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Differentiating Smoke: Smoke as duwa and Smoke from bsang on the Tibetan Plateau

ABSTRACT On the Tibetan plateau, smoke, either as by-product of heat-generating activities or intentionally produced, is ubiquitous. Wafts of smoke rising from the central flaps of black yak-hair tents in pastoral communities are mirrored by yak-dung smoke rising out of chimneys in stone houses of agricultural areas. Observers of summer horse races and other community events might note the presence of thick plumes of smoke emerging from pyres of dried branches, often placed within or near a cairn of stones and prayer flags or latse (T. la rdzas) (Tibetan transcription within text follows the vernacular of Kham nomadic dialect. In the first use of a Tibetan word, it is followed in parentheses by the standard Tibetan Wylie transliteration). To a casual observer, the ever-present smoke might seem homogenous but, for Tibetans, smoke is expressive of multiple contexts and meanings. In this article, I attend to different kinds of smoke as they are articulated in the literature and experienced by nomadic pastoralists in eastern Tibet. Smoke as duwa (T. du ba, dud pa) from everyday activities including yak-dung burning and cigarette smoking and smoke from bsang (T. bsang) – a ritual complex of fumigation and purification – reveal that Tibetan perspectives distinguish kinds of smoke. Understanding where smoke comes from and the contexts of which it is part are crucial when attempting to delineate a conceptual and terminological category such as smoke. Tibetan phenomenological categories broadly prioritise vernacular ways of knowing and classifying, which presents a corrective to a dominant classification of smoke that could be used as rationale to resettle nomadic pastoralists and transform their way of life.