A History of Assam c10.14

c10.14

It is said that Nar Singh subsequently became ruler of Bhutan, and, although there is no confirmation of this statement, the occurrence is not altogether impossible. It has already been mentioned that in ancient times Bhutan seems, occasionally at least, to have formed part of the kingdom of Kāmarupa. The historian of Mir Jumlah's invasion in the middle of the seventeenth century says that the people of that country then spoke a dialect allied to that of the Koches. And in his Report on his mission to Bhutan, the late Sir Ashley Eden said: "Apparently the Bhutias have not possessed Bhutan for more than two centuries; it formerly belonged to a tribe called by the Bhutias Tephu; they are generally believed to have been people of Koch Bihār. The Tephu were driven down into the plains by some Tibetan soldiers, who had been sent from Lhassa to look at the country."*