Language:

General Meywaring claims that the Lepcha language is one of the oldest languages in the world. From old literature about the Lepchas, it can be deduced that the scripts used by the Lepchas were initially created by five Lepcha pundits: Turgey, Sayyun, Goley, Tangrab, and Dureeng. There is a unanimous belief among the scholar that the Lepcha script is refined and distinctively different from the Mongoloid language group. The four groups do not represent four different dialects; although there are regional differences between the Lepcha spoken in various areas, these differences are primarily lexical. The Lepcha spoken by the Renjóngmú is generally more influenced by Dränjoke than the Lep cha spoken by the Támsángmú, while Nepali is more influenced than the Lepcha spoken by the Renjóngmú. Since there is a lot of mobility between Sikkim and Darjeeling districts, with children going to school or college or finding jobs in areas different from where their parents live, the regional influences are not always straightforward. However, the sense of regional identity is strong enough, buttressed by several fundamental cultural differences, between the Ren jóngmú and the Támsángmú to make the distinction between these major groups within the Lepcha-speaking community a vital one. Several linguists mainly tried to place the Lepcha language amidst the Indo-Burmese language group. Some had also incorporated this language into the Tibeto-Chinese group of languages. There was once a time, when Lepcha was the state language of Sikkim, but presently in Sikkim, Lepcha is one of eleven official languages. Lepcha is taught in schools, there is a textbook department that develops official learning materials, there is a Lepcha edition of a government newspa per, the Sikkim Herald, and the government radio station broadcasts news bulletins and cultural programmes in the Lepcha language. A special area in North Sikkim holds the Dzongú [zónggú] Lepcha reserve, a Lepcha conservation area where but few outsiders have been allowed to settle. In the Darjeeling district, the Lepcha have had to struggle to get official status to receive special benefits and to have air time on the official radio stations. The Lepcha Association, which is a social and cultural organisation with several different branches and chapters in which Lepchas have organised themselves, coordinates evening classes in the Lepcha language and other social and cultural initiatives, such as festivals and archery competitions. Arun Mitra, in his work ‘Lepcha Upajatir Purnanga Itihas’, writes that a tribe called ‘Mon’ in Burma, whose language is very familiar with the Lepchas.

Social Organisation:

The Lepcha are divided into various patrilineal clans or families known as ptso, and each clan has its own dâ ‘lake’ and cú ‘mountain peak.’ The cú are regularly honoured in cú rumfát ‘mountain worship’ ceremonies. In the Kalimpong area, the origin of the clan names is traditionally explained as follows: when the evil king múng ‘Lhasa Devil’ was killed by támsáng thíng ‘Lord Támsáng’, then Lord Támsáng expressed his gratitude to 108 men by bestowing upon each of them an honorary title, as well as placing each of them under the protection of a specific lake and mountain peak. The honorary titles developed into clan names, such as lúksómmú, isimmu simíkmú, sadámú. Although most Lepcha know to which putsho they belong, they do not always know the corresponding dâ and cú. Today, the full clan name may be shortened, e.g. Simik from isimmU simíkmú, anglicised and shortened, e.g. Foning from fonyung rumsóngmú, or the clan name may clan’substituted by the generic epithet ‘Lepcha’, e.g. Dorji Tshering Lepcha.

Nowadays, the chief function of the person is the regulation of marriage and the prevention of incest; it is, to all intents and purposes, an exogamic unit. In theory, people of the same ptso are allowed to marry if nine generations separate them from a common ancestor, and to indicate that a person of the same ptso is very far removed, a Lepcha will always say, ‘We can marry;’ Geoffrey Gorer, claims that in former times the ptso represented a geographical unit; in the tiny villages, there is a tendency for all, or at any rate the majority, of the men to be members of the same ptso. But nowadays, this has ultimately broken down (if indeed it was ever institutionalised); Gorer studied the village of Lingthem to understand this system. He says that in Lingthem, there are male representatives of twelve ptsos. Of these, the most populous and powerful is the Jamyong ptso to which Chala Mandal belongs. Eleven of the thirty-two households belong to this ptso, representing all sixty-two individuals, or nearly a third of the village's population (176).

As discussed, each ptso is under the guardianship of certain supernatural, who are worshipped by all the male members of the ptso; every third year, all the men of one locality gather together and make a sacrifice of an ox and certain jewels and valuables (these latter are only symbolically offered and are subsequently retaken into use) followed by a feast; these feasts are held in rotation in the houses of the members of the ptso who live in the neighbourhood. This sacrifice is broader in the Mun direction, with no admixture of lamaism at all. A few of the more pious lamas refuse to participate in them, claiming that the lamas have in Chukyoong rum a guild supernatural, more powerful and more worthy of worship than the gods of the ptso; Except as an exogamic classification, the ptso is now functionless. Although members of the different ptso are scattered, not only throughout Zongu, but wherever Lepchas live, the triennial unions only gather those members who live near one another;

Religion:

Halfdan Siger and Geoffrey Gorer studied Lepcha religious beliefs in various parts of Sikkim, where the Lepchas were always in contact with other cultural groups, including Tibetans, Bhutanese, and Sikkimese. The discussion of the Lepchas’ religion is rendered highly complicated by the fact that they practise simultaneously, and without any feeling of theoretical discomfort, two (or possibly three) mutually contradictory religions: of these, the older Lepcha religion is nameless but, on the analogy of lamaism, which Gorer calls the Mun religion (after the title of the priests); the worship of the people of Mayel, which was possibly originally separate, forms nowadays a part of the Mun religion; and this religion is in all its significant beliefs opposed to lamaism.

It is said that lamaism was introduced into Sikkim in or near 1641, the date of accession of the first lamaist king Penchoo Namgyé. He is said to have been made king by three lamas of the Nyingma-pa or ‘Red Hat’ sect, the unreformed branch of lamaism; these three lamas were fugitives from Tibet, following the violent struggles between the Yellow Hats and Red Hats and possibly Chinese or Mongolian intervention. In Lamaism, priesthood and sanctity are acquired by learning and not by inspiration; the sacrifice of animals is a heinous sin; calculations from the holy books can understand the future and not by inspiration; the soul of the dead wanders for a short time in a sort of purgatory, before being reincarnated either in another form on this earth or going to some heaven or hell, as different as imagination can make them from anything experienced on earth. Most important of all, lamaist ethics are founded on a belief in individual destiny and a sense of sin; lamaism contains a long, explicit, and detailed list of sins which can be performed by human beings and which are visited on the evil-doer, first by feelings of remorse and secondly by punishment either in this life or in future reincarnations. lamaism is a social organisation. The lamas (to a lesser extent, the nuns) are arranged in a disciplined hierarchy. They are a section of society that performs its religious functions for the whole society; in return, the rest of society should give material support to the lamas. In Tibet, this social aspect is essential; the lamas possess the more significant part of the temporal power and are also an exploiting class; the monasteries own land, and the peasants attached to the land are practically monastery serfs. The lower-ranking lamas also work for the benefit of those of higher rank and are possibly as much exploited as the peasants. Still, at least in theory, they can rise to the higher ranks, which possibilities are entirely shut out from the laymen. The duties and devotions of lamas can be divided into three categories: personal and individual devotions, set monthly and calendrical services, and ministering to the sick or threatened as individual necessity arises. Lamas are meant to perform various private devotions when they wake at night, early in the morning and in the evening.

As opposed to lamaism, the Mun religion carries with it no social organisation; the Mun and their parallel priests are simply individuals who, through their possession by a spirit, have sure gifts and duties; unlike the lamas and the civil officers, their position carries with it no sort of title in ordinary life. Besides the Mun, three other types of priesthood by possession are recognised: the Padem, the Yaba, and the Pau. The Mun spirit is female, and the other three are male. They are attached to family lines and are roughly hereditary; they often descend from grandfather to grandson or from grandmother to granddaughter, but there is no regularity about this, and a man may inherit a possessing spirit from a woman, and vice versa; once the vehicle dies, the spirit may not choose another body immediately, and large groups may be without the possessing spirit for several years. The manifestation of the spirit (for the spirits themselves live immortal beyond Kanchenjunga) may choose anybody for its vehicle, with one exception: none of the spirits will enter a lama or his children, though they may enter his family. M Corneille Jest, in his article: “Religious Beliefs of the Lepchas in the Kalimpong District (West Bengal.),” writes about a Tanyang village where 40 Lepcha families adopted Tibetian Buddhism, but traces of their earlier religious traditions are visible. The chief functionary of their Indigenous beliefs is the bon-tin, a kind of intercessor chosen by the tutelary god bon-tin-rum from a family where there have been bon-tin (priests) for many generations. Kindly divinities are called rum in contrast to the malicious, the mun, who cause disease, death, and distaste. The most critical propitious divinity is ta-se-tuk-bo-t’in, also called ta-se-t'in. Many propitious divinities take the form of female spirits (mit), inhabiting springs and lakes. The evil divinities, the mun, are innumerable, haunting forests, bogs, torrents, and rocks. Being very powerful, they are liable to interfere at any time in the life of the Lepchas and obstruct their projects. Only repeated sacrifices can satisfy their greed for flesh and blood. Often, the bo-tin burns incense and recites the following prayer: “Oh great god, protect us from illness, influenza, winds of the south and lightning. Protect us from the evils of those who practise magic against us. You, too, king of demons, restrain your follower.”

The most important religious ceremony of the Lepchas is rum-fat, which takes once a year after harvest. The bon-t-in makes an offering to all the divinities with whom he has contact. The villagers bring rice, millet, eggs, butter, and fruit of all kinds, which are placed on a stone on a hilltop well because of kon-cen-cu (Kanchenjunga), the mountain that dominates the region. The bon-t-in invokes successively the different summits of the mountains, which are identified with the following divinities: kon-cen-cu and his wife kon-lo-cu, pun-dim and pun-zon-cu, their son and daughter, ra-tat and ra-yot, their grandson and granddaughter, sin-mu and kon-lun-mu-cu, their male and female servants. The offspring and the servants are the lesser summits on either side of kon-cen-cu. Next, the bon-t-in addresses the spirits of the earth and the protectors of the village, Tsen-gog a mountain divinity, tsen-lyan-do, divinity of the heights above the town, so-mon-pon-di, spirit of the hamlet of Somalbong. He offers rice, millet, and oranges to these divinities, whose role seems obscure. Thirdly, the bon-t-in requests the chief of the demons to restrain his followers. Of these tam-nok-mun and his partner lyan-ser were mentioned as the most powerful. These two black demons come from the plains; having no children, they are particularly self-willed and so more challenging to control than the others, who are named tsen-dut with his mate tun-kun-mit and lun-ji with his mate lun-lun-mun, dwellers in caves, rocks, and streams. The mun receive offerings of ci (millet beer) and rice.

Despite such periodical offerings and sacrifices of cocks, the mun still manifest themselves by causing diseases. The bon-t-min is then called upon to identify the dissatisfied mun. Employing divination, he determines the kind of sacrifice required. A serious illness often necessitates the sacrifice of an ox.

Marriage:

The Lepcha marriage is a fundamental and vital institution with far-reaching social, legal and economic consequences; it also plays a significant part in the mind of the ordinary man and woman and has a profound influence on their life; it attains its particular spiritual perspective through its ancient religious and legendary origin. According to ancient customs, older family members, usually the parents, plan marriage. When planning a marriage, the parents must carefully observe the rules concerning the pu tso exogamy. The idea of a prospective marriage will never occur to a Lepcha until he has examined the relation between the put so concerned. When the parents of the prospective bride and bridegroom have made sure that the marriage proposed conforms to the pu tso rules, their next task is to scrutinise the horoscopes of the young people to see that their birth years do not conflict. To judge from the reports of Campbell and Risley, the age of marriage among the Lepchas was higher in the nineteenth century than it is today, and there were then no child marriages. The men were usually not young, and the girls were typically married between sixteen and eighteen. When a man and his wife have decided to choose a prospective wife for their son, they ask their friend to act as a byek bo or a go between. When they have discussed the matter with him, he sets out for the girl’s parents, who take with him a load of ci and a rupee tied in a ceremonial scarf. He makes the preliminary offer of marriage to the girl's parents. If they agree to the proposal, they touch the load of ci and the scarf with the tip of their middle finger as a token of acceptance, and the date of the pa nol, the first wedding ceremony, is decided on. This preliminary ceremony between the go-between and the girl’s parents is called nyom byit, the giving of the bride. The girl is now promised marriage, and her parents cannot give their consent to any other suitor. Thereafter, the go-between returns to the young man’s parents and informs them of the successful result of his visit. The young man’s parents now make the necessary preparations for the pa nol, collecting two loins of a pig or an ox for the ceremony, a big load of ci, 25 rupees, and a ceremonial scarf as gifts. When these things are ready, they must be consecrated by a bong thing or a mun before being taken to the girl’s parents. The following day, the go-between, the young man, and two men carrying the gifts set off for the house of the young man’s future parents-in-law. When they arrive, the suitor greets his prospective parents-in-law courteously and stays with them for three days. On his departure, he is presented with a gift of ci and meat.

When the men return from the above visit, the family decides that the considerable gifts called nyom sé a fat, the price of the bride, should be presented to the girl's parents as soon as possible after the first ceremony. The gifts include a large brass pot with a rupee inside, a milleh cow and etc.

Some months later the bride will be taken to the bridegroom's parents’ house and the final wedding ceremony is performed. Before leaving her parents’ house the bride is finely clothed and decorated with ornaments presented to her by her relatives. She is accompanied by a body of persons comprising her go-between, her paternal uncle, her paternal aunt, her inaternal uncle, her maternal aunt, her brother, some other near relatives, her close {riends and some people from the village. They carry with them a load of ci and a slaughtered pig. On the way, members of the bridegroom's family will provide them with lom thong, tea on the way. On arriving al the house belonging to the bridegroom's parents they are welcomed by the bridegroom’s byek bo and conducted inside. When the bride enters the house, the bridegroom's mother steps forward and receives her by putting a bangle, called nyom tak vil. The bride’s chains are on the wrist of her right hand as a token that she is accepted as a daughter-in-law. At the same time, this small ceremony implies that she is locked up in the family from that day.

Economy/Profession/A Typical Lepcha Working Day:

The Lepcha working day starts at cock-crow when everybody gets up; a substantial cold meal, usually consisting of grain, with perhaps some milk and any meat or flavourings that may be available, is eaten; it is generally accompanied by tea. Then everybody goes to work in the fields or forests, taking some popped corn or cold cooked rice in their haversack to nibble if they feel hungry during the day’s work. In the evening, towards sundown, they come home for the second meal of the day. The youngest daughter-in-law is meant to cook under the direction of the house mother or, if she is too old, of the eldest daughter-in-law, who gives out Ae supplies, but in practice, all the women present to lend a hand. If there are no women free, men will do the cooking, but it is considered slightly degrading for a house father to have to prepare his meals. Each evening, enough is cooked to serve for that evening and the following morning. While the food is being prepared, the men may weave mats or baskets, do other odd jobs around the house, or sit and drink ci. Everybody eats the main meal together; the housemother hands out the food, serving the oldest members first; if there are young children, the father will feed the daughters and the mother's sons. After the evening meal, there may be a visit to either be paid or received; one or more friends may come in to drink chi, and everybody will sit around and gossip, or perhaps one will tell one of their long stories, which take several evenings to repeat. Nine days out of ten represent the everyday Lepcha life, for the Lepchas are incredibly hard-working and industrious; though they do not work fast, they work steadily and for very long hours. But the monotony of working life is continually broken up by feasts and ceremonies; there are the regular bi-monthly monastery feasts, and in most months, there are one or more calendrical lamaist festivals; people are born or marry, or die, or fall ill, and these are all occasions for feasts for the friends and neighbours of the people affected. There is also a continual current of visits;

For the Lepchas, as for almost all primitive peoples, by £u: the most crucial subject in their lives is food. Far and away, the most significant part of their lives is centred around food-getting; it is impossible to over-stress its importance. But because food getting is so constant a preoccupation, and because it is featureless and uneventful, it nearly always, it seems to me, receives far less attention than it deserves. Gorer, in his work, describes the agricultural land of a Lepcha village and writes that the land in Zongu can be divided into two categories: the land under permanent cultivation and the land cleared for crops once every eight years. There are three types of permanent cultivation: the sir or field garden against the house, cardamom fields, and rice terraces. The two latter types of cultivation, which are now very important in Lepcha life, are both very modern: cardamom was introduced at the beginning of the century, and rice terraces for wet paddy less than twenty years ago. This permanent cultivation has potentially introduced a new note into Lepcha life, though the effect has not been noticeable. Both cardamom fields and rice terraces demand a certain amount of hard initial labour, after which they acquire, as it were, a capital value; this is less true of cardamom, which needs replanting every ten years than of the rice terraces, to build these a considerable amount of work is necessary, but once they are made a heavy crop can be raised from them -with relatively little labour. The chief crops raised by the Lepchas on the Talung side Of Zongu are wet rice, dry rice, buckwheat, maise, cardamom, and different varieties of millet or eleusine. A certain amount of sugar cane and manioc is also raised on the warmer Teesta side. The wet rice is naturally exclusively cultivated on the terraced fields, which can be flooded. Seven different types of damp rice are recognised — two suitable for cultivation on the higher terraces, while the other five need the warmer climate of the valley. Some more prosperous people grow these five varieties in rotation, as this is believed to rest the soil, and the array is sown depending on individual choice; in these cases, the seed is not saved but is bought each year, generally from Gangtok. The majority, however, only grow one variety and save their seed. Gorer writes that Lepcha agriculture is hugely inefficient based on the standard of yield per acre. It is also unproductive.

Dress and Ornaments:

Owing to the increasing influence of the bazaars, where piece goods are sold, and entire garments are made on sewing machines, the former types of clothes, as we know them from the days of Campbell and Hooker about a century ago, are more and more falling into disuse. Nowadays, few Lepcha women know how to make family members' clothes the way they used to. The Lepcha men wear a colourful sheet called Thakro, a yenthatse shirt, and a shambo cap. The men do not cut their hair but keep it in a plaited pigtail. When working in the fields, they wear large hats, woven of bamboo fibres, as protection against the sun; when they go out hunting, they wear round plaited hats; when they leave their homes to visit friends, go to town, or to attend celebrations like weddings ete. They wear a black hat with a piece of coloured cloth on the crown, in the middle decorated with a round cotton knot, and in front decorated with the tail of a bird. For this purpose, different kinds of feathers are used as distinctive marks. A large three-coloured piece of cloth is used as a wrap. The colours are made from vegetable dyes.

The Lepcha women wear a sheet in sari style called Dumbun, a loose blouse called Tago, a belt called Nyumrek, and a cap called Taro. They also wear beautiful ornaments, such as Namchok (earrings), Lyak (necklace), Gyar (bracelet), etc.