FACTOID # 105: The United States tops the world in plastic surgery procedures. Next comes Mexico.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RELATED ARTICLES
People who viewed "Monpa" also viewed:
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

SEARCH ALL

FACTS & STATISTICS    Advanced view

Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 

 

(* = Graphable)

 

 


Encyclopedia > Monpa
Monpa
Alternative names:
Menba, Moinba, Monba, Menpa, Mongba
Total population

78,000

Regions with significant populations
Arunachal Pradesh, India:
   50,000

Tibet, China:
   25,000
Bhutan:  3,000
, Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›) is the eastern most state on Indias north-east frontier. ... This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ...

Language(s)
Monpa, Tibetan
Religion(s)
Mainly Tibetan Buddhist, Bön
Related ethnic groups
Tibetan, Sherdukpen, Memba

The Monpa (Chinese: 门巴族, ménbàzú, Tibetan: མོན་པ།) are an ethnic group of Tibetan descent in the Indian territory of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 50,000, centered in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng. Another 25,000 of them can be found in the district of Cuona in Tibet, where they are known as Menba. Of the 45,000 Monpas who live in Arunachal Pradesh, about 20,000 of them live in Tawang district, where they constitute about 97% of the district's population, and almost all of the remainder can be found in the West Kameng district, where they form about 77% of the district's population. A small number of them may be found in the district of East Kameng[1] and Bhutan (2,500). The Monpa language is spoken in Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet. ... The Tibetan language is spoken primarily by the Tibetan people who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, as well as by large number of Tibetan refugees all over the world. ... Tibetan Buddhism is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region (including northern Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh), Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ... Bön[1] (Tibetan: བོན་; Wylie: bon; Lhasa dialect IPA: [) is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. ... The Tibetan people are a people indigenous to Tibet and surrounding areas stretching from Central Asia in the West to Myanmar and China in the East. ... Two Sherdukpen Couples The Sherdukpen are an ethnic group related to both the Aka and Monpa. ... The Memba population of 3,500 is centered around Tuting and Geling, near the Siang river in the West Siang and Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh not very far from the Tibetan border. ... The Tibetan language is spoken primarily by the Tibetan people who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, as well as by large number of Tibetan refugees all over the world. ... Tibetan can refer to: A place or item from Tibet. ... , Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›) is the eastern most state on Indias north-east frontier. ... The Tawang district is located at the north-west of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. ... West Kameng is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. ... This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ... , Arunachal Pradesh   (Hindi: Aruṇācal PradeÅ›) is the eastern most state on Indias north-east frontier. ... West Kameng is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. ... The East Kameng district is located in Arunachal Pradesh. ...


They also share very close affinity with the Sharchops of Bhutan. Their language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family, but it is significantly different from the Eastern Tibetan dialect. It is written with the Tibetan script. Sharchop is a collective term for the Indo-Mongoloid populations found in the eastern districts of Bhutan who constitute around 20% of the population. ... The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (Burmese language), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Mong language), Nepal, Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Ladakh region of... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...


The Monpa are sub-divided into six sub-groups because of their variations in their language. They are namely:

  • Tawang Monpa
  • Dirang Monpa
  • Lish Monpa
  • Bhut Monpa
  • Kalaktang Monpa
  • Panchen Monpa

Contents

Religion

The Monpa are mainly followers of Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelugpa sect, although some members of the Bhut Monpa are followers of Bön and Animism. In every household, small Buddhist altars placed with statues of Buddha are given water offerings in little cups and burning butter lamps. Tibetan Buddhism is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the Himalayan region (including northern Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh), Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia (Russia), and northeastern China (Manchuria: Heilongjiang, Jilin). ... The Geluk (dge lugs) School was founded by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), Tibets best known religious reformer and arguably its greatest philosopher. ... Bön[1] (Tibetan: བོན་; Wylie: bon; Lhasa dialect IPA: [) is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. ... The term Animism is derived from the Latin anima, meaning soul.[1][2] In its most general sense, animism is simply the belief in souls. ... A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. It had subsequently been accepted by... Media:Example. ...


The belief in transmigration of the soul and reincarnation is widespread, as their life is largely centered on the Tawang monastery in Tawang district, where many of the young Monpa boys would join the monastery and grow up as Buddhist Lamas.


The Bhut Monpa led a hunter-gather lifestyle and believed that the main totem and clan idol is the spirit of the tiger, who will torment any initiate while he sleeps. It is also believed that the spirit of the tiger is the manifestation of the ancestral forest spirit, who took a young shaman into the jungle to be initiated.


Culture

The Monpa are known for wood carving, Thangka painting, carpet making and weaving. They manufactured paper from the pulp of the local sukso tree. A printing press can be found in the Tawang monastery, where many religious books are printed on local paper and wooden blocks, usually meant for literate Monpa Lamas, who use it for their personal correspondence and conducting religious rituals. A Thangka is a painted or embroidered Tibetan banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and carried by lamas in ceremonial processions. ... Not to be confused with Llama. ...


Principal Monpa festivals include Choskar harvest, Losar, Ajilamu and Torgya. During Losar, people would generally pray pilgrimage at the Tawang monastery to pray for the coming of the Tibetan New Year. Losar (Tibetan: ལོ་གསར་; Wylie: lo gsar) is the Tibetan word for new year. ...


The Buddhist Lamas would read religious scriptures in the Gompas for a few days during Choskar. There after, the villagers will walk around the cultivated fields with the sutras on their back. The significance of this festival is to pray for better cultivation and protect the grains from insects and wild animals. The prosperity of the villagers is not excluded as well. Gompas are Buddhist temples, located in Tibet, Ladakh (India), Nepal, and Bhutan. ...


It is a rule that all animals except men and tigers are allowed to be hunted. According to tradition, only one individual is allowed to hunt the tiger on an auspicious day, upon the initiation period of the shamans, which can be likened a trial of passage. Upon hunting the tiger, the jawbone, along with all its teeth, is used as a magic weapon. This is believed that its power will enable the tigers to evoke the power of his guiding spirit of the ancestral tiger, who will accompany and protect the boy along his way.


Society

The traditional society of the Monpa was administered by a council which consists of six ministers locally known as Trukdri. The members of this council were known as the Kenpo, literally the Abbot of Tawang. The Lamas also hold a respectable position, which consists of two monks known as Nyetsangs, and two other Dzongpon.


Lifestyle and Dress

The traditional dress of the Monpa is based on the Tibetan Chugba, although woolen coats and trousers maybe worn as well. The men wear a skull cap of felt with fringes or tassels. The womenfolk tend to wear a warm jacket and a sleeveless chemise that reaches down to the calves, tying them round the waist with a long and narrow piece of cloth. Ornaments that include silver rings, earrings made of flat pieces of bamboo with red beads or turquoises are worn as well. One can see a person wearing a cap with a single peacock feather round their felt hats.


Due to the cold climate of the Himalayas, the Monpa, like most of the other Buddhist tribes, construct their house with stone and wood with plank floors, often accompanied with beautifully carved doors and window frames. The roof is made with bamboo matting, keeping their house warm during the winter season. Sitting platforms and hearths in the living rooms are also found in their houses. For the movie Himalaya, see Himalaya (film). ...


Economy

The Monpa practice shifting and permanent types of cultivation. Cattle including yaks, cows, pigs, sheep and fowl are kept as domestic animals, and meat is hunted using primitive methods.


To prevent soil erosion by planting crops on hilly slopes, the Monpa follow terraced cultivation and terraced the slopes of the forest. Cash crops such as rice, maize, wheat, barely, chilly, pumpkin, beans, tobacco, indigo and cotton are planted.


History

Legends, chronological and archaeological evidence that the Monpa, who were the aborigines of that area, once ruled a kingdom known as Monyul, or Lhomon that existed from 500 B.C. to 600 A.D., a kingdom that was ruled by the then-nomadic Monpa.


It was believed that Monyul stretches from present day Tawang right up to West Bengal, Assam, part of Sikkim and even the Duars plains at the Himalayan foothills. Upon the collapse of Monyul, the Monpa came under the rule of Tibet for many years, although small Monpa chiefdoms were formed whenever Tibetan rule was not strong in the area. One of the good reminiscences of the ancient Monpa chiefdoms include the Dirang Fort constructed around the 11th century, which was meant to defend against invasions from neighbouring chiefdoms. , West Bengal (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. ... Assam   (Assamese: অসম Ôxôm) is a north eastern state of India with its capital at Dispur, a part of Guwahati. ... , Sikkim (Nepali:  , also Sikhim) is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. ... The Duars or Dooars are flood plains of the River Brahmaputra in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal, and part of Bhutan. ...


The sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, whom the Tibetans still dearly love, despite his deviancy, and whose Gurs are still fondly recited or sung, came from Mon. A translation of his Gurs by K. Dhondup, a deceased Tibetan scholar, is enjoyable. Perhaps the most famous Gur, still sung all over Tibet and outside is title "Oh White Crane, lend me your wings. I go no farther than Lithang; thence return again." The so called persecution of Monpas by Tibetans is Chinese propaganda,


Miscellaneous

The sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, is a Monpa by ethnicity. The Monpa monk Geshe Ngawang Tashi Bapu, popularly known as Lama Tashi, was a Grammy Awards Nominee of the Traditional World Music category in 2006. This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. ... Tsangyang Gyatso Tsangyang Gyatso, (Tibetan: ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ,Wylie transliteration: Tshang dbyang Rgya mtsho), (1683 – November 15, 1706) was the sixth Dalai Lama. ... Chant Master Ngawang Tashi Bapu Geshe Ngawang Tashi Bapu, (born 1968) also known as Lama Tashi is a former Principal Chant Master of the Dalai Lama. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...


See also

The Monpa language is spoken in Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet. ... Sharchopkh (also called Tshangla) is a Tibetic language of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in the eastern parts of Bhutan. ... This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ... South Tibet (Chinese: Zàngnán 藏南) refers to a geographical area of Tibet. ...

References and External Links



 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.