Foreword

Rupa is a small townl on one main route in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, the northeastern-most province of India. This province has a long border with China, a shorter one with Bhutan, a small one with Burma-Myanmar; but the main side is to the south, and Assam. The West Kameng district is close to Bhutan. See map, p. 12.

The few tourists who cross this region either are birdwatchers, or go to the famous Buddhist monastery of Tawang. There are now two possible roads to reach Rupa from Assam. One starts from Tezpur, crosses the 'border' at Bhalukpung and then winds up through forests to Tenga, then to Bomdila, then through the Sela Pass into the Tawang valley. Nearly halfway between Tenga and Bomdila, a road bifurcates to the left above a bridge and, after a few kilometers, reaches Rupa. The other road from Assam is through Balemu, passes the 'border' very close to Bhutan, leaves Kalaktang on the west and turns east towards Shertukpen Country: Shergaon, Jigaon, Rupa. From Guwahati, this second and relatively new road is shorter.

Rupa is a very small place, by Indian standards. There are several Indian Army camps close to the township, because the Chinese border is not far and the memories of the 1962 fights are still vivid. Rupa is situated in a nice little valley, and small mountains (below 3000 m) surround the place. If there were paths with friendly indications, you could make nice walking trips. The township looks, at first sight, as uncontrollable as many Indian townships of the same size. There is a bazar, a Buddhist temple, prayer walls here and there, Buddhist flags in the wind and no indications in the streets to tell you where you are or where you should go. One real interest of Rupa is in its Old Village. Rupa was an old real Shertukpen village, actually the center of Shertukpen life and culture.

Shertukpens' name for their Rupa is Thük 'the Village'. This Old Village still exists; a bit less every year. A dozen old houses are still visible, and some are still inhabited by the grand-children of the people who built the houses. This booklet intends to help you find them, and appreciate them. It will give much information about the history of Rupa, its quarters, and about each individual old house, even when it does not exist any more. Through the houses, old and less old, it will help you discover some aspects of a strangely familiar "tribal" community.

Sherdukpen was the name given to them by the British administration. This name is still in use now. It is made by adding Sher [gaon] and Tukpen (=Rupa). The name Shertukpen is now in use among the concerned people, and this use is followed here -except in the title of the book. * Shertukpen life is not limited to Rupa. First, more and more Shertukpen people live elsewhere, often because they are civil servants. Some of them come back to live in Rupa after retirement, and they are one cause of the sprounting new modern houses in the town.

Secondly, Shertukpen people also live in Shergaon (where the language is slightly different from Rupa's), in Jigaon and in several small villages higher in the hills. Recently ( 2023), an All-Sherdukpen Meeting was held, gathering representatives of Shertukpen-speaking places, most notably the Rupa-Jigaon (Tukpen Village Council) and the Shergaon (Shergaon Village Council) people.

Introduction

This illustrated little book (more than 100 photos, 34 drawings and numerous genelogical charts) is a study on how a village became a township. We took the opportunity provided by the case of Rupa in western Arunachal Pradesh (India), of observing how a Shertukpen village in the 1980s grew into the present-day (2023) small town. This is not the study in administration or demography that the reader might expect (and that he or she should write). It is mainly a study in houses and families and, modestly, in 'urban development'.

Thanks to a few old people who remember how things were when they were young, we know how many houses existed in 1950, and who lived in them. This list provided the real impulse for a survey, and an investigation into what these houses had become. Were they now destroyed or not? Who live in them, now? We have, thanks to the anthropologist Fürer Haimendorf, a few photos taken in 1980. There are also seven photos taken by Ursula Graham Bower in 1947. They make clear that things had not changed very much between 1950 and 1980, but that many new buildings have sprouted everywhere since then. Recently, several old houses were destroyed.

During 70 years, or two/three generations, it is possible to follow the history of most of these thirty odd houses that made the old village. We can learn who owned them, and why. We can trace with precision the fate of the central quarters of Rupa. And we can have a look into how a "tribe", the Shertukpen scheduled tribe, with its own language, laws, customs, territory and way of life, became something different. Not completely different of course, but still…

The author is a linguist with a decided taste for anthropology. He lived in Rupa many months, during successive winters since 2010, with an interruption due to the Covid epidemics, and discovered the 'Rupa under Rupa', although archaeology is not the right metaphor in our case. Linguists who study languages with few speakers (what I have called "rare languages") are usually told that "tribes" have no history, and people are used to announce that tribes and languages will fade away promptly. The linguists remark that this announcement seems too often repeated to be totally true; that "small" languages are still spoken and that this Armageddon prophecy, like most Millenium bell-ringings, sounds a bit rusty. However, languages do change, and sometimes disappear.

Instead of lamenting or prophesying, I decided to have a look at "what changed" in a community I knew. I felt that the objects of my study should be clear and visible, in order to make my study readable, easily understandable and maybe interesting. Of course, it is more interesting for people who know or live in Rupa. But it may be also of interest for people who don't, because what happens in Rupa is just a shortcut to what happens in very many places. * Many Shertukpen people contributed to this study. The person who helped most, by walking with me again and again along the paths of Rupa and patiently re-explaining the local Who's who, is Dorje Khandu Thongon, whose family is an effective group of supporters. Among them, Nima Wangu Thongon, Pemchhom's mother, ows a special mention (her photo is on p. 20)

Other friends in Rupa have, as for the previous books about Shertukpens (the book about grammar, and the book about Khiksaba with Pascale Dollfus), helped a lot. Let us mention, first of them all, our friend Prem Dorje 'Jamchhu' Wangja and his family, who are another active group of helpers. Among them, Tsewang Dema Thongdok, Jamchhu's mother, deserves special thanks (her photo is on p. 58).

For this book in particular, I would like to thank also Dorje Khandu Thongdok 'Abu Dok' and his wife; and Rinchen Dorje Thongdok 'Rinchen Motu'.

During my latest trip to Rupa, in Februrary-March 2023, a few copies of this book (printed with the generous help of the Center for Himalayan Studies, CNRS, Paris) were distributed among friends in Rupa, in order to stimulate remarks or improvements. I explained to all persons directly interested, either among collleagues in CNRS or among Rupa helpers and friends, that I would not submit the book to editors, either 'scientific' or 'commercial', but will upload it directly on-line, in order to make it accessible no-cost for all people.

Pascale Dollfus is of course present in this book.

François Jacquesson, Vincennes, April 2023

A few indications about reading this book 1. All facts and figures were produced by Shertukpen people, often by several or many of them, sometimes by one person only. The source of information, or the person, is indicated only when it is important, for instance when she or he is an important witness of older times.

2. All photos (except for a few older ones), schemas and drawings are by the author. In some photos, persons appear who can be (easily or not) identified. Since this book is about the identification of things and events, about the lineages of identified persons, the author is confident that the practice of identification is not only scientific, but also welcome. All consulted Shertukpen persons agreed that the identification of people on photos were an excellent way of promoting historical knowledge among the Shertukpens. Many helped in identifying people, houses, places, things.

3. Shertukpen people often rely on nicknames in everyday life. It is impossible to use only official names, since they are so often identical. Some dead people are remembered only by their nicknames 1 . In this book, nicknames (between inverted comas in charts, like 'Chumbi', but without inverted comas in the text) have been extensively used, along with the official name when necessary. It may happen that several persons have a common nickname (as with 'Chumbi'); in such cases, further details are given to make sure the person is correctly identified. For that purpose, Shertukpen people in Rupa often use the name of the place where the person lives ('of Yuser', 'of Jumusing' etc.).

4. All books about describing human places, life and communities have to cite many names of persons and places. This may become quite puzzling or boring for the outsider. We used many charts, maps and devices to facilitate the introduction of new names.

5. The author wishes to stress the (obvious) fact that he could not mention everybody. Very many people are never mentioned. It is not because they are not important. It is because, in order to make the book readable, one had to simplify. This is especially true when we consider genealogical charts. Shertukpen people are very fond of, and very expert about, genealogy. I would like to make clear that the charts published in this book are only extracts especially reduced in order to make the history of houses and households more 1 These important topics were briefly described (in French) in several pages of my online blog, 'Caramel'. See pages uploaded between Feb 13 and March 5, 2023.

simple and understable for people who are not Shertukpen. Many important people, or linkages between people, are not cited here -because this is not a book about Sherdukpen families, but about houses in Rupa.

6. The orthography follws what is described in my book about Shertukpen (Sherdukpen) Grammar2 . In that Grammar, I wrote consistently 'ch' and 'chh'. However, instead of 'chh' (as I mentioned in the Grammar) it is also possible to write 'ts', and it is definitely better to write 'Tsering', than 'Chhering'. Since in the present book about Rupa we have many names of people and places, some of them with a kind of traditional orthography, please do not mind if you find sometimes 'chh' and sometimes 'ts'.

7. A grammatical detail. Shertukpen names usually do not mark plural as English names do. In English, Londoners is for people who live in London, but in Shertukpen language you do not say Thongs for 'Thong people', just Thong; Thõji means people of Rupa collectively. The reader will find Thongdok.s for '(the) Thongdok people' etc. but will know that the final -s is English. Except for the very common ones, Shertukpen words are usually written in italics. 8. A special trick. Many Shertukpen words are with 2 syllables. In many cases, they are the result of true compounding, as in Thong-dok 'prince-big'. In many cases also, as in Dinik or Ziding (the two rivers), the two successive vowels do not have the same weight. The first one is very short, something like D i nik or Z i ding.This is obvious for Shertukpen people. If, by chance, it is not obvious for you, it clearly shows you are not a Shertukpen. Do not worry. You can read this book nevertheless. 9. Some colleagues who are fond of labelling "ethnic groups" decided that the real name of Shertukpens was Mo (with many different writings). In fact, the word mö (with a nasal vowel) is used by Shertukpens between themselves when they say that somebody is 'one of us, a mö'. Consequently, no foreigner is entitled to use this interesting and exclusive 'endonym'. British administration used 'Sherdukpen' (Indian administration followed in), which is a plausible adaptation of the local compound, Shertukpen (Sher-for Shergaon people and Tukpen for Rupa and around).

Introducing Rupa

Where is Rupa?

Rupa is the main center of the Shertukpen ethnic group, approximately 5.000 persons, probably less. It is situated on the western flank of Arunachal Pradesh (India), facing Bhutan, the border of which is 40 km west of Rupa, as the crow flies. Rupa, named thük 'the Village' by the Shertukpens, is no more a village, and the Shertukpens are now a minority in town. After the 'Chinese Aggression' of 1962, the Indian Army occupied a large part of the land close to the village, installed many camps, organized the road network, and a bazar developed between the bridge over the Ziding River and the village, on what was a waste land invariably described as 'full of cactus'.

At that time, Rupa had at least three stone houses (dacha yam) and about thirty mixed houses (pangthing yam) with a stone basement, a wooden plank storey for people, and an attic of cane walls. The number of houses had been about 60 in 1914, when Rupa was briefly visited by British administrators, but epidemics frequently stroke Rupa. One reason for the death toll seems to have been malaria, and certainly this was linked to the yearly stay of most of the village people down in Assam for three months every winter season.

Ill. 1.1-1. An old panthing yam in Rupa (photo 2023). The 3 typical layers are (1) the stone basement, (2) the big wood planks for the human habitation, (3) the cane walls for the attic.

And the roof. There is no cellar under the house.

What is Rupa made of?

Ill. 1.2-1. Rivers and roads around Rupa

With the Army came the roads, and the trucks. Cement began its invasion. The 'Assamese type' houses of the first administrative buildings3 , were slowly superseded by concrete (RCC) houses, dominant in the Upper Village where the SDO and Forest Officer are settled, with the Higher Secondary School. Between this 'Upper' administrative suburb and the 'Lower' Govt quarters and the bazar close to the bridge, comes Rupa proper.

Ill. 1.2-2. Greater Rupa. The bridge can be seen at the right edge of the image. The Upper, the Lower Administrative Quarter, with the Bazar.

Between them both is Older Rupa, with a less dense habitat.

Old Rupa is defended on both sides by rivers that meet just after the bridge. The main one is the Ziding Kho (kho means 'water, river'). It joins the Doblo Kho half a mile upstream, and their combined waters are (roughly speaking) considered unclean. On the other side is a smaller river, the Dinik Kho, that flows entirely in Shertukpen territory and is considered clean: cooking and drinking water were taken from the Dinik Kho. Those two rivers, Ziding and Dinik, have their confluence a few meters after the present bridge.

Ill. 1.2-2. The confluence of the larger Ziding Kho (upper right corner), the smaller Dinik Kho (crossing the image). A small Hindu temple overlooks the confluence.

This new bridge (2016) was built close and parallel to the older metallic one, and the newest one (2022) allows vehicles from Assam (via Shergaon) not to enter Rupa. The earlier one (before 1964), now completed destroyed, was starting from the Inspection Bengalow (IB). This was a time when the main path inside Rupa was different from today's main road, built c. 1975.

Leaving Rupa by those bridges, we can reach the present-day bigger road that, from Assam via Bhalukpung and Tenga, reaches Bomdila, Dirang and Tawang. By going up the Dinik Kho, we can reach Thongre and Chilipam monastery. Up the Ziding Kho, by the new (2016, with the 2022 bridge) road, we go to Jigaon and Shergaon, turn down before Kalaktang, and into Assam.

Between the two rivers, as we said, is Rupa. The old nucleus of Rupa consists of quarters, the names of which will be found again and again in this essay; streets and paths do not have names. The main quarters are Thük-khong or Thük akhong 'the Old Village' just under the Gompa (Lagang, the Buddhist temple and its compound); Yuser; Thük-bao; Praoding; the Kamchha quarter, and the Lablang quarter.

Ill. 1.2-3. A view on Old Rupa from Kamchha Hill, Feb. 2016.

We see Thük Bao and the Monastery. The administrative quarter lies in the valley behind.

Information about Old Rupa

Our information about old Rupa as a village is scanty. We have a few but important photographs of Thük Khong taken by the anthropologist Fürer Haimendorf in 1980, some other ones by Ursula Graham Bower in 1947, and some by Verrier Elwin in between4 . We also have the memories of elder people. The oldest reliable memories go back to the 1940s. For the history of Rupa, this is satisfactory because at the end of the 1940s the number of houses in Rupa is remembered: 33. They were only stone houses and pangthing-yam. And only in three sections: Thük-khong, Thük-bao and Yuser. At that time, there was no inhabitant left in Praoding, although there were ruins of older houses. This chronology is fixed, because two important events took place just after: the 1950 great earthquake (with no real destruction in Old Rupa), and the 1952/53 Yuser Great Fire when nearly all old houses in Yuser quarter were burnt down.

Purpose of this study

Nowadays, Rupa is peopled by Shertukpens and 'Outsiders'. Outsiders are now more numerous than Shertukpens, although they probably were very few in 1950. Shertukpens own the land, and between 1972 and 1975 the Army administration gave them back a part of the land close to Rupa which had been seized after 1962. Among the Shertukpens, there are two traditional social layers: the Thong or aristocracy who (things are changing) owns the land, and the Chhao, servants that worked the land. After the timber trade made some Shertukpen families rich, the Nepali and Tea-tribes workers were more and more employed, the Chhao's seized the opportunity to assess their position as regular citizens (the Indian Law supports them here), and justified this by arguments from local lore: while the Thong.s were supposed to be immigrants from Tibet, the Chhao.s were the real local, autochthonous people. Moreover, everybody knows that a number of Chhao.s were "inducted"5 as Thong.s for a number of reasons, while a number of Outsiders were "inducted" as Chhao.s, even recently. This "induction" is an official decision which normally needs the assent of local authorities (the gaonburas, village chiefs).

Notwithstang this continuous discreet but effective stages of assimilation of 'foreigners' into the Shertukpen community 6 , outsiders are very numerous: small traders, shopkeepers, helpers of any denomination, ex-soldiers, teachers, Indian administration, Government service, and of course the Army around. Army people do not really mix with the local population 7 , but many other ones come in Rupa to work and to live 8 . As a result, Rupa is now a regular Indian township, although it does not have an official urban status. It is "special", because the lands belong only to people that are considered 'tribal' (ST: under the scheduled tribes status) and these people are linked together by a dense net of family ties, according to a clan (rung) system. This system is very much alive, even if there are more and more 'exceptional cases'.

In a sense, we have to consider two superimposed societies. One is the Shertukpen society, whose leaders are often from the Thong class. This society has its own territory, marriage rules, language, religious rules and calendar with specific festivals. The other society is the Indian society, whose State Law normally apply here: people can (also) speak Hindi, go to Assam, make trade, buy things from Assam or from the big Indian cities, that are visited by the more well-off among them9 . But the fact is, that 50 years ago, just after the Chinese Aggression, Rupa was a village with three dozen of typical mountaineer houses, a new school Primary that began its existence, and very few people had visited anything.

Nowadays, these old houses are fewer every year, and the traveler could cross Rupa in a car without seeing one. He would see many RCC (concrete) houses, some of them rather big and painted pink, orange, green, like elsewhere in India. Shertukpen society is still very strong, and really acts as the nucleus of the town life. There is no "foreign" upper class of rich merchants or entrepreneurs.

More to the point: the story of each of the 33 houses numbered in 1950 can be followed with precision. It is still known who owned them, and to which son it passed; which was burnt by accident or destroyed on purpose, and where the family shifted in consequence.

We will try to follow that thread: what have the old houses become, seventy years later? And when they disappear, what takes their place, how the land-or town-scape is changed?

A short geography of Central Rupa

Ill. 2-1. Rupa, the Centre. On the right, the Bazar and the bridge.

The sketch above shows important quarters of Central Rupa: The shadowed areas show the slopes within Rupa. The lowest levels are Thükkhong on the left (actually to the South), and the still lower Praoding. Both quarters have direct access to the Dinik River (running from left to right in the lower margin of the image), but Thük-khong is a bit up-stream. The center of Thük-khong is 1490 m above sea-level. Praoding was several times flooded by the waters of the Dinik during the rainy seasons; we will study this topic thereafter. The street which now runs northwards (to the right on the image) through Praoding passes from 1485 to 1475 m. above sea-level.

The curve of the street just under the Gompa is at c. 1495 m. The street goes on to the right and to the Bazar, making a limit between Yuser (down) and Thük Bao (up). The word bao means a plateau, or a flat land at an upper level, not in a valley. In the past, it seems, Thük Bao 'the Upper village' did not reach the ridge that is visible in the upper part of the image. Actually, the presentday main road (dated 1975) that crosses obliquely was devised as the Shertukpen settlement limit by the Indian Army after 1962. However, village life and the village history included the Thük Jong with Siri Kamchha (right upper part of the image, alt. 1506 m), which is also viewed as one the oldest inhabited spots in Rupa. After the Thük Jong Hill, a ravine marks the Ziding river bed, which is c. 1455 m. above sea-level at that place.

Even a perfunctory look at the image above shows that Rupa centre looks interspersed with fields: Rupa still looks like a village. This is less true in 2023, but there are fields left, right in the middle of the sprouting houses. This is not true (see Ill. 2-1) in the Bazar area not in the two Government settled areas, which never included cultivated lands. However, even in the Older Rupa, fields are every year replaced by buildings. One main purpose of this essay is to show how much this "Village look" is changing in Rupa.

Each quarter of Rupa has its history, not disconnected from the other quarters, but still maintaining a personality of its own. Shertukpen people usually agree that Thük-khong and Thük Jong are the oldest inhabited parts.

Nima Wangmu Thongon (Dec. 2016), one of the main sources for this book.

The main reason for the sacrality of this place is the group of big stones, the siri in the enclosed yard.

Ill. 3.1-3. The big Kamchha siri. Behind is seen the more conventional edicule, on Musobi ground, that also marks one of the two holes in the ground.

Ill. 3.1-4. Possible distribution of lands in Thük Jong (TOKg: Thongdok Chung) For abbreviations, see Ill. 3.1-6.

Thük Jong means 'Village fort', because most people believe there was a fort on the hill in the past. The hillock position makes the idea possible, but there is no photo, ruins or document to support this. Actuallly, the Tibetan-looking fort or 'dzong', jong in Shertukpen language, was located where the lagang now is; as far as we know, there was no other one10 . Shertukpen people agree that the so-called Thük Jong Hill, dominating the river bed by a steep slope, had houses in the past. Prem Dorje (Jamchhu) Wanja's mother, Tsewang Dema Thongdok, born 1932, remembers that when she was young there were 5 houses standing on Thük Jong, plus two in ruins. She does not remember any Thongon house. More people know about land distribution on the hill (which the sketchy map above tentatively delineates). The abbreviated names are those of clans or subclans, which are as follows.

Thong Chhao group 1 Thongdok (TOK) • Megẽji (MEG) • Karma (KAR) Yanphan (YAN) • Klengthong (KLE) group 2 Wangja (WJA) • Dingla (DIN) & Sinchaji (SIN) Khrime (KHR) Musobi (MUS) • group 3 Thongon (TON) Mijiji (MIJ) & Monoji (MON) Thongchi (TCI) • Ill. 3.1-6. Shertukpen clans (rung).
Clans that have land on Thük Jong Hill are marked with •.

The above chart gives all clan names. It groups these names according to two criteria. First, it shows Thong and Chhao clans, and which Chhao clans correspond to which Thong clans groupwise. Secondly, Thong clans make three exogamous groups: a person from a group cannot marry within the same group. Each group can be considered as a super-clan, but it has no name; only clans are named. Why there are several clans in the same group is a tricky question: we will leave it aside 11 ; but Shertukpens clearly say that, for instance, Wangjas and Musobis are 'brothers' -a common way of saying they have one common (male) ancestor, and that they consequently cannot inter-marry.

Once the chart of clans is known, it is easily seen that the Kamchha hill is not evenly distributed. We climb it by a small path (Ill. 3.1-7), the entrance of which is indicated by the arrow (Ill. 3.1-3). The path leads to the ceremonial area, which we enter after passing under a gate made of concrete (Ill. 3.1-1), which is a recent re-creation of an older stone gate. When it was re-built, skeletons were found under the threshold stone. The central area contains a siri, a religious stone (Ill. 3.1-2), and important events during the Khiksaba festival take place here.

Starting from the path up (Ill. 3.1-3 and 3.1-7), and clockwise, (1a) we first find the Yanphang land. There are very few Yanphang now among Shertukpens. (1b) The property down the Yanphan land, in the left-hand corner on the sketch, is Yesi Karma's, the father of Rinchen Khandu Karma. (2) One of the Musobi lands comes next. (3) Closer to center is the Wangja piece of land. (4) Then comes the Thongdok Chung patch, in the corner above the ridge; chung means 'younger (sibling)', and the Thongdok Chung's ancestor is supposed to have been a younger brother of the Thongdok Khao's ancestor. (4) A second Musobi patch comes next, (5) then a Thongchi one, (6) then a Megeji one, with the round modern water tank. Last, (7) we find the big Thongdok Khao sector -and all agree that the big stone house of the Elder Thongdoks was on the upper part of it. Some people remember when it was dismantled: most stones were re-used in the Thongdok Khao house downhill (some of these stones can 11 Group 2 was not long ago considered a large Khrime group. The Musobis split off in the late 1970s, and Wangjas in 1998. Within the 1 st group, the Klengthongs 'write Thongdok' (this means that people would know they belong to the Klengthong group, but themselves would insist they are Thongdoks). Some Karmas and Yanphans would 'write Thongdok'. The Thongdoks themselves are divided into Thongdok-khao and Thongdok-chung: Karma and Yanphan people 'go with' Thongdok-chung; Klengthong with Thondok-khao. be seen from outside), where Sang Khandu Thongdok now lives, but some were sold to a neighbor, of the Karma clan. The three houses on the Thongdok land are, from left to right, those (1) of the late (2016) Torok Mejiji, (2) of Chumbi Megeji of Rupa, (3) Sang Khandu Thongdok. Outside the compound, at the right-most point of the hill, dominating the branching off of the downwards road (now reaching Jigaon, Shergaon ad further), is the presentday house of Ngawang Norbu Khrime.

Archeological digging, if it could be done with care, would perhaps give interesting results. One might find the disposition of the older houses, but most stones were used again elsewhere. In the 2 nd Musobi section, just behind the siri stone, are two small holes for forgotten devotions. The slopes around the hill are said to have been given to Musobis because they took part actively in some Khiksaba festivals a long time ago, although some other people underline their well-known role as soldiers. Today, nobody lives on the hill, but there are several houses along the main road, as we said.

Ill. 3.1-7. On Kamchha Hill, behind the meeting area.

Small walls separate plots of land, and bushes.

We heard of several projects to "revive" the Hill, including the re-building of some traditional houses. Since the latest realizations said to revive traditions in Rupa12 are buildings of concrete with no idea of either tradition or Khiksaba or both, it is prudent not to build anything over there. Actually, new constructions are found on the small hill: a reservoir (2002) for the water coming from Phirong on the Chilipam mountain, the Airtel network tower (2014), the Jio network tower (2020).

Ill. 3.1-8. The path from Kamchha hill. Thük Bao is visible and the Dinik valley (2016).

We are left with a number of questions. Some clans, and most strikingly the powerful Thongon, also the Khrime, have no land on Kamchha; the Yanphan clan, now nearly extinct, has a relatively large one. On the other hand, the Megeji chhao clan has lands. Also, it is not clear why the Musobis are so rich on the hill and around. Does the present-day land allotment reflect an older stage of the relative importance of the clans? It is more likely that several factors played a role, at different moments. But it seems now next to impossible to explain what happened.

Another fact to consider is the dissymmetry of Rupa. When mentioning slopes and altitudes within Rupa, we said that the Kamchha hill is the highest point, just above 1500 m above sea-level. Walking down the path from the hill, we cross the present main street and the Thongdok-Khao quarter (see next section) and reach Yuser, then down again to Praoding and the Dinik river. Shertukpens know that, while there were old houses on Kamchha, Praoding and Thük-khong were also inhabited in a remote past, even if there was a later period when nobody lived in Praoding. It is unwise to see Kamchha as a "first settlement" or as an "original spot". It is also possible to imagine a double settlement: strong houses in the Upper Village and more congenial houses down, closer to water.

The presence of the Thongdok Rek (see on sketch 3.1-3) is not against such an idea. Rek means 'field'; Thongdok Rek is considered to be the first cultivated field in Rupa. It is of course difficult to take this belief at face value. It is found at the foot of the hill, in what I have just called the "Thongdok Khao quarter".

On the border of the Thongdok Rek is the Jamyang siri, at the foot of a tall 'juniper' tree. This siri is one of a pair, and the other one is on the other side of the Kamchha, in a field as well. It seems that the distribution of such siri should be further studied, in order to better understand the older Rupa.

Thongdok-khao under Thük Jong

At the beginning of the section 3, in the list of clans, the Thongdok clan comes first. Thong is often translated as 'king'; this is a simplified view of the Shertukpen social structure, but everybody admits that thong means something like 'chief' or 'prince'. Thong-dok or thong adok means 'big chief', and there is no doubt that the Thongdok clan had a kind of hereditary privilege. Yet, there are several kinds of Thongdoks, and they are described through the metaphor of 'first-born' and 'second-born'. The first born are khao, the second-born are chung. The elder Thongdoks are the Thongdok-khao lineage13 .

However, when Wangtse the last of the Thongdok-khao married Pem Dema Khrime (it was her 2 nd marriage), they had only two children, one girl Yesi Dema, and one boy Dorje Khandu who later married Lemu Thongon. This couple had only one child, a daughter, Pema Wangjom called 'Api'. So, the direct (male) lineage was extinct. By that time, a Pema Dorje (who may have been a younger brother of Wangtse Thongdok-khao) had one son, Dorje Tsewang, the first husband of Jangmu Thongchi. The Khao property and privilege was then transferred to him or, as the Shertukpens prefer to express it, he was "adopted" as a Thongdok-khao. The son of Dorje Tsewang is Sang Khandu Thongdok, born in 1943, who has several sons and daughters.

Ill. 3.2-1. The Thongdok-khao shift. The Wangtse branch having only daughters, the khao title shifts to the Pema Dorje branch.

When describing property on the Thük Jong Hill, we wrote that the Thongdokkhao group had had a big stone house on the Hill, and that the house was later dismantled in order to build a new house at the foot of the hill.

Ill. 3.2-2. Sketch map of Thongdok-khao houses. Other houses now exist.

The road up the sketch goes to the Bazar.

Sang Khandu Thongdok, whose father "was adopted" into the Thongdokkhao lineage, married Sang Lamu Wangja. They had eight children (2016):

1. a girl, Nima, who married Norbu Wangja. 2. a girl, Tasi Lamu, who married pema Norbu Thongchi.

3. a boy, Japthong, who married Dorje Dema. 4. a girl, Yesi Dema, who married 'Sanja' Wangja. 5. a boy, Tsering Dorje 'Tseng', who married 'Chandu' Thongon. 6. a boy, Wangchu, who married an 'outsider'14 . 7. a boy, Gombu, who married an 'outsider'. 8. a boy, Tsering Dorje, who is a monk in Bomdila.

Most of these persons, among those who live in Rupa, dwell in the main Thongdok Khao house at the foot of the hill. However, Tsering Dorje (n°5) and Wangchu (n°6) have separated and shifted close by, as the sketch map shows.

Still, there is another Thongdok-khao house, which was important: the Khik yam, built in Thük Bao.

Ill. 3.2-3. After the older Khikyam of the Thongdok-khao was destroyed (2014), this new building took the place. Rupa, Thük Bao.

Khikyam is the clan house (yam means 'house') which is used during the Khiksaba festival, the most important yearly event among the Shertukpens. Until recently, when some people in the clan still lived in traditional houses, those houses were preferred for receiving ceremonial guests during Khiksaba. Since fewer and fewer people now live in such pangthing yam.s, an old house is maintained by the clan for this occasion. In 2015-2016, the MLA15 convinced some people to replace khikyam.s by modern buildings. This weird idea gave us concrete houses like the one illustrated on the photo above. The same idea also produced the new Thongchhi houses in Yuser.

The case of the Thongdok-khao sub-clan is an illustration of how the people keep on living together, or in the close neigbourhood. The old great Thongdok-khao House which was standing on Thongdok ground, high on the Thük Jong Hill, was destroyed in the 1970s, and replaced by the Thongdok House down the hill; some of the old stones were reused there, as we have said before. This new house is still now the center of the sub-clan. Even if two sons separated, there settled in houses that they built very near, at speaking distance.

The fact that the Khikyam was (and still is) in Thük Bao will be discussed later.

Gompa and Thük Khong

Gompa and Lagang

The Gompa compound is an important landmark in Rupa, if only because three quarters meet there (see Ill. 2.2, p. 18): Thük Khong (down towards the river), Yuser (down towards the Bazar), and Thük Bao. The gompa is also at the connection of several streets, and strategically on the divide between the upper zone leading to Thük Jong and Thük Jong Hill, and the lower one to Thük Khong. People normaly use the term lagang (Tib. lha khang) for the main building with the temple on the ground floor, and the term gompa (Tib. dgonpa) for the whole compound. This gives quite another view of and on Rupa.

The present building was erected in the 1970s, on a plan slightly different from the earlier building. This older building was not religious in itself. Another example is found in the dzong 'fort' of Dirang -an impressive stone-walled house; another one is the Talung dzong in Morshing. Here in the Gompa compound, the yellow roofs and the white painted walls have become, as elsewhere, a mark of Buddhism. But under the paint, the stones are for many uses.

On the modern compound (partly a concession from A. D. Thongdok) a number of other buildings were recently (2012-2020) erected: memorials for famous people, guestrooms, offices, a new kitchen. The lama lives in one house attached to the gompa. The ground floor of the main building is the temple, and the small museum, which was until the 2010s in the second floor with an office for the TVC, the Tukpen Village Council, is now in a separate building. The building is not itself a religious structure: the Buddhist temple occupies only a part of it (although it tends to expand), and this was also the case before.

People remember that the older gompa building had a jail in the basement, and a temple above. The present building has no jail.

Ill. 4.1-8. Part of the lagang compound until recently (Feb. 2016).

Because many meetings are held in the gompa courtyard, the kitchen of the gompa is an important place, and it sheltered (it was dismantled in 2017) what was probably the biggest cooking installation in Rupa.

Ill. 4.1-9. The earlier cooking installation in the gompa kitchen (Feb. 2016).

The compound is used for meetings by the Tukpen Village Council. Some of these meetings are about taxes, or about legal decisions (new citizens, divorces, land disputes), others about religious affairs that have nothing to do with Buddhism, such as collection of areca nuts and Khiksaba ceremonies.

Ill. 4.1-10. Secular and religious. In the gompa compound, the memorial of a famous gaonbura (2016).

The lagang as a Buddhist monument, an interesting subject, is not our concern here -except for mentioning that craftsmen came from Bhutan, and monks also. Only one Nyingma-pa monk now lives in the compound with his family: the center of religious life in the region is the big Nyingma-pa monastery of Chilipam (Chhlẽ in Shertukpen -a pam is a rural small group of habitations), perched on a close-by hill summit. Links with near-by Bhutan are very frequent. The 'Old Village' is situated just below the Gompa. There was an older Gompa building, before the 1970s, but the new one was built on the same spot, even though it is differently oriented. When Haimendorf took a few photos in Thük Khong during his visit (April 1980), the new gompa was already erected.

Thük Khong and its old houses

Ill. 4.2-2. Sketch map of Thük Khong in 2016. Dismantled houses are in dotted lines. S1 to S4 are streets.

In 1950, there were eleven houses in Thük Khong. The following chart gives their description according to Nima Wangmu Thongon, born 1937.

The Thongdok Chung in Thük Khong

Thongdok, and Megeji their regular chhao, are particularly well represented in this quarter. These are not Thongdok Khao, whom we described in a previous section (see 3.2.). These are the Thongdok-chung, the 'middle Thongdoks'.

Ill. 4.3-1. Sketch of Thük-khong, with the Yam-dok splits.

Amon the Thongdok Chung, three groups can be identified 16 . The following chart (Ill. 4.3-2) lists them and mentions some of their well-known members.

In Thük Khong, we are concerned by (A) the Yamdok-po, and (C1) Ase's lineage.

A The white painted stone house in the rear is Yese Dorje 'Ase' Thongdok's.

The most visible on the left is Penkhai Wangja's, behind which the Thongdok yamdok is hidden. In the center, the two smaller houses are Wangja again.

The one closer to us in the center is Chumbi Thongdok's, which still exists.

On the right, we see one group of three houses (the last one hardly visible): Monoji, Megeji and Wangja. The one cut by the middle on the right, slightly closer, is Jor Thongdok's, who is seen ploughing his field.

Ill. 4.3-6. Yese Dorje Thongdok's house (January 2017). As for most old Shertukpen houses, the entrance door looks towards south-east. A big Thongdok house in Thük Khong was Yese Dorje 'Ase'17 Thongdok's. It was a big beautiful stone house18 , a dacha yam (See Ill. 4.3-6 and -8). The photo above (4. [START_REF] Jong | around 3.1. Shertukpen clans around Siri Kamchha Ill. 3.1-1. The 'Kamchha Hill[END_REF][4][5][6] shows the jũbao (the 'verandah', or platform giving access to the door), which can be reached after walking up stone stairs (the dostang). The four wooden pegs on the façade are intended for the weaving instruments. This house has at least one real window, kaodu, visible here (see Ill. 4.3-7 A). On the other side (facing the Dingla house), a small door opens on the ground floor (or langkhing), reserved for smaller animals and storage (see 4.3-7 B).

Megeji and Monoji in Thük Khong

We here give again, for convenience, the list produced in Ill. 4.2-3.

The difference between Wangja and Khrime is not really what Nima Wangmu

Thongon's list suggests: the insistence of Wangja people on making a distinction from Khrime people is too recent (it dates back to 1998) to have been strictly followed by the old lady.

branches, the Khandu branch and the Tsering Sergi branch. This last one can be simplified as follows. N°H is the Megeji khikyam and, as we said, it was recently rebuilt. It was Dorje Phuncho's. It was in ruins in 1980 (see Ill. 4.4-3) and was rebuilt recently (Ill. 4.4-5 and 6). The Megeji house in the row of three belonged to Khandong, the second son of Sargi Megeji, and was Sargi's house before.

Ill. 4.4-6. The rebuilt Megeji khikyam (2017). Ase Thongdok's stone house is visible on the left.

Ill. 4.4-7. Brao Monoji's sons.

The third house in the group of three (N°I-3) is a Monoji house. Although it does not exist any more, it belonged to Langa (NB: pronounce /laŋa/, not / laŋga/) Monoji, Subas's father. We will see Peng Monoji's house when describing Yuser. This Monoji branch usually writes Megeji.

Wangja houses in Thük Khong

There are two main branches in the Wangja clan. We can summarize them as follows.

The house in Praoding, where Gombu lived, was washed away by flood or abandoned during an epidemic episode. Jamchhu explains that Gombu set a tampla yam (a bamboo temporary house) on Khrime land, on the slopy ground that is just below the Dingla khikyam, on the border between Thük Khong and Praoding. This is indicated on Ill. 4.4-2 as 'WJA-1'. Then, the elder son, Kezang, or his son Angka moved to Yuser, next to present-day Chayo's place, on Thongon land. As to Asu Achhũ, who first lived in his father's place, he later moved to Thük Bao's End, where Sangja now dwells. Pon moved back to Praoding, but this a rather recent move, during the 1990s.

Ill. 4.5-3. Rinchen Dorje 'Teacher''s house in Thük Khong.

The big house of Tsering Phunchho's group was dismantled some years ago (some planks are with Jamchhu now). When it existed, two families lived there, Nyapo Tsan's and Asu Leka's, who were the younger sons. Asu Momo's line lived the double house visible (in 1980) in Ill. 4.4-3; they were then destroyed and Momo's line now lives in a modern house at the same spot.

Pem Norbu (see Ill. 4.5-1) was the 2 nd son. He married a lady from Shergaon who had been married with a man from the Lama clan. That couple had a daughter, Sang Dema Lama, who came to Rupa with her mother, and later married Khandu Megeji in Thük Bao. In Rupa, the mother re-married with Pema Norbu Wangja. Pema Norbu's line later separated: Rinchen Dorje 'RD Teacher', the younger brother, stayed in the parents' house, while Penkhai and Dorje built a panthing yam on the land of Pengkhai'wife, Chichiko Thongon. This house still exists in Thük Khong and is presently owned by Pengkhai's son Buyo.

The "Wangja story" is typical. Group 1, displaced from its former dwelling, wanders from place to place, first from devastated Praoding to a small place between Praoding and Thük Khong, then to places in Thük Bao. Seen from outside, nothing dramatic: these moves span less than a mile! But for people who know Rupa, it is a nightmare to be forced to set up a tamphla yam on the land of other people. Group 2 makes quite a different story, because people stay in their quarter, and the separations are normal. While younger sons take care of parents and stay at home, elder sons have to make new houses. Thük Khong has a lü, a sacred stone which belongs to a Wangja lineage.

Ill. 4.5-6. The Dinik Kho before passing the hanging bridge. A quiet river in winter.

Here was the place where people came to have water. Washing is still done here. This is also the place where the mokphẽ cross the river during Khiksaba. The small figures on the other side are Nepali workers making bamboo mats.

The Dingla house and sacred stones

1: Dingla house, 2: Thongdok stone house, 3: Thongon house at Upper Yuser, 4: Kakling.

Ill. 4.6-1. Thük Khong's end and above. The Dingla khikyam is the middle (2017).

At the lowest end of Thük Khong, just before the slope goes down towards Praoding, or up towards Yuser, are found not only Ase Thongdok's stone house, but the Dingla house and the Dingla siri, the sacred stones that are just at the entrance of their house. Some people say that this Dingla house is 'the only true Dingla' in Rupawhich is not a fair way of describing things, but an interesting indication. Because Dingla is a Chhao clan, i.e. "lower class", it has been a convenient group for admitting important newcomers. In fact, many clans, including Thong clans, have been used for that purpose, and the clan selected for admission depended mainly on which persons wanted the newcomers to be admitted. Still, admitting newcomers into Chhao clans would usually raise fewer opponents, and consequently the Dingla group is also the result of successive layers of admission. For the older layers, nobody remembers who did what, and they are considered to form the "true Dingla" -but this process can be considered valid, more or less, for all clans.

Ill. 4.6-2. The Dingla khikyam in Thük Khong (2017).

The Dingla house is just above on the slope. It is here photographed from far, with a zoom. We can more or less spot the Khrime house just behind. Slightly on the left before the entrance to the Dingla house, stand a few stones, which are a siri, a ritual group of stones considered sacred. Mokphẽ come here during Khiksaba.

Thük-khong in 2023

Ill. 4.7-1. Part of Thük khong, seen from the Gompa street, Feb. 2023.

Compare with 4.4-5.

A, the Dingla house, see 4.6-2. B, Ase Thongdok's dismantled house, see 4. There are new houses in Thük Khong, but relatively modest: rarely towering above the older landscape -this makes a difference with other quarters.

Patches of cultivated land can also be seen, even now. This also makes Thük Khong a remarkably quiet place, one of the few places in Rupa where you can still see a number of old houses.

Tsewang Dema Thongdok (Jan. 2015)

one precious source for this book.

Ill. 5.1-2. The S1 path (lumu) in Thük Bao.

Ill. 5.1-3. Houses in Thük Bao (2017). Streets have been given numbers (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5) for an easier description.

Names of clans (in abbreviations) have been marked for houses.

The sketch above traces most houses in Thük Bao. Actually, the older part of Thük Bao is smaller, because the bigger buildings of the Dingla and Thongon familes on the left side are new creations. This is the reason why the grey area was added to suggest we should actually concentrate on this zone for finding the older buildings. According to Nima Wangmu Thongon (born in 1937), there were six houses in Thük Bao just before 1950. Ill. 5.1-5. Thük Bao from the hill.

Ill. 5.1-6. Section of the previous sketch (5.1-3).

The photo above (Ill. 5.1-5) shows Thük Bao, which looks like a narrow triangle with the point facing to the right, as in the sketch. The Mane areng can be seen on the right, red and white. Going leftwards, we first see the new Wangja house (added rectangle on the sketch), flanked by the older pangthing yam, after which the reader can identify whose is which house. In the upper left side of the image, one can see the flat large Rinchen Dorje Thongon house, and the high pink castle-like building belonging to Dorje Khandu Dingla.

The lane inside Thük Bao

Ill. 5.2-1. The S1 path (lumu) in Thük Bao (see 5.2-2).

Now, we will walk through Thük Bao, as if we were arriving from Yuser, following the small arrow on the sketch map (Ill. 5.1-6 and 5.2-1) and above on the photo. To the left of the path before us, we see Pasang Wangja's house along street S5, and on the right side near the crossroads but with its entrance on street S4, a Musobi complex house.

Passing before the entrance of this new house, a few yards ahead from the path, we find an old pangthing yam, much like the disappeared Thongdok Khao khikyam. This house is empty, but still in good shape (Ill. 5.2-5). It belongs to Dothar Khrime, whose father Sang Khandu was received into the Khrime clan.

At the end of the path S1, on the right-hand corner and also bordering path S3, we find the house of 'Masang Poktre' Yanphan (his younger brother lives in Praoding); on the left, bordering path S2, is the old house of the Late Sang Khandu Karma (more of which later).

Ill. 5.2-6. The late Masang Phoktre Yanphan's house (Jan. 2018).

Turning left towards Lablang

Ill. 5.3-1. Thük Bao: walking up path S2.

Now, we start from the point where lane S1 reached the crossroads, and we take path S2 up (from right to left on the above sketch). After passing the old Karma house we mentioned, we can see on the left some part of the Gompa, through the fields (new buildings are erected there, Jan. 2018). Then, the more recent house of Netan Dorje Karma. Last on the left side until the road, comes the larger land of R. D. Thongon, who built there a modern house.

Ill. 5.3-2. The wooden façade of Asu Dorje Thongdok's house.

If we now make the same walk, but looking to the right side, we first find the pretty house of Dorje 'Khongkhan' Thongdok. He was in power as a GB for a very long time, and his sisters were married to powerful families in Rupa. He was nicknamed 'Dictator' by some peple who resented his power. His house is first in sight when coming from lane S1. It is not entirely a traditional house, because a few steps give access to a non-conventional platform. The wooden façade has carvings that are unique in Rupa. An older house was in Yuser, and was destroyed by the 1951 Big Fire.

On the left side, we again find Dorje Thongdok's house, then the house of the Late Dongbu Megeji, who married Pem Dema Thongdok, one of the three sisters of Dorje Thongdok. We saw above (see Ill. 4.3-2, p. 37) that one special lineage of Thongdok Chung was usually named after one of its famous members, Dorje 'Dictator'.

Ill. 5.3-3. Dorje Thongdok 'Asu Kkongkhan' (in the center, looking left, with a special hat), in 1947. This photo was taken by Ursula Graham Bower during her visit to Rupa.

Miaõ Thongdok married 'Mõ', who was from Katiram's group among Thongons. They had a number of children, who made important marriages.

Ill. 5.3-4. Simplified family group of Dorje Thongdok 'Khongkhan'.

1/ a boy, Dorje 'Khongkhan ' (c. 1905-c. 1973) He was gaonbura and bako asu for a long time; his brother-in-law Jomo Norbu also got these titles after him, and later Ngawang Norbu would also be GB and bako asu in succession. Dorje and his sisters impressed many, until today, as having formed a kind of Club in command in Rupa. Dorje first married Pema Thongon, then Dema Khrime, a daughter of Goibo. With his first wife, who had a great reputation for beauty, they had two sons and a daughter:

Tenzing Norbu, married Tsering Thongon, with five sons and daughters: a boy Wangchu, a girl Dorje Dema, a boy Dorje Khandu, a girl Karma Dorjom, and another girl. Rinchen Norbu, who married Sange Chhom Thongon from Thungre.

2/ a girl Tsering Chhom (b. c. 1908), married Jomo Norbu Khrime (1901-1979) Then, another Thongdok house, Jaluk's, is found. Jaluk Thongdok has land on Yuser, but after the Big Fire he built a house here. Then we reach the multistoried building of Dorje Khandu Dingla, Director of Sport. Just after this building, a small street starts to the right towards a place with several Sinchaji houses.

Then a glimpse at the rear part of Dothar Khrime's old house, and of Musobi's new house. Then the habitation of Rinchen Norbu Musobi 'Half Doctor'. Then the nice pangthing yams of Longbe Musobi and of Achhũ Wangja, where Sang Khandu 'Sangja' Wangja lived; he has now built a new modern house just beside, at the very point of Thük Bao, where we find the Mane Areng and the Kakling.

Ill. 5.4-4. The Musobi and Wangja houses at the end of Thük Bao, seen from path S3. Kakling and Mane Areng are somewhat visible on the left.

There were three Musobi houses in Thük Bao. One belonged to Tsering Dorje 'Pumbi', and went to Rinchen Norbu 'Half Doctor'; another belonged to Jambe, Longbe's grand-father. The last one belonged to Rinchen Dorje, father of Pema 'Sikari'. Some people think that Jambe's lineage is related to Pumbi's one, as both of them would be sons of Asu Gombo Musobi, who married Chhojom Thongon.

Ill. 5.4-5. Two Musobi lineages, Pumbi's and Jambe's.

We have seen that Longbe Musobi's house, from Jambe's line through Dorje Khandu, still exists near Bao's end, the last but one before Achhũ's place, where Sangja Wangja houses are. Pumbi's house went to Rinchen Dorje 'Half Doctor', second son of Dorje. This house does not exist any more, and there is a new house instead.

Another Musobi line is Pema Dorje's. He married Abi Chhuma, and they had two sons and two daughters.

Finishing Thük Bao's tour

To finish the circuit, we can finally imagine we start again from the very point where we began this tour (see p. 56), at the junction of path S1, S4 and S5. But now, we follow the street S4 up towards Kakling. We first pass one old Musobi house, recently rearranged, then before the modern building for Musobi khikyam, which is half hidden by the Musobi mane.

Ill. 5.5-1. The new Musobi khikyam.

Then we find the old Sinchaji house, and finally the other Musobi house, and Sangja Wangja's old and new houses at the end, just before stumbling on the the Mane Areng again.

The Mane Areng, that is the 'long mane' or (if we translate the Tibetan word) the 'long prayer wall', is the wall we see in perspective on the right of the red flag on the illustration below (Ill. 5.2-10, a zoom photo from the Kamchha Hill). Indeed, it is a rather long mane, perhaps the longest in Rupa19 . The Kakling is the building between the white and the red flags.

The smaller roof was added later, and the building was modified, but it was a gate of Rupa at some time. It means that people coming from the left of the image (from North-west, from the bridge and present-day Bazar, reached only then the village entrance. And this is what the mane underlines.

Ill. 5.5-3. A Verrier Elwin photo. Kakling when it was a gate to the village. This photo was used by Rakesh Sharma in his book, The Sherdukpens, 1961.

These illustrations also show why Thük Bao is a bao, a relative 'highland'. When coming from Kamchha Hill where the modern photo (Ill. 5.5-2) was taken, you cross the Thongdok Khao places that were described earlier and you reach mane areng. From there, you easily see that the slope goes downwards. The road on the right from Kakling is S4, it leads you to the Gompa and to Thük Khong. But across the road and down the slope, you land in Yuser.

sister of Sari (in the Thongdok Yamdok group). This lady, with her second husband 'Penje', got Dar and Sang Tsering. Dongbu's land 'G' had a house, destroyed in 1951 and now totally ruined. We have an idea of what is left in Ill. 6.2-2: the heap of ruins on the right.

Then comes the 'H' plot of land and Norbu Thongon's lineage. Norbu was the son of Dorje Tsewang Thongon and Wangjom Thongdok (who later remarried). He married Thar Dema Musobi, and they had three children: a boy Lawang Phunchho, who was famous as a dancer and as a gaonbura (there are old photographs of him), a girl Netan Dema, and a boy Pema Dorje (c. 1923-2006) who was an influential gaonbura. This family (Norbu Thongon and his two sons) had a stone house on land 'H'.

It is ruined, but parts of the walls are still clearly visible, even in 2023.

Ill. 6.2-7. The ruins of the stone house belonging to Norbu Thongon lineage.

The photo also shows a small monument at the foot of the wall on the right.

The photo above (Ill. 6.2-7) shows Norbu's house, which later also belonged to Lawang Phunchho and Pema Dorje. It is represented in dotted lines on 'plot H' in the Ill. 6.2-1. The plots I and J also belonged to the same group.

Ill. 6.2-8. Sketch of South Yuser (part of Ill. 6.2-1).

Plot 'K' belongs to Khrime clan. It was Lejyang Khrime's land and was inherited by Sang Tsering. There also was an old house here, the base of which is still standing above field level.

Ill. 6.2-11. Yuser upper end, seen from asphalted road S9.

On the right, the ruins of the older Thongon house.

The last plot on our way is 'Q' (see Ill. 6.2-11 above) with the new BCC house of Sang Tsering 'Chhayo', son of Pema Thongon; the basement of an older pangthing house is visible either from above (a better photo is Ill. 6.2-12 below) or when walking on path S7-S8. Behind, barred with red painted beams, we can see the three Thongchi small houses which were recently built after dismantling (2014) their older pangthing yam.

Ill. 6.2-12. The basement of the old house in Chhayo Thongon's land.

Walking down through Yuser, western side

It is useful to give again here the sketch map of Yuser.

Ill. 6.3-1. A simplified map of Yuser. Letters mark plots of land. Shaded zones show slopes. The gompa (temple) is on the right (not visible here). Praoding is on the left. Dotted lines mark some of the disappeared old houses.

We will go back, from 'Q' now behind us towards P, O, N, M and Peng's house in Thongdok land 'D', from which we started this walk through Yuser. The 'P' plots are Khrime land.

Ill. 6.3-2. A simplified view on some Khrime families.

The (very simplified) family tree above is an interesting view on how powerful families try to marry their children. For instance, Dema, the daughter of Goibo, was "given" to Dorje Khonkhan, and in the following generation Dor Chhom (the only daughter to survive) was "given" to Pema Dorje Thongon, who became an influential gaonbura. We also see that many children died younga sad fact which is often difficult to check.

The plot 'P2' is in Ringkhai's line. Rinchen Khandu 'Ringkhai' is a son of Tsewang Khrime, who was the eldest son of Goibo (see above). The plot 'P1' just beside belonged to Jomo Norbu, Tsewang's younger brother. From Jomo Norbu, the land went to Chethar, who gave the land to Dothar, when Dothar's father Sang Khandu was adopted into Khrime clan, under the guidance of Jomo Norbu.

The story is that three brothers came from Bhutan with their father Nokseng. They were Sang Tsering, Yantan and Yese (or Yesi). The eldest one, Sang Tsering, married a local lady Sange Lamu, and they had four children, as follows.

Ill. 6.3-3. Abi Lekang and the adoption of Dothar into Khrime clan.

Their first son was Sang Khandu. He married Abi Lekang, a lady from Thembang who had first married Tsewang Khrime. From her first marriage, Abi Lekang had Sang Khandu who became a gaonbura. Her first husband died early, and she remarried with Sang Khandu. Together, they had at least two children, and she used her influence -being Khrime by marriage -to have her son Dothar adopted into this clan.

We now come to plot 'O'. When we began exploring Yuser in part 6.2, we saw that a big plot of land on the the lower part, 'D', is Thongdok property and belongs to Jaluk, Donto's son. We also learnt that Donto (see Ill. 6.2-6) is the younger brother of Lam Phunchho and that both of them are considered as belonging to the same Thongdok branch as Dorje Khongkhan and his family (Ill. 6.1-3). This land in O belonged to this branch, and to Lam Phunchho, from whom it passed to his son Pema Norbu, then to Senge, the present owner. Senge Thongdok is building an RCC building there, and the old stone house was just on the side of the plot. It was ruined by the Great Fire: we can see a bushy part where the remains of the old house certainly lie.

The 'N' plots of land are now only land. The one close to the path, 'N1', belongs to Pema Dorje Thongon 'Chimbu'; the farther one, 'N2', to Urgen Tsering Mejiji.

Ill. 6.3-4. From Yuser plot 'N' to Bao. Down, the bushy parts on the center-left are the ruins of Lam Phunchho stone house. Up, the Sinchaji house and the new house of 'Sangja'.

The photo above (Ill. 6.3-4) shows plot 'N'. On the left of it (on 'O'), we hardly perceive the ruins of the old house of Lam Phunchho. Above them, on the other side of the Thük Bao road, we clearly see the Sinchaji pangthing yam. Again on Thük Bao, the Wangja older house is hidden by vegetation but on the right we see the house Sangja Wangja is building (see section 5.2).

The 'M' plot belonged to Asu Jepu Thongon, and provides (on two sides only, as we shall see!) one of the finest standing examples of dacha yam, half-full stone over it (see 7.3.). Twenty years ago, there was a smaller canalized flow, here indicated with the small segmented line. It ran between the present-day school buildings and the road; it was filled up when the schools were built in the 1990s. The present-day road was then only a path, with a slightly different course shown by small dots. The canal then passed through the Dungjor in order to move the prayer wheel, then turned right and eventually joined the main stream. People came to collect clean water from the Dungjor. The last heavy flood dates back to 1989. Dorje Khandu Thongon, in Roopland, remembers that some logs had blocked the water up river, and when the water ran again after pushing off the logs, it washed away any house it met. Nobody died in Rupa, but much of Praoding was devastated. A flood is called kho ra-ba and a flooded area is a kho ra-khan athong.

The present-day buildings all came later. The first house to be built in the "new" Praoding was the nucleus of Roopland school (the part closer to the road), in 1991; close by, the first buildings of Pinewood School began about the same time. Upstream, Pon Wangja's house was not very long to follow. At that time, this land had become covered with 'cactus' (dȫ bezao 'demon thorn'), with a very bad reputation after epidemics (rapcho) had devastated Praoding. Moreover, people said there was a dȫ drao 'goiter demon' whose den was situated about the present-day wall between D. K. Thongon (Roopland) land and his neighbour Rinchen Norbu Thongdok (elder brother of Tsering Thongdok of Pinewood school).

Ill. 7.1-3. Praoding 'vale' seen from Yuser (2017).

Actually, the lowest area in Praoding is slightly further west, indicated in the sketch above (7.1-2) by the heavy segmented line. It is a kind a vale, the depression of which is obvious from Yuser, as the photo above (Ill. 7.1-3) clearly shows. The river is still behind, not visible. In order to cross that depression, when coming from Praoding's road, you first have to walk down, as illustrated by the stairs along the red house on the left. The smaller houses at the bottom of the vale are really seen 'from above', and they are built among big boulders that were brought here by heavy floods in a more remote past. That explains why Thük Khong is upriver: people would not build houses in such a dangerous place as Praoding, especially in that 'vale'. Indeed, Thük Khong is more protected from the floods: there are no stories about houses ruined overnight by sudden bursts of water (see 7.3.).

Ill. 7.1-4. The hanging bridge, with the mane at its end. On the right, is 'Gobin' Thongdok's house; on the left, the modern-like structure with a window is inhabited by teachers of Roopland school. Ase Thongdok's house was there in the past. In the axis, is the Dingla khikyam. The gompa is easy to spot. (Photo 2017)

If you come from Thük Khong (from the left on the sketch below, ill. 7.1-5, and also on the left in the photo above Ill. 7.1-4.), Praoding begins at the bridge crossroads. You first find the mane and the short path to the hanging bridge.

On your left start two paths. The smaller one leads up to the Dingla khikyam and the Dingla siri. The bigger one is an important street in Rupa. Via a rather steep slope on the limit between Thük Khong and Praoding, it goes up along the upper end of Yuser until you reach Thük Bao. From the crossroads again, on the right via a bigger road, Praoding begins.

Limits of the village

There is no old house in Praoding now. In Nima Wangmu Thongon's list of the houses of Rupa in 1950, there was none in Praoding. More exactly, "Nobody was living there" -because there were some houses, but ruined. In the scanty and sketchy bits of narrative about "Rupa in the past", people agree that there were houses in Praoding.

Some people support the idea that Praoding was one of the first places where Rupa people lived. 'Gobin' Thongdok also, who remembers many stories told by elder people in the past, thinks that in a remote past, the inhabited parts of Rupa were the lower part close to the Dinik River, from Praoding to the hanging bridge and a bit up river, and on Kamchha Hill. Two ideas remain.

One is that Rupa suffered from repeated bouts of various epidemics, and that some were especially murderous in Praoding. The second, is that people remember precise locations for older houses in Praoding, before the present building era, that started in the 1990s. We can sum it up in the following way.

(a) There was indeed an older period with houses in Praoding. The most obvious evidence is the old Thongchhi house (see further).

(b) A rather long episode followed with nobody living there, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Shertukpen adults all tell how frightening these places were, "full of cactuses" (see end of section 7.), and how they would rather run than walk if they had to go in those places. They have the same stories about the Bazar area, before the time of the Government buildings, but there some specifications for Praoding, as we shall see. Ill. 7.2-2 above is centered on the Dongjor that marked the 'tail' of the Village; there is a mane close by. On the left-hand direction from the Dongjor (its rotating wheel stopped turning in the 1990s, as we explained above), Praoding begins. From the Dongjor crossroads, on the left, starts the present-day Praoding road. The buildings on the lower left corner are the two schools (Pinewood and Roopland). The small identical buildings that make two lines on either side of a street are Government settlements. The road that goes up will reach the bazar. On the right of the Dongjor are a number of Government buildings. There was no real Shertukpen house in those parts -even if Shertukpen families quickly realized that asserting their rights on those patches of lands gave substantial benefits in compensation, when Government required them.

Evidence of an earlier settlement in Praoding

Ill. 7.3-1. A sketch of earlier Praoding.

We said that epidemics and floods devastated the earlier Praoding. Ill. 7.3-1 is a sketch of Praoding, between the Dinik River (down) and the slope (up). The present-day road follows an earlier path (dotted line on the sketch) which went from the main bridge of Rupa (out of the sketch on the right) towards Thük Khong (out, on the left). On both sides of the path was a depression, either towards the Dinik River, or towards 'Praoding vale'. During flood periods, the river went above its usual banks on both sides of the path, which was somewhat like an island. The sketch indicates those two flooded parts.

The main place where water poured from the usual river bed into Praoding Vale was close to the hanging bridge and its mane. Close to the mane were three houses. One was Gobin's house, on the same location as to-day; his house is a relatively new one because the earlier one was washed away by floods. On the upper side of the mane, in Mane Khangpu 'Above Mane' was the older Ase (Yese Dorje Thongdok) stone house (n°1); during floods, the house verandah began being eroded; then, at a date which nobody remembers, the stone house was moved fifty meters above at the entrance of Thük Khong.

The most obvious evidence, as we said, are the ruins of the old Thongchhi house n°3).

Ill. 7.3-2. Ruins of an earlier Thongchhi house. The new one is seen behind.

Just under the present-day Thongchhi house, we can see the ruins of an older house. This was a Thongchhi house, abandonned a long time ago, it seems. It is a rare and interesting witness of an older occupation of Praoding.

When cleaning the land, in the present-day compound of Roopland school, D. K. Thongon found the more or less scattered stones of a house in ruins (n°4), close to a small mane. The mane was thereafter dismantled under due religious supervision, and the stones were re-used when possible for the new buildings. Pema Chhom, his wife, said that elder people used to tell there had been 7

Thongon houses in Praoding. At the entrance of Roopland School on the left, was another (n°5) rather dilapidated house where an old lady had been living.

Although it is not a house, the Praoding siri ('PS' on the sketch) should to be mentioned. It is still used during Khiksaba for uhu lu-ba ceremonies. Close to the cinema, when it existed, was a small shop built by Tsering Thondok's parents, who owned that patch of land. Tsering Thongdok now has a house close-by. On both sides of the 'Upper Line' houses were built, and some of them are rather impressive.

Ill. 8.2-3. The 'Upper Line' in 2017 (looking eastwards). 107

Glimpses on modern Rupa

Reasons for an investigation

After some hesitation, I decided to add to this book, the main purpose of which is to show what was 'Old Rupa', some views on Rupa "now". My hesitation grows from the simple fact that "now" changes all the time. Modern Rupa changes very fast. Yes, Rupa will keep on changing, but why not try to make a tentative snapshot? I only try to show some obvious changes in Rupa.

I think that the urban-like development of Rupa has specific features. The land inside Rupa belongs to Shertukpen families, usually comes to male heirs (even if female heirs begin voicing their legal rights), and since there are more and more heirs, the land plots become more and more numerous or smaller. Rupa strangely looks like a ghetto, and because buildings cannot spread indefinitely on relatively small plots, they often tend to become higher and higher!

Situation in 2017

I made a first review of 'grand houses' in 2017, when it became clear that rich Shetukpen people, even when they invested money in various other places, also targeted Rupa, their own town.

Ill. 9.2-1. Location of a few new buildings in Rupa (2017)

The sketch above (Ill. 9.2-1) shows that there are few new houses within Old Rupa. Among the first ones were the two private schools (in the 1990s) and, in the Bazar, D.K. Thongdok 'Abu Dok's house. This one, our first example, was (compared to present-day standards) a modest structure.

Example n°8 is in a different location: on the other side of the Dinik, in front of Praoding at the same level as the private schools. Creepy rumors go that this is a haunted place and people pleasantly refer to this pleasant house as 'Bhut bangalow'. It is one more sign that old spirits give no fear! Ill. 9.2-10. N°8.

These new big houses often are successful as architecture, but often look like boxes landed on a patch of land. Hardly any shows an inclination for the natural settings, the slopes, the rivers, the possibility of a garden or a more wooden lanscape.

They show a curious taste for mediaeval (European) castles, combined with an Indian or Persian leaning to galleries and vistas, but usually without the love of water gardens that made so many Persian, Central Asian and Indian palaces famous.

Year 2023

Five years later, Covid or no Covid, the trend was still well on the move. Buildings are expected to be bigger, or at least higher, than the previous ones.

The problem is certainly serious, because so many new buildings have been erected everywhere in Rupa that many are now in the shade. I will give only a few recent examples.

miserable state of the streets and the arrogant look of many new buildings is also certainly an issue. How can we not see that a disorderly accumulation of houses is not enough to make a city? And that a little urban planning, with an eye to the future, is necessary to make Rupa a real town.

Such a small town

In some respects, Rupa is a success-story. After fifty years, the stone & planks houses have nearly (not quite) disappeared, and multi-storeyed fancy houses have sprouted like mushrooms after the rain. Obviously, some people are not poor. But not all are rich. Some features are special to "tribal people". Three facts are important. The first and older one is the Indian Govt decision of keeping the Schedule status, and thus giving a number of reserved seats to "Tribals" in the administration or at least in 'Government jobs'. The second one is that many of these Government jobs are now rather well paid, or give access to money. This means, for instance, that civil or military officers have enough money to invest in a moderate scale. The third fact, is that Shertukpen people, until now, have often decided to invest in houses, and at home in Rupa.

These houses obviously have a role of self-assertion. The bigger or higher they are, the most obvious is the idea: look how important I became. This common effect, certainly not specific to Shertukpens, is strongly stressed in Rupa by the small size of the town. From any of these 'towers', you can see the other ones! But the wind is changing. The towers are now so numerous that, even from the roof, you cannot see much. Certainly, it will not need twenty years before the skyscraper builder discovers that lawns, trees, gardens or (let us dream) parks are as chic and more profitable for one's family and for everybody, than the present-day urge to overshadow the house next door.

  Ill. 4.1-1. The central position of the Gompa and the Rupa street network. Ill. 4.1-2. The Gompa compound (Jan. 2018). Works are in progress. Ill. 4.1-3. The gompa (seen from the other side) in Feb. 2023. Ill. 4.1-4. The surrounding of the gompa in Feb. 2023. The building is still remarkable, but cannot boast any longer of being the highest.

  Ill. 4.1-5. The lagang in 1947, seen from Thük-khong. (A photo by U. Graham Bower). Ill. 4.1-6. 1: Tsering Jo'õ. 2: Asu Langa. 3: Yamdok. 4: A Megẽji house. Ill. 4.1-7. Another side of the old gompa (1947). The previous photo was taken from the left.A small human figure at the foot of the pole gives the size.

Ill. 4

 4 .3-2. The three groups of Thongdok Chung.One important group are the yamdok-po 'the people of the Big House'. This yamdok, Big House, was twenty years ago visible in Thük Khong (see. It has been dismantled and replaced by a modern house. It was very close to A. D. 'Ase' Thongdok's house, which was recently (2020-2022) dismantled. Pema Chhom, one daughter of Ase, remembers how they used to speak to each other from the windows. Ill. 4.3-3. Lam Norbu and his children: the Yamdok, a simplified sketch.The genealogical sketch shows some of the children of the famous Lam Norbu, whose head was cut off in a feud with people in the Khrime clan. Lam Norbu had one son, Prem Dorje, who married twice. From a first wife, he had two sons, Sari and Rinchen Tsewang. Sari is the head of a numerous family, among whom a son, Wangdi. Rinchen Tsewang had two sons and four daughters; the sons were Chumbi and Sang Khandu. From a second wife, Prem Dorje has a last son, Jor, who was the father of Dorje or 'Asu Dorje' (1917-2006).From the four Thongdok houses which Nima Wangmu Thongon remembers in Thük Khong, three were occupied by that lineage. According to Shertukpen custom, two sons from the Yamdok separated and built their own houses. Sari remained in his father's house, but Rinchen Tsewang and Jor shifted to a new house. Sari's house was dismantled, Jor's as well. Only two houses remained: the stone house belonging to Ase's family, here represented by Prem Dondu 'Don' Thongdok, and Rinchen Tsewang's (then Chumbi's) house, presently belonging to Rinchen Dorje 'Rinchen Motu'.On the other hand, we have Ase's lineage, with his numerous children: 1/ a girl, Pema Chhom (born 1960), married Dorje Khandu Thongon 2/ a girl, Tsering Chhom, married Ngurup Dorje, a Monpa from Dirang 3/ a boy, Topge (Topgyel), married Tsering Wangmu Thongon 4/ a girl, Sange Chhom, married Prem Khandu Thongon (1968-2016) 5/ a boy, Rinchen Khandu, married Sonam, a Monpa in Dirang 6/ a boy, Prem Dondu 'Don', married Pema Yangjom Khrime 7/ a girl, Tracy Wangmu, married Jambe Thongchhi 8/ a girl, Pasang Wangmu (born 1981), married Tashi Namge Thongon.Ill. 4.3-5. Fürer Haimendorf photo n°3 (ca. 1980).

  Ill. 4.3-7. The dismantled Yese Dorje's house (Feb. 2023).

  Ill. 4.3-8 ABCD. Images (2017) of Ase Thongdok's stone house. A. A window on the southern wall. Windows are rare; the name kao-du means 'child door' or 'small door'. B. The small door opening in the langkhing for animals and storage. C. A view inside: the window on the left; several cavities inside the wall for storage (pre'). D. A triangular hole for smoke (bakhi chhulung 'smoke hole'): traces of black soot are still visible. of wowo) that make the yam proper, where people dwell. The upper yamtu (attic bamboo walls) is also clear. See illustration p. 118. Ill. 4.3-11. Position of Tuphan Dokhai Thongon's house in Thük Khong. Tuphan Dokhai Tongon's house stands in the curve of the path just before it goes up the slope. It belonged to his father, Dar. It was given to Dar, who had no house, by his half-brother Dongbu. Their common mother, Rinchen Chhom Thongdok, had first married Dongbu's father, then married Pema Dorje 'Penje' from Katiram's group, who was later killed by an elephant. Dar and Sang Tsering were born from this second marriage, and they later married two sisters. Dar (born 1934) married Jomu Thar Thongdok, while Sang Tsering married Maya. Dar and 'Jomthar' had six children, among which one son Dorje Khandu 'Tuphan Dokhai', born 1949. Ill. 4.3-12. Dorje Khandu 'Tuphan Dokhai' Tongon's House in Thük Khong.The white wooden plank can be seen in photos taken in 1980.

  Ill. 4.4-4. Megeji ajan simplified family tree: the Tsering Sergi group. This branch first gives two sons, Abo Huyo and Khandong, and one daughter Ju'ũmat. The brothers seem to have been living in the Megeji house ("N°I-2", see Ill. 4.4-5) which was close to n°I. Then, Abo Huyo married a Wangja lady and they had three sons, among whom Dokhai had a son, Dorje, who lived in Thük Khong, in house n°E. Later he moved to another house close to Petrol Pump; the house n°E, on Thongdok land, is now (Jan. 2018) empty. Khandong's lineage remained in N°I-2 for some time because his grandson Sambruk still lived there for some time. on TOK land I-2/3 destroyed : see text Ill. 4.4-5. A part of Thük Khong from the Ingkho Hill.

  Ill. 4.5-4. Pemkhai Wangja's line.

  Ill. 4.6-3. The Dingla siri (Dec. 2016).

  3-7. C, the site of the earlier Yamdok of the Thongdok. D, the former Buyo Wangja house. F, the rebuilt Megeji house, see 4.4-6. H, the 'Chumbi house', see 4.3-9. I, Rinchen Dorje Teacher's house, see 4.5-3.

  4. Nima Wangmu Thongon's list of the houses in Thük Bao c. 1950.

  . They had four children who lived: a boy, Ngawang (Nawang) Norbu (b. 1930), married Rinchen Dema Thongdok (d. 1984) a boy, Dorje Khandu (b. 1939), married Pema Thongon. a girl, Dorchhom (b. 1941), married Pema Dorje Thongon (d. 2006) a boy, Rinchen Khandu (b. 1950), married in Dirang. 3/ a girl Yesi Dema (b. c. 1913), first married Lawang Phunchho Thongon (1915-1950, a short life) a girl Pema Wangom (b. 1933), married Wangdi Thongdok a girl Nima Wangmu (b. 1936), married Yesi Dorje Thongdok a girl Tsering Dema, marriedPema Norbu Thongdok a girl Sange Lamu, married Sang Dondup Wangja a son Rinchen Dorje 'Babu', married Netan Dema Thongdok.After the death of Lawang Phunchho, Yesi Dema remarried with Sang Norbu Thongon from Shergaon a girl Pema Yodon, married Tsege Wangja a girl Rinchen Chhom (b. c. 1954), married Pema Khadu Dingla a boy Dorje Khandu 'Meme', married Rinchen Chhom Thongdok. 4/ a girl Pem Dema 'Ting Chhandu' (b. c. 1915), married Dongbu Thongon, a boy Tsering 'Deka', married Rinchen Dema Wangja a boy Pema, married Rinchen Dema Megeji, daughter of Khandu Megeji in Thük Bao. Ill. 5.3-5. Jaluk Thongdok's pangthing yam in Thük Bao. (2017)

  1/ a boy Rinchen Dorje, married Jomu Dema 'Jomthar' Thongdok. a boy Pema Dorje 'Sikari Pema' Jomthar remarried Asu Dar, after the early death of Rinchen Dorje. 2/ a boy Tsering Dorje, married 'Tsan' Thongon. a boy Dorje Khandu 'Bẽ' girl Pema Lorjom, married R. D. Chhum Thongdok 4/ a girl 'Hoji', married R. D. Megeji Pema Dorje Megeji, their only child.

1/

  Lawang Phunchho, m. Yesi Dema Thongdok (who re-married with Sang Norbu Thongon) a girl Pema Wangjom (b. 1931), m. Wangdi Thongdok (re-married with the last daughter) a girl Nima Wangmu (b. 1937, see p. 20), m. Yesi Dorje Thongdok a girl Tsering Dema (b. 1939), m. Pem Norbu Thongdok a girl Sang Lamu (b. 1942), m. Sange Dondu Wangja a boy Rinchen Dorje 'Babu' (b. 1946), m. Netan Dema Thongdok. a girl 'Tsan', who was the 2 nd wife of Wangdi Thongdok. 2/ Netan Dema, m. Pema Megeji in Thongre. 3/ Pema Dorje, first m. Dema Wangja a boy Dorje Khandu (b. c. 1946), Lorjang abo. a girl Dorjom (1947-2003) a boy, Dr Norbu (b. 1949) a boy Rinchen Tsewang (b. 1952) a boy Lam Norbu (1956-2001), m. Kezang Dema Khrime a boy Dorje Tsewang (b. 1958) and with his 2 nd wife, Pema Chhom a girl Pema Wangjom, m. Tsering Thongdok 'Dilli' a girl Rinchen Wangjom, m. Tenzing Gombu Khrime (in Sepa) a boy Dorje Jiachho, m. Sange Chhoton Musobi a boy Norjang, m. Dorje Dema Yanphan a girl Sonam Chhoton, m. in Uttarkand a girl Chhoton, passed away. a boy Tenzing (b. 1972).

1

  / a girl Dorchhom, b. 1955, m. a Nishi man working in Itanagar. 2/ a girl Sang Lamu, m. Rinchen Dorje Dingla 3/ a boy Rinchen Dorje, m. an Adi lady from Along; they live in Rupa. 4/ a girl Rinchen Chhom, m. Phunchho Dorje Lama from Tuting in Upper Siang; they live in Bomdila 5/ a boy Sang Khandu Doctor, m. Chhom Karma 6/ a boy Khandu, b. 1967, m. Dorje Dema LamaGuru (Shergaon) 7/ a girl Kezang, m. Tenzing Thongdok 8/ a girl Dorje Wangjom, m. Wangchu Thongdok. Ill. 6.3-7. Asu Jepu's house and, on the left with the green roof, Khandu's house, Assam type.Khandu Thongon tells that after the Great Fire, his father Pema Norbu built a house beside the 'older house'. Then, Pema Norbu left for Jigaon. Khandu's elder brother Dorje (eldest son of Pema Norbu) gave this land and the stones to his uncle Jepu, who did not have a house and was living in other persons' house. The planks and other wooden parts, he gave them to Tsering Norbu Thongon (who died in 1992, aged 65), the son of Dondu Thongon. This division only partly explains the present state of this house, because it was rebuilt in Monpa fashion 20 . On three sides (see ill. 6-3.5 and 6.3-7), the house has walls of stones, but the side on the courtyard is entirely made of planks (Ill. 6-3.8).

  (c) Still, the lower part was slowly settled by Government services after 1962. Government services, such as the Cooperative (1964) in the Bazar, the Ashram (1964 as well), the school (then located in the present-day Police Station), and the Health Center halfway between Bazar and Praoding, the Public Work Department (PWD) buildings for clerks and administration, then more and more services, all were located in the Lower part, close to the confluence of the two rivers, with the older bridge and the Inspection Bengalow (IB), recently (2016-2017) rebuilt on the same spot. All this is indicated as 'Buffer zone' in the drawing below (Ill. 7.2-1). Only after this area was filled, Services and schools shifted to the area in 'Do Kilo', on the Thungre side of the township (see Ill. 1.2-2). Still, people who are now between 40 and 60 agree: there was a frightenning zone, which certainly served as a buffer between the Village and the Public Services. This is what we tentatively draw on the next sketch. Ill. 7.2-1. Buffer zone and army frontier. The sketch shows the location of the older bridge on the right, the "buffer zone" in slanting strokes, and what corresponded to Army requirements after 1962. Inside the line was the Village, outside was Army camp. This means that prominent Shertukpen places such as Kamchha Hill (n°1 on sketch) or the Lablang area (n°2) were out of Rupa. Still, Shertukpen.s had permission to reach them. Army control on those areas was removed after 1972-75. The city road, starting from the main bridge on the right part of the sketch was different during the 1960s: it ran through what today is the upper line of the bazar (see Ill. 8.3.), along the ridge. Ill. 7.2-3. A bird's eye view of the Dongjor, marking Thük Sra.

Ill. 7 . 3 - 3 .

 733 The Praoding siri (janv. 2018).Ill. 7.3-4. 'Cactuses'. D.K. 'Abu Dok' Thongdok (who is a grandson of Wangdi) explains that the first shops were very much like those shops that Nepali people now have in the bazar. They sold rice, biscuits, sweets, cigarettes or Assamese biri and vegetables like onion, cabbage or potato. The owners rode in open Dodge down to Rangapara, to get their products. They were the first to use modern vehicles. People nicknamed them 'Jog Bahadur Malik', 'Wangdi Malik', 'Tsering Malik'; this title ('king' in Arabic, then in Hindi) obviously had an entrepreneurial ring. Everybody agrees that in those years, the 1970s, the bazar area was full of huge boulders and covered with trees and bushes like the surrounding hills. Bushes and trees were easily burnt or cut; boulders were split by heating them all night long, then pouring ice-cold water on them in the morning.8.2. The Upper Line8.2-1. Sketch of the present-day Bazar area. If you enter Rupa via the bridge (top right on the sketch above), the little square you reach immediately after the bridge is also a parking. Then come various lines of shops. Jog Bahadur older shop is indicated with a red rectangle, just after a side street that goes to the fish & meat market. If you do not take this street and go on straight through the lines of shops on the main road, you pass the 1964 Ashram on your left, and then up on the right until this road joins the Upper Line. 106 8.2-2. A photo of the bazar (Jan. 2018).This line, above the bazar, was the place for the weekly xat (an Assamese word), market. Then, the cinema hall was built. It was later dismantled and D. K. Khrime built a house there. When he shifted to Village, Sonam Thongon and an associate ran a school there, 'JNK' in honour of Jomo Norbu Khrime, D.K. Khrime's father. When the school was thereafter shifted down, D.K. Khrime, the brother of R.K. Khrime, came to occupy the first floor.

François Jacquesson, 2015, An Introduction to Sherdukpen Language, Ed. N. Brockmeyer, coll. Diversitas Linguarum, vol.

The book is available online.

Still present close to the bazar in the PWD colonies, the 1964 Ashram and the Health Center

A number of them, with additions, have been used in the Socio-economic Survey of Rupa, a Sherdukpen Village in Arunachal Pradesh, published in the Census of India, 1971, Series 1 India, Monograph n°1 (Number 9 of 1961 Series), Part VI C. This important research, under the direction of B. K. Roy Burman, was conducted in the 1960s.

The regular phrase when English is used.

It would be naive to consider 'Shertukpen society' as a static group or scenario. The very fact that various clans exist, shows that Shertukpen membership was always a fluctuating and permeable concept, and Shertukpen history (even recently) is replete with examples of people about whom you hear suspicions that they are no real Shertukpens, that they were 'inducted' etc. I refrain from giving examples.

Of course a debated topic. Contacts occur between higher army officers and the local Shertukpen bourgeoisie. Army people are frequently shifted from post to post; civil servants as well. Contacts also occur at a humbler level, between the rank-and-file and the poorer people; exemples of such marriages do exist.

This is again a (very interesting) topic in itself. Many things depend on the turnover. One large class of 'outsiders' is made of the female house helpers from Assam. Many are from the Tea-garden people (originally from Orissa); many also from Borospeaking villages. There are many sentimental stories about them, and many just disappear when their parents in Assam consider they should be married -sometimes when they are 13 or 14. Many are more or less Christians.

As elsewhere in Inda, parents spend enormous amounts of money to make sure that sons (sometimes daughters) will go to good boarding schools. Children are sent, for years except for vacations, to Guwahati, Shillong or (more recently for richer people) Bangalore, Munbai, Delhi. In a few cases, even abroad.

It seems there never was a real Tibetan jong in Rupa. The southernmost 'dzong' under the control of Tawang probably was Talung Dzong in Morshing.

Money for building new Khikspu houses for Khiksaba, with the consequence that old houses were destroyed.

The normal adjectives for 'elder' and 'middle' are akhao and achung. It is quite possible and perhaps more common to say thongdok akhao, etc. In short speech, one says thongdok-khao: this is a compounded noun.

This term, used in English by Shertukpen people, refers to any non-Shertukpen person, even from Arunachal Pradesh.

Member of Legislative Assembly.

This is a limited practical statement, not a theory about Thongdok history.

Yese Dorje chose (his family explains) to change his first name Yese into Ase, in order to honor his teacher Adittya Sharma, whose first letter was an A.

Actually, the family did not live here very long. They moved to where Don's house is now. There is a beautiful photo of the whole family (Pasang was born) taken on the side of present-day Don's house.

Another candidate is the mane west of the Kamchha Hill, along the street.

'Abu Dok' remembers (2023) that the house was built, under Monpa people direction, when he was between 8 and 12. He was born in 1954.

The importance of this 'School kakaling' is mentioned, with a photo (plate 34) in the official Census Report 1971.

The other kakling near the Kamchha Hill. Recently ( 2022) destroyed (Photos Dec. 2017). 21

Tuphan Dokhai's house is seen on the left.

Ill. 4. 3-9. The 'Chumbi House' in Thük Khong (2017). The slope between Thük Khong and the Gompa (yellow roof) is obvious from here (See Ill. 4.3-7).

Ill. 4.3-10. A Fürer Haimendorf photo (detail), in 1980. Asu Dorje Thongdok working before his house (now destroyed).

The Illustration 4.3-10 shows the Late Dorje Thongdok, Tsering Thongdok 'Dilli' 's father, working with his mithun x cows. Some people remember that the bull on the left was called Kale. Dorje's beautiful house is a typical pangthing yam. The rather high stone basement has a door, near which we can see a ladder (döthö). The plank part above the basement shows the matched wowo (the long horizontal planks) and buksing (the shorter vertical ones between the two layers Ill. 4.4-2. Houses in Thük Khong.

Ill. 4.4-3. A Thük Khong corner in 1980. Fürer Haimendorf photo n°2, detail.

The man who ploughs his land is Dorje Thongdok, see Ill. 5.10.

The three houses on the right are in succession Monoji, Megeji and Wangja. The ruined house on their left is the Megeji khikyam, now rebuilt. Closer to us are two parallel Wangja houses, Nyapo Chan's and Momo's. Still closer and half-cut is another Wangja house, Asu Pengkai's. All are now destroyed, except the two Megeji houses (one is rebuilt) and Asu Pengkai's.

The Megeji clan is one of the most important among the Shertukpens. It is usually divided into, Megeji-khao, Megeji-chung and Megeji ajan, as usual. The Megeji-jan, or Megeji ajan 'younger Megeji' are divided into two The purpose of the sketch in Ill. 4.5-1 is not to provide a genealogy of Wangja people, but only to pinpoint the persons who will be mentioned hereafter. The Gombu group was first dwelling in Praoding, where Pon's house is now found. The ancestral house of Tsewang Puntso's group was situated at the upstream end of Thük Khong, indicated on Ill. 4.4-2 as 'WJA-2'. We will now follow each group separately. Ill. 4.5-2 makes it easier.

Thük Bao

Entering Thük Bao

Ill. 5.1-1. Thük Bao Quarter, or 'Upper Village' is "T-B" on this schema.

There is no historical reason why we should study Thük Bao after Thük Khong. After discovering Thük Jong Hill in chapter 3, it is convenient to begin with Thük Khong because it may have been an early settlement, just as Thük Jong Hill, as its name ('Old Village') and its location (close to the water) suggest. But Thük Bao, Yuser and Praoding might have been "very old" as well. We have no evidence for great antiquity.

We now go to Thük Bao, because it is comparatively easier. First, The Bao makes a link between Thük Khong and Thük Jong Hill. Secondly, the stories of Yuser and Praoding are more difficult to tell. We are confident that, after the reader knows Rupa better, she or he will survey the other Quarters with more confidence.

Still, there is also a positive reason. Although Thük Bao has rather few old houses, as we shall now see, many of them are old stone and wood. As Yuser, Thük Bao "suffered" from having fewer new and large roads, except on its western part where big new houses have been recently built.

Ill. 5.2-2. Pasang Wangja's house in Thük Bao, seen from the field.

The S1 path is on the other side.

Ill. 5.2-3. The Musobi house, on street S4.

Ill. 5.2-4. Ngawang Norbu Khrime dacha yam in Thük Bao (Feb. 2017).

Now we walk down the path S1. We have on the left, its entrance on a small courtyard, the big stone house of Ngawang Norbu Khrime. It is hardly possible, from the courtyard or from the path S1, to guess it is a full-fledged stone house, because the entrance and the side looking at the path have been modernized. But if we see the house from its left side (see Ill. 5.2-4), from the fields that lead to the gompa, we will realize that it is one of the very rare dacha yam left in Rupa. Ngawang Norbu does not live there now, and the house is for rent; he and his son Tsering Dorje ('TD Wakil')'s family live in a new building, where the road towards the Gyaptong Stadium and Jigaon bifurcates, not far from the Kamchha Hill.

On the side of the path S1 we find a 2014 concrete building (see Ill. 3.2-3, p. 27), a Thongdok Khao khikyam which took the place of an older pangthing yam. Doubtless the older pangthing yam was more fit to receive the Khiksaba visits & rituals, than the new cold building.

Ill. 5.3-6. The Sinchaji 'corner'. On the right, Mita Tsering Sinchaji's nice pangthing yam.

If we don't turn right, we have in front of us, on the other side a small patch of Thongdok land, a quite recent concrete building supposed to be a new Thongon khikyam.

Turning right towards the kakling

Now, from the same tiniali (Assamese for meeting of three paths) S1-S2-S3, we turn right.

Ill. 5.4-1. The northern sector of Thük Bao.

Ill. 5.4-2. Distribution of some houses in Thük Bao.

Let us first look on our left: to the upper pat of the sketch above. The first son of Dorje Thongdok 'Khongkhan', Tenzing Norbu, built his house just behind his father's and this house also still exists. After the small path leading to the gate of Tenzing Norbu's place, comes the new concrete building of Tenzing Yanphan, the son of Rinchen Khandu Yanphan. Last come two nice pangthing houses. The first to come is R. D. Khrime, now inhabited by his son Tenzing Gombu. Then the house of Pema Dorje Thongon, who built his house here, after the big Yuser Fire (1951/2) destroyed the house he had there.

Ill. 5.4-3. From Kamchha Hill. The two houses on the northern side: Thongon and Khrime.On their right side is the new Yanphan house (Feb. 2016).

If we now make the same walk from the crossroads of S1-S2-S3, along S3 but looking at the right side, we first have the house of R. D. Yanphan 'Mosong'.

Yuser

Introducing Yuser

Ill. 6.1-1. Yuser in 2017. Older (destroyed) houses are marked with X.

Yuser is a relatively secluded place. It was destroyed by a dramatic fire during the winter 1951/52, scantily re-peopled and rebuilt, and today it suffers from being inaccessible by car. Among the quarters of old Rupa, it may be the less flourishing, but not the less interesting.

The story goes (it was told to D. K. Thongon and myself by Khandu, son of Pem Norbu Thongon) that Abi Lekang, an old lady who had been staying at Urgen Tsering Mejiji's place, put fire to her house. The village had walked down in Assam, as it did every winter, and Abi Lekang was alone in Yuser. People from the Assam Rifles happened to come to the village; Abi Lekang went up to the zo to fetch phok for them. It was late, she took a torch. It seems that some spark lit a part of the zo, but the fire was visible only after the Assam Rifles people had gone. Since she was alone, Abi Lekang could do nothing, the fire spread and then jumped from her house to the next ones. Nearly everything in Yuser was destroyed, but happily Abi Lekang could escape. Thük Bao was also touched by a fire a few years later, but less so.

According to Nima Wangmu Thongon, there were 14 or 15 houses in Yuser before the Great Fire (Ill. 6.1-3). This was the most populated part of Rupa at that time.

Walking up through Yuser, east side

Thük Bao is a circuit, Yuser is just a path. You walk up or down, look on the right and the left, and you have seen it all.

Ill. 6.2-1. A simplified map of Yuser. Letters mark plots of land. Shaded zones show slopes. The gompa (temple) is up. Praoding is down.

Dotted lines mark some of the disappeared old houses.

Ill. 6.2-2. The Khiksaba field for areca nuts (where the dog is). Seen from path S7.

On the right, on the bushy spot, are the ruins of an old house.

Suppose we come from Praoding, by the path that goes up the slope (see dotted arrow on 6.2-1). We push the little gate (visible on the photo above), pull it back after us. We are in the plot of land which is used during Khiksaba for the distribution of areca nuts.

Ill. 6.2-3. Yuser seen from the hill. Peng's house is seen cut on the lower right side.

The path from Praoding is clearly visible.

On the right is a wider plot (letter D) belonging to Thongdok people. In the middle of this plot, we see the square marking the house where Peng Mijiji lives: this is one end of Yuser. Farther on the right, the land is sloping down to Praoding.

Ill. 6.2-4. Peng Monoji's house marks one end of Yuser.

The photo above also shows a path starting from Peng Monoji's house. This path goes through the whole of Yuser: it will be our path S7. The 'D' land is with Dongdu 'Donto' Thongdok line, and Donto's son was Jaluk (see below).

Jaluk married Peng's mother after she gave birth to Peng. Peng's father was Peng Khandu Monoji, the brother of Langa who had a house in Thük Khong. Jaluk was the step-father of Peng, and he gave him land in Yuser, where he lives.

If we have another look (below) on the Thongdok Chung lineages, we see that Dorje Khongkhan's line is considered as coming from the same ancestor (father? grandfather?) as Lam Phunchho and Dongdu 'Donto' who are supposed to be brothers, although we do not know the names of these ancestors.

A Anchin first married Lam Phunchho, but they had no child together; she later married Dongdu. Dongdu's son, Dorje Kandu 'Jaluk' now owns the land.

If we start (see Ill. 6.2-1) from that 'D' plot of land and walk along S7 path looking on our left (we do not see Praoding but it is there under the slope), we will find a number of Thongon plots: G, H, I-J ; K belongs to Khrime, and L to Thongchhi, and then we touch path S6. On nearly all these plots, there were houses before the Big Fire, and we still discover a number of stone basements under vegetation or above. The last plot on this eastern side of path S7, is 'L'. It belonged to Kling Thongchi, who left for Thongre, where his son Pema Khandu is gaonbura.

Ill. 6.2-9. Kling Thongchhi family.

Ill. 6.2-10. The Thongchhi house being dismantled (Jan. 2014).

houses, in Rupa. It is interesting to tell, although in a simplified way, th story of the family and the building.

Ill. 6.3-5. Asu Jepu's house in Yuser, the stone side.

In the beginning was a 'foreign' character, Katiram (Khandu Thongon pronounces Atiram). This person married a Thongdok lady, and they had three sons and two daughters. Although there are many Shertukpen people to note that Katiram's group was adopted into Thongon (meaning they were no original Thongon), the importance of this group in Shertukpen society can hardly be underestimated.

Ill. 6.3-6. A simplified view on Katiram's group. For Jepu's line, see below.

The children of Jepu and Pema Yodon Thongdok are as follows:

Ill. 6.3-8. Asu Jepu's house, the wooden side. From the courtyard.

The courtyard is common to Jepu's house and Khandu's. But you do not see the courtyard when you walk along the main path in Yuser: the photo for Ill. 6.3-7 was taken from the road above.

Ill. 6.3-9. Khandu Thongon's house in Yuser, seen from the footpath.

The Kamchha gate, with its yelllow roof, can be see above on the right.

this road is about twenty meters above Yuser. The buildings behind are in Praoding, and obviousy are at a still lower level. The red and green CC building just 'above' Peng's roof is the residence of D. K. Thongon and Pema Chhom Thongdok, and the big white and green house behind it is on the other side of the Dinik river.

(1) Peng's house, (2) Khandu Thongon's, ( 3) Asu Jepu's, (4) Thongchi houses, (5) Dongbu's.

Ill. 6.3-12 A view on Yuser from Kamchha Hill. Praoding is the part of Rupa along the river, downstream. Its limits are clear: it begins after Thük Khong (T-K on the sketch above) with the hanging bridge and its mane, or the crossroads down the Dingla khikyam, and it stretches until the two big private schools, Roopland and Pinewood, after which we find the Dungjor, where the rotating prayer wheel was moved by streaming water in the past. The Dungjor marks Thük Sra, the 'tail' (or the lower end) of the Village.

Ill. 7.1-2. A sketch view of Praoding (2016).

The sketch above (Ill. 7.1-2) shows, in the lower part, the Dinik River, with the direction of the flow. The dotted line along the river winter course is the present-day wall against the flood. At times, during the rains, the river may go

The Bazar area

The developing bazar

Fürer Haimendorf writes that, when he visited Rupa in 1984, there was a Bazar, but he was not enthusiastic about it. It may have been a shabby place, compared to what could be found in other cities. Still, there was one. Its founder is known: he is Jog Bahadur. He was also called 'Mali buro', 'the Old Gardener'. A mali is a gardener in hindi, and Jog Bahadur worked for the Health Center as gardener during the 1950s. He may have come in Rupa with the Assam Riffles. He married Yesi Dema Sinchaji, who had first been married to Dopu Dingla, with whom she had had three daughters. Jog Bahadur died when he was still young, about 40, in the 1960s.

Ill. 8-1. Yesi Dema and Jog Bahadur families.

Jog Bahadur probably was a very able man. Perhaps because of the relations he had in the developing Nepali milieu, he decided to open a shop, in the middle of what today is the Bazar. Jog Bahadur, after he married Yesi Dema, had also access to the Shertukpen side of the changing Rupa: his son Pema Khandu took the title Dingla, which was his mother's title after her first marriage.

Ill. 8-2. Jog Bahadur's shop was here, the first shop in the Bazar; now a wine-shop (Feb 2016).

Ill. 8-3. Pema Khandu and Wangdi, associates in the bazar development.

The success of Jog Bahadur as a tradesman and shopkeeper is obvious, and Shertukpen people soon tried to imitate him. Pema Khandu Dingla married Rinchen Thongon, who was a daughter of Yesi Dema Thongdok (Lawang Phunchho GB's wife): this was a high-class marriage. Both sides benefited, because Rinchen's sister was Pema Wangjom Thongon, who married Wangdi Thongdok. Wangdi first worked as a Forest guard, a government employee. Then, he joined Jog Bahadur in a common business, and later opened his own shop. His sons still own big lands in the bazar area. Tsering Thongon, the son of Dongbu Thongon, also participated in the Bazar development.

We have to remember that shops were possible only when cash began to appear among the Shertukpens. And this was not before the 1950s because that period saw the first of them becoming Government employees, paid in rupies. Such was the case of Wangdi, as we just said, or of relatively rich people like 'Ase' Thongdok, the only son of the Gaonbura, who became the first Government teacher in Rupa. There were also employees in the hospital or in administration, but these were not Shertukpens.

Ill. 9.2-2. N°1. D.K. Thongdok's house (photo 2014).

The elegant building, with the the elevated viewpoint which (at that time) had a view is two-storeyed. It was designed to include a garden, quite visible in this 2014 photo.

Ill. 9.2-3. Another view on the Bazar area (2023)

The same house is visible on Ill. 9.2-3 (taken from quite a different point), on both sides of the big tree. The surroundings, however have been changing very much, and multi-stroreyed buildings give them a different expression.

The difficulty of building residential houses in the Bazar area led people to other places, with two main directions. One was to use agricultural land in the older village, at least in accessible places. The other was to go to "suburbs".

Let us give a few examples of new buildings inside the Older Rupa. Numbers refer to the previous sketch (Ill. 9.2-1).

Ill. 9.2-4. N°2. An example within older Rupa.

Ill. 9.2-5. N°3. This one required some cutting of the slope.

Both these examples required land adaptation. The 'yellow house' in Ill. 9.2-4 required arranging a plane setting. For the second example (Ill. 9.2-5), the slope had to be cut rather deeply, producing a kind of cliff behind the house.

110 Ill. 9.2-6. N°4. Within Praoding.

Example n°4 is more voluminous, with a decided taste for balconies and openings on the exterior. It is situated down in Praoding. At the limit of the older village, comes example n°5, difficult to photograph.

Ill. 9.2-7. Example n°5.

Example 5 was one of the first residential buildings to be 4-storeyed, with a definite will to escape the look of massive square structures, such as we now find in the Bazar area.

Ill. 9.3-1

Ill. 9.3-2

Ill. 9.3-3

Ill. 9.3-4

Ill. 9.3-5

Ill. 9.3-6

Ill. 9.3-7

Ill. 9. [START_REF] Jong | around 3.1. Shertukpen clans around Siri Kamchha Ill. 3.1-1. The 'Kamchha Hill[END_REF][4][5][6][7][8] This collection of eight photos is certainly not final. There is no doubt that new buildings (some of which I know, but failed to photograph) will come. Until when? The land is obviously not extensible.

It is not difficult to see the difference in style between the often elegant private houses and the more massive structures, such as the new giant block (Ill. 9.3-8, above) dominating the Bazar area. The present-day contrast between the

The house of Rinchen Dorje Wangja, in Thük Khong

The 4 'layers' are easily visible.

(1) In contact with the soil is the stone basement.

(2) The wooden layer, the human habitation, is itself made of three parts: (2a) the base wowo, in which (2b) are inserted the numerous vertical buksing, and (2c) the upper wowo.s, in the second of which are the holes for the tsasing.

(3) the cane walls, yamtu, of the zo, the attic. (4) the roof, yamro, supported by 3 beams, 2 düngphang and, up, the düngmo.

Conclusive remarks

The author of this book is not a "supporter of the past". I do not suggest that Rupa people should despise modern comfortable houses, live in dark old wooden houses and go to the Dinik river every morning to fetch water! I only note that when Rupa will be like New York (a very small New York, of course), people will see that the time on the black-and-white photos, when the old Asu had fields in Thük khong or Yuser, had some value as well. The truth is not in 'the past' not in 'the future' -symmetrical nightmares, I am afraid! Maybe there is some 'lesson' in the old pangthing yam. Thatched roofs are changed after some years: is the roof new? Yes, if you consider the material it is made of. No, if you consider the shape.

The pangthing houses in Rupa or Thongre are not very old. Many would not pass the test of the century. Most of them have been transformed or rebuilt. The main purpose of the "no nail" principle, when they were built, was to make dis-mantlement and re-mantlement easier. In many cases, if you look at them carefully, you can see that the bigger planks (the wowo) have come from an earlier building.

Even stone houses could be displaced, as we could see with the houses in the Kamchha Hill, or with Ase Thongdok's house. This was a common practice. Often, only part of the earlier material was re-used. What was old, then, and what was new?

The material is to be considered, and also the manner, the style. This is the reason why people should visit the old houses in Rupa or Thongre. Here is a style, and materials. Compared with the concrete and cement buildings, these wood-and-stone houses are not much older. In Rupa, they have the same age as the first RCC houses. Yet, they follow an older style, of course. And more congenial to the middle-size mountains around. Because instead of damming the slopes into plains, you could manage the slopes with the stone basement.

*

Visiting Rupa, especially in some older quarters, is still full of interesting surprises! We wish that young Shertukpen people will "learn their Rupa". This book is written for them.