SOUL OF SIKKIM: Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal (1923-1982)

A LONELY STRUGGLE

Nearly ten years after he took over the Sikkim administration as the Chief Executive, B.S. Das, advised the late Chogual to join the Indian mainstream. The Chogyal, who all his life fought for preservation of the kingdom’s distinct international status, reacted this way: “I am a Sikkimese and belong to this place. How can I leave my people and my country.”

   Although Das’ takeover of the administration in early 1973 paved way for the gradual absorption of the kingdom into the Indian Union two years later, he, nevertheless, was kind and realistic in his assessment of Palden Thondup Namgyal, the former Chogyal who died in I982. In his book, Sikkim Saga, published in 1983, Das in the last chapter has this to say about the Chogyal: “A lone and forgotten man who lost his kingdom, his wife and everything that he stood for, stuck to his Palace, his people, his Sikkim till he breathed his last. Unbending in his misfortune, he dreamt of someone, someday appreciating the righteousness of his cause and placing him in history as a true nationalist who fought singlehanded against all odds for what he believed in.

   His silvery grey hair and the small wrinkles on the face alone spoke of the strain of the past years but they made him look even handsomer than he was. Yet, he showed no rancour, no bitterness and held his head high. To leave his people and Sikkim was totally unacceptable to him.”

   Das then makes a personal admission, “As a person, I hold Palden Thondup Namgyal in great esteem. I have met few personalities in my long career who could stand up and fight for a cause. For him, more than his personal gains, Sikkim’s identity was a cause. That he fought using all means available to him does credit to him. His battle was one sided and against all odds. That did not deter him as it was a question of his faith in the righteousness of his cause.”

   I had a feeling that the late Nari Rustomji was preparing a book on the Chogyal while I was studying law in Bombay in the early ’80s. Upon my enquiry Rustomji told me that the book would be called…I forget the real name but it definitely had the word “Prince”. I told Rustomji that this was not right as “our King” was not a mere “Prince” but the Chogyal. He was quite sympathetic to my suggestion but said referring to the Chogyal as a Prince gave him more prominence. I wasn’t too convinced about his justification but didn’t say much on the subject.

   Of Rustomji’s four books, which dealt with Sikkim, Bhutan and the North-East, the last one was exclusively on Sikkim. It was called “Sikkim: A Himalayan Tragedy”. While he referred to the Chogyal as ‘prince’ the name of the book was different. Maybe he had some rethinking after I put forward my suggestion about the title. May be not. The book was published in 1987 and in the same year Rustomji came to Sikkim for a visit.

   Rustomji personally handed a hardbound copy of his book to me with his signature and a short note which read: “For my friend, Jigme, who will, no doubt, critically review! In trepidation.” The book was devoted:

“To the memory of Palden Thondup Namgyal: 

“A moment, and time will forget

Our failure and our name

But not the common thought

That linked us in a dream.”

 

   Rustomji, who had known the Chogyal ever since their days in the ICS in Dehra Dun in 1942, had this to say about his life-long friend in the book, which was actually an extract from his article in Indian Express (dated Feb 14, 1982) entitled: “The King must die”:

   “It was his misfortune that, try as he might, he could not get people to understand that small can be beautiful. Nor could he allow himself to be convinced that others did not see Sikkim as he saw her, that Sikkim’s existence was, for the rest of the world, a non-event. His principles might have been unrealistic and all wrong, but he was not prepared, to the very last, to compromise with them. He was intoxicated by his passion for his land and people.”

   One of the first things that I wanted to do after my own book, “Inside Sikkim: Against the Tide”, was published in December 1993, was to fly down to Bombay and handover my book to Rustomji. But I was deprived of this privilege. I came to learn that time that Rustomji had passed away in October 1993, just two months before my book was published.

  Till this moment I have not written anything on Rustomji nor have I reviewed his book. But when I do something for him it’ll then be my turn to dedicate it to him and say:

 

“A moment, and time will forget

Our failure and our name

But not the common thought

That linked us in a dream.”

 

   Today, this dream is shared by many Sikkimese. In an article entitled, “Soul of Sikkim, Soul on Fire”, carried in the annual college magazine (of Sikkim Students Association, Bombay. I was the President of the Association and editor of the magazine), Lukshyama, in 1982 I wrote: “A king must die, but his people live on and his hopes continue…the 19^th of February 1982 will go down in the history of Sikkim. It was not a funeral day of the late Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal of Sikkim; it was the day of resurrection of the Sikkimese people whose long-suppressed spirit found utterance…The forces that work against its people cannot ignore the impact of the day. What they heard cannot be forgotten. For on that day the people spoke. Their silent speeches and their silken scarves will forever be recorded in the minds of those who witnessed the greatness of that day. The very fragrance of the day will last for eternity.”

   I was aware of the pressure exerted on me at that time for this piece and I paid the price. I particularly remember a comment made by someone in my own village who had read my piece. He said, “The Sikkimese people will understand what you have written only after twenty years.” This was in 1982.

   It has taken 18 years for the Sikkimese people to acknowledge the greatness of the Chogyal. Recently, the Chamling Government decided to install a statue of the Chogyal in the capital. The Governor, New Delhi’s highest representative in the State, while laying down the foundation stone of the Chogyal’s statue, showered praises for the Chogyal and called him “The Soul of Sikkim”.

   History is witness to the fact that true leaders of any country are much ahead of their peers and people. The Sikkimese people are now beginning to understand and appreciate the heroic deeds of the last monarch of the Namgyal Dynasty. To those who are prepared to fight for preservation of Sikkim’s distinct identity within the framework of the Constitution they must first, like the late Chogyal, be intoxicated by a passion that lasts and inspires others to fight for a cause against all odds.

 

(Ref: Sikkim Observer, July 17-23, 1999.)

 

Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal (1923-1982)

SOUL OF SIKKIM

“During the hour of his trial, when his very throne was at stake, Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal stood like a rock and sacrificed petty considerations for the lofty ideals he had espoused. He lost, but in the very process of losing his throne and status, he rose to his full stature. For when ‘little men’ who rule the roost in Sikkim will have been consigned to dust, posterity will look back with awe and respect upon the last representative of the House of Namgyal on the throne of Sikkim and say that Palden Thondup Namgyal bowed out of the political stage of Sikkim with the grace of a ruler and with the courage of a real man. He lost his Kingdom, but gained a martyr’s halo. And his descendants will be able to walk with their heads held high whatever their circumstances in life happen to be.”

(Sons of Sikkim: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim, Jigme N. Kazi, 2020, Notion Press, and Sikkim Legislative Assembly proceedings.)

 

BANNER OF REVOLT

 

“There is one thing stronger

than all the armies of the world;

and that is an idea

whose time has come.”

                      -  Victor Hugo

 

“One of the strongest

characteristics of genius is

the power of lighting its own fire”

 

                        -  John Foster

 

 

At around 9 in the morning of April 26 this Wednesday my boys helped me to raise a black flag on the top of my building at Nam Nang, Gangtok. There are now seven flags atop my incomplete concrete structure. Five of them in different colours (blue, white, red, green and yellow), reflecting the five elements of the earth, are Buddhist prayer flags, one is the OSU (Organisation of Sikkimese Unity) flag in red and yellow, bearing the Khukuri and Khorlo symbols, which stand for unity and identity of the three ethnic communities of Sikkim. The last addition is a black flag made of Swiss cotton. Seven is a good number, and I strongly believe that the last flag is significant in its own unique way.

   Three years back, I, as the OSU Chairman, gave an ultimatum to the Centre to restore the political rights of the bonafide Sikkimese people as per Article 371F of the Constitution of India by April 26, 2000, when the former kingdom completes 25 years as an Indian State.

   Though each year the State Day is observed on May 16, it must be noted that the Indian Parliament, by inserting Article 371F in the Constitution, through the April 26, 1975 amendment, made Sikkim the 22^nd State of the India Union.

   The betrayal of the Sikkimese people through violation of the provisions of this article of faith and trust by New Delhi cannot be forgotten so easily. It must be placed on record for future sons and daughters of Sikkim to take note of and act accordingly.  Four years after the passing of the 36^th Constitution (Amendment) Bill on April 26, 1975, the Indian President, through an Ordinance in September 1979, scrapped the 32 seats reserved for the Sikkimese people in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly. In 1980, when the Congress(I) returned to power in New Delhi, it passed the Representation of People (Amendment) Act. This Act abolished Assembly seats reserved for bonafide Sikkimese.

   By taking note of the 1978 Sikkim Scheduled Tribes Order the 1980 Act indirectly did away with reservation of 12 Assembly seats of the Bhutias and Lepchas. The unclear definition of “Sikkimese” proves that seats reserved for the Lepchas, Sangha and Scheduled Castes may not necessarily go to a bonafide Sikkimese belonging to these communities.

   Ever since 1978-79, the people of Sikkim, through its governments, political and social organizations, have persistently asked the Centre to honour its commitment made to the Sikkimese people during 1974-75 and restore the political rights of the Sikkimese people. Despite the overwhelming support on the seat issue in the past twenty years New Delhi still refuses to budge an inch and instead is going ahead with its divide and rule policy.

   New Delhi’s obvious silence on the issue is not just for two or three years. Twenty five  years - a quarter of century - is a long time to meet the just demands of the Sikkimese people. Keeping the Sikkimese people perpetually waiting on this issue is not in the interest of the nation, particularly when many sensitive issues are related to it.  The raising of a black flag on this historic day in this sensitive and strategic border State should not be ignored. The banner of revolt will spread if New Delhi continues to suppress the just demands of the Sikkimese people.

   The OSU was primarily formed to preserve, protect and promote Sikkim’s distinct identity within the Union and within the framework of Article 371F of the Constitution. The OSU has given full support to those who have been demanding restoration of democracy and political rights to the Sikkimese people.

   However, we are now fully convinced that most of those who claim to champion the cause of the Sikkimese people are not genuine, sincere and serious about the problems and plight of the Sikkimese people. Therefore, it is with a heart full of burden and concern for the long-term interest of the Sikkimese people that we in the OSU decided to take things seriously and not depend on others to do all that we want to do for our fellow Sikkimese.

   The black flag atop my building facing Sikkim’s mighty Kanchenjunga is also a protest against those who have failed to honour the people’s mandate and thereby politically and enonomically suppressed the Sikkimese people in the past two and half decades. While my initiative is a mark of protest and revolt, it is also a symbol of hope for those who still have faith in themselves to continue with the struggle for survival in the land of their origin.

(Ref: Sikkim Observer, April 29-May 5, 2000.)

SOUL OF SIKKIM: Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal (1923-1982)

END OF AN ERA

With the cremation of Palden Thondup Namgyal, the former Chogyal of Sikkim, in Gangtok, a 100-year-old dynasty finally came to an end. Though deprived of his throne since 1975, when Sikkim became a state of the Indian Union, the pomp and pageantry that accompanied the cremation ceremony was certainly befitting royalty. 

The last years of his life had been spent in bitterness and pain and even humiliation. He was a king without a kingdom, betrayed by his own people, his tiny Himalayan monarchy snatched rudely away by a mighty neighbour, his power and prestige reduced to nothingness. And then, the final denouement: deserted by his American wife, he lay stricken with cancer in an alien land.

   When Palden Thondup Namgyal, 59, the former Chogyal of Sikkim, finally passed into legend and history, there remained the ultimate irony: his voice box had been removed three months earlier so there were no last words, no epitaph he could give himself, no final benediction to his people.

   The irony, however, was not over. In death, if not in life, the Chogyal finally was king again and his tortured soul had found peace. For 20 days, his body, embalmed in New York where he died, lay in state in the royal monastery in Gangtok while thousands of mourners filed past, some sobbing uncontrollably, to pay their final farewell to the departed leader.

   At each corner of the tent-shaped coffin (the Chogyal, according to traditional custom, was placed seated in the classic Buddha pose) four members of the Sikkim Police maintained a 24-hour vigil, heads bowed and rifles reversed.

Stylised Pageantry: Only a king could have commanded, and deserved, such stylised pageantry. Instead of the sombre trappings of a funeral, the coffin room was a riot of colours.

   Two rows of wizened lamas in their red robes sat facing each other, eyes closed and lips moving silently in prayer. Huge prayer flags and tankhas with intricate designs hung solemnly from the ceiling. One hundred butter lamps flickered constantly in the centre of the room, bathing the scene in an eerie glow.

   There was also a symbolic show of defiance in the form of the red and white Sikkim national flag draped over the coffin and hiding the Chogyal's mortal remains from public view.

   Next to the coffin, neatly laid out with spotless tableware, was an incongruous sight - a full meal, freshly cooked, which was served up thrice a day. At breakfast, for instance, there were two fried eggs, bacon, orange juice, a thermos jug of coffee and fruit.

   According to Buddhist tradition, the soul of the dead does not leave the body immediately, but at a moment termed auspicious by the lamas for a period up to 49 days after death.

   For economic reasons, since the family of the dead person has to feed the mourners, the actual cremation takes place within a week. In the Chogyal's case, the lamas had picked the 21st day after his death for the cremation.

   Since the day his body had been flown in to Gangtok on January 31, a row of intricately designed tents had been erected on the grassy knoll separating the palace from the royal monastery. Under the tents, hundreds of female volunteers slaved day and night to provide meals for the hundreds who arrived daily from all parts of the rugged, mountainous state for the cremation.

   Next door, in the tiny Victorian building known as the Palace, the members of the Chogyal's family huddled in private grief, led by the bespectacled and self-assured scion of the Namgyal family, Wangchuk Namgyal, 29.

    "His last days were peaceful and spent in meditation. I think he knew he was going to die and though he couldn't speak he made this quite obvious," says Palden Namgyal the Chogyal's curly-haired son by his second wife, Hope Cooke, who studies in New York and was by his father's bedside when the end came.

Also present was Bhuvanesh Kumari, member of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala and a family friend as well as the former Chogyal's legal adviser. "He was a great man, a renowned scholar and this spontaneous show of grief is a measure of the affection the people had for him," she says.

   On the day of the cremation, the royal family gathered around the coffin at 4.30 a.m. in the pre-dawn darkness to make the traditional offerings of scarves to the Chogyal's coffin. They were joined by the royal family of Bhutan, led by the queen mother, which is related by marriage to the Chogyal's family.

   At 4.45, with dawn edging over the mountains, the coffin was brought out of the monastery and taken to a specially-erected tent and placed on a gaily-decorated palanquin. Till 9 a.m., the coffin remained there while assorted VIPs including N.R. Lasker, minister of state for home, and Homi Talyarkhan. governor of Sikkim, and commoners filed past silently to pay final homage.

   Many, overcome by emotion, knelt and touched the ground with their foreheads in the traditional obeisance to a king. At 9.05, the former Chogyal set out on his final journey to the royal cremation ground on top of a hill overlooking the capital.

   Leading the procession were a group of lamas carrying prayer flags and playing instruments. Behind them marched a brass band playing funeral marches. Behind them was a police contingent with rifles pointing backwards followed by a group of old women with prayer wheels chanting incantations. Then came the main body of the procession, led by the Head Lama. Behind him, the two princesses, Yangchen and Hope Lizum, the latter, the 14-year-old daughter of the Chogyal's second wife Hope Cooke, carrying food and drink wrapped in white gauze.

   Arduous Climb: The coffin itself was initially carried by the male members of the royal family led by Prince Wangchuk and his step-brother, Palden, and Simon Abraham, the English husband of Yangchen.

    The procession circled the royal monastery thrice before another set of pall-bearers took over the started the long seven-kilometre climb to the royal cremation ground.

   Every 200 yards, the pall-bearers would be replaced by people from various localities along the route. In fact, for the last four kilometres of the route, the procession crawled up a narrow, steep path that was, in some places, little more than a goat track.

    It took the procession over three hours to finally arrive at the cremation ground where the coffin was placed on top of a specially-constructed bell-shaped funeral pyre.

   The cremation ground itself was a mass of humanity, with the more agile having clambered up trees to obtain a better view.

    After an hour of rituals, the royal family paid their last respects by throwing scarves onto the pyre after bowing thrice with folded hands, their foreheads touching the ground.

   Finally, to the moving sound of the Last Post echoing through the hills, the pyre was lit and a huge pillar of smoke rose slowly in the hushed silence, casting its shadow over the entire area.

   It was, in the end, a symbol of many things. The end of a shadowy era and the tenuous beginnings of another. An intangible tribute to the memory of a lost kingdom and a disillusioned king.

   But to the thousands of watching mourners, for that one fiery moment, Sikkim was theirs again and not the 22nd state of the Indian Union.

(India Today, Dilip Bobb, Mary 15, 1982)

 

 

Dzongkar Opening

DZONGKAR: A HOME FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS

A Haven of Peace & Happiness

 

God bless DZongkar

What a lovely name

May it bring you happiness

Affluence, glory and fame

 

To all who visit

Be it a great place to rest,

By God himself

This place is blessed.

 

Not just mortar and stones

It is a labour of love

He has smiled on your efforts

Our God in the heaven’s above

 

You’re turning a new page

Shed the baggage of yore

May it open splendorous avenues

Peace and happiness galore

 

Full of generous welcome

A home for family and friends

Overflowing with love and hospitality

And a warmth that never ends.

 

May God bless this white fortress

May he keep it safe and sound

Within its hallowed portals

May peace and happiness abound

 

(By Hermonite Vedprakash Agarwal)

 

 

 

HERMONS ON THE MOUNT

“It Shall Be Rebuilt”

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple..."

I’m sure Hermonites from all over the world and from all groups and ages are geared up to celebrate the occasion in their own way. The spirit and the manner in which some Hermonites, including some from abroad, joined the school to celebrate MH’s 125th birth anniversary on March 11, 2020, is proof enough of our strong bonding and camaraderie. The spirit of MH is alive and refuses to die.

However, we are well aware that Hermonites all over the world are conscious of what’s happening to their beloved MH. Some have given up on the school, others are holding on. Hopes are high but apprehensions are genuine. What can I say at such moment!? Keep going. Aim. Shoot to score!

During the celebration of the Methodist Church’s 150 years of ministry in the sub-continent many years ago in Lucknow, one of the speakers reminded the delegates of what Mahatma Gandhi said about the Church in India. Bishop Robert Solomon of Singapore in his keynote address recalled an incident between Stanley Jones, an American Methodist Christian missionary, and Mahatma Gandhi. When Jones asked Gandhi, “You are an ardent practitioner of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount; why don’t you join the church?” Gandhi replied, “I have no problem with Christ; my problem is with church.”

When I see what has been going in our beloved Mount Hermon, the temple of learning in the past several years I’m reminded of how Jesus Christ reacted when he saw what was happening in the Church of God in the city of Jerusalem:

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” (Mathew 21)

In 1967 when Dr. Welthy Fisher spoke at our Speech Day she reminded us how we should go about our job, particularly when things don’t go our way. She, while quoting an old Chinese proverb, said: “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

Those who are concerned about MH and have displayed their love, affection and loyalty to the school need not despair “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.

It is the law of karma. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:8-10)

When the Chapel portion of our school’s main building was restored and rededicated on August 15, seven months after the disastrous earthquake of January 15, 1934, our Principal Miss Lila Enberg in her dedicatory speech said, “We need not mourn for the greater glory of the former building that was shattered by the earthquake. Instead we all rejoice that the latter glory is greater than the former. The Assembly Hall is now more firmly constructed, more strongly bound together than before. We would now, therefore, render hearts full of thanksgiving to your Gracious God who, of His infinite mercy and goodness, has made all this possible. It was He who gave the faith and courage that enabled us to say: ‘It shall be rebuilt!’ ”

In this hour of another crisis at MH may we, too, have the faith and courage to say: "It Shall Be Rebuilt!” and mean it.

Inch by inch

Step by step

One day at a time

WE SHALL OVERCOME!

 

(Ref: Hail Mount Hermon! A TRIBUTE, Jigme N. Kazi, 2020, Prowess Publishing, Chennai, India.)

 

 

SIKKIM’S SAKYA CONNECTION

The last king of the celestial race, which reigned in Minyak for 25 generations, became very powerful. At this time (13th century), this king invited Sakya Panchen, the famous Hierarch of Sakya, to his kingdom. During a ceremonial rite being performed by the Hierarch, the deity, Guru Dragpa (a wrathful aspect of Guru Rinpoche), appeared to the king and gave him a ruby seal with the sign of a scorpion from a hidden store (ter, hidden spiritual treasure). After receiving this gift, the king became even more powerful, conquered large parts of China and also brought minor provinces and states of Kham under his control.

   The successor of the above king was directed by the same deity to go southwards to Sikkim. In a prophetic injunction, the deity directed the descendants of the Minyak Dynasty to go towards south of Tibet to the sacred hidden land called Beyul Demajong (The Hidden Valley of Rice).

   Accordingly, 25 generations after the founding of the Minyak Dynasty in the 9th century by one of the sons of King Trisong Deutsen, Guru Tashi, a scion of the Minyak House, went westwards on a pilgrimage in the first half of the 13th century. He was accompanied by his five sons. During their pilgrimage in Lhasa, the statue of Jowo Rinpoche Sakyamuni (in Jokhang Temple) prophesied that they should proceed south-west to a place called Dema-Jong (Denjong). Accordingly, Guru Tashi and his family travelled to Sakya, located north of Sikkim in Tibet. In an authentic old record, it is said that there were three brothers as chiefs of Kham Minyak and the middle one was prophesied to go towards Sikkim.

   On their way, they visited several important or renowned places of pilgrimage in Tibet and then, came to Sakya to pay their respects to the Hierarch. The Hierarch was engaged in the construction of a huge monastery and was busy trying to build the hall of the monastery. This monastery had seven storeys which were supported by four huge wooden pillars and 160 smaller pillars. The people struggled unsuccessfully to erect the four pillars.

   The Sakya Monastery, located in the city of Sakya in Tibet’s southern province of Tsang, was built in 1073 by Khon Khonchog Gyalpo. The name Sa-kya refers to the region’s grey (kya) earth (sa). From 1074 to 1959 the monastery served as the seat of the Sakya Trizins, the spiritual heads of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Chogyal Phagpa, the fifth of the five founders of the Sakya Order, expanded the monastery in 1268.

   Guru Tashi’s eldest son was well known for his strength. He raised the pillars of the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, located at the vicinity of the Sakya Monastery, and placed them in their proper places. This Herculean feat earned him the title “Khye-Bumsa,” meaning the one who possesses the strength of one lakh (one hundred thousand) persons. Guru Tashi’s family stayed in Sakya for some time, and Khye-Bumsa married Jomo Guruma, the daughter of the Hierarch.

Sakya Monastery in Tibet

The Sakya Monastery, the principal monastery of the Sakyapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism located at Sakya near Shigatse in Central Tibet, has two parts – the northern and southern monasteries. They are located on either side of Dhrum Chu River.

   The northern monastery, built on the hill side in 1073 by Khon Kongchog Gyalpo, the founder of Sakyapa, was destroyed by Chinese Red Army during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The southern monastery, built in 1268 by Chogyal Phagba, the fifth Sakya Trizin, survived the Cultural Revolution as it not only had a series of defence system around the monastery but also because of the changes in the policy of the Central Chinese Government of that period.

   Some of the giant wooden pillars of the southern monastery, the Sakya Trulpai Lhakhang Chenpo, were raised with the help of Khye-Bumsa, an ancestor of Sikkim’s Namgyal Dynasty, in the 13th century. These pillars still stand strong to this day.

   Giant pillars of the Sakya Monastery raised by Sikkim’s ancestor Khye-Bumsa in the 13th century are still seen in the main hall of the monastery.

 

(Ref: SONS OF SIKKIM: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim, Jigme N. Kazi, Hill Media Publications and Notion Press, 2020.)