The third umbilical cord, of course, is being fellow Rongs – one pure and the other (me) hybrid. However, we two have met only once, for probably thirty minutes: a fact showing us as scattered members of a prehistoric sphere but now fragmented into Himalayan states, with defragmented citizenships in contiguous post-colonial nations of South Asia. [break]
The rest of this review will surely reflect on the diasporas of the Rongs.
A safe mode of critiquing a book is by not reviewing it per se, or in toto, but riposting to it as a base after recceing the surrounding terrains.
This is a useful technique as far as dealing with Mr. DT Tamlong’s book “Mayel Lyang and the Lepchas” is concerned because, simply, the author’s main domains are Darjeeling and Sikkim in his work.
Apart from the two indigenous Lepcha provinces, however, the other two contiguous native lands are Ilam in East Nepal and a slice of the Ha Province in west Bhutan, not talking about the Lepcha affinities extant among the Meches of the Mechi River Basin and the Koches on the Cooch Behar flatlands.
Much of these ethnic genealogical skeins are likely to be disambiguated in modern times; therefore, historical facts and figures must be collated for a fair analysis of claims made by the Lepchas and the truths sought by them.
In this sense, considering the major concentration of the Lepchas being evident in the State of Sikkim and in the District of Darjeeling in North Bengal, both in India, Mr Tamlong’s book exudes the thematic and objective criteria borne by the subject matter.
Just a few instances may prove the points: Mayel Lyang and the references it makes to other published books on the Lepchas suggest the origins of the people in the distant lands of old West Asia.
The late Kirantologist Iman Singh Chemjong (a distant granduncle of the reviewer) has the company of other learned minds in imagining the roots of the Lepchas in ancient Israel, Mesopotamia and other neighborhoods of the present Middle East.
Even as a considered Mongoloid race of central Asia between modern India and China, the Lepchas do not look to the Peking Man for their first seeds; rather this particular indigenous group most likely branched out from the Java Man in view of the Lepchas’ unique physical features and characteristics, their different language and script, singular views on creationism, faiths, beliefs and outlook on life even among their immediate “Kirant brothers” – the Limbus and Rais whom the Rongs call Chong and Song respectively.
Be these as they may, but even in the case of the Lepchas as a calibrated nation, history is but a most recent arrival in the eons of this side of the Earth and the story of its humankind.
In this, “Mayel Lyang” traces the genesis of the Lepchas – who meaningfully call themselves Rongs or Rongkup – from prehistoric periods typically characterized by fantabulous lore and phantasmagoric legends, their travels through the historic morphs of the eastern Himalaya before reaching its present tense in the new millennium.
This may be typical of all the world’s “first” peoples, from the Aborigines of Australia, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Native Americans of the US, and the First Nations of Canada, among other worldwide instances.
As for the Rongs themselves, it is best to refer to Mr Tamlong’s book itself, which is a compendium of all the past published volumes by various authors of many nationalities, including many Lepchas themselves.
But that alone being not enough, the author has his own firsthand observations, personal experiences and other golden nuggets in his book.
Divided into as many convenient subchapters, Mayel Lyang highlights all the Lepcha facets, from their misty origin to the territories they roamed and ranged, lifestyle, ethics, food habits, altitudinal and attitudinal dispensations, dress codes, traditions and customs, festivals, outlooks on life, changes and transformations through the ages, and so on.
(Readers must negotiate with occasional and avoidable editorial lapses and typos, and these are minor unprofessional irritants in the book.)
Writing unassumingly and without scholarly pretenses, and in a textbook format for even general-interest readers, the author has all the inherent qualifications for producing such a book: Being a native-born Rong/Lepcha of the Northeast Hills, highly educated for a minority tribal member in his own endemic land, having served as a senior civil servant in the WBCS (West Bengal Civil Service), and then being the first and the only Lepcha IAS (Indian Administrative Service) bureaucrat, Mr. Tamlong also has the most enviable record of serving in Darjeeling’s recent trying decades during which he was the Indian Government’s Principal Secretary to the DGHC (Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council).
Though officially retired now, his prime age still allows him to share his experienced suggestions and professional advisory with the new Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in Darjeeling.
Above all, he is the brightest son of the soil in this generation, and young Lepchas can always look up to him for inspiration and guidance.
Mayel is the name of a most enchanted ancestral habitat (“lyang”) of the Rongs, hidden in the higher and hidden folds of Mount Kanchanjunga.
It was a mystical and magical land seldom seen by mortal human beings except those blessed and preordained. Timeless Mayel is what Tibetans have in their own Bayul – the Shangri-La, the Shambhala – and the Brindaban and Ashok Batika in the south, and the Garden of Eden of the Holy Bible, and the Green Mansions.
These are, however, imaginary parks and gardens of the fabled past, whereas Sikkim and Darjeeling are still there, and the twins can still be imagined in their pristine yore: What was the region like before outsiders and spoilers arrived at different times? The region has its two loftiest citadels in Kanchanjunga and Mount Siniolchu, their glacial waters impregnating the Tista, Rangit and other rivers and tributaries.
Fertile hills, dunes, valleys and plateaus are still aplenty, with streams and creeks, teeming with fish, irrigating them.
But then the Tibetans arrived from the north in medieval times; migrating hordes of Nepalis rushed from the west in the 18th century, coinciding with the arrival of the British and Indians from the south at about the same time; the Dukpas from the east encroached at different times, and Ilam was claimed by Nepal before the 19th century.
So Time no more stands still in Mayel Lyang. Modern times have taken their toll on the Lepchas. Their Rongland was parceled out to four political states during the British Raj in the Indian Subcontinent; now they are annexed by three nations.
The Indian State of Sikkim, the Rong motherland, has disproportionately more Nepalis (7:1) now; Darjeeling in the State of North Bengal has become Gorkhaland of the Gorkhays (8:1) who are but Nepalis in origin; Bhutan’s Mahayanist ethnic cleansing drove its Rongs to nearby Rhenock and Git Dubling in Kalimpong – the erstwhile slice of colonial “British Bhootan."
In Ilam of east Nepal, the district’s Ilamoo “Lapche”-s (this reviewer has “Ilamu Karthak” heritage, as per Baje Iman Singh Chemjong) are smothered to a minority of barely five thousand inhabitants in their own prehistoric land.
Since “Lepcha” is the name given to a Kanchanjunga-centric people who call themselves Rong Kup, or Rong in short, the noun is believed to have been due to their being “scurrilous.” In Nepal’s context, the word originates in “lyapche,” which is one’s inked thumb chops placed on deeds and documents as signature.
This fingerprinting was required of Rong signatories in Ilam who were illiterate then, especially in Gorkhali, the official language of the Shah kings who amalgamated Nepal as their kingdom. Hence the indigenous Ilamus were and are known as Lapche or Lapcha in Nepal, even in the Nepali-language media.
The British anglicized Lapche(y) into Lepcha – so there!
The Lepchas are also described as indolent in some western books. This trait, combined with their illiteracy, reflected on the Lepchas’ happy-go-lucky lifestyle and ethos for centuries.
Sparse in their numbers even at the best of times, probably not exceeding fifty thousand at the most at any time, the Lepchas had a landmass that could accommodate fifty times as many, as is evident today.
So they were nomadic all over the Kanchanjunga Range, practiced slash-and-burn farming, and never stayed more than a few years at one place: It was their Mayel Lyang, after all! Who cared about industry and the three R’s, eh?
But things changed, and times were not the same anymore. And the Rongs of Sikkim and Darjeeling felt the changes in the new winds blowing from everywhere.
Their moral improvisations of the bygone centuries gave way to modern modules within one or two generations, their cognitions turning into recognitions of the new issues at hand. They quickly adapted and adopted.
They had their own distinct language and script, now they enabled themselves in Nepali, English and other regional tongues as well. Consequently, they were the best ethnic group as Britain’s teaching cadres, medical corps, administrative manpower, catechists, preachers, church leaders and social engineers in the nascent towns, rural settlements and tea estates of the Hills.
The Lepchas also soon proved themselves as heroes and builders. In Sikkim itself, many Lepcha courtiers steered the affairs of the state and managed the royal palace in Gangtok while most of the Namgyal rulers had the tendency of vacationing in the Chumbi Valley.
In east Nepal, Chhoktup – Dr Harka Gurung calls him the “Lepcha General Chyothup Barfounga” in his seminal travelogue, Vignettes of Nepal – defeated the expansionist army of the Shahs not once or twice but seventeen times.
Recognizing his valor, his candidly impressed and awed adversary awarded him with the title of “Satra Jiit” – Seventeen (Times) Victorious! He was the first Gurkha/Gorkha of east Nepal, well before fellow Limbus, Rais and other ethnics started bagging the Victoria Cross.
Another Chhokthup was the Reverend Pazo, the pastor of the Scottish Presbyterian Church in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkm. Chhokthup Tshering (CT) Pazo delivered his short and sweet sermons in Rong, Tibetan, Nepali, and English, and was an advisor to the Namgyal royal court.
Above all, Reverend Pazo was a renowned Tibetology scholar, and because of his academic achievements and public stewardships, he was addressed no less as Rinpoche by the Bhutias of Sikkim.
Sadly, other Christian Lepchas – the most educated, exposed and experienced group that was hence economically advanced and with social standing and political potential in the region – failed to emulate him in the development of Rong literature, music and other fine arts.
That these Rongs did not spawn a single political vanguard of their own for representation and advocacy led to the present rudderless state where the young Rong generations find themselves today.
Simultaneously, the Rongs are categorized as minority Scheduled Tribe (ST) in Sikkim and Darjeeling, and as Adibasi Janajati in Nepal.
I wrote an article titled “A Lepcha in your own land: On being an ‘outsider’ in Kathmandu and remembering the past” in the March 2011 issue of the Himal Southasian magazine (http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4310-a-lepcha-in-your-own-land.html).
This has caused mostly young and unknown Rongs to write to me on my Facebook account, and more continue to do so.
What I wrote was the first half of the Rong story; this review embeds the second and last installment of the saga upto the present time. Both pieces are dedicated to the young Rongs of today.
Finally, a few words on the front cover of “Mayel Lyang” itself. It shows three figures – Thikung Tek, his wife, and Khye Bumsa – under the caption “Statue of Unity.”
The mythical narrative is something else again: The museum display in Gangtok shows the Rong chieftain Thikung Tek receiving Khye Bumsa, the leader of the migrating Tibetans, in upper Sikkim. This is the celebrated Covenant between the Rongs and the Tibetans at Kavi Lung Chok, above Gangtok. Thikung Tek seems to be saying to Khye Bumsa, “We’ve agreed that you and your people stay in the north, and we’ll live in the south.”
But it was not to be. Khye Bumsa’s Namgyal descendents took over the entire Rongland of Sikkim and Darjeeling.
Thereupon fell the curse of Thikung Tek on the kings of Sikkim, bringing a perpetual problem of primogeniture to the throne of Sikkim: That no firstborn crown prince would ever succeed to the throne, and the next pretenders would be either physically deformed or mentally deficient.
Finally, the dynasty would be wiped out after the twelfth generation. The deceit of the Namgyals to the Rongs was finally avenged when Kazi Lhendup Dorjee Khangsharpa, a Karthak Lepcha, as chief minister of Sikkim toppled the last Namgyal ruler in 1974/75. What transpired through his coup did fulfill Thikung Tek’s curse on Khye Bumsa’s lineage, but the outcome has had been a political toss of something totally unexpected since then.
The rest is history, and the next Rong Romance is waiting to begin. There are strong indications that it has already begun.
<pjkarthak@gmail.com>
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