Divine Support in Langtang and Khumbu

Published on: 

It is a chilly autumn afternoon in a herding camp above Langtang, a Tibetan community which lies at 11,500 ft. in Rasua District north of Kathmandu. Yak, Tibetan cattle and chauri (yak-cow crossbreeds) graze while Tibetan herdsmen busy themselves with evening-chores. Two lowland Nepalis, who work for a mountaineering expedition camped nearby, come over to buy some sheep. Pasang, a Langtang Tibetan ("Bhotiya"), bargains with them and a ram is sold for NRs500. The two lowlanders grab the sheep by the horns and drag it back to their camp, where it will be slaughtered for the mountaineers' evening meal.

Back in the herding camp, many Langtang Tibetan men are furious. One man, Lakpa Tenzing, tells me why. "We, everyone in Langtang, are Buddhists. And yet year after year, some Tibetans sells sheep to be slaughtered in the shadow of our sacred mountains. As a result the gods are angry and curse us. This is why so many of our children die, why there is so much disease in the village and why the crops fail."

Loading content, please wait...
Himal Southasian
www.himalmag.com