History of Sikkim

Ancient history

Not much is known about Sikkim's ancient history, except that the first inhabitants were the Lepcha people (or "Rong"). They were later encompassed and absorbed by other groups. Sikkim also finds its mention on many Hindu texts as Indrakil or "Garden of Lord Indra."

The Buddhist saint Guru Rinpoche is said to have passed through the land in the 9th century. According to legend the Guru blessed the land, introduced Buddhism to Sikkim and also foretold the era of the monarchy in the state, which would arrive centuries later. There are numerous stories regarding the migration of Tibetans into Sikkim and the establishment of the Sikkimese monarchy. The most popular states that in the 13th century, Guru Tashi, a prince from the Mi-nyak House in Kham in Eastern Tibet, had a divine revelation one night instructing him to travel south to seek his fortunes. Guru Tashi settled down in the Chumbi Valley in Sikkim. In recent years a number of scholarly article have been written on the history of Sikkim, which cast doubt over the validity of these stories.^[1][2]

[edit]Kingdom of Sikkim

Map of Sikkim

In 1642, the fifth generation descendant of Guru Tashi, Phuntsog Namgyal was consecrated as the first Denjong Gyalpo or the Chogyal (king) of Sikkim by the three great Lamas who came from the north, west and south to Yuksom Norbugang in West Sikkim. The event, Naljor Chezhi, was as predicted by Guru Rinpoche some eight hundred years before. This historical gathering of the three virtuous lamas is called Yuksom, which in Lepcha means the 'The Place where the Three monks met' as in Lepcha a lama is called a "Yukmun" and three is called "Som". The chogyal, along with the three lamas proselytised the Lepcha tribes into Buddhism and annexed the Chumbi Valley, the present-day Darjeeling district and parts of today's eastern Nepal.

[edit]Invasions from Bhutan and Nepal

Phuntsog Namgyal was succeeded by his son, Tensung Namgyal in 1670. The reign of the chogyal was peaceful and saw the capital being shifted from Yuksom to Rabdentse. Chakdor Namgyal, the king's second wife's son, took over the throne from him in 1700. This outraged his elder half-sister Pendiongmu, who ousted him with the help of the Bhutanese. From 1700 to 1706, when Chakdor Namgyal, the third chogyal, ruled the Kingdom of Sikkim, most parts of Sikkim were under the invasion of Deb Naku Zidar, the king of Bhutan. Chakdor Namgyal went in exile into Tibet. The Tibetan people expelled the Bhutanese army, and called Chakdor Namgyal back to Sikkim.^[3]. Chakdor's son Gyurmed Namgyal succeeded him in 1717. Gyurmed's reign saw many skirmishes between the Nepalese and Sikkimese. Phuntsog Namgyal II, the illegitimate child of Gyurmed, succeeded his father in 1733. His reign was tumultuous as he was faced with attacks by the Bhutanese and the Nepalese who managed to capture the capitalRabdentse.

Tenzing Namgyal, chogyal from 1780 to 1793, was a weak ruler, and his sovereignty saw most of Sikkim being appropriated by Nepal. In 1788, the NepaliGurkha Army invaded Sikkim, and took Limbuana and the former capital Rabdentse by storm. The king of Sikkim went into exile in Tibet for a second time. In 1788, the 8th Dalai Lama stationed him in Chumbi Valley in Rènà zong (also "Rèrì," today's Yadong County).^[3][4] Tshudpud Namgyal, his son returned to Sikkim in 1793 to reclaim the throne with the help of China. Finding Rabdentse too close to the Nepalese border, he shifted the capital to Tumlong.

[edit]Relations with the British Empire

With the arrival of the British in neighbouring India, Sikkim allied itself with them as they had a common enemy – Nepal. The infuriated Nepalese attacked Sikkim with vengeance, overrunning most of the region including the Terai. This prompted the British East India Company to attack Nepal resulting in the Gurkha War in 1814. Treaties signed between Sikkim and Nepal – the Sugauli Treaty and Sikkim and British India – Titalia Treaty, returned the territory annexed by the Nepalese to Sikkim in 1817.

Meanwhile the British were looking for a route to establish trading links with Tibet. An offshoot of the ancient Silk Road through Sikkim meant that the kingdom was ideal as a transit route. A secondary reason for the establishment of links was to quell the growing Russian influence in Tibet. However ties between Sikkim and India grew sour with the taxation of the area of Morang by the British. In 1835, Sikkim was forced to cede the town of Darjeeling to the British on the condition that a compensation of Rs 35,000 be paid to him.

In 1849, a pair of British doctors, Campbell and Hooker, ventured into the mountains of Sikkim unannounced and unauthorised by the Chogyal of Sikkim. The doctors were detained by the Sikkim government, which led to a punitive British expedition against the Himalayan kingdom, in which the whole of Darjeeling district and Morang were annexed in 1861, although the kingdom continued to exist as an independent rump state centred around the capital at Gangtok. The old Chogyal was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Sidekong Namgyal in 1863.

The Chogyals of Sikkim endeavoured to modernise their state in the succeeding decades, along with their army. A state visit to Darjeeling by Sidekong's half brother, Chogyal Thutob Namgyal in 1873 failed to yield such results, and he returned to Tumlong disappointed. In 1886, the British, interested in trade with Tibet, launched a brief expedition into Sikkim. The Tibetans occupied several of Sikkim's northern border forts, and the Chogyal and his wife were held prisoner by the British when they came to negotiate at Calcutta. In 1888, the Tibetans were defeated and northern Sikkim came under the rule of British India. The British established new landholdings in Sikkim, but released the Chogyal only to have him captured again in 1891. In 1894, the capital was shifted to Gangtok.

In 1895, the Chogyal was released, but the British governors in India reneged on an agreement – the Ten Clauses Agreement – which returned sovereignty to Sikkim. The governor of British India, Claude White, refused to return any sovereignty, and only let the Chogyal retain the judiciary of Sikkim.

In 1905, the Prince of Wales – the future King George V – arrived in Calcutta on a state visit during which he met the Chogyal. The two made an excellent acquaintance and the Crown Prince of Sikkim, Sidkeong Tulku was sent to study at Oxford University. When Sidkeong came to power, he arranged widened sovereignty for Sikkim from King George's government and endorsed sweeping reforms in his short rule as Chogyal, which ended in 1914. In 1918, Sikkim's independence in all domestic affairs was restored, and in the next decade she embarked on a policy to end social ills, outlawing gambling, child labour, and indentured service.

[edit]Independent monarchy

Flag of the monarchy of Sikkim

Tashi Namgyal, Chogyal of Sikkim. 1938.

Sikkim had retained guarantees of independence from Britain when she became independent, and such guarantees were transferred to the Indian government when it gained independence in 1947. A popular vote for Sikkim to join the Indian Union failed and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehruagreed to a special protectorate status for Sikkim. Sikkim was to be a tributary of India, in which India controlled its external defence, diplomacy and communication. A state council was established in 1955 to allow for constitutional government for the Chogyal, which was sustained until 1973.

In 1962, India and the People's Republic of China went to war. Although Sikkim was an independent country, skirmishes occurred at the Nathula Passbetween Indian border guards and the Chinese soldiers. After the war, the ancient pass was shut down (it reopened July 6, 2006).

The old ruler Tashi Namgyal died in 1963 after suffering from cancer. The last hereditary ruler, the Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, ascended to the throne in 1965. Trouble began to brew for the crown even before the Chogyal assumed the throne, as Indian Prime Minister Nehru, who had carefully preserved Sikkim's status as an independent protectorate, died in 1964. His daughter Indira Gandhi, who became Prime Minister in 1966, would have little patience for maintaining an independent Sikkim or its monarchy. The chogyal, who responded to the increased pressure by drinking, was viewed by India as politically dangerous, especially after his wife, the American socialite Hope Cooke, published a journal article advocating a return of certain former Sikkimese properties.

In early 1970 the anti-monarchy Sikkim National Congress Party demanded fresh elections and greater representation for the Nepalese.

In 1973, anti-royalty riots in front of the palace led to a formal request for protection from India. India worried that an unstable Sikkim would invite Chinese to act on its claims that Sikkim was part of Tibet, and therefore part of China. The Indian government appointed a Chief administrator, Mr. B. S. Das, who effectively wrested control of the country away from the Chogyal.

Frosty relations between the Chogyal and the elected Kazi (Prime Minister) Lhendup Dorji resulted in an attempt to block the meeting of the legislature. The Kazi was elected by the Council of Ministers which was unanimous in its opposition to the retention of the Monarchy.

Indian reserve police were moved in and took control of the streets of Gangtok, the borders were closed and little was known until American climber Caril Ridley happened into the capital and was able to smuggle photos and legal documentation out. When confirmed by China, India’s actions were brought into the spotlight of world awareness, However history had already been written and matters came to a head in 1975, when the Kazi (Prime Minister) appealed to the Indian Parliament for representation and change of status to statehood. On April 14, 1975, a referendum was held, in which Sikkim voted to merge with the union of India. Sikkim became the 22nd Indian State on April 26, 1975. On May 16, 1975, Sikkim officially became a state of the Indian Union and Lhendup Dorji became head of State (chief minister). This was promptly recognised by the United Nations and all countries except China.

The position of Chogyal was thus abolished, ending the monarchy. In 1982, Palden Thondup succumbed to cancer in the United States.

[edit]State of India

The 1979 assembly election saw Nar Bahadur Bhandari elected Chief Minister of Sikkim. Bhandhari held on to win again in 1984 and 1989. In 1994, Assembly politician Pawan Kumar Chamling became the Chief Minister of Sikkim. In 1999 and 2004, Chamling consolidated his position to sweep the polls.

Sino-Indian relations were somewhat bruised in 2000 by an event in Sikkim which challenged China's longstanding claim of Sikkim as an independent country. The unusual event was the escape ofOgyen Trinley Dorje from Tibet to Dharamsala, India. Ogyen Trinley Dorje is one of the two rival claimants who seeks recognition as the 17th Karmapa, the head of the Black Hat branch of Tibetan Buddhism (see Karmapa controversy). The two claimants did battle in the Indian court system for control of the considerable funds collected by the 16th Karmapa for the restoration and maintenance of Rumtek Monastery, located in Gangtok, Sikkim. The Chinese, who recognize Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the true Karmapa, were unhappy about the court outcome which awarded the monastery funds to the other rival. However, the Chinese government was in a quandary as to what to do about it, as any protest to India would mean an explicit endorsement that the high court of India holds jurisdiction over Sikkim.

In 2003, with the thawing of ties between the two nations, Indian sovereignty over Sikkim was finally recognised by China. The two governments also proposed to open the Nathula and Jelepla Passesin 2005.

On 18 September 2011, a magnitude 6.9M_w earthquake struck Sikkim, killing at least 116 people in the state and in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Tibet.^[5] More than 60 people died in Sikkim alone, and the city of Gangtok suffered significant damage

UAE (Dubai)

Dharma devi Temple

Dharmadevi Devi Temple is located east part of Nepal. Sankhuwa Sabha district in Aankhibhuin VDC 1. This temple is in Humbung village. This village is main place of Yakkha people. long long time ago one lady was brought in this village by marrying with two brother, and one day the both brother fighting eachother for who is having or get marriage with that lady. they fight very dangerously. the lady feel very sad and she cryed and run away from them and go near her ther is tree she came there and she become unseen nobody can she her, she is just like disappeared. same time all over the village came terrible hurricane and after danger rainfall. all people are very scared about that event and they start to pray her as god . this is the story of the temple how people belive the Devi.
when they pray as good all every thing become same as before. the weather is same all happy enjoying as before. all they are healthy. they thought what ever happen before all becouse of the lady as god she becoem angry so that event happen. now all people knows that never neglect the lady she came here as god but we did not notice her that she is god.
after new month later they build a small temple at the same place where the lady disappeared. untill this time mostly in east nepal people knowing about that news. they started to come visit to pray as pilgrim. there is a belive that whatever we expect at praying time by good heart we will get letter because of god blessing.    

Ammanat Ali

Travels and teaching

For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. From the outset, Buddhism was equally open to all races and classes, and had no caste structure, as was the rule in Hinduism. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.

The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the vassana rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.

The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit KingBimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.

Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.

Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:

"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms"

The Buddha is said to have replied:

"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms"

Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become asotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.

Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.

In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.

The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.

Conception and birth of Buddha

Various sites have been identified as possible places of Gautama Buddha's birth. UNESCO lists Lumbini, Nepal as a world heritage site and birthplace of Gautama Buddha. There are other claims of Buddha's birth in Piprahwa in Uttar Pradesh, India; or Kapileswara in Orissa, India.^{[8][9][10][12][24]} and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilavastu.^[25] According to the most traditional biography,^[which?] the Buddha's father was King Śuddhodana, the leader of Shakya clan, whose capital wasKapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime; Gautama was the family name. His mother, Queen Maha Maya (Māyādevī) and Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side,^[26] and tenmonths later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.

The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.^[27] Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.^[28] By traditional account,^[which?] this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.^[28] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondañña), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.^[29]

While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Solar Dynasty of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.

Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition.^[30] At the time, many small city-states existed in Ancient India, called Janapadas. Republicsand chiefdoms with diffused political power and limited social stratification, were not uncommon amongst them, and were referred to as gana-sanghas.^[31]The Buddha's community does not seem to have had a caste system. It was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic.^[32] The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the Shramana-type Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism

LIFE AND DEATH

THE GREAT ANSWER

Of all the stories of strange and beautiful happening in our own times, one stands out in my mind with ever increasing meaning. It began at a small town not far from the Spanish border. Lodged in the boardinghouses of the village were many refugees, men and women fleeing from the secret German police following the Nazi armies into France. Among the refugees was a young mother and her little girl, not more than four years old. Like all the other refugees, this mother’s one idea was to get across the frontier into Spain, where she could board a ship and get safely to America. Otherwise, soon enough, the Gestapo would find her, and she and her child would be thrown into a concentration camp – perhaps murdered.

Now it looked as if, having walked hundreds of miles to get this far, mother and child were to fail, even though within sight of freedom. The Spanish guards were stubborn. They were not letting refugees pass through. And rumors were flying about the secret police would soon arrive, and then every stringer in the boardinghouses must prove himself or become a prisoner.

It is not strange, then, that the mother clasped her child to her bosom, while she prayed for deliverance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You may think it was a coincidence; nevertheless, there came to this woman’s room next day a singular man on a secret errand.

“I’m a guide from the underground,” he confided. “In the dark of the moon I lead parties of refugees over the mountains and down into Spain. It is a long and difficult trail, but God will help.”

That night, when the town was asleep, mother and child set out together to walk to a rendezvous somewhere up the mountainside. But the child soon tired and the mother had to carry her. She was painting with exhaustion when she came to the appointed place. There she found an apprehensive company: old men and women, middle-aged and young – all waiting to be guided up and over the mountain, down to safety and freedom. The leader was telling them to trust to God in this desperate attempt. All welcomed the mother and daughter, and at once the young and middle-aged men volunteered to take turns in carrying the lady’s child. Then they started upward.

As they toiled higher and ever higher, the strain began to tell. Finally, the oldest, frailest man among them gave a groan.

“I can’t go on,” he gasped, and sank to the ground. “Don’t mind me. Leave me here to die. Save yourselves.”

But the leader stood over him, stern and yet compassionate.

“You’re not dead yet,” he said. “We must all help each other. Whatever strength you have left belongs to all of us. With your last ounce of strength help us carry the lady’s child – until you die.”

Three times on that dreadful expedition, one after another, three older men gave up. And each time the leader insisted that the exhausted old man use his last drop of energy to carry the child. When the morning light appeared, and they had crossed the heights and come down past the border line into another country, every one of the party that had set out together was alive – every one well.

The three old men who had carried the lady;s child had found new strength, new life, and were ready to face a new world of freedom.

Surely here is the great answer for the riddle of life.