Navel of the Demoness : Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in ...

134 the navel of the demoness
The traditional inalienability of the estate from the clan is illustrated by the
case of the Önpo, one of the six original clans of Te. The last member of
the Önpo died long ago—probably in the middle of the nineteenth century.
The Önpo estate was not inherited by any other clan but became communal
property. This is one of the two ‘‘empty’’ estates that are still held intact by the
community. The old association between clan and estate is still sustained in
the continuing appellation of the group of fields and the now-derelict house
in the north-western corner of Dzong as the ‘‘Önpo estate.’’
A final observation may be made about document HMA/Te/Tib/06 before
I move on to consider other manifestations of clan integrity. For some reason,
the Cimden clan is being required to give land to the village. Although we are
not told about the exact circumstances of the request, the inevitable effect is to
increase the resource base of the community as a whole at the expense of a
particular clan.
The last generation or two has seen the abandonment of what appears to
have been a rather strict regulation of inheritance by clan interests, and the
consequences for the community are significant. To what extent was this ideal
of clan priority in inheritance realised in practice? The short answer is that we
do not know. There are no written records that could help us, and genealogical
memory is too shallow to permit the emergence of a discernable pattern.
But let us see what the situation looks like now. There are forty-six occupied
estates in Te. In thirty-seven cases, the present heads are the sons of the
previous head. This leaves nine estates that had no sons. How have these
solved the problem of inheritance?
(1) Töpa 6: Paten to Khyungpo
The old head was a Paten and his wife a Butra. They had one daughter
(Paten), who married out into a Butra estate. The daughter of the same estate
was brought in as the daughter-in-law of Töpa 6, and the son-in-law, her
husband, is a Khyungpo.
(2) Töpa 7: Yangpa to Paten
The old head was a Yangba and his wife a Paten. None of their many
children survived, and both a son-in-law (Paten) and daughter-in-law were
brought in to inherit the estate.
(3) Töpa 12: Paten to Yangba
The daughter of the estate had no brothers. She remained at home, and
her in-marrying husband is a Yangba.
(4) Sumdu 9: Yangba to Yangba
The old head was a Yangba. He had one daughter, who married into estate
Sumdu 7 (Khyungpo). The daughter of Sumdu 7 came to Sumdu 9 as a