The spectacular story of Sikkim

by Padma EDIRISINGHE

No. I have never been to Sikkim. The furthest North I have been in India in Kashmir and I am rather confused about the actual geographical position of Sikkim which constitutes the 22nd state of India or Bharatha Desha.

No. Neither have I been taking statistics of India's states. I simply came upon this fact in a research book undertaken by one of our monks i.e. Missaka Kamalasiri Himi of Rajagiriya. The book is on the famous Thera, S. Mahinda Himi.

After having made two trips to Sikkim he unfolds the childhood of Tibet. Mahinda Himi, who exhorted the Sinhala race of the early and mid 20th century to a frenzy of nationalism via his books of prose and verse. If one gets curious as to what energized the young Tibetan monk who comes from Sikkim to get into a fit of preserving the identity of the island race, what was happening in Sikkim at the time he left these snowy Himalayan foothills provides the answer. Sikkim was on its way to losing her identity under the boots of imperialism and the boy, Pempa Thendupi Serki Cherin (Mahinda Thera's lay name) was too small to retaliate. What did he do? Once come over here on a scholarship granted by king of Sikkim, on the request of his elder brother, he transposed all his national sentiments on to the Sinhala race. It is a unique story that one can piece out from that text which the author himself does not directly convey, perhaps failing to see the connection or deliberately overlooking it.

The tusker comes out of the Maha Devalaya, with Basnayake Nilame leading the perahera

I knew a lot about Mahinda Himi but not much about Sikkim, the actual state the young boy came from. My own subsequent readings opened a curtain on a country that strangely carries a strange story nettled in the fangs of imperialism. It was a Buddhist country inhabited by two clans, Lepchas and the Bhutias. Life went on with the two clans living in harmony while drums gonged in temples and echoed around the gorgeous Himalayan range. The sonorous chants of saffron robed monks added to the native ethos of the environment.

From the 17th century however had seeped in a new race to India, first in the form of a trading company i.e, the British East India Company. Local rulers were in disarray and the foreigners found a vast hunting ground to fatten their resources. One by one states of India fell into their hands as the Company got the blessings of the State of England too. Sikkim was soon to succumb but not rapidly. The clans held fast to their native bonds and then the imperialists performed their famous tricks. Hindu Gorkhas from Nepal were brought in large numbers and dissension set in. A House Divided is an easy prey. Sikkim was sinking.

Its city, Darjeeling was made into a holiday resort for the Englishmen. Sikkim's total eclipse as a separate state however came after India gained her independence. Riots began and Indian armies aided by the Nepalese quelled the riots that ended with an India-Sikkim agreement. Sikkim became a protectorate of India but by that time one of its most brilliant citizens was here in Sri Lanka composing verses for his books as Nidhase Dahana (mantram of independence) to arouse sleeping Lankans from their lazy slumbers.

He left Sikkim in a very confused state of its history. Many are under the belief that Mahinda Himi was an orphan handed over to Mahabodhi Society to be sent to Ceylon.

But actually he had belonged to a very well - known and affluent family in Sikkim. His father had headed a large Buddhist temple named Gutiabasthi Vihara that by its very name implies that it catered to the two main clans of Sikkim. This temple had been later shifted since its drums disturbed rituals of a church built in the proximity to cater to the Westerners come over. His elder brother had been a lecturer at Calcutta University who after the father's death came back to head a prestigious school where the son of the king of Sikkim himself had studied. This son was later to go on to Oxford.

But the clouds were already gathering around the independent boy, Serkey (Mahinda). He felt which way the winds were blowing.

The identity of Sikkim was at stake. A State decree stipulated that Buddhism and Tibetan culture should do their exit from the school curriculum. The king himself had got brainwashed and was under obligation to the British who has sent his son overseas.

One fine day Serkey (Mahinda) and his brother vanished from the school headed by the elder brother.

They were brought back. At this time Ven. Ganathiloka the German monk who was residing at Polgasduwa off Hikkaduwa was on a visit to Sikkim. Perhaps he was responsible for a Buddhist education on a scholarship that endowed six rupees for sustenance for a whole year! Ven. Kamalasiri has reproduced in his book all documents as regards this scholarship that are still preserved in Sikkim Archives.

But this essay, I intended more as a saga of Sikkim than that of Mahinda Himi though no one can belittle him or his massive role in our national resurgence. Sikkim today according to sources is so different from what it was originally.

The Buddhist Lipta clan is almost non-existent. And the Nepalese Buddhists come over are today mostly Catholics, Gangtok, the capital is almost a Christian city.

What happened to the royal dynasty that had held sway in Sikkim for centuries? No. They were not deported to Vellore as done here. The king did not stand on a pier singing, 'Ithin Ayobowan, Sikkim mawata garu.'

They stayed on in Sikkim utterly powerless till the one who had claims to the rights to the throne passed away in 1977 under mysterious circumstances. Some ascribe it to a motor accident. His father, Thendup Namgyal, school mate of Mahinda Himi(?) the last reigning monarch of Sikkim like our Sri Wickrema had even a stranger history.

He had succumbed to the charms of a female American missionary busy converting local Gusthis and Lepchas and married her. They were allowed to live in the palace even after the political changes. But after the crown prince's death things became too unbearable and the whole family shifted to New York.

There his wife left him for another and the ex-king had died all alone having succumbed to cancer. The king had another son, who was the second heir to the throne but he got so disillusioned by all what was happening that he took to robes and retreated to a hermitage.

Two children born later to the American wife of the king, named Hope and Paldane are said to still live in America. More strangely they are said to be strongly resistant to American influences and have found life mates of Sikkim nationality.

Meanwhile, even the relations of S. Mahinda Himi continues to live in Kalingphone of Sikkim and continue as fervent Buddhists, some even taking to robes. It was they who had supplied much information to Missaka Kamalasiri Thera. Well, truth they say is stronger than fiction. But how much the beautiful snowy slopes of the Himalayas miss the sacred gongs of Buddhist Sikkim is only left to guesswork!