Paro is the broad western valley of Bhutan, the road to Phari and Tibet by the Tremo La and the Chomolhari country (route recalled, not checked), and the site of Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the border temples ascribed by tradition to Songtsen Gampo (en Wikipedia, History of Bhutan).
The Paro dzong (1646-1651), Taktsang and the dzongs of the seventeenth century do not exist; on 1 January 1200 it is a valley of Mon farmers with village shrines and, from 1194, the preaching of the Lhapa lama Nyo Lhanangpa. No headman or lord is named.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headmen of the Paro valley villages
- 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
Valley of Mon villages; 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
Mon (Monpa) villagers; Nyingma lamas; Lhapa Kagyu lamas (from 1194)
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
rice, barley, buckwheat, yaks; the road to Phari and Tibet
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Wikipedia (History of Bhutan, Monyul) and the gazetteer. 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.