought in by Zhangdrung during his visit to Kathmandu in 1640. It is recorded that these Pahari artisans were settled in a village called Bekhu-Nang – an area that is adjacent to Tsalumaphey.

On the other hand, it is quite possible that they would have been Koch Beharis carried away by Bhutanese – to hammer coins. During his visit to Bhutan in 1837, Captain R. Boileau Pemberton of the British East India Company does mention of coins being hammered in Thimphu – pointing to the possibility that the mint may have been located somewhere in Tsalumaphey area.

Ancient Camp Site

An old man from Jemina, Thimphu tells me that Tsalumaphey was a much-used campsite in ancient times. He tells me that all the people traveling to Thimphu, Wangdue, Punakha, Paro, Haa, Pasakha etc. night-halted at Tsalumaphey. He tells me that at any given night, there would be over twenty families congregated at the place – on their way to different places. Thus, a covered and sheltered community kitchen with over 20 traditional hearths was established at the place - on a permanent basis - for the use of the ceaseless travelers night-halting at the place.

NOTE: I write "Kingdom of Kathmandu" because during the time under reference, Kathmandu was a separate country by itself - until Gorkha king Prithvi Narayan Shah consolidated the whole of Nepal into a nation state.

Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyel is supposed to have brought in Paharis from Gorkhaland to work on the religious artifacts for installation inside the Simtokha Dzong which was already completed. It is not known whether they settled down in the valley or got repatriated after their work was done.