Mustang, the Forbidden Kingdom

The Walled City of Lo In common usage, the name Mustang refers to the arid Tibet-like region at the northern end of the Kali Gandaki (known to its inhabitants as Lo). Mustang is probably a Nepalese mispronunciation of the name of the capital of Lo, the city of Manthang. The name is pronounced "Moo-stang" and has nothing to do with either the automobile or horse with a similar name. Officially, Mustang is the name of the district along the Kali Gandaki from the Tibetan border south to Ghasa. The capital of the Mustang district is Jomsom; the region of Tibetan influence north of Kagbeni is generally referred to as upper Mustang. Upper Mustang consists of two distinct regions: the southern region, with five villages inhabited by people related to the Manangis; and the northern region (the ancient kingdom of Lo where the language, culture and traditions are almost purely Tibetan. The capital of Lo is named Manthang, which translates from the Tibetan as "plain of aspiration". Many texts refer to the capital as Lo Manthang, but this is not strictly correct. Other texts spell the name of the kingdom as Lho, but this is a transliteration of the Tibetan word for "south" and is also incorrect. Thus the portion of the upper Mustang district north of Samar is Lo and its capital is Manthang. The king of Lo is the Lo Gyelbu, though most people use the Nepalese term raja. To avoid total confusion with existing maps and texts, this page refers to the capital of Lo as "Lo Manthang".

History

Mustang has a long, rich and complex history that makes it one of the most interesting places in Nepal. The early history of Lo is shrouded in legend, myth and mystery, but there are records of events in Lo as early as the 8th century. It is quite likely that the Tibetan poet Milarepa, who lived from 1040 to 1123, visited Lo. Upper Mustang was once part of Ngari, a name for far western Tibet. Ngari was not a true political entity, but rather a loose collection of feudal domains that also included parts of Dolpo. By the 14th century, much of Ngari, as well as most of what today is western Nepal, was part of the Malla Empire governed from the capital at Sinja, near Jumla.

Chortens near Tangbe It is generally believed that Ame Pal (A-ma-dpal in Tibetan) was the founder king of Lo in 1380. The ancestry of the present Mustang raja can be traced 25 generations back to Ame Pal. Ame Pal, or perhaps his father, conquered a large part of the territory in the upper Kali Gandaki and was responsible for the development of the city of Lo Manthang and many gompas. To the west, the Malla Empire declined and split into numerous petty hill states. By the 18th century, Jumla had consolidated and reasserted its power. In an effort to develop their domain as a trading centre and to obtain Tibetan goods, the rulers of Jumla turned their attention eastward. In the mid-18th century they assumed control over Lo, from which they extracted an annual tribute.

When he ascended the throne in 1762, Prithvi Narayan Shah began to consolidate what is present-day Nepal. At the time of his death, the kingdom extended from Gorkha eastward to the borders of Sikkim. His descendants directed their efforts westward and by 1789, Jumla had been annexed. The Gorkha armies never actually entered Lo; they recognised the rule of the Mustang raja. Although Mustang became part of Nepal, the raja retained his title and Lo retained a certain amount of autonomy. Lo maintained its status as a separate principality until 1951. After the Rana rulers were overthrown and King Tribhuvan re-established the rule of the Shah monarchs on 15 February, 1951, Lo was more closely consolidated into Nepal. The raja was given the honorary rank of colonel in the Nepalese army. During the 1960s, after the Dalai Lama had fled to India and Chinese armies established control over Tibet, Mustang was a centre for guerrilla operations against the Chinese. The soldiers were the Khampas, Tibet's most fearsome warriors who were backed by the CIA (some Khampas were secretly trained in the USA). At the height of the fighting there were at least 6000 Khampas in Mustang and neighbouring border areas. The CIA's support ended in the early 1970s when the USA, under Kissinger and Nixon, initiated new and better relations with the Chinese. The government of Nepal was pressed to take action against the guerrillas and, making use of internal divisions within the Khampa leadership, a bit of treachery, and the Dalai Lama's taped advice for his citizens to lay down their arms, it managed to disband the resistance without committing to action the 10,000 Nepalese troops that had been sent to the area.

Entrance Gate to Lo Though Mustang was closed, the government allowed a few researchers into the area. Toni Hagen included Mustang in his survey of the entire kingdom of Nepal, and the Italian scholar Giuseppi Tucci visited in the autumn of 1952. Professor David Snellgrove travelled to the region in 1956 but did not visit Lo Manthang. Longtime Nepal resident Barbara Adams travelled to Mustang during the autumn of 1963. The most complete description of the area is Mustang, the Forbidden Kingdom, written by Michel Peissel who spent several months in the area in the spring of 1964. Dr Harka Bahadur Gurung also visited and wrote about upper Mustang in October 1973. A number of groups legally travelled to upper Mustang during the 1980s by obtaining permits to climb Bhrikuti peak (6364 metres) south-east of Lo Manthang. Other than a few special royal guests, the first legal trekkers were allowed into Mustang in March 1992 upon payment of a high fee for a special trekking permit.

Geography

4 Mustang has been described as a thumb-like part of Nepal extending into Tibet. Yet, on the map, it is hardly a bump in Nepal's northern border. This is not the result of an inaccurate description by early writers; the map changed. In 1960 there was a controversy between Nepal and China over the ownership of Mt Everest. This resulted in extended negotiations and the Chinese- Nepalese Boundary Treaty of 1963 that completely redefined Nepal's northern frontier. Nepal gained a considerable amount of territory to the east and west of the old boundaries in Mustang, so the protrusion of Mustang into Tibet became much less pronounced. To make matters more confusing, most official maps were not updated until about 1985.

The trek to Lo is through an almost treeless barren landscape. Strong winds usually howl across the area in the afternoon, generally subsiding at night. Being in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, Lo has much less rain than the rest of Nepal. During the monsoon the skies are cloudy and there is some rain. In the winter there is usually snow; sometimes as much as 30 or 40 cm accumulates on the ground.

In Lo itself the countryside is similar to the Tibetan plateau with its endless expanses of yellow and grey rolling hills eroded by wind. There is more rain in the lower part of upper Mustang and the hills tend to be great red fluted cliffs of tiny round stones cemented together by mud. Villages are several hours apart and appear in the distance almost as mirages; during the summer season, after the crops are planted, they are green oases in the desert-like landscape.

Trekking Season for Mustang

Because of the cold and snow, most of the population departs from Lo on trading expeditions during the winter. The trekking season, therefore, is from late March until early November. The trek does not go to extremely high elevations, but the cold, dust and unrelenting afternoon winds can make the trek less pleasant than other treks in Nepal. Because of the wind and the lack of water, you must always camp in a village, but these are not conveniently spaced, so some days are too short and others too long. There is little opportunity to vary the itinerary as there is on most Nepal treks.

More Photos of Mustang

Trek to the Kingdom of Mustang

18 Days of Trekking
Maximum Elevation 3840 Metres (12,600 feet)

In common usage, the name Mustang refers to the arid Tibet-like region at the northern end of the Kali Gandaki (known to its inhabitants as Lo). Officially, Mustang is the name of the district along the Kali Gandaki from the Tibetan border south to Ghasa. The capital of the Mustang district is Jomsom; the region of Tibetan influence north of Kagbeni is generally referred to as upper Mustang.

The trek to Lo is through an almost treeless barren landscape. Strong winds usually howl across the area in the afternoon, generally subsiding at night. Being in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, Lo has much less rain than the rest of Nepal. During the monsoon the skies are cloudy and there is some rain. In the winter there is usually snow; sometimes as much as 30 or 40 cm accumulates on the ground.

In Lo itself the countryside is similar to the Tibetan plateau with its endless expanses of yellow and grey rolling hills eroded by wind. There is more rain in the lower part of upper Mustang and the hills tend to be great red fluted cliffs of tiny round stones cemented together by mud. Villages are several hours apart and appear in the distance almost as mirages; during the summer season, after the crops are planted, they are green oases in the desert-like landscape.

Because of the cold and snow, most of the population departs from Lo on trading expeditions during the winter. The trekking season, therefore, is from late March until early November. The trek does not go to extremely high elevations, but the cold, dust and unrelenting afternoon winds can make the trek less pleasant than other treks in Nepal.

On to next Trek in Central Nepal, High Altitude Trek, Long Trek, Restricted Area Trek
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Revised: 29 September, 1995