The Water Sheep and Iron Tiger Surveys compared

Thesis Abstract

In 1943, the Ganden Phodrang (དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་, Dga' ldan pho brang, the Tibetan government) commissioned an extensive survey of Monyul (མོན་ཡུལ་, Mon yul), a territory ceded to British India under the 1914 Simla Convention but continuously administered through Indian independence. Monyul is now in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Why did the Tibetan government survey territory no longer legally part of Tibet, and why adopt a survey of a previously unused format?

This paper argues that the Water Sheep Survey (ཆུ་ལུག་ཞིབ་གཞུང་, Chu lug zhib gzhung) of 1943 represents the Ganden Phodrang's adoption of modern census methods to demonstrate sovereignty through internationally recognized practices, distinguishing it from all previous Tibetan surveys, which served taxation purposes exclusively.

This research compares the 1943 Water Sheep Survey and the 1830 Iron Tiger Survey (ལྕགས་སྟག་ཞིབ་གཞུང་, Lcags stag zhib gzhung), examining data, structure, and narrative. The Iron Tiger Survey is a conventional taxation document detailing corvée obligations, horse taxes, revenue assessments, and the parties responsible for collection. The Water Sheep Survey yielded 53,292 records cataloging household members, land holdings, and residential structures, with little attention to taxation.

Each document's preface describes its purpose: the Iron Tiger Survey's introduction discusses the need to update tax roles with data organized around the parties responsible for tax collection, while the Water Sheep Survey's preface asserts the Ganden Phodrang's sovereignty over Monyul, with data organized around individual households.

Original sources include Ganden Phodrang official documents, declassified British colonial records, and multinational scholarship; this paper positions the Water Sheep Survey within the Ganden Phodrang's modernization efforts consistent with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's (ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876–1933) reform program.

The paper proceeds in three sections: the first two chapters analyze the Iron Tiger and Water Sheep Surveys individually, examining numeric analysis, background, narrative, and intent; the third chapter presents comparative quantitative and structural analysis, bolstering the narrative argument. The analysis demonstrates that the Ganden Phodrang's adoption of modern census and land inventory practices constituted a deliberate diplomatic strategy to enter the international system of mutually recognized sovereign states. This thesis advances scholarship on Monyul through both political analysis and original quantitative research.