From Geographical Periphery to Conceptual Centre: The Travels of Ngagchang Shakya Zangpo and the Discovery of Hyolmo Identity

This chapter will explore and analyze dynamics of cultural production in a particular context, the Helambu valley (Nepal). The valley is home to the Hyolmo, a Nepalese minority of Tibetan origin, whose culture seems to have been shaped by the particular agency, within a sacred geography (Yolmo Gangra), of a specific class of cultural agents, namely the so-called reincarnated lamas and treasure discoverers. One of them, in particular, could be considered the cultural hero par excellence of the Hyolmo due to his role in establishing and maintaining long lasting relationships between distant power places, and to his spiritual charisma. His legacy still lives on among the people of Helambu, and his person is still revered as the great master who opened the outer, inner, and secret doors of the Yolmo Gangra. The role of treasure discoverers – or tertön (gter ston)1 – in the spread of Buddhism across the Himalayas is related to particular conceptions regarding the landscape and especially to the key-theme of the “hidden lands” or beyul (sbas yul). But the bonds linking a community to its territory are not simply an historical by-product. As in the case of the Hyolmo, the relationship between people, landscape, and memory is one of the main features of the identity-construction processes that constitute one of the most relevant elements of contemporary Nepalese politics.