Bumthang District

Bumthang is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is the most historic dzongkhag if the number of ancient temples and sacred sites is counted. Bumthang consists of the four mountain valleys of Ura, Chumey, Tang and Choekhor (also known as Bumthang valley), although occasionally the entire district is referred to as Bumthang valley.

"Bumthang" directly translates as "beautiful field". "Thang" means field or flat place, and "Bum" is said be an appreviation of either "bumpa" (a vessel for holy water, thus describing the shape and nature of the valley), or "bum" ("girl", indicating this is the valley of beautiful girls).

Bumthang farms yield buckwheat, dairy products, honey, and apples among other products.

The language spoken in the Bumthang district is known as Bumthangkha. It is a Tibeto-Burman language closely related to Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan. Bumthangkha is partially comprehensible to speakers of Dzongkha, which originated in valleys to the west of Bumthang. Each of the four valleys of Bumthang has its own dialect, and the remnants of the Kheng kingdom to the south in Zhemgang speak Khengkha which may be classified as a dialect of Bumthangka.

Bumthang is divided into four "gewogs":
* [http://www.dop.gov.bt/fyp/09/bt_chhume.pdf Chhume Gewog]
* [http://www.dop.gov.bt/fyp/09/bt_choekor.pdf Choekor Gewog]
* [http://www.dop.gov.bt/fyp/09/bt_tang.pdf Tang Gewog]
* [http://www.dop.gov.bt/fyp/09/bt_ura.pdf Ura Gewog]

Cultural and historic sites in the dzongkhag include:
* Membar Tsho (Burning Lake), where sacred scriptures hidden by Guru Rimpoche in the 8th century where later recovered by Pema Lingpa in the 15th century
*Kurje Monastery
*Jakar Dzong, adjacent to the main town of Jakar
*Jambay Lhakhang, one of the two most ancient temples of Bhutan, built in the 7th century by Songtsen Gampo, the king of Tibet.
*Tamshing Lhakhang, the most important Nyingmapa temple in the country

ee also

*Districts of Bhutan

External links

* [http://www.bumthang.gov.bt/ Bumthang Dzongkhag official website]
* [http://www.dop.gov.bt/fyp/09/Bumthang.pdf Five year plan 2002-2007]
* [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=kjz SIL Ethnologue entry on Bumthangka]
*wikitravel|Bumthang

----