Dagana is a district in southern Bhutan with   headquarters centered in Daga town. Dagana district  is bordered by Thimphu and Chukha district to the West, Wangdue and Tsirang district to the North and East respectively and the Indian State of West Bengal to the South. Daga was the seat of Daga Penlop^. (provincial governor), a cabinet member in Shabdrung’s government, so Daga holds significance in Bhutan’s history. Shabdrung found people of Daga as a lawless bunch, so he sent his forces in the leadership of Druk Namgyel in 1648 to gain control over them. After Druk Namgyel brought the area under control Shabdrung appointed Dagab Tenpa Thinley as the first Penlop of Daga in 1651^[i]. He was entrusted responsibility to defend the country and the people of south from the invading armies.

Dagapela was a subdivision in Dagana district that included Tashidin, Suntoley, Goshi, Emerey and Dorona block. Dagapela subdivision was established in the early nineteen thirties^[ii] to meet the need of Nepali speaking settlers, its sub-divisional headquarter stationed at Goshi.

Ten ethnic Kheng and Ngalong families lived in Goshi and Majua village until mid-eighties. Mr. Jigme  Drukpa (Sarchop) a Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) contractor and Mr. Passang Tshering (Ngalong), a retired police man built house and settled permanently in Goshi bazar in late nineteen eighties: by 1990 total number of Drukpa families permanently living in Dagapela sub-division reached twelve^[iii]. By September 1990 about 2700 families were living in Dagapela subdivision of which 99% were ethnic Nepali.

After government finalized strategies to uproot ethnic Nepali citizens, government abolished Dagapela sub-divisional administration in November 1990^[iv]. Than followed rape, torture, harassment, coercion to sign voluntary migration form and forced surrendering of citizenship and property related documents. The first group of 45 families staged to sign voluntary migration form left Dagapela on November 21, 1991^[v] by October 31, 1994 government uprooted 1800 families (12,600 citizens) from Dagapela^[vi]. Amongst 2,612 total deaths recorded in the same period approximately 25% of the dead had Dagapela origin most of them were infants, toddlers and school going children. The above quoted figure only represents people registered in the refugee camp, it does not include those living outside the camp and sustaining on their own.

During six decades of its existence thirteen SDOs (sub divisional administrators) served in Dagapela sub-divisional administration. Mr. Jetha Babu (nickname) was the first SDO and Dungpa Thinley was the last SDO^[vii].

Mr. Brekh Bahadur Gurung served in the position of a clerk (Baidar) in SDO office from 1940s through early 1960s and served as Mandal (village head) of Emerey block from 1960s through early 1980s. Mr. Gurung a veteran public servant, who had served the government of Bhutan for fifty years, is currently living in refugee camp in Nepal.

After uprooting citizens, the government changed the name of Suntoley and Emerey block to Tsendagang and Gesarling respectively, changed the spelling of Goshi and Tashidin block but retained the name of  Dorona block.^[viii].

Legend about early inhabitants of Dagapela

Dagapela was a slash-and-burn seasonal grazing land (khoria) for years; upon which the cattle herders from higher elevation used to arrive at the end of autumn and return in early spring. Gradually, some cattle herders started to live throughout all seasons in Dagapela. The cattle herders who settled throughout all seasons made a place of worship (Gumba or Monastery or Dzong) at present day Suntoley danda (hill). Families who lived throughout all seasons lived in the proximity of that place of worship. Unfortunately, that place of worship caught fire in the first half of eighteen hundreds, the fire caused big loss of property, it incurred human death as well^[ix].

After the fire an infectious disease brought an epidemic and took many lives. Some families got completely wiped away (aputali as they said). Even the seasonal herdsmen were afraid to return to Dagapela because of fear of catching that deadly disease. Epidemic drastically reduced the population and the land remained uncultivated. Herdsmen reluctant to return, the grazing land    (khoria) remained unoccupied^[x].

Myth about Nepali settlement

The fourteenth Daga penlop “Penlop Tsithub”  popularly known to Nepali speakers as ‘Sethu Raja’ or ‘Daga Raja’ encouraged settlement of Nepali speaking people in the cleared but uncultivated land in Dagapela. Since Sethu Raja offered lower tax rate than Chirang and Lamidara, he was a folk hero among early Nepali settlers of Dagapela. Families who had just settled or settling in Chirang and Lamidara were attracted by Daga Raja’s offer and moved to Dagapela. They settled in small cluster of five to ten families, thinly spread all over Dagapela. Gradually, number continued growing in the  following years^[xi].

When did the first ethnic Nepali families settle in Dagapela ?     

The historical evidence shows that fifteen Penlops ruled Daga from 1651 through 1907 with average tenure of a Penlop standing at 17.06 years^[xii]. Penlop Tsithub known to Nepali speakers as “Sethu Raja” was the second last Penlop who most likely  ruled between 1873 and 1890. This evidence suggests that the first ethnic Nepali families were invited to settle in Dagapela at around 1880 AD.

Unfortunately, even those new settlers, all ethnic Nepali, contracted that infectious disease which had claimed lives of many native people.  Scattered were the ruined houses of early Nepali settlers whose family lineage was wiped out by the great epidemic throughout Dagapela.^[xiii]

Some families returned to Lamidara fearing that their family might meet the same fate. No new settlers chose Dagapela for settlement. Those who survived the epidemic propitiated local deities (Devi and Dewata ), as the panacea of epidemic.

To my knowledge, the country people of my village (Tashidin) used to perform ritual named Devi Puja and Sansari Puja in every spring and Biswasanti Yagya every three years. It was a tradition established since the first Nepali speaking settlers began. Every village and block had specific places to observe those rituals^[xiv].

Those ethnic Nepali families who were shattered by the death of family members, friends, relatives and neighbors slowly moved forward. Agriculture farming and cattle rearing were the main means of livelihood. They had to walk seven days (one way) to Kachhugaon in  Assam via Badaranga to buy essential commodities like salt, spices, utensils and other household items by selling the unprocessed dairy products, grams and other legumes.

Slowly they recovered from the grief of loss of their loved ones, adjusted with the environment and started to make a decent survival (then). After some years those herdsmen from higher elevation returned in groups to extort livestock, grains and salt. For the people now settled to farming, losing salt was the most worrisome for it was impossible to go to Kachhugaon for six months during summer and autumn. If they lose salt in the beginning of summer they had to live without salt for about six month. The frequency of such barbaric way of looting increased in the following years. So to fight back such extortion, the Nepali families regrouped themselves merging small clusters to form larger groups, where as some left Dagapela.

By the turn of twentieth century formal settlement of Nepali speaking people was in a full swing in Chirang and Lamidara under the leadership (Mukhtiyar) of Dhanbir Budathoki^[xv] and Pashupati Adhikari respectively. Since informal settlement did not attract many settlers and generate revenue as expected by Daga Penlop, he decided to go for a formal settlement.

To be continued….

Editor’s Note: Padam Rizal is one of the contributing authors at Bhutan News Service (BNS). This piece and/or his opinion doesn’t reflect the official view of BNS