GORKHA, MAY 15

Tsum Nubri Rural Municipality which recently organised Tsum Centenary Non-Violence Festival has also adopted a local gazette to preserve the traditional Shyagya culture.

According to Nima Lama, chairperson of the rural municipality, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed his commitment to support Shyagya culture during the festival. 'Rural Municipality published a local gazette to preserve Shyagya tradition of non-violence,' he said.

The main objective of the initiatives is to conserve local nature and biodiversity as well as to explore the message of world peace, according to Lama.

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of its declaration as a non-violence zone, Shyagya festival in Tsum valley aimed at preserving the historical tradition of local residents, Lama shared.

On the day of Buddha Jayanti in 1977 BS, the Avatari Lama Dukpa Lama Sarp Dorje had made a collective commitment to the people of his homeland, the Tsum Valley, to follow the principle of non-violence. Since then, the northern Tsum Valley has been consistently maintained as a non-violence zone. In the year 2077 BS, it completed 100 years of the declaration of a non-violence zone. However, the centenary festival could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lama informed that the Shyagya Tradition Preservation Act -2023 was promulgated with a view to contributing to the recognition, continuity, dissemination and protection of biological diversity in the area of non-violence. 'We believe that this Act will help further strengthen the social and cultural unity of all people living in Tsum Valley,' Lama said.

The recent festival also witnessed a renewal of the community's commitment to non-violence and its resolve to continue following the key principles of non-violence, according to Lama. Tsumba people are enthralled after PM Prachanda made a commitment in the non-violence campaign that the people of Tsum Valley have embraced for 100 years.

Tsum Valley, which borders China, is famous worldwide for its distinct identity. The people of this valley have promised not to kill animals and to stay away from honey hunting, among others. Even the police personnel here do not kill animals for meat. Foreign tourists visiting the valley also do not eat meat and all the hotels here are vegetarian.

Lama, a community leader, shared that the Upper Tsum, with 11 settlements, was declared a non-violent area in 1920, and the Lower Tsum Valley, with 22 settlements, declared its commitment to non-violence during the Shyagya festival in 2012. According to him, the seven key principles adopted by Tsumba people include: Hunting is forbidden; setting traps is forbidden; harvesting honey is forbidden; the sale of livestock is forbidden; violence against calves of Himalayan cows, and other aquatic and terrestrial species is forbidden; restrictions in the import and export of animals for meat will be respected; and burning in forests and mountains is banned.