Mythologies of the Lhotshampa Tribe

The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa (Nepali: ल्होत्साम्पा; Tibetan: ལྷོ་མཚམས་པ་, Wylie: lho-mtshams-pa) people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. "Lhotshampa", which means "southern borderlanders" in Dzongkha, began to be used by the Bhutanese state in the second half of the twentieth century to refer to the population of Nepali origin in the south of the country. After being displaced as a result of the state-run ethnic cleansing and living in refugee camps in eastern parts of Nepal, starting in 2007 most of the Bhutanese Refugees were resettled to various countries, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. As of 2021 the number of Lhotshampa in Nepal is significantly lower than that in the United States and other countries where they have resettled. People of Nepalese origin started to settle in uninhabited areas of southern Bhutan in the 19th century.

The Lhotshampa are generally classified as Hindus. This is an oversimplification, though, as many groups that include the Tamang and the Gurung are largely Buddhist; the Kiranti groups that include the Rai and Limbu are largely animist followers of Mundhum (these latter groups are mainly found in eastern Bhutan). Their main festivals include Dashain and Tihar. Traditionally, Lhotshampa have been involved mostly in sedentary agriculture, although some have cleared forest cover and conducted tsheri agriculture. The most divisive issue in Bhutan in the 1980s and early 1990s was the accommodation of the Nepalese Hindu minority. The government traditionally attempted to limit immigration and restrict residence and employment of Nepalese to the southern region. Liberalization measures in the 1970s and 1980s encouraged intermarriage and provided increasing opportunities for public service. More in-country migration by Nepalese seeking better education and business opportunities was allowed. However, through the late 1980s and 1990s, as many as 107,000 Lhotshampa fled Bhutan for Nepal in fear of persecution. Many Bhutanese

The Lhotshampa are people living in the country of Bhutan who are of Nepalese descent. They are indigenous to the the southern parts of Bhutan. The Lhotshampa people are referred to as the Southerners because the majority of them lived in the regions of the south of Bhutan. Since 2007, most of the Bhutanese refugees have resettled in countries as far wide as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere in Europe. At present, the number of refugees in Nepal is fewer than those in the countries in which they sought refuge. The first groups of Nepalese people immigrated to Bhutan from eastern Nepal in the late 18th and early 19th century. By 1930, about 60,000 Nepalese cultivated southern Bhutan. By the end of the 1980s, the government of Bhutan estimated that 28% of its population was of Nepalese origin. Unofficial estimates, however, showed that as high as 40% of Bhutan’s population was of Nepalese descent. Following the government’s census of 1988, the Nepalese were declared to be "illegal immigrants" which led to their forceful expulsion in 1989. The Bhutan government deployed their military that seized the Nepalese lands and property and even tortured the Lhotshampa people. The Lhotshampa people were forced to move to Nepal as refugees. Since 2008, there has been a resettlement of Bhutanese refugees in different parts of the world in countries including the United States and Europe. According to the refugee data as of 2015, the number refugees resettled in the US was 83,053.

Bhutan is the world’s biggest creator of refugees by per capita. In one fell swoop in the 1990s, the country expelled the Lhotshampa, an ethnic group with its origins in Nepal which made up one-sixth of Bhutan’s population, to preserve its unique national identity. More than 20 years on, thousands still remain in camps in Nepal, lost in their own country. This is at stark contrast with the idyllic and homely image Bhutan has carefully curated for itself. As the world looks on at Syria and the deepening migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and concern grows, Bhutan attracts little attention. But as the world finally wakes up to the plight of refugees, it is important that one of the largest refugee populations in South Asia is not forgotten. While Bhutan expelled “migrant laborers” in the 1990s, to understand the complete picture we have to turn back to the 1600s. Bhutan may claim that the Lhotshampa are newcomers to Bhutan; however, people of Nepalese origin have been in Bhutan since 1620, when Newar craftsmen were commissioned to come to and build a stupa in Bhutan. They have been there ever since. Settling in southern Bhutan, the country’s major food producing region, their numbers flourished and continued to do so for a long period. They gained the name Lhotshampa, which means people from the south. What is more, these were not uninvited or unwelcome intruders. There was a need for foreign labor during this period. Bhutan actively brought this “crisis” on themselves — lacking the manpower for infrastructure projects like the Thimphu-Phuntsholing highway meant importing manpower from India was inevitable. The migration into Bhutan continued, relatively unregulated and without government supervision. It was only in 1990 that border checkpoints and controls were introduced.

The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa (Nepali: ल्होत्साम्पा; Tibetan: ལྷོ་མཚམས་པ་, Wylie: lho-mtshams-pa) population is a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. Mostly Hindu people of Nepalese origin began to settle in uninhabited areas in southern Bhutan in the 19th century. The Lhotshampa people are native to southern Bhutan and are therefore commonly referred to as 'Southerners'. As of 2007, much of the Lhotshampa population has been forcefully relocated to Western nations, such as the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European countries after facing expulsion policies from the Bhutanese government. Today, the number of Lhotshampa in Nepal is significantly less than in the United States and other countries where they have relocated. No refugees have been allowed to return to Bhutan despite negotiations taking place. Ethnic cleansing in Bhutan refers to a series of violences to remove the Lhotshampa, or ethnic Nepalis, from Bhutan. Inter-ethnic tensions in Bhutan have resulted in the flight of many Lhotshampa to Nepal, many of whom have been expelled by the Bhutanese military. By 1996, over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees (40% of Bhutan's population at the time) were living in refugee camps in Nepal. Many have since resettled in Western nations.

According to the statistic in 1980, the Bhutan government estimated that the Lhotshampa group occupied 28% of the Bhutan population. However, as an unofficial statistic showed the number was much higher up to 40%. Most Lhotshampas speak Nepali and learn Nepali at school as their first language. However, since there was a conflict between Nepali and Bhutanese, the Dzongkha has replaced Nepali at school as the main subject for people. Like the vast majority of citizens in Bhutan, the Lhotshampas work in the agriculture sector focusing on planting and breeding cattle. Staple crops include lentils, rice, soybeans, and sugar cane. Farming cattle including buffalo, goats, and cows. Lhotshampas mainly practice Hinduism with the worship of three gods Shiva the creator and destroyer of the universe, Vishnu the preserver of the universe, and Brahma the creator of the universe. It also affects people’s diets in that they abstain from beef. The family is the highest priority of the Lhtshampa people. Normally, a Lhotshampa family consists of 6 to 8 children. People remain their close-knit relationships with each other in their community. Hence, doors are always opened so neighbors are free to enter the other’s house. The old people play the role of commanding the deep respect of the youth. Within the family, they also set a certain rule for the daughter-in-law, as the traditional custom, the new bride should prepare the meals and take care of the mother-in-law by massaging her legs every evening. However, along with social development, the custom has faded with the transition of people to other places.

Lhotshampas — which means southerners in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan — are perhaps the largest refugee generations of all time and they have been waiting to go home for over a decade. The violent clash at the border has ended, and the complaints of the Lhotshampa people have been forwarded to officials in New Delhi. However, no other action has been taken on behalf of the Lhotshampa people since October 2006 when the United States government offered to resettle 60,000 or more refugees. But most Lhotshampas say their first choice is to go home. Human Rights Watch praised the US’s efforts, but also called for more action. “…the United States and other resettlement countries should expand an information campaign in the camps to reiterate that the choice of resettlement is voluntary and does not in any way extinguish the right of return,” they said in a report issued on 31 May.

The Lhotshampas are culturally different from those who reside in proximity to them in their own country, to the point where they have more in common with fellow Nepalis than they do with local neighboring groups, The Lhotshampas follow Hinduism and speak the Nepal language — two markers of identity similar in Nepal but different in Bhutan — and something that Bhutanese politicians argue adds to the Lhotshampas’ sense of “foreignness”. Following the violent events that unfolded in Bhutan as a result of the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and India’s annexation of Sikkim in 1975, Bhutan’s citizenship laws — which are inherently based on territorial policy — adopted a more restrictive, ethnocentric tone. By passing them, the new king — Jigme Singye Wangchuck — doubled the residency requirements for those working the land and tripled them for those serving in the Bhutanese government. The Citizenship Act further served as an exclusionary policy with its decision to deny citizenship to individuals related to any person involved in “anti-national” activities against Bhutan, its people, and its king, ultimately paving the way for the explicit marginalization of latter dissenting voices — the majority of whom were members of the Nepali-speaking minority. 

Bhutan is a multi-ethnic, multilingual country home to a number of ethnic and religious groups, including Drukpa Buddhists and Lhotshampas, the overwhelming majority of whom are Hindu, but also include Tamang and Gurung who are Buddhist, and Kirati who are animists. Although Drukpa Buddhists are politically and religiously dominant, Lhotshampas comprise a substantial minority. The Lhotshampas are descendants of Nepalese who have lived in Bhutan for centuries, with increased immigration to the southern lowlands of Bhutan in the nineteenth century. The first group of Lhotshampas settled in Bhutan in the sixteenth century after an agreement between Shabdrung Nawang Namgayal of Bhutan and King Ram Shah of Gorkha (in Nepal). In order to enforce these policies, the government pursued a violent pogrom of intimidation of the Lhotshampas in southern Bhutan. Their property was destroyed, and activists were arbitrarily detained and tortured. Individuals were forced to sign voluntary migration certificates before being expelled from the country. In December 1990, the authorities announced that Lhotshampas, who could not prove that they were residents of the country before 1958, must leave the country. The lack of official identity documents for many Lhotshampas, despite having roots in the country for generations, made proving residency virtually impossible. This made tens of thousands of Lhotshampas stateless, forcing them to flee to Nepal and the Indian state of West Bengal. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Bhutanese citizens, approximately one-sixth of the kingdom’s total population of 700,000, were forced to leave.

The Lhotshampa means from the southern part of Bhutan who was originated from Nepal and the neighboring states of India. They are Hindus and Buddhists. They speak Nepali and Hindi. Tamang, Sherpas, and the Gurung are largely Buddhist. The Kiranti groups that include the Rai and Limbu are largely animist followers of Mundhum. Their main festivals include Dashain and Tihar. Most Lhaomhanpas migrated to Bhutan in the early days to find out pasture land for agriculture. Lhotshampa has been involved mostly in agriculture. They cleared forest cover and conducted agriculture. Inter society measures in the 1970s and 1980s encouraged intermarriage and provided increasing opportunities for public service. More in-country migration by Nepalese seeking better education and business opportunities were allowed. However, through the late 1980s and 1990s, as many as 107,000 Lhotshampa fled Bhutan for Nepal in fear of persecution.