Choden - Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti

ForMila

Bhutanese Tales of the Yeti

Copyright Kunzang Choden, 1997

First Published 1997

by White Lotus Co., Ltd.

Smashwords Edition

eBook Edition published by

DCO Books

Proglen Trading Co., Ltd.

Bangkok Thailand

http://ebooks.dco.co.th

Illustrations by Kunzang Dorji and Karma Wangda

ISBN 978-616-7817-24-8

All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. All names,characters, and other elements of the story are either the productof the author's imagination or else are used only fictitiously. Anyresemblance to real characters, living or dead, or to realincidents, is entirely coincidental.

Laya

Bumthang

Kurtoi

Merak and Sakteng

International curiosity, excitement and theconsequent debate over the existence of the abominable snowman havebeen sporadic. Whenever there is new evidence about the existenceof the yeti, in the form of footprints or an alleged scalp orsupposed yeti droppings, excitement peaks but quickly dies down.Societies that depend solely upon the media for information andknowledge are often confined. The worlds interest in theabominable snowman rises and falls with the whims of the media. Formost people from the Himalayas, belief in the existence of the yetiand attitudes related to it are beyond scientific judgment oranalysis. We operate at the level of the primordial stirrings deepin the very core of our beings that provoke us to questionourselves every time we deny the yetis existence. The belief inthe existence of the elusive creature is so widespread that it isknown by different names in different regions of the Himalayas; tothe Tibetans it is Gangs mi (Glacier man), Mi shom po(Strong man) and Mi chen po (Great man); to the Sherpas itis Yeti; the Lepchas call it Chu mung (snow goblin)or Hlo mung (mountain goblin); it is Nyalmu or BanManche to the Nepalese and in Bhutan we call it Migoi(Strong man) or Gredpo. The migoi is an essentialpart of the backdrop of our existence in the Himalayas. So real andso ancient is the migoi that in some pre-Buddhist Bonrituals the archaic texts call for the blood of a migoi thathas been killed by a sharp weapon. The migoi exists forall time, whether we acknowledge it or not. Our first encounterwith it cannot be dated, for there was no first encounter, sincethe migoi has been around for as long as we have, and surelymuch, much longer.

Rene De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 1993 (reprint), Oracles and Demons ofTibet. Tiwaris Pilgrims, Kathmandu.

The first introduction of the yeti to the world atlarge is a very recent event. It was perhaps when a Britishtraveler, William Hugh Knight, a member of the Royal SocietiesClub, recorded a yeti sighting in 1903 while returning to Indiafrom Tibet. Later, in 1925, the Greek zoologist N.A. Tombazi gave adescription of the creature. The first photographs of theyeti were taken in 1936 by F. S. Smyth, while crossing a 5,029meter high pass in the central Himalayas. Credit must be given to EricShipton, who took photographs of the yeti on the Menlungtse Glacierin October 1951 and thereby gave a modern representation to thesnowman myth.The first Westerner who claimed to have seen theabominable snowman in Bhutan was Slavomir Rawicz, a Pole whoescaped from a Siberian prisoner of war camp, together with sixothers, and crossed the Himalayas to freedom in India. Rawicz, inhis bestselling book The Long Walk, claimed that duringtheir escape in 1942, he and his companions saw two eight-foot tallcreatures somewhere between Bhutan and Sikkim. And of course, on adifferent scale altogether, the Belgian cartoonist Herge should beacknowledged for his introduction and global popularization of theyeti with the publication of Tintin inTibet! To thenon-Himalayan mind the existence of the yeti hangs precariously; ithas been reduced to the status of a mythological being, an effectof high altitude hallucinations and even a tourist bait! But afterseveral attempts to find it dead or alive failed, and Sir EdmundHillary wrote an Epitaph to the Abominable Snowman, asrecently as 1986 the world renowned Italian climber ReinholdMessner reported seeing the yeti while walking through the foreststo the north-east of Everest.

Hutchison, Robert A., 1989, In The Tracks of The Yeti.Macdonald and Co Ltd., London and Sydney.

Lall, Kesar, 1988, Lore and Legends of The Yeti. TiwarisPilgrims, Kathmandu.

Furguson, Daniel and Angus Hall, 1989. Great Mysteries,Mysterious Monsters, Bloomsbury, London.

Its unfortunate that the modern world must alwayshave tangible and empirical evidence. As a result of this it missesthe opportunity to share much of the folklore and mystery that areas old as the Himalayas. Today, we are caught at the crossroads oftraditionalism and modernity; we must not sacrifice our fields ofexperience for fear of exposing ourselves as backward under thescrutiny of the modernists glare.

Most Bhutanese believe there are two types of bipedcreatures that live in the high mountains. Both beings are thesubject of awe and mystery and encounters with them have reinforcedbeliefs and stories related to them. The mechume ormirgola is said to be an apelike creature that lives in thedense forests of larch, spruce, bamboo and rhododendron, ataltitudes of 2,500 meters and above. They are bipeds of about ameter in height and have long arms. They are usually reported to bebrownish-red in color and have hairless, almost human faces, with afringe which covers most of the forehead. Most sightings of thesecreatures are reported by cattle herders who are forced to ventureinto the depths of the forests in search of missing cattle. Therare encounters result in both the human and the mirgolabeing extremely shocked and the latter consequently disappears intothin air or the dark depths of the forests. On occasions they havebeen known to grin menacingly and make strange noises; they aresaid to indulge in mimicry. This aspect of their character hasgiven rise to many tales and legends. It is generally agreed thatencountering them is a bad omen, which leads to misfortune and evendeath in some cases.

Now it is believed that the migoi orgredpo, better known as the abominable snowman, or yeti,inhabits the high altitudes ranging probably between 3,500 to wellover 5,000 meters, the same areas as yak pastures. It is,therefore, quite natural that most encounters with the elusivemigoi are usually by yak herders, hunters and people whofrequent these environments. These unexpected confrontations oftentake place during unusually bad snow storms when the migoiare forced to wander around at lower altitudes looking for food andshelter. The migoi is known by all accounts to be a verylarge biped; sometimes as big as one-and-a-half yaks oroccasionally even as big as two yaks! It is covered in hair thatranges in color from reddish-brown to gray-black. Its limbs areape-like and its face is generally hairless. The female has largebreasts that sag. They are usually encountered alone or as couplesbut rarely in groups. We are told that they communicate with eachother by whistling and they exude an exceedingly foul odor, akin toshing-kuen or Asafoetida (a somewhat smelly brownresin used in Indian cooking for its digestive properties and verydistinct flavor), that heralds their approach. It is said to have ahollow back, and as little children we were often threatened thatif we were naughty we would be carried off in the hollow of the