Bumthang is the cluster of four high valleys in central Bhutan.
The History of Bhutan page places the exiled Indian king Sindhu Raja at the Jakar Gutho palace in 746 and Padmasambhava's headquarters there in 810 (tradition), and says small monarchies ruled by a deb began to form in Bumthang by the early ninth century. Jambay Lhakhang is dated by that page's reference to 659. The Chakhar kings' traditions, the Jakar dzong, and Pema Lingpa (born 1450) are later.
In 1200 the valleys hold clans whose names are not known, with Nyingma lamas and village temples.
Who holds it
- Title
- Clan headmen of Bumthang
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No source we could open names the holder for the winter of 1199-1200.
Overlord
none: no one rules Tibet in 1200; the house answers to its own patrons and to the custom of the valleys
How things stand that morning
High valleys under clan headmen; no chief known.
Wealth
No source we could open gives figures; the usual base is estates and serfs, herds, pass tolls, trade in salt, wool, tea and barley, and the gifts of patrons.
Military
No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.
Council
none known; the place is governed by its lord or house, and no source we could open names a headman or judge
Communities
Bumthang clans (Mon in origin per the tradition) and Nyingma lamas
Fairs and markets
none known; pilgrims and caravans meet at the feasts of the temples, but no fair is dated
Walls and castle
none known; the dzong (fort) as an institution of the district lord belongs to the fourteenth century
Trade and crafts
not described by any source we could open
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Gazetteer and the Bhutan page. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.