Thembang

Thembang is an ancient village with high historical and cultural significance situated in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, India.^[1]

History

The old name of Thembang is Yuchho-pema-chen which literally means a Lotus like village. Legend has it that it was settled in the early century which would approximately be before first century AD. It is considered an oldest village in the region with a large human settlement. It was once ruled by a very powerful king who is believed to have descended from the sky. They were known as Cha-cha-nyey. The remains of the materials belong to the king are still believed to be there. He used to collect tax from different regions including some parts of Bodo area, the present Darrang District namely Mishamari, Udalguri, Mazbat etc. It is believed that initially the village was settled in Sat-tsi which is on the bank of a small river, 10 km away from Thembang. Due to an epidemic almost ninety-nine percent of the villagers died, after which the remaining villagers moved to the present location, which is at the altitude 2300 above msl.

Tax collection system

In the same lineage once there became two sons to the king of Thembang called Nyila and Yonpu. They jointly used to rule the territory after their father died. Most of their day-to-day affairs were performed by their uncle including the collection of tax. Everything was going on well until somebody out of jealousy told the kings that their uncle was not properly depositing the tax collected from Darrang District of Assam to the king. Heeding to the false allegation of that person, they had killed their uncle with a poisoned arrow. The uncle while dying cursed the two brothers that even they would be killed by the people very soon like he was. The next year the king Nyila and his brother Yonpu went to Mazbat to collect tax where they were misunderstood and were killed by the Bodos. They did not know the language properly and were misunderstood, actually they checked the collected items but the thread-rolls were not there, so they said that there is no "Hu-tu-tu" but the villagers couldn't understand it, with no option left the kings took out his sword and draw a long line on the grounds as they were trying to draw thread but the villagers mis-understood it as black magic. All the villagers gathered there and killed both the brother at night.

As a result, the people of the area witnessed the deadliest nature's fury. At one time there was a severe drought and another time it was a flood followed by epidemic, famine and other calamities. Following this catastrophe the community consulted a very renowned and learned Seer. The Seer told them that they had committed the greatest sin by killing sons of God and the only solution to it is to make their statues and preserved them lifelong. Abiding to his advice, the people of the area constructed statues of the Nyila and Yonpu, but even while construction they had to face lots of difficulties. Every-time they returned after their lunch break they found their half done statues completely damaged thus starting it all over again, if they come the next day the construction materials went missing, one day the people have assigned a girl to look after the half done statues while they had gone for lunch. The girl was carrying a baby on her back; suddenly she saw that two white pigeons have descended from the sky and stopped there, the birds completed the statues and installed it. The pigeons told the girl that bigger one is Nyila and smaller one is Yonpu, but the birds warned her that if she tells anybody about the birds then she would die instantly, The birds continued, "if the villagers insist then tell them to give you all the food items available in the region, first eat it then feed the baby after that tell them about the birds and the incident." After lunch the villagers came there and were shocked to see that the statues were already installed there. They first asked the girl to which she replied that bigger statue is Nyila and smaller statue is Yonpu, but did not tell them about the incident which took place while they were away. They asked her about the incident relentlessly; at last she gave in and demanded all the food items available in the region. She had the food and fed the baby as well. Once she narrated the entire incident, she instantly died vomiting blood and the baby also died with her. The statues are still present the Kuli-bong-khai village in Mazbat town in Assam and the Bapu clan of Thembang are forbidden to see the statue. That was the end of the royal lineage of Cha-cha-nye at Thembang, but some of their relatives have continued to stay at Thembang.

Arrival of Tibetan prince to Thembang

After that a new king Wangma-pele-dhar was brought to Thembang as the king of Thembang. He was a grandson of the emperor of Tibet (of Potola Palace) known as Sadnalegs or Tridé Songtsen, direct descendant of the emperor Songtsen Gampo.

The son of Wangmo-Pele-dar known as Jhar-trangpo-dhar became the next king of Thembang after his father died. He had gone to Assam to collect tax from Darrang district, where he was denied tax, after which the matter went to the king of Darrang. He told the Darrang king that had been made the king of Thembang so he was the rightful owner of the tax. Legend states that the Darrang king agreed to give him tax equal to weight which the Jhar-trangpo-dhar could lift and carry to which the king of Thembang agreed. He was so powerful and strong that he had lifted a load equal to the load of 18 persons. Witnessing this, the Darrang king had referred to him as "Bapu (Babu)", out of honour, from then onward the king of Thembang and his descendants are known as Bapu. His used to territory was from Grangthang Chhujub which starts from present Sela Past to Bood-Jerigaon from where he used to collect tax every year.

In early days, the people of the Thembang fought many battles. With continuous battle with neighbouring empire and chieftains the villagers with the help of the villagers of Bhud, Khawna, Rahung, Khotam, who were under the sovereignty of Thembang, made a very strong fortification with two stone wall gates for entry and exit, one in the North and one in the south. A loud shout used to be given as warning before closing the giant gates. The village still has ruins of the fortification.

The most important one was the war with Chandagmai - a Miji queen with whom the Bapu had fiercest war in which they lost everything including home. It was a narrow escape for the Bapu as the queen was killed by the last arrow (a broken one), which was luckily found inside the quiver. One more war took place with Tukpenpa (present Rupa), the Mag-pon (general) of Tukpen was beheaded and the head was brought in there and buried under the stone stair near the entrance to the fort at Thembang.

In 1962 a fierce battle between India and China took place there during Sino-Indian war. The Chinese reached here through this historic Bailey trail (named after the legendary Lt. Colonel Frederick Marshman Bailey who made a tough exploration to the Tsangpo Gorges with Captain Henry Morshead of the Survey of India in 1911-12 and descended down to Thembang while returning to British India). The Chinese army went directly to Bomdila encircling large numbers of Indian army between Sela pass and Bomdila once they capture Bomdila town.

Locale

Many small villages occupy the nearby the area under the jurisdiction of Thembang. These are Gonthung, Pangma, Semnak, Cherong, Tangchhenmu, Lagam, Chander, and Lachong. These villages have settled by people either migrated from Thembang or migrant from other regions.

Population

Thembang village is constituted by four Bapu clans namely Khochilu, Sharchhokpa, Atajaipu and Dirkhipa and four Gilla clans namely Lhopa, Merakpa, Nyimu and Sharmu. The Bapu clans are the descendants of a king of south Tibet who was the descendant of the emperor of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo (6th century). The Bapus control all the village affairs including land etc. The lands, including forest, grazing grounds, agricultural were all divided among the Bapus viz. Khochilu, Sharchhokpa, Atajaipu and Dirkhipa. The four Gillas viz. Lhopa, Merakpa, Nyimu and Sharmu live with their adjacent Bapu on the land specified by the Bapus for agricultural, housing or other purposes.

27°21′N 92°24′E / 27.350°N 92.400°E / 27.350; 92.400