INTRODUCTION TO THEE HISTORY OF SIKKIM

 

History of Sikkim  

                                 part-1

Sikkim was a Buddhist kingdom under the Namgyal-Chogyal dynasty from 1642 to 1975.
Time and again the little kingdom had to defend itself against attacks from Nepal. 1835 the area of Darjeeling - that had been part of Sikkim until then - was annexed by British India. Sikkim was a protectorate first of British India and after its independence in 1947 of India. With foreign policy and national defense in the hands of India the political influence of Sikkim became more severely restricted when the new Constitution came into force in 1955. Bureaucrats planned to bring the monarchy to an end in 1973 and India in turn, increased its influence. The Chogyal (king who governs with righteousness) Palden Namgyal Thodup was crashed in 1975 and Sikkim merged with India as its 22nd state.

Pre-History

The first known people to occupy Sikkim are the Lepcha. Their cultural traits such as dress and family norms show close affinity with the Khasi of Meghalaya, and linguistically, they have a lot in common with the Tangkul Naga of Northern Manipur. Earliest historical records mention the passage of the Buddhist saint Padmasambhava through Sikkim in the 8th century A.D. Guru Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rimpoche introduced Buddhism and predicted that a century later the era of monarchy would arrive. 

AD 1200’s

Guru Tashi, a prince of the Kham district in eastern Tibet had a divine vision to go south and seek his fortune in ‘Denzong, the valley of rice’. As directed, he heads in the southern direction with is family that includes five sons. During their wanderings, they enter a Sakya kingdom where the construction of a monastery is being held back with the workers’ inability to erect the pillars. The eldest son of Guru Tashi helps in raising the pillars single-handedly and thereon comes to be known as Khye Bumsa, meaning, ‘the superior of ten thousand’. The Sakya king offers his daughters hand in marriage to Khye Bumsa, and the couple settle in the Chumbi Valley.

AD 1300’s

Khye Bumsa’s wife is barren and the couple are advised to seek help from the Lepcha priest king, Thekong Tek who rules (Sikkim) the area south of the Chumbi. Having received the blessings of Thekong Tek, Bumsa’s wife is able to bear three sons, and out of gratitude he visits the grand old sage several times more nurturing an amicable relationship between them. Ironically, Thekong Tek himself is without an offspring to inherit his kingdom. It is said that he allowed Khye Bumsa to rule after his death following a covenant of blood brotherhood between them at Kabi Lungchok, on a solemn oath that he would not discriminate his newly acquired Lepcha subjects. It is a fact that most among Khye Bumsa’s nobility each took a Lepcha spouse to attest the pledge. 

Foundation of the Monarchy

AD 1600’s

Events of the persecution of the Nyingma sect in Tibet lead to their fleeing the country and taking refuge in places like Sikkim and Bhutan. In 1642 Phuntsog Namgyal, a fifth-generation descendant of  Khye Bumsa is consecrated as the first Chogyal in Yuksam by Rimpoche Lhatsun Chempo, the founder of the Nyingmapa order in Sikkim and two venerated lamas. Sikkim’s territory then included the Chumbi Valley in the north, up to Ha Dzong in Bhutan, as far as the Arun River in Nepal, and much of the Jalpaiguri District of West Bengal.

Phuntsog Namgyal, a fifth-generation descendant of Khye Bumsa, was consecrated as the first Chogyal (king who governs with righteousness) at Yoksum in 1642  by three venerated lamas. Phuntsog Namgyal was succeeded in 1670 by his son, who moved the capital from Yuksom to Rabdentse. 

 

AD 1700’s

With the help of the Chogyal’s half-sister who had been denied the throne, Sikkim was invaded by the Bhutanese in 1700. With help from Tibet the Bhutanese were driven back and the throne to the Chogyal was restored ten years later. Sikkim loses Kalimpong and all territories east of it to Bhutan.
Between 1717 and 1733, the kingdom of Sikkim faced many raids by the Nepalese in the west and Bhutanese in the east, culminating with the destruction of the capital Rabdentse by the Nepalese. To support Sikkim and defend Tibet against the Gorkha Kingdom of present day Nepal, China sent troops to support Sikkim. With the subsequent defeat over the Gorkha it was the Chinese Qing Dynasty that established control over Sikkim.

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