Uzorongpa’s Fist - by Pema Choidar
‘Uzorong’ is a village in Trashigang district of eastern Bhutan. The people who hail from this village are known as ‘Uzorongpa’. Bhutanese add the word ‘pa’ to the village name to imply from where they come from. So, if you are from 'Druk' you become 'Drukpa".
In the ancient folktales of Bhutan, the Uzorongpas were famous for their stories of both wits and follies; witty tricks played on others including the district governor and the acts of stupidity that even cost their lives.
An oral transmission of a tale of Uzonrongpa narrated that once the village headman called all the villagers for their usual meeting on an important issue. Uzorongpas attended the meeting along with other villagers from ‘Kanglung’ and ‘Yonphula’. Now, amid the discussion, the headman suddenly started scolding a man from Uzorong for some reason. The headman angrily shouted at the top of his voice, speaking harsh words and he nearly beat the man. The Uzorongpa remained silent, lowering his head and tolerated the humiliation. He trembled with fear before hundreds of villagers. Nobody knew if that submissiveness was directed by his respect or cowardice. Then, the meeting was called off and people left for their homes.
The Uzorongpa also walked home in anger and humiliation. Then, he reached a ‘Choeten’ or a Stupa on his way home. By then he had reached the strategic place where the village headman could neither see him nor hear him. There, he stopped and started expressing his anger in response to the extreme humiliation inflicted on him during the meeting.
The Uzorongpa stood firmly behind the ‘Choeten’ or the Stupa so that the headman or other people could not see him. Then, he held his head high, clenched his fist, raised it in the air and brandished at the headman. He waved the fist towards the direction where the headman lived as he shouted, “I hate you, you’ll receive this big blow on your nose and see it get flat,” he continued in a frenzy of extreme rage, “You thought you could scare me, never in your life!” Some fellow villagers eavesdropped on his countless words of curse for the headman. He continued, “I'll see you soon, let’s see who can save our head first, Monster headman!” But the narrator said that he never dared to say a word whenever he met the headman.
Today, if anyone speaks bitter words to express anger and defiance against one’s superiors in their absence, we remind the person not to show the “Uzorongpa’s Fist” or “Uzorongpa Mootoomaang” to be precise.
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