Drup – The idea of nationhood

June 11, 2011

“Are you ready to die for your country?” The Bhutanese student looked at the American man, thought for a moment, and replied, “No, that would be crazy, who would want to die for a country?”  This conversation between the UN delegate and the Class X student took place in the early days of the Sherubtse school (early 70s).

The Canadian Jesuit, Father William Mackey who set up this modern school in East Bhutan was present when the discussion took place. The Jesuit found the question interesting and the answer revealing that he recorded it in his notes. In his un-published observations, he recounts further details of the conversation and according to it, he had to intervene and advice the visitor to reword the question, as “Are you ready to die for your king?” The student spontaneously replied in the affirmative and so did all his classmates.

Father said that this anecdote was a clear example of the absence of the notion of nationhood.  In many ways, the Jesuit Dragon was more Bhutanese than many of us and was concerned about the idea of being Bhutanese.

Small Villages

To put things in its proper perspective, let us study the circumstance under which the conversation took place. In the 70s and till much later, many Bhutanese lived in villages and depended on the society for support. Most of them were born in a small village, lived in it and died in it too. For them, the village consisting of few houses was their world.

Before the roads came, these villagers were afraid to move even into the next valley which were usually a day or two days walk but involved crossing difficult mountain passes and fording fast flowing rivers.

From Father’s note we learn a trend that is still common today but gradually waning. “When I came to Bhutan, and even now, if I ask a boy or a girl who they are, the answer will not be a Bhutanese, but a Mongarpa, a Radhipa, a Bidungpa…PA a member of the village, the social entity for most Bhutanese.”

But, once the roads started appearing on faces of hills and cut through mountain passes bridging villages and connecting the whole country, the concept of nationhood started to develop.

Father became one of the first to notice this change and again recorded the impact it made on the same villagers. “Roads have changed this. The first three roads were south to north. Children from villages along the road came to the bigger schools, where they rubbed shoulders, fought, played with boys and girls from other villages.” Father’s notes said that the concept of a bigger political unit started to grow slowly with lateral road even among the Sharchopas, Ngalongpas, Southerner, etc and the concept of the country started developing. In the bigger High Schools, children from all over Bhutan formed a social unit, so that the concept of ONE COUNTRY started to emerge.

In the words of the Indian Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, nationalism is still one of the most powerful urges that can move people and around it clusters sentiments and traditions and a sense of common living and common purpose. For a country with a population of over a billion people with different religions, culture and ideology Nehru said that there is unity in diversity.

Compared to India, Bhutan is more homogeneous. Outside observers have noticed this and said that although it is so different yet there are factors that bind them together. If you look, you will notice that each valley in the country is different from the other; the climate, culture and people. For a population of less than a million there are over 20 dialects and yet you can find many common threads. For example, a person from the West who cannot understand or speak Sharchopkha (language of the east) can communicate to someone in the East. Observers have credited this to Buddhism and the institution of monarchy.

Sociologists tell us that there are few things that can unify a country. Top on the list is threat to the security and sovereignty of the country and this includes both external and internal. But, for a peaceful country like ours, without any natural enemy, this bonding factor is lost. However, Father Mackey pointed out that in the 1990s, “The Southern Bhutanese problem has also strengthened this oneness. Any threat from outside unifies the different groups making up a country.”

Another important binding factor is the leader of a nation. For Bhutan, the kings have always been the symbol of unity and now the constitution explicitly states that as one of the chief responsibilities of the king.

It comes as no surprise that sports also contributes to nation building or the lack of it disintegrates a society. We have seen this during the Olympics. The reverse is true as is the case with Nepal where they are yet to identify a national sport.

Today

It is without a doubt that the nationalist idea is profound, universal and appeals to the spirit of man. Because, it is strongly anchored in history, even the strong currents of globalization or waves of new ideas cannot influence it much. This idea will have considerable impact on the future and for it grows certain cementing factors such as threat to the country, sports and good leadership are required to connect not only these small villages but now be able to bridge the minds of the people.

Today, many of Father Mackey’s students are holding key government positions. I wonder what their reply will be to the two questions the American man asked the class X student in the 70s because when I asked a few educated people, are you ready to die for your king and country? Many of them said, that will depend.

By Tshering Tashi