Emergency Grain Stores

Several rooms in the central tower and the quadrangle were used as grain store. The entire rooms were used for storage by filling the grains though a hole in ceiling, accessed through the room above.

Grains were the main source of economic wealth and power for the landholding families. With wealth and power came social responsibility. The granaries of the landed households were in fact depots to which people could turn to for food security. There was a well established system for distributing these food grains during times of scarcities and famines. People could borrow the grains they needed during lean times.

During the reign of the second king, Jigme Wangchuck (1905-1952) Ogyen Choling was given the responsibility of providing storage facilities and maintaining emergency grain stores on behalf of the king. During times of food shortages and scarcities the king allowed the people to borrow from these stockpiles.

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