How Will the Gospel Penetrate the Land of the Thunder Dragon?

—by Keith Carey

Not many people lay awake at night worrying about Bhutan. With a population of under one million, and its location in the high Himalayan mountains between China and northeastern India, it does not affect the lives of many people outside of South Asia.

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matt. 24:14, NIV) That statement, made by our lord, included Bhutan (with all its ethnae, or ethnic groups). But as of today, essentially none of the 27-32 people groups in Bhutan are being reached with the gospel. For that reason, we must pray!

Historically Speaking...
Bhutan's early history is vague. But most likely, this remote part of the world was a political entity for centuries. Bhutan as a nation state was founded by Zhabdrung Nawang Namgyal, who conquered and unified this part of the world that was formerly run by warring feudal chiefs. At the beginning of the 16th century Namgyal introduced a dual monarchy. One monarch was a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, and the other was political. The latter had the real political power until 1720 when the Chinese invaded Tibet and established a degree of political control over Bhutan. Conflict between Bhutan and Bengal led these Himalayans to invade Cooch Behar in 1772. This was followed by a British incursion into Bhutan. At that time, the British Empire was in the process of establishing economic control in this part of South Asia. Two years later the British arrived in Bhutan to promote trade with India. But when the British occupied Assam in 1826, the Bhutanese began raiding British-held parts of what is now India. In 1864, the British occupied part of southern Bhutan, and annexed this part of the country the next year. The Treaty of Sinchula brought hostilities to an end with the British paying an annual subsidy to Bhutan as compensation for this land.

In 1907 the most powerful of Bhutan's provincial governors, Sir Ugyen Wangchuk, supported by the British, became the monarch of Bhutan. His family has kept this dynasty alive ever since. Three years later the British signed an agreement with Wangchuk which doubled the annual subsidy the Empire would pay Bhutan in exchange for control of the country's foreign affairs. Surprisingly, the mighty British Empire never had direct control of Bhutan like they did in India.

After gaining her independence from Britain in 1947, India took England's place in subsidizing Bhutan and directing her defense and foreign affairs. India returned the part of Bhutan that the British had taken years earlier.

There was a crisis in this part of the world when Communist China forcibly annexed Tibet in 1950. The Chinese claimed Bhutan as well, saying that it was part of Tibet. India defended their small Himalayan neighbor. The Indians built roads into Bhutan that would accommodate their heavy military equipment to counter China's military. Bhutan formed a small army, trained and equipped by India. Bhutan was admitted to the United Nations in 1971, which gave them a greater claim to being a sovereign nation. Their relationship with China improved in the 1980s.

The Challenge of Modernization
Modernizing isn't easy for a nation that is located in some of the highest mountains on the planet. Bhutan's third hereditary ruler, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk, who reigned from 1953-72, took his country much further into the modern world. He abolished slavery, emancipated women, divided large estates into smaller plots, and began a secular education system.

The Bhutanese government has wanted the advantages of modernization, but they don't want it to threaten their culture or their Tibetan Buddhist religion. All men must wear the knee-length wrap-around "gho", and women must wear the ankle-length dress called the "kira." These are the traditional costumes of the dominant Drukpa people who dominate Bhutan. Enforcing such a dress code is no problem for the Drukpa and other Tibetan oriented groups, but it has caused conflict with the Hindu Nepali minority. That conflict, which was especially severe in the 1990s, is still unresolved.

Our October issue noted that television is a fairly new innovation to Bhutanese culture. Though they have had radio since 1973, TV and the Internet didn't come to Bhutan until 1999, according to a country profile written by British Broadcasting Co. News (BBC). That was also the year that the king was no longer officially head of the government; that position was given to the head of the Bhutanese cabinet.

The royal family, which still holds considerable power, is concerned that the media will allow ideas that undermine their reign. But they apparently understand that the world is changing; Bhutanese leaders wrote the first draft of their first constitution last year. It hasn't been ratified yet. Bhutanese government ministers, graduated from American universities, are pressing for opening the country to foreign banks and multinationals, according to an August 18th, 2005 article in BBC News.

Though Bhutanese are slowly moving into the modern world, they are hesitant to allow their country to be overrun by globalization. Farmers want protection from cheap imported food that could threaten their livelihood. With more than 90 percent of the population engaged in small-scale subsistence farming, the government will think twice before doing anything that could harm this many people.

Bhutan's Spiritual and Ethnic Situation
Most of the peoples of Bhutan, including the dominant Drukpa people (also called Ngalungs), are Tibetan Buddhists. The royal family belongs to this ethnic group.

Unlike the more orthodox forms of Buddhism practiced in East Asia, Tibetan Buddhism is blended with the shamanistic bon religion. Though Tibetan Buddhists embrace the pantheistic belief that all beings in the universe have souls, they sometimes practice animal sacrifices. Though animal sacrifices are being discouraged in Bhutan, many of the Tibetan-based people groups sacrifice a pig during the annual Choesung rite, which is meant to appease their protective deity, Gyem Mani Naap, also known as Pekar. An even more prevalent god in this country is Mahakali. These gods have not yet been challenged.

About 30 percent of Bhutan's population is Nepali. Though the majority of the Nepalis are Hindu, there is has been a strong movement to Christ among them for the last 20 years.

Let's Pray!

• Pray that the Christian Nepalis will be willing to pay any price to take the love of the Lord to each Tibetan Buddhist people group in Bhutan.
• Pray that the power of the Buddhist gods, especially Pekar and Mahakali, will be broken and destroyed so that the captives can be set free to follow Christ.
• Pray that these Tibetan Buddhist people will soon accept no other sacrifice than the blood of Jesus Christ.