When the Himalayan Kingdom was under siege

Rishav Chatterjee

When the Himalayan Kingdom was under siege

India and Bhutan share a considerable amount of history and culture. Buddhism was cultivated in India and adopted by Bhutan. At this juncture, it will be wise to know a slice of Bhutanese history which includes taciturn diplomacy, war and chicanery.

A painting depicting the British mission in Bhutan; Image Source- Hi So UR

For the longest time, the British had wanted to expand their influence from Bengal to the upper hills as that would be the entry point to trading with Tibet. Bhutan was this gateway- it was strategically, geographically and economically very important to the British interest.

From the 1770s Warren Hastings under the British East Indian Company had wanted to capture but was unsuccessful. They had already captured Bengal and Assam and had hegemony over the Duar region. The Duar region is a very fertile tract of land just under the foothills of Himalaya where tea was grown which was a major export for the British. However, these duars were continuously under Bhutanese. Thus, it was essential for the British to neutralise Bhutanese aggression.

This led to the Duar Wars (1864-1865) however the immediate cause was the utter insult and humiliation meted out to Ashley Eden – the British ambassador to Bhutan. He was sent to Bhutan with the explicit objective of expanding British trade relations in Bhutan. Like most cases in history, his timing was wrong. Ashely came to Bhutan when she was engaged in a civil war-like situation between Paro and Tongsa regions.

So it was obvious that amidst such situations Bhutan was in no mood to deal with the British on top of their civil war. They wanted to follow a policy of isolationism and poor Ashley Eden was sent back after being bitterly humiliated and insulted. This led to the British-Bhutanese Duar Wars.

In response to this, the British did what they do best. They poured in troops into a region that had almost negligible military capacity – talk about fighting someone of your calibre! Bhutan had no independent and organised army and they were forced to compete against the British howitzer guns and flintlock muskets. At the end of the war, the central fort called the Deothang stood completely dismantled.

This war only lasted five months but eroded away 20 per cent of the Bhutanese forces and led to the signing of a most duplicitous treaty called the Treaty of Sinchula. Under this treaty, the British aimed to consolidate their hold over the duar regions and also increase their influence.

Thus, under this treaty, the British forced the Bhutanese to recognise their control over the Duar. Bhutan was forced to cede territories in the Assam and Bengal Duar. The problem however was that Bhutanese local tribes kept on plundering the duar regions which was a blow to the British profit-making. In lieu of this, the British were forced to pay an annual subsidy of 50,000 rupees to Bhutan.

From this slice of history, we are reminded of a trend that still happens to this day. The stronger will always trample the weak. This was an ultimate study in the age of Thucydides Trap whereby an already established power will get very insecure and aggressive when it is denied its wishes, much like a cranky child.