Taxation in Tibetan Societies: Rules, Practices and Discourses

Alice Travers is a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, CRCAO, Paris), where she works mainly on the social history of Tibet in the 19th and 20th centuries and on the history of the Ganden Phodrang army, in the framework of the ERC-funded TibArmy Project (“The Tibetan Army of the Dalai Lamas, 1642–1959”). Peter Schwieger is emeritus professor of Tibetology at the University of Bonn, Germany. His research covers history, literature and language of Tibet. His publications include Handbuch zur Grammatik der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache (2009), The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China (2015) and Conflict in a Buddhist Society: Tibet under the Dalai Lamas (2021). Charles Ramble is Directeur d’études at the EPHE - PSL University, Paris. His book publications include The Navel of the Demoness: Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal (2008), as well as three volumes in a series entitled Tibetan Sources for a Social History of Mustang (Nepal) (2008, 2015, 2019).

Contents

Note on the Transliteration and Transcription of Tibetan Names and Terms

List of Figures and Maps

List of Tables

Introduction



1 The Tax System in Central and Far East Tibet Towards the End of the Ganden Phodrang Reign: An Outline of Its Structure and Terminology

 Peter Schwieger



2 A Perspective on the Ganden Phodrang’s Administration of Taxation in the 19th and 20th Centuries Based on Archival Sources

 Kalsang Norbu Gurung



3 “When You Count, Everything Is There, and When Everything Is There, Everything Vanishes” A Criticism of Tax Collecting in Ngamring District (Rdzong) during the First Half of the 20th Century

 Alice Travers



4 Traditional Taxation Systems in Western Tibet: A Comparative Perspective

 Nancy E. Levine



5 Lam Yig—An Official Document Granting Travel Privileges in Tibet

 Saadet Arslan



6 “My Karma Selected Me to Become A Ferryman”: The Role of Waterways and Watercraft in the Corvée Tax System in Pre-1959 Tibet

 Diana Lange



7 Performing Tibetan Opera As Khral in the First Half of the 20th Century: In Principle a “Tax”, in Experience a Pervasive Obligation

 Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy



8 A Preliminary Investigation Into Monk-Tax: The Concept of Grwa Khral/Btsun Khral/Ban Khral and Its Meanings

 Berthe Jansen



9 Monastic Obligations, Hat Change and Lhasa Encroachment Taxation Rights Among Politico-Religious Shifts in the Kingdom of Nangchen

 M. Maria Turek



10 “By Ancient Custom and Engagements”: Trade, Taxes and Diplomacy in Ladakh and Western Tibet between the 17th and 20th Centuries

 John Bray



11 Taxes and Corvées in the Manorial and Monastic Estates of Zangskar (Western Himalayas)

 Isabelle Riaboff



12 The Fiscal Status of Buddh1ist and Bönpo Institutions in Mustang (Nepal): A Historical Overview

 Charles Ramble



Index