ElijahCombs83 at 06:20, 17 October 2025

2025-10-17T06:20:48Z

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{{Infobox waterfall
| name = Chumi Gyatse Falls
| image =
| image_size = 300px
| caption =
| location = [[Tawang district|Tawang]], [[Arunachal Pradesh]], [[India]]
| coords = {{coord|27.7762|91.9829|display=inline,title|type:waterbody|format=dms}}
| watercourse =
| map = India Arunachal Pradesh
| map_caption = Location in [[Arunachal Pradesh]], India
| embedded =
}}

'''Chumi Gyatse Falls'''{{efn|Alternative spellings: '''Chumig Gyatse'''<ref>[https://www.sentinelassam.com/north-east-india-news/arunachal-news/tawang-district-dc-kesang-ngurup-damo-visits-border-village-585305 Tawang district DC Kesang Ngurup Damo visits border village], The Sentinel, 31 March 2022.</ref> and '''Chumik Gyatse'''.}} ({{bo|t=ཆུ་མིག་བརྒྱ་རྩ|w=chu mig brgya rtsa|s=chu mik gya tsa}}), called '''Domtsang''' and '''Dongzhang''' (东章瀑布) waterfalls in Tibetan and Chinese languages respectively, are a collection of waterfalls in the [[Tawang district]] in [[Arunachal Pradesh]], India, close to the border with the [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]] region of China.<ref name="Manoj Joshi">{{cite news |author=Manoj Joshi |title=Scale of the Recent Chinese Intrusion in Tawang Is a Cause for Concern |newspaper=The Wire |date=14 December 2022 |url=https://thewire.in/security/scale-of-the-recent-chinese-intrusion-in-tawang-is-a-cause-for-concern }}</ref><ref name="Diplomat">{{Citation |author=Hemant Adlakha |title=The Tawang Clash: The View From China |newspaper=The Diplomat |date=16 December 2022 |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/12/the-tawang-clash-the-view-from-china/ |id={{ProQuest|2754866279}}}}</ref> According to the local Buddhist tradition, the 108 holly water falls which originate from in-between the mountains symbolise the blessings of [[Guru Padmasambhava]].<ref>{{Cite web
| author= Shantanu Dayal
|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/why-yangtse-at-lac-a-long-saga-of-military-grit-101671110656614.html|title=Why Yangtse? At LAC, a long saga of military grit|date=December 15, 2022|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref> The Chumi Gyatse Falls are close to the [[Line of Actual Control]], the de facto border between China and India, just 250 metres away according to one account.<ref name="Print">{{cite news |author=Karishma Hasnat |title=This Arunachal waterfall near LAC is being developed for tourism. But China 'keeping an eye' |newspaper=The Print |date=20 October 2020 |url=https://theprint.in/india/this-arunachal-waterfall-near-lac-is-being-developed-for-tourism-but-china-keeping-an-eye/526953/ }}</ref>{{efn|Map measurements indicate a distance of 500 metres.}}

Padmasambhava had stayed in Domtsang region for five days, and it is one of the seven regions in Mon to have been blessed by him. Domtsang was one of the three most sacred sites of Shar Lawog Yulsum (eastern Tawang). However, no ancient township nor any monastery remain intact today.

== Geography ==
[[File:Yangtse-Tawang-map.jpg|350px|right|thumb|Map 1: Yangtse area]]
The Chumi Gyatse Falls are in an area called '''Yangtse'''{{efn|Alternative spellings: '''Yangste''',<ref name="ET 2017" /> and '''Yangtze'''.<ref>AP, [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/indian-chinese-troops-clash-border-arunachal-pradesh-tawang-rcna61405 Indian, Chinese troops clash at border in fresh faceoff], NBC News, 13 December 2022.</ref>}} where the [[Tsona Chu]] river flows from Tibet into India's [[Tawang district]]. They are along the cliff face of a high plateau ("Yangtse plateau") formed by an east–west mountain range, whose watershed serves as the India–China border as per the [[McMahon Line]].<ref name="Dayal">{{Citation |author=Shantanu Dayal |title=Why Yangtse? At LAC, a long saga of military grit |newspaper=The Hindustan Times |date=15 December 2022 |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/why-yangtse-at-lac-a-long-saga-of-military-grit-101671110656614.html |id={{ProQuest|2754518605}}}}</ref>

The location of the McMahon Line watershed in the vicinity of Chumi Gyatse falls is open to dispute. The US [[Office of the Geographer]] draws the line in the middle of the cliff face, which would divide the falls between India and China. At present the [[Line of Actual Control]] between the two countries puts all of Chumi Gyatse falls within Indian territory. (Maps 1 and 2)

To the south of the waterfalls, Tsona Chu is joined by another river called [[Nyukcharong]] which rises from within the Yangtse plateau. A village called '''Tsechu''' ({{coord|27.7229|92.0149|name=Tsechu}}) lies near the confluence of the two rivers, marking the southern terminus of the Yangtse region.<ref name="Praveen Swami">*{{Citation |author=Praveen Swami |author-link=Praveen Swami |title=Tawang skirmish shows LAC's volatile. Army risking getting mired in Siachen-style resource trap |newspaper=The Print |date=14 December 2022 |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/security-code/tawang-skirmish-shows-lacs-volatile-army-risking-getting-mired-in-siachen-style-resource-trap/1264753/}}</ref>

A few hundred meters to the north of the falls, on the opposite side of the Tsona Chu valley, lies '''Domtsang''' ({{bo|t=དོམ་ཚང|w=dom tshang}}) or '''Dongzhang''' ({{zh|c=东章|p=Dōng zhāng}}) ({{coord|27|46|49|N|91|58|37|E|name=Domtsang/Dongzhang}}), a Buddhist meditation site associated with Guru Padmasambhava.<ref name="KNAB">{{Cite web |date=2018-06-03 |title=Geographical names of Tibet AR (China): Tibet Autonomous Region |url=https://www.eki.ee/knab/valik/cn54.htm |website=KNAB Place Name Database |publisher=Institute of the Estonian Language}}</ref> Domtsang was evidently an important locale during the historical period so as to lend its name to the river and valley below it, as "Domtsangrong".{{sfn|Aris|2012|pp=85-86}}{{sfn|Tenpa|2018|pp=52-53, 125}} China continues to use the names "Dongzhang river" and "Dongzhang waterfalls".<ref name="Diplomat" /><ref>Joseph P. Chacko, [https://frontierindia.com/did-pla-grab-chumi-gyatser-waterfall-or-dongzhang-waterfall-in-arunachal-pradesh/ Did PLA grab Chumi Gyatser waterfall or Dongzhang Waterfall in Arunachal Pradesh?], Frontier India, 23 January 2022.</ref> Domtsang lies in undisputed Chinese territory, to the north of the McMahon Line.

== Buddhist legends ==
[[File:Wangdue Padmasambhava.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A mural of Padmasambhava from Bhutan]]
=== Domtsang region ===
The earliest mention of the place is in ''Padma bka’ thang'', a fourteenth century mythography of [[Padmasambhava]] by [[Orgyen Lingpa]]; Padmasambhava stayed in Domtsang for five days, and it was one of the seven regions in Mon to have been blessed by him.<ref name="Tenpa">{{cite book |last=Tenpa |first=Lobsang |title=An Early History of the Mon Region (India) and its Relationship with Tibet and Bhutan |publisher=Library of Tibetan Works and Archives |year=2018 |isbn=9789387023345 |pages=52-53, 77, 110-111, 124 |language=en}}</ref> Since then, Domtsang has been associated with meditation in a spectrum of Buddhist literature.<ref name="Tenpa" />

The texts {{lang|bo|Deb ther sngon po}} (1476) and {{lang|bo|Mkhas pa’i dga’ston}} (1564) record that [[Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama|Düsum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa Lama]] (1110–1193) meditated at Domtsang.<ref name="Tenpa" /> {{lang|bo|Lha btsun rin chen rnam rgyal}}'s early-16th-century biography of [[Tsangnyön Heruka]] (1452–1507) notes that he received a vision of [[Cakrasaṃvara Tantra|Cakrasaṃvara]] upon being chased by a phantom boar during meditation in Domtsang.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=DiValerio |first=David M. |date=April 2015 |title=Reanimating the Great Yogin: On the Composition of the Biographies of the Madman of Tsang (1452–1507) |url=https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_32_02.pdf |journal=Revue d'Études Tibétaines |volume=32 |pages=36}}</ref> One of Heruka's disciples, ''{{proper name|rGod tshang ras chen}}'', spent time at Domtsang while practising ''[[tummo]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ehrhard |first=Franz-Karl |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/216449180.pdf |title=Edition, éditions: l'écrit au Tibet, évolution et devenir |date=2010 |publisher=Indus Verlag |isbn=978-3-940659-02-6 |editor-last=Chayet |editor-first=Anne |series=Collectanea Himalayica III |location=Munich |pages=138 |language=en |chapter=Editing and Publishing the Master’s Writings: The Early Years of rGod tshang ras chen (1482–1559) |editor-last2=Scherrer-Schaub |editor-first2=Cristina |editor-last3=Robin |editor-first3=Françoise |editor-last4=Achard |editor-first4=Jean-Luc}}</ref> In late 16th c., Don Grub, the ruler of Mon, invested himself as the patron of the "great shrine" at Domtsang.<ref name="Tenpa" />

An undated biography of [[Pema Lingpa#Peling Tukse incarnations|Tukse Dawa Gyaltsen]] [c. 17th c.] records Domtsang as one of the three most sacred sites of ''Shar Lawog Yulsum'' (eastern Tawang) which was worth a day of pilgrimage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dorji |first=Lham |date=Winter 2005 |title=Religious Life and History of the Emanated Heart-son Thukse Dawa Gyeltshen |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_13_04.pdf |journal=Journal of Bhutan Studies |volume=13 |pages=85}}</ref> {{lang|bo|Dga’ ba’i dpal ster}}, a biography of Merag Lama {{lang|bo|Blo gros rgya mtsho}} (d. 1682) which was likely drafted in the 17th century, records one {{lang|bo|Gtsang ston Rol pa’i rdo rje}} (c. 15th c.) to have had found the '''''Che mchog'' temple''' in Domtsang.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lobsang |first=Tenpa |date=Autumn–Winter 2013 |title=The Life and Activities of Rgyal sras Blo bzang bstan pa'i sgron me, a 16th century Tibeto-Mon Monk from Tawang |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/tibetjournal.38.3-4.3 |journal=The Tibet Journal |volume=38 |issue=3–4 |pages=9}}</ref>{{Efn|Rol pa’i rdo rje does not find a mention in other extant sources. He is held to be the disciple of the [[1st Dalai Lama]] but this is probably an exaggeration; the construction of the Mon drab monastery at Tsona, Sha’u Di khung monastery at Sha’u, and the Ar yag gdung monastery are also attributed to him.}} {{lang|bo|O rgyan gling dkar chag}}, an 18th c. work by the [[6th Dalai Lama]], features Domtsang as the tactile site in a mandala of the senses.<ref name="Tenpa" />

=== Chumi Gyatse falls ===
Local oral traditions ascribe the falls to have been the product of a showdown between [[Padmasambhava]] and a Lama of the Bonpa sect.<ref name="Print" /> The Chumi Gyatse ("''Chumig''" = "water holes"; "''gyatse''" = rosary<ref name="Das">{{Citation |author=Bidhayak Das |title=Legend of the Chumi Gyatse: A Deeper Understanding of Arunachal's Famous 108 Holy Waterfalls Along the LAC |date=13 November 2022 |url=https://www.borderlens.com/features/legend-of-the-chumi-gyatse-a-deeper-understanding-of-arunachals-famous-108-holy-waterfalls-along-the-lac/ |website=BorderLens}}</ref>) falls were formed, according to the legends, when Padmasambhava flung his rosary against a rock and 108 streams gushed out from where the beads struck the rock.<ref name="Print" /> Monpas believe that the waters have recuperative abilities.<ref name="Dayal" /><ref name="Das" />

== History ==
[[File:Chumi-Gyatse-Falls-LSIB.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map 2: The [[Line of Actual Control]] near the Chumi Gyatse Falls: marked by the US [[Office of the Geographer]] in 2012 (in blue) vs [[OpenStreetMap]] in 2022 (in dark green).<ref>[https://earthworks.stanford.edu/catalog/stanford-jd523yw3613 Large Scale International Boundaries (LSIB), Europe and Asia, 2012], EarthWorks, Stanford University, 2012.</ref> The difference between them is believed to be the alteration made by India in 1986.]]
Prior to the birth of modern nation-states of India and China, Yangtse — like, most of Tawang — remained under the suzerainty of Tibet.{{Efn|Three major villages in Tawang elected their respective ''Gaon Bura''s who came under the nominal authority of two Dzongpons from the neighboring Tsona County.}} In February 1951, India wrested control of Tawang in a peaceful transfer of power.{{Efn|In 1944, J. P. Mills had taken control of the part of Tawang Tract that lay to the south of Sela Pass and evicted Tibetan tax-farmers. He did not venture north of the Sela Pass.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}}} When the Chinese [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) [[Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China|invaded Tibet]] during the same year, it is believed to have destroyed the temple at Domtsang.<ref name="Das" />{{efn|China still refers to the falls as "Dongzhang Waterfalls", perhaps following the local Tibetan nomenclature.}}

The region remained demilitarized until 1986 when Indian Army occupied the territory around the falls as a buffer zone in retaliation to the [[Sumdorong Chu standoff|Chinese occupation of the Wangdung (Sumdorong Chu) pasture]].<ref name="ET 2017">Shaurya Karanbir Gurung, Row with China: Present tense [Defence], The Economic Times, 24 July 2017. {{ProQuest|1922308065}}: "As a retaliation to Sumdorong Chu, the Indian Army occupied Yangste in the latter half of 1986."</ref><ref name="Das" /> In 1995, a Joint Working Group of the two countries listed both Sumdorong Chu and Yangtse among the unresolved border disputes.<ref name="Praveen Swami" /> In 1999, the Chinese troops attempted to assert "sovereignty" over a pasture called "Dogoer" ({{zh|c=多果尔草场|p=Duō guǒ ěr cǎochǎng}}) atop the waterfalls, having organised a grazing team jointly with local shepherds. Indian troops are said to have blocked their entry and a tense face-off ensued, lasting 82 days.<ref name="Diplomat" /><ref name="Liu Zongyi">{{Citation |author=Liu Zongyi |script-title=zh:刘宗义：印度为何借东章地区挑衅中国？|title=Liúzōngyì: Yìndù wèihé jiè dōng zhāng dìqū tiǎoxìn zhōngguó? |trans-title=Liu Zongyi: Why does India use the Dongzhang area to provoke China? |date=13 October 2021 |url=https://www.guancha.cn/liuzongyi/2021_10_13_610562_s.shtml |via=guancha.cn |lang=zh}}</ref> Chinese media reports further allege India to have demolished a wooden bridge in 2001, that was used by Tibetans to access the Falls, and even setting up a sentry post to block their entry.<ref name="Diplomat" /><ref name="Liu Zongyi" />

== Infrastructure and tourism development==
{{anchor | Infrastructure | Tourism | Road | Transport }}

Beginning 2018, the state of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] has been developing the Falls as a tourism site.<ref name="Print" /> In July 2020, a ''[[gompa]]'' with a statue of [[Guru Padmasambhava]] was inaugurated. India proposed to China to allow Tibetan pilgrims to visit the Falls, but China has not chosen to do so.<ref name="Print" /> According to China, their bridge was destroyed by India in 2001 and a guard post built to stop Chinese pilgrims accessing the area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=牛人档案 |title=中印冲突后印军侵占中国东章瀑布。今天印军在瀑布山顶小便被拍到！_哔哩哔哩_bilibili |url=https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1kS411A72X/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.bilibili.com |language=zh-Hans}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=庐陵启程 |title=在藏南错那县隔江眺望东章瀑布！并对对面阿三驻军比了个大拇指朝下的手势_哔哩哔哩_bilibili |url=https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1iM4m1m75s/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.bilibili.com |language=zh-Hans}}</ref>

Indian government has also strengthened the defence infrastructure in the area.<ref name=LDY1>[https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/defmin-acquires-strategic-land-near-sumdorong-chu-flashpoint/articleshow/78862616.cms?from=mdr Defence Ministry acquires strategic land near Sumdorong Chu flashpoint], Economic Times, 26 Oct 2020.</ref> New roads were constructed to ease travelling from the town of Tawang.<ref name="Print" /> Under the [[India–China Border Roads]] (ICBRs) project, India started to build the strategic '''LGG-Damteng-Yangtse Road''' (LDY) to the Indian post near Chumi Gyatse Falls.<ref name=LDY2>[https://www.indiatoday.in/budget/story/union-budget-2025-rs-7146-crore-allocated-for-boosting-border-infrastructure-2673411-2025-02-01 Budget 2025: Rs 7,146 crore allocated for boosting border infrastructure], India Today, 1 Feb 2025.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Bum La Pass]]
* [[2022 Yangste clash]]
* [[Tsona County]] (Cona County)
* [[List of waterfalls]]
* [[List of waterfalls in India]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last=Aris |first=Michael |title=Hidden Treasures & Secret Lives |publisher=Routledge |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-136-14914-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYOTAgAAQBAJ}}

[[Category:Waterfalls of Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Environment of Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Tawang district]]
[[Category:Waterfalls of India]]

Chumi Gyatse Falls - Revision history

ElijahCombs83 at 06:20, 17 October 2025