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DARJEELING A FAVOURED RETREAT
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A FAVOURED RETREAT
JAHAR SEN #
Departn,ent of History University of Calcutta, Calcutta
IT
I N O U S
JNDUS PUBLISHING COMPANY, NEW DELHI
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat longer be imported from Japan, even ·into the Darjeeling district. All those would tend to keep money in the country and _ stiffen exchange.
6. The companies like Bradford and Saltaire or Britain would get much or the superior staple wool. This would give them advantage over continental manufactures. The Secretary to the Government of India in a letter dated 20 September 1889 informed Prestage that the Government of India had no objection to his making an exploration in Nepal. He was instructed to obtain the sanction of the Darbar and was asked to take no active steps without first consulting the British Resident. On 9 October 1889 the Resident informed Prestage that the proposal for an extension of the railway into Nepal 'was laid before the Darbar but was met by a distinct refusal to entertain even a preliminary survey.' Prestage "'as again informed by the Resident on 1 March 1890 that no concession from the Darbar could be expected till some radical change in their 'exclusive' policy took place. On November 4, 1892 the Secretary to the Government of Nepal informed him the Darbar's inability to comply with the pro.:. posal for the construction of the Railway in Nepal. Thus the idea of a big leap to reach the heart of Central Asia ended in fiasco. ,
In the last decade of the nineteenth century the British Government considered it prudent not to risk 'the substantial gain of our Entente Cordiale with China by clutching too eagerly at the problematic chances of Tibetan markets'. 73 The enchanting land · of snow in Central Asia remained asleep like a modem Brynhilde and British Siegfried, Risley lamented, failed to awaken her in the nineteenth century. This is a sad commentary on the failure of the repeated attempts at flinging the commercial frontier to the _land of snow in Central Asia. A man's reach exceeds his grasp. An altogether new approach to what was beyond the grasp sta_rts with the Y ounghusband Mission in 1904.
''Risley, op. cit., p. xiv. For some of the causes that impeded the growth of Indo-Tibetan trade, see, S.C. Das, op. cit., pp. 193-94. Jahar Sen, op. cit., pp. 120-27.
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The Strategic Considerations
o B J E c T of British assistance to Sikkim in 1817 was to frustrate the possibility of Nepal-Bhutan intrigues against East India Company. In 1838 Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd, officer on special duty, North East frontier, conveyed to Fort William an intelligence report relating to the movements of a Nepal mission, composed of two native officers and twenty sepoys who had proceeded to Bhutan. Lloyd was directed in a letter dated, Fort William, 8 August 1838 to 'be watchful and diligent in observing these intrigues. ' 1 The documents preserved in the National Archives of India under heading Foreign Department Secret Consultations Nos. 9-10 and 11-14 dated 22 August 1838 contain references to 'offensive demonstrations on the part of the Nepal Darbar' exposing Darjeeling to the danger of aggression and the necessity of 'some precautionary measures.'2 The Asiatic Intelligence (Calcutta) reported in November 1838 an alarming rumour that a party of Gurkhas had taken possession of 'Nogra' (Nagree ?), a fort ten miles from Darjeeling and considerably within India, where they were said to be stockading themselves. At Darjeeling Colonel Lloyd was entirely without troops. TH E P R I M E
The Register (Calcutta, November 1838) reported the formation of a local corps for Darjeeling. On 2 July 1838 it was resolved that a local sebundy of sappers and miners would be raised for the settlement of Darjeeling. The government directed that it 1Darjeeling
District Records (hereafter cited as DDR)~ Correspondence,
Vol. 41. 1 P.C. Roy Chaudhury, Muzajfarpur Old, Records (Patna, 1959), pp. 4-6.
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would consist of two companies and would be of the foilowing strength: two subedars, two jamadars, ten havildars, ten nayeks, two bughers, one hundred and eighty privates, one native doctor, one drill havildar, one drill nayek, two pay havildars, one tent laskar and one bhisti per company. In 1838 Lieutenant Robert Napier took charge of the two companies of sebundy sappers from Captain Gilmore of Bengal Engineers. Napier wrote, 'Just then our relation with Nepaul became strained and it was thought desirable to complete the Sebundy Sappers with men from the Border Hills unconnected with Napaul Garros and similar tribes. Through the political officer the necessary number of men were enlisted and sent to me . . . I eventually completed the corps with Nepaulese and, I think, left them in a satisfactory condition ... when I visited Darjeeling again in 1872 I found the remnants of my good sapper officers living as pensioners. ' 3 In February 1839, The Asiatic Intelligence gave an account of the state of insecurity at Darjeeling. It wrote, 'we hear sad accounts of the state of affairs at Darjeeling, arising from the neglect of government to furnish the inhabitants with the security expected. The people have got into their heads that the Goorkhas are arming and collecting in great force in the neighbourhood of intended sanatorium: a sort of panic is the result and everybody who has any property is sending it towards the presidency for safety. The worst part of the business, however, is that the greater portion of the workmen employed under Messrs Happer and Martin have absconded, although considerable advances of pay, have been made to them.' On 5 August 1839 Napal's secret move to form an offensive League with Bhutan directed against the Company was communicated by B.H. Hodgson, Resident at Nepal, to H.P. Prinsep, Secretary to the Government of lndia.4 Some extracts from the said letter are quoted below: The Nepalese party proceeded through Tibet without question and reached the frontier of Bhootan where they were stopped by the Soobah, required to deliver their message and to await Rev. H. Hosten. S.G., 'The Centenary of Darjeeling', Bengal Past and Present. 39 (1930), 106-23. 'DDR, Correspondence Vol. 41. 1
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the answer of the Deb. Their message purported that there had been ancient friendship between Deo Dharmo and Nipal which Nipal was now anxious to revive; that the Nipal Raja had viewed with concern the insurrection against the old Deb; that this rebellion was instigated by the company, that Nipal was ready to assist the old Deb with soldiers or small arms or canon and that the Deb had only to point out how the assistance could be best rendered and a large offensive formed against the arts and power of the company. The answer of the Deb to this message, as transmitted thro' his frontier authority, was favourable but cautious. The Deb, instructed by his officer that the N ipalese had brought no credential, directed that the party should be told to go back and provide itself with written and formal powers ,vhen the party should be welcome to the Deb's presence. The Deb's soobah or frontier officer was at the same time instructed to say to the Nipalese party that canon were the chief want of the Deb and that if Nipal could not supply canon the next best thing would be artificers to cast and make them in Deo Dharma. In the same year Nepal Darbar requested the British Resident for passage for its troops through Sikkim for the conquest of Bhutan. On 24 September 1839 Hodgson wrote to Prinsep, 'I asked if the Durbar had received any injury from Bhootan or had demanded any explanation? None whatever, was the reply and why then · attack on unoffending state? It was the custom of Gorkha nation. But, I continued, Sikkim is an independent State and she will never consent to yield you passage for such a purpose-''we care not a fig for Sikkim's consent: we want only yours.'' I then observed that my government had too much respect for justice to sanction any such proceedings.... ' Hodgson was firmly convinced 'that Nepal's desire of extending herself to the eastward is an ever present urgent motive with her ....'' A dispute between Nepalese and Sikkimese about right of fishing in the Mechi river was reported in May 1842 to Campbell by the Sikkim Raja's officers in the Morung. Runbir Ruchal Thakur, Havildar of Nepal was accused of using force in making good the claim of the Nepalese to the right of fishing. The matter was duly 'Ibid.
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reported by the Superintendent of Darjeeling to the Resident at Nepal for enquiry and redress.6 It is true that since the acquisition of Darjeeling, no AngloNepalese war or skirmish actually took place on the Darjeeling frontier. But uneasiness prevailed. On 12 October 1854 the Superintendent of Darjeeling apprised the Government of India that the Nepalese troops had been ordered to occupy Sikkim. At that stage, this intelligence was founded upon rumour only. Nevertheless, G. Edmonstone, Secretary to the Government of India, wrote to Major G. Ramsay, Resident at Nepal on 27 October 1854: 'The British Government cannot permit Nepal to possess itself of Sikkim, whether permanently or temporarily. It is resolved to act up to the treaties which were long framed to that effect and you are hereby authorised, if you see occasion, to communicate that resolution to the Durbar in courteous but very decided language.' In a subsequent letter dated 14 November 1854 Edmonstone informed that the preparations of Jang Bahadur were directed against Tibet and asserted, 'We have no ground as yet for apprehension though we may see reason for vigilance.' 7 Again, on 29 October 1854 Campbell informed Edmonstone that 'rumours of an invasion of this territory by Nepalese forces are universal. The invasion would take place within a month with simultaneous movement on the plains and in Darjeeling.' In reply dated 7 November 1854 Campbell was told that the government 'sees no occasion to apprehend any such mad design and would not move troops so as to increase the panic which is endemic at Darjeeling. ' 8 Four years later, on 9 September 1858, Campbell reported to Captain Byers, Secretary to the Governor-General-in-Council, that Jung Bahadur was planning an invasion of Darjeeling. He emphatically added that two Nepalese armies would take the field against the British after the Dusserah festival. Captain Byers, however, held that the report of the invasion of Darjeeling had no foundation. 9 'Foreign Department Consultation, Secret, 7 September 1842, Nos. 79-80. 'Nepal Residency Records, Registrar No. 9, pp. IOS, 127. 'Foreign Department, 29 December 1854, Nos. 22-34 S.S., pp. I, 5-6. 'Foreign Department, 26 November 1856, Nos. 72-127 S.C.
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Another letter dated 26 September 1858 from Campbell to A.B. Young, Secretary to the Government of Bengal, referred to 'continuous intelligence' by persons coming from Nepal regarding the intention of the Nepal Darbar 'to attack Darjeeling simultaneously with ·a hostile descent on the plains in aid of the rebels and to appropriate territory withheld by us although that was the promised reward of Jung Bahadur's assistance., Similar intelligence was also received from Dinajpore. Campbell took steps through the police to guard three roads leading from the Nepal Hill Frontier to Darjeeling and one from Nepal terai leading to Pankhabari at the foot of the hills. He asked Major G.R. Hopkins, Commanding troops, Darjeeling to 'instruct Captain Trevor to go on with the defensive arrangements at the Depot.' In this case, too, the Government of India maintained that the apprehension of the Nepalese attack was baseless and expressed profound confidence on the friendly assurances of .J ung Bahadur. 10 In 1860 Jung Bahadur expressed his desire to penetrate, for the purpose of shooting games along the foot of the hills, for about thirty-two miles beyond the banks of the Tista after that river enters India. Campbell wrote to G. Ramsay that the encampment .of Jung Bahadur in the terai portion of the district would cause consternation and political embarrassment in all the neighbouring districts. In his reply dated 19 December 1860 Ramsay informed that Jung Bahadur had 'no idea of entering Bhotan than he had of marching to China. The history of our political relations-for the past 11 or 12 years forbid the belief that he has any intention of breaking faith with us. He is keenly sensitive to the distrust which has always been displayed towards him in the Darjeeling direction-and had this opportunity, of showing the people in those parts how absurdly unfounded their panics are, been taken, , I think it would have laid the foundation of better feeling upon the border, not only between local authorities, but also between the people of the two countries., Next day, on the plea of 'the difficulty of procuring supplies' Ramsay reqll:ested Jung Bahadur not to continue his trip beyond the Nepal boundary. 'I, therefore, beg that if Dr. Campbell add10
Foreign Department, 31 December 1858. Nos. 4302-4313. F.C.
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resses you upon this subject and asks you not to cross the frontier into the Province of the Darjeeling', Ramsay added, 'you will at once conform to his wishes.' 11 Again, in 1872 apprehension was expressed regarding the probable effect of the proposed visit of Jung Bahadur to Darjeeling and some other places in the vicinity. The visit, however, did not ultimately materialize. But the relevant documents deserve more than a passing notice. Colonel Houghton, Commissioner of CoochBehar, expressed in a letter his deep concern on the effect of the proposed visit of Jung Bahadur: 'The mere idea of his visit is a cause of much alarm to the inhabitants. I have this day received a report that the inhabitants of Dooars are burying their valuable and preparing to flee. Bhootea Durbar regards his movement with suspicion and an intimation that he was coming to the neighbourhood of the chief pass into the counry would increase this feeling. My own subjects, I am told, believed that his visit has a reference to some common projects hostile to themselves connected between Sir Jung Bahadur and the Bhooteas.' 12 In August 1878 Darjeeling administration got the news that the Darbar had been strengthening garrisons all along the Darjeeling frontier. They had posted 500 men at 11am and had sent t\vo guns there previous year and two more were sent in the current year. They had 500 ~en at Dunkottah and 250 at Olangom on the Sikkim border besides a cordon of officials to prevent all exports of products, oil and grains. \
The Darbar had been recruiting four men out of every five leaving only what was barely sufficient for agricultural purposes in their homesteads. They had raised 16,000 recruits in their eastern districts and also the same number in the west. Thus 32,000 men were despatched to the neighbourhood of Kathmandu for proper drilling. Their standing army of regulars \Vas 18,000 strong. They had ample artillery of native manufacture . •
Nepal Residency Records, Register 11. 11DDR, General Department, English Correspondence, 1841-79, Letter No. 370, S December 1872. Copy forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling under Memo No. 376, 7 December 1872. 11
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Large stores of rice and paddy had been collected and stored at Naxalbari, Dhulabari and other places. The Darbar treasury was full. They were well prepared for a short campaign at least. The informant named Lacbmikant was thoroughly convinced that Kathmandu was deter1nined on war with the British. The Government of India was of the opinion that these stories were likely to be very great exaggerations. It was, however, true that the Darbar was engaged in taking a census of its population capable of bearing arms. Bengal was instructed 'to maintain an effective check upon attempts of the Nepal Darbar to import arms through lndia.'13 That a frontier force was necessary for the security of the terai portion of the Darjeeling district was admitted by the government in the eighties of the last century. A force consisting of one head constable and nine men as an experimental measure was sanctioned for the purpose of improving and strengthening the police on the Nepal frontier from 1 September 1883 to 1 September 1886. Numerous cases of robberies on tea estates in the hills were reported from time to time. Quite a lot of cases of dacoities also occurred in the northern frontier. When the culprits crossed the border, detection ,vas considered as next to impossible. Closely allied to this frontier problem was the need of proper chowkidari system in order to bring all the tea gardens in touch with the district administration. A tenta~ive scheme was brought into effect along the Darjeeling frontier between Toribari and Simana Basti. The tea planters were also co-operating with the administration to make the district more secure by appointing police-chowkidars in these gardens. Thus 'a backbone' was created at no cost to the state or to the district administration. Colonel R.M. Skinner, District Superintendent of Police, Darjeeling, suggested that the frontier police scheme which was sanctioned for the terai only, should after a trial of three years, be extended along the entire frontier of the district on the Nepal side. His other suggestions were as follows: IINepal Residency, Serial No. 102, File No. 1151 G of 1878, Part II.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat 1. To maintain the main arteries leading from Nepal to Darjee-
ling by establishing police outposts at gates. 2. To establish chain of patrols between these gates and intercept smugglers and thieves who might evade the main thoroughfare. The gates leading to the hills were Toribari (at the foot of the hills), Mirik and Simana Basti. Skinner also proposed to place a strong frontier post at Jorpokri, the main gate to Darjeeling from Elam in Nepal, consisting of one head constable and eight men, of whom two would be permanently stationed at Tongloo, to cover a flank route to Elam. His other suggestion included the proposal to increase Pulbazar outpost force by two extra men who should be constantly on the move between the frontier and the outpost to feel the pulse of this sparsely inhabited part of the district. With a strong post at Jorpokri and two extra men at Pulbazar, it would be possible, Skinner argued, to intercept thieves passing along the main thoroughfare, and also through a proper system of patrols, to preserve the peace of the jungle tracts. A.W. Paul, Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling, was firmly of opinion that very little had been done to keep pace with the increasing population and importance of the district. In 1872 there was not a single tea garden, he reported, either in hills or in terai west of the Balasan. Mini, Singhia and Tumsong had not been thought of; the tea gardens such as Chungtong, Soom and Takvar were unable to pay dividend. He held that all sorts of troubles had occurred along this line of the district obviously owing to their unprotected state. Tonglu and Sandakphu had not been discovered. The forests of the Singalila range were o·f no value.
But in 1887 the situation had altogether changed. These forests were purchased by the government in Forest Department. They were conserving the forests and had officers in charge of them. The officers, because of the very nature of these work, very often came in dangerous contact with the frontier people and, so, needed efficient and prompt protection. Some bungalows were built at Tonglu, Sandakphu and Phalut, where visitors were often in need of police assistance. The roads were maintained in good condition. This factor, coupled with increase in population in Darjeeling town, had attracted swelling n11rober of traders along this line.
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For·the protection of this line, the Deputy Commissioner suggested, a strong force was needed at Tonglu. He was, however, not in favour of restricting the movement of Nepali sheep graziers. If restrictions were imposed, he categorically stated, a much stronger force would be required on the Sandakphu-Phalut range for the mere protection of forest officers alone. Bengal accepted these proposals and directed that necessary provisions should be made in the police budget for 1888-89. 14
II As early as 1857 Darjeeling as a centre for recruitment of Gurkha soldiers attracted attention of the government. In a letter dated 10 September 18 57, E. Drummend, officiating Magistrate, Dinajpore, suggested to the Secretary to the Government of Bengal that the Sebundee Corps at Darjeeling should be raised to the strength of ten full companies with British officers in every respect similar to the Kumaun and Nepalese battalion. He further pointed out that this body could be raised without difficulty from the hill men and might be called Darjeeling battalion. 'They would in every way be more efficient, courageous, and trustworthy body of men', Drummond expressed his hope, 'than any to be had in the plains'. 15 On 24 October 1857 Campbell was informed that he had been authorized in his capacity of Justice of Peace to enlist soldiers in Darjeeling into the service of the East India Company. 16 As the headquarter of eastern zone for recruitment of Gurkha soldiers, the importance of Darjeeling is quite well-known. From 1886 to 1904 as many as 27,428 Gurkha soldiers we.re recruited by the Darjeeling Recruiting Centre. Probably in 1890, the Recruiting Officer for the Gurkhas established an office in Darjeeling. 17 Some of the annual reports of the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling, contain interesting information as to the purpose of the recruiting work. During 1891-92 one thousand hill people from Darjeeling were recruited for military transport in Burma and 350 for "Nepal Residency, Serial No. 247, File No. 2898 0 of 1887. uooR, Correspondence Vol. 30, Letter No. 27. 11 lbid., Correspondence Vol. 30, Letter No. 3279. 17 C.O. Morns, Gurkha (Delhi: Manager of Publications, 1936), pp. 130-31.
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Chittagong. In the Annual General Administration Report of Darjeeling for the year 1892-93, the Deputy Commissioner wrote that 500 Nepalese were recruited for the Commissariat Department in Burma and 700 for Chittagong. A certain number of Nepalese were recruited for building work in Assam for the Gurkha Regiment and also for Lakhimpur Battalion, Dibrugarh, and Mougong Levy Battalion, Burma. 11 In the Annual General Administration Report of the Rajshahi Division for 1897-98 it was stated that 672 men were recruited in Darjeeling for military service of whom 439 went as muleteers on the Tirah expedition and 233 to the Burma riffes and frontier hills. As many as 200 coolies were also supplied to the Lushai Survey party in Silchar for transport work. 19 As reported by the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling, 292 coolies were recruited during 1898-99 for military service as detailed below:
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For 10th Burma Rifles For Myitkyina Battalion For Ruby Mines Battalion For Lakhimpur Battalion For Naga Hills Battalion For North Lusha Hills Battalion
109 38 29 20 50
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292
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These were recruits from eastern Nepal. Besides all these, 399 coolies from Darjeeling recruiting office were supplied to the survey party, Lushai for transport service. In this way, the Gurkha recruitment provided a durable basis for both Anglo-Nepalese and Indo-Nepalese relations. The heroic record of the Gurkha soldiers is a cementing bond between London and Kathmandu as much as between New Delhi and Kathmandu. Even today many Nepali famities of Darjeeling district proudly claim themselves as the co-sharer of this military heritage. 11DDR,
Collection XXX Fite 55 of 1893-94. See also Bengal Government Proceedings~ General, Mis. Department. Nos. 35-36, 11 October 1895, p. 483. 11 lbid., Collection XXX, Resolution No. 3452.
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III Throughout the nineteenth century Anglo-Bhutan relation was far from friendly. The shadow of this uneasy relation fell darkly upon Darjeeling. The Superintendent of Police, Lower Provinces, wrote to Campbell in 1841 that he had received orders from the Government of Bengal regarding the establishment of a sufficient police force on the Rungpore frontier to protect the people from aggression of the Bhutanese.2° The jurisdiction and authority of the Superintendent of Darjeeling in regard to frontier cases were also distinctly laid down. The letter, dated, Fort Willian, 5 April 1843 addressed by T.R. Davidson, officiating Secretary to the Government of India to Campbell clearly pointed out: 'It was the intention of the government to limit your general jurisdiction to cases arising along the frontier between Bootan and Cooch-Behar and to leave to the Magistrate of Rungpore cases of offence committed by inhabitants of Bootan within any part of the frontier excepting that which separates Bootan from Cooch-Behar. The authority thus conferred on you was that of arbiter and conservator of peace on the Bootan frontier in matters which might often and would generally be beyond the jurisdiction of the frontier Magistrates. ' 21 The Government of India thought it expedient not to sell arms in the vicinity of the Bhutan frontier. A directive to this effect was conveyed in May 1850 to Campbell.22 Another letter dated 3 May 1864 from the Under-Secretary to the Government of Bengal to the Superintendent of Darjeeling also contained similar directions: Measures should be taken to prevent the exportation into Bootan of arms and ammunitions including gun-powder, lead, sulphur, saltpetre and to prohibit the sale of such articles to persons likely to require them for that purpose. I am to request you that you will keep a watch on the Bootan frontier, furnish the government and its subordinate officers on the frontier and be prepared for any measure of hostile nature that may be attempted. For this purpose you are authorised to employ an extra 10
Ibid., Correspondence Vol. 29, Letter No. 99 dated 8 February 1841. 11lbid., Correspondence Vol. 43/48, Letter No. 164 of 1843. ulbid., Correspondence Vol. 41, Letter No. 1277 of 1850.
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police force that may be necessary. You are specially directed to obtain through Cheebo Lama and by other means in your power accurate information on the state of affairs in Sikkim and keep the government regularly advised thereof. 23 Under the provision of section XXII of Act XXXI of 1860 Bengal prohibited in 1865 all transport of arms and ammunition to the districts of Darjeeling, Purnea, Rungpore, Dinajpore and Assam in the direction of Bhutan. 24 In 1862 information was received from four distinct sources of an intended attack on Darjeeling. Insolent demands were made for Ambari revenue by Dalingkote jungpen. A considerable force of Bhutias was marched to the Rungpore frontier. Simultaneous arrangements were made for crossing the Tista for the purpose of attacking Darjeeling.25 In his report on Bhutan submitted to the Secretary, Government of India in the Foreign Department, Ashley Eden remarked in 1864 that for the last thirty years scarcely a year had passed without the occurrence of outrages committed by Bhutan 'any one of which ,vould have fully justified the adoption of policy of reprisal or retaliation. In every instance, the aggressors have been, not the villagers, but the Bootan frontier officials or gangs of robbers protected and harboured by them and generally led by some of their immediate dependents. ' 26 The development of communication system, too, was sometimes necessitated by military considerations. The Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling submitted a proposal in 1865 to construct at a cost of Rs. 1,500 a path along the course of the river Tista so as to allow it being patrolled from the point of confluence with Great Rangit to the extremity of the district. The object of opening the 11
lbid., General Department, English Correspondence 1841-79. Letter No. 627, 3 May 1864. Kfbid., General Department, English Correspondence 1841-79. Letter No. 390, 5 December 1872. Copy forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling under Memo No. 193, 27 February 1865. •Ashley Eden, Political Mission of Bhutan (Calcutta, 1865) p. 43. See also Surgeon Rennie, Bhotan and the Story of the Dooar War (London, 1866), pp. 53-54. 11Ashley Eden, op. cit., pp. 24-25.
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path was 'expressly the protection of Darjeeling from possible surprise attack by Booteas. ' 27 IV In 18 59 H. Clarke in his article 'On the Organisation of the Army of India with Special Reference to Hill Regions' (Journal of Royal United Service Institute 3: 18-27) recommended the development of hill regions and the establishment of cantonments such as Darjeeling. He highlighted the importance of these cantonments on strategic grounds. In a booklet, The English Stations in the Hill
Regions of India: Their Value and Importance, with Some Statistics of Their Produce and Trade (London: Trubner, 1881) he stressed the development and importance of the hill stations not only as health resort but also for transfrontier commerce and defence of the northern frontier of India . .
The problem of the security of Darjeeling was examined in a report of Major General G.D. Showers who had suggested the removal of the military station from Jalpaiguri to Titalia. A. Eden, Secretary to the Government of Bengal in a Communication (No. 1458T dated 11 July 1864) to the Secretary to the Government of India, Military Department expressed very grave objections to this proposal on various considerations. The strategic importance of Darjeeling was discussed in his letter: Darjeeling needs protection. It is in an exposed position ...• Darjeeling has in fact come to be regarded by the inhabitants of the hills of Nepal, of Sikkim, of Bootan, and of Tibet (Lhassa) not only as a centre of British wealth and civilisation, but as a point of which the British Government is most easily assailable unless protected by an adequate Military Force. There are now no Native Troops at Darjeeling. The sappers are no longer maintained as a Military Body or subject to articles of war .... The convalescent Depot ... is empty in the cold weather, and is not at any time be relied on for other duty. And there can be no doubt that, while the cantonment at Senchal affords an admirable Sanitarium for European troops, the presence of the Detachment there gives a feeling of security to the whole of the scattered European inhabitants of the District, 17
DDR, Letter from Junior Secretary to the Government of Bengal to the Commi!Jsioner of the Bbaplpur Division, 1 May 1865.
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impresses the native population both of British Sikkim and of Foreign countries by which it is surrounded with a wholesome sense of the power of the government, and renders attack from any quarter hopeless and practically impossible.28 In 1865 there was a proposal for construction of a Cantonment and Barracks for European troops in Darjeeling. A committee was appointed to consider the selection of site for this purpose. It strongly recommended Brianstone in order to combine the whole in one ring fence with the Convalescent Depot in Jalapahar. Cecil Beadon, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in a minute dated 28 December 1865 discussed the pros and cons of the problem. He argued that mere civil station of Darjeeling formed but a small part of the British interest to be protected on the Sikkim hills. There were scattered throughout the district numerous tea factories and other private settlements where Englishmen stayed with their families. These were infinitely more exposed to hostile attack than the station itself. The headquarters of the Darjeeling sappers were in the midst of the station. The police Reserve was situated close by. The Convalescent Depo~ occupied a commanding position in Jalapahar. Considering all these factors, the station of Darjeeling was the very last place in the whole district likely to be attacked. The fear of attack from any quarter was unfounded. The Lepchas and the aboriginal inhabitants of Sikkim were quiet and peaceful. The men who flocked into the district from the plains of Bengal, from Nepal, from Silckim and from the hill territory recently acquired from Bhutan, were all well-disposed to the British. They were busily engaged in the profitable occupation they had found in tea plantations and public works. The Nepali coolies were under the control of their chiefs. There could be no real danger except in the event of a war. But Sikkim was friendly and powerless. Bhutan was too far removed from the mischief. In the event of war with Nepal, special arrangements must under any circumstances be made for the defence of Darjeeling. In that case not less than a full regiment of European infantry, besides native troops, would be required at and about Darjeeling. If a patrol 11
Proceedings of the Benpl Government, General Political Department, Nos. 2-4, dated 11 July 1864, pp. 3-5.
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were at any time needed in that part of the station which lay nearest to Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, Cecil Beadon suggested, it would have to be furnished from a guard very much nearer than Jalapahar. The advantages of Senchal as a military~ position was judged with reference to circumstances of a general character, that . is to say, to the command of roads, to the defence of all points likely to be attacked, to its communication with the plains and to its own security. There were other reasons too. The land belonged to the government. The climate was one of proved healthiness. There was abundant space for building for excercise and recreation. The men were free to move about in the surrounding woods and amuse or employ themselves in a thousand different ways. Beadon maintained, . . . as a military position, it is on the whole as good as any other, if not the very best, in the hills, that it affords equal protection to Darjeelingas it stands,-to the extended sanatorium, which, · in all probability will be established on the Tukdar spur, to Kurseong~ to Hope To,vn, to the Cinchona Establishment in the valley of Rungbe and to the tea plantation throughout the Province. The barracks of Sinchal command a view of the whole of British Sikkim as much as of Independent Sikkim, of nearly all the newly acquired hill territory of Bootan and of the ridge which divides Darjeeling from Nepal; and there are conspicuous and well-known mark for many miles in every direction. Among barbarous and ignorant tribes the site of a British Cantonment ever present to their view and ever reminding them of the existence of a power which is irresistible cannot fail to produce as it undoubtedly does produce-a great moral effect. Subsequently this proposal received the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief. The Governor-General-in-Council gave the matter full consideration and directed the adoption of necessary measures for early and permanent construction of accommodation at Senchal for a wing of British Infantry and a Battery of Garrison Artillery. It was further suggested that in constructing the barracks at Senchal, these should be 'so arranged as to be defensible in the event of any crisis in order that a portion of the troops could move out, if necessary, for offensive operation. ' 29 -ODR, General Department, English Correspondence, 1841-79. Letter No. 1085, 22 February 1866.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat V
In 186S B.H. Hodgson published a paper entitled 'On the Colonization of the Himalaya by Europeans' in which he advocated in no uncertain terms that the Himalaya generally was very well calculated for settlement of Europeans. 30 Though he used the term 'Europeans', he had in his mind particularly the starving peasantry of Ireland and Scotch Highlands. A number of factors, such as infinite variety of juxtaposed elevations, corresponding differences of climate both as to heat and moisture, unbounded richness of soil at all elevations, assurances of health and strength, and also the opportunity to cultivate a wonderful variety of products ranging from the tropical nearly to the European, offer unique advantages to the colonists. To illustrate his argument Hodgson referred to Darjeeling several times. His enthusiasm in this respect knew no bound and this is manifest in the following passage: I trust therefore that the general subject of the high capabilities of the climate and soil of the Himalayas and their eminent fitness for Europeon colonization having once been taken up will never be dropped till colonization is afait accompli and that the accomplishment of this greatest, surest, soundest and simplest of all political measures for the stabilization of the British power in India, may adorn the annals of the present Viceroy's adminis• trat1on. Altogether from a different stand point Major-General D.J F. Newall in his Report on the Military De/ence of Darjeeling dated 4 January 1872 and also in his book, The Highlands of India, examined the strategic importance of Darjeeling. In this book, he strongly advocated the military colonization of the hills. In defence of his contention, he profusely referred to the views of Clive, Warren Hastings, Wellington, Munro, Bentick, Metcalfe, Ellenborough, Dalhousie, Malcolm, Canning, Lawrence, all of whom had favoured the policy of hill colonization. But the arguments of Newall are rooted in the deeper requirements of military strategy. 'The occupation of a ridge of mountain forming water parting whence issue the rivers which fertilize the adjacent lowlands IOJJ.H. Hodgson, &say, on the Languages, Literature and Religion of Nepal and Tibet (1874, rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri, 1972), part II, pp. 83-89.
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must at once strike the eye of the military critic as the true line of domination of the plain country embraced within those rivers. ' 31 On the basis of this principle which admits of modification owing to local causes, he argued that the troops in the ranges of Garhwal and Kumaun should command the Doab, through Dehradun, as far even as Allahabad. The group of hill stations represented by Almora, Nainital and Ranikhet should command Rohilkhand. Oudh and as far as the Ganges. Applying the same test, troops at Darjeeling should command south-east Tirhut and Bengal as far as Brahmaputra. Another aspect of the importance of Darjeeling is easily discernible. In the event of rupture with Nepal, Newall reminded, this station would constitute the refuge of the whole district and might be much pushed to maintain itself. Moreover, there are several spendid plateaus in Darjeeling and across the Tista suitably adopted for this purpose. If the situation so demanded, Newall suggested, an arrangement could be made with the king of Sikkim by which, in consideration of a pension or money gratuity, the country up to the frontier might be acquired. Newall fondly hoped: 'The country up to the granite walls of Thibet would then be ours, and available for settlement, and I scarcely know of any country more calculated to form a refuge or ''military circle'' such as I have suggested. In this fine hill district, then, since Nepal and Valley of Kbatmandoo cannot be availed of, I would suggest the establishment of a Grand Southern Military Reserve Circle for Bengal. ' 32
D.J.F. Newall, The Highlands of India Strategically Considered ••. (London: Harrison, 1882), pp. 3, 16. 11 1bid., p. 109. 11
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In Search of a New Horizon
is a corruption of Dorje-ling and means the land or place of Dorje, the mystic Thunderbolt of the lndo• Tibetan Buddhism. It was the name given to the Buddhist monastery which stood on the top of the Observatory Hill. A.L. Waddell, who visited Darjeeling in 1889 informs us that Darjeeling means the cave of the mystic thunderbolt on the Observatory Hill from which cave Dorje-ling or Darjeeling derives its name. Earl of Ronaldsay says, 'In the interests of historical accuracy I should, perhaps, add that I believe the commonly accepted explanation to be incorrect. A derivation, seldom heard, but which I have the best of grounds for believing to be correct, is that which attributes the word Dorje in the first half of Darjeeling to the name of a Lama, Dorje-rinzing, who founded the monastery which once stood on Observatory Hill. The shrine was subsequently removed to the Bhutia Basti, where it remains to this day; but the former site retained the name of the place of Dorje-Lama. ' 1 According to another view Darjeeling is the corruption of the sanskrit word Durjaya-Linga. Sankrityayan thinks that this view is not tenable. He also believes that Dorje-ling was the name of the monastery on the Observatory Hill and means vajra-dvipa. TH B NAM B D A R J E EL I N G
This brings out clearly the significance oftoponymy in the study of culture contact. The place nam~s are not meaningless sounds or arbitrary words. The original import of names has become in many cases lost into the limbo of the past. Nevertheless the 1
The Earl of Ronaldsay, The Lands of Thunderbolt: Slkkim, Chumbl & Bhutan (London: Constable and Company, 1923), pp. VII-YIII.
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ancient meaning is recoverable. It may indicate emigration and immigation. It may be a sign of fusion of races by war, conquest and commerce. The topographic words embalm for us the fashion of speech 'which float down upon the parlance of successive generations of men . . . subject in their course to less phonetic abrasion than the other elements of a people's speech ....2 Jn the evolution of village names folk etymology plays a great role. The place names in eastern India are indicative of plants, symbols, environment, topography and the productivity of the place.3 The place names in Bengal have almost a continuous history since the fifth century A.O. But the conspicuous evidences are not available before the tenth century. In 1891 a list of the names of places, rivers and mountains in Darjeeling with their meanings was compiled by Colonel L.A. Waddell." This list of place names has been incorporated as appendix in O'Malley's Darjeeling District Gazetteer. 5 The oldest names in the district are of Lepcha origin. The Lepchas gave names to the mountains, rivers and sites in their neighbourhood. A few of these old names are still alive in places where the Lepchas no longer reside. The Tibetans, after their arrival in Sikkim, gave their own names on many of the already named sites. Thus, many of the hills and rivers have two names. After the influx of Nepalese a new toponym in Nepali language has emerged in many cases. The Lepcha names include Kurseong (place of white orchid/ cane-stick), Lopchu (cool stone), Mahaldi (the bent-going river), Mirik (the burnt hill), Nagri (a high stockaded fort), Rangli (the Lepcha's house), Rangnu (the straight-going river), Rangpo (the shifting or wandering river), Senchal (the damp misty hill) and Sonada (the bears lair). Among the Tibetan names may be mention1
Rev. Issac Taylor, Words and Places or Etymological Illustrations of History, Ethnology and Geography, (London: George Routledge and Sons Ltd.• 1909; rpt. Detroit: Gale Research Company, Book Tower, 1968), p. I. 8Sukurnar Sen, Bang/a Sthananam (in Bengali) 2nd ed. (Calcutta: Ananda Publishers, 1982), p. 41. 'L.A. Waddell, "Place and River Names in the Darjeeling District and Sikkim'', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 60 l1891), 53-79. 60'Malley, Darjeeling, pp. 212-20.
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Darjeeling: ·A Favoured Retreat
ed Chola (the Lordly pass), Darjeeling (the place of mystic thunderbolt), Ging (the stretched-out slope), Kangchenjunga (the · five treasure houses of the great snows), Rhenok (the black hill) and Sandakphu (the height of the poison plant). Some of the examples of the Nepali place names are Ambhutia (the place of mango tree), Batasia (the windy site), Chunabati (the lime-kiln), Gayabari (the cow-shed), Jalapahar (the burnt hill), K.agjhora (the crow's stream), Pulbanr (the bridge market), Sukhna (the dry site) and Tindharia (the three ridges). The Lepchas believe that the Anglicised name of Kalimpong is derived from the Lepcba word Kalempung. Ka means we, lem. means play and pung means ridge. Kalempung thus means the ridge where we play. According to Tibetan version, Kalimpong means the stockade (pong) of the King's minister (Kalon). The river known to the Lepchas as Rangnyitung was named by the Tibetans as Rangnyit Chhu. In corrupt form of Nepali it became Rangit. As abbreviation of Trisrota (the three currents) the Nepalese named the river Tista which was known to the Lepchas as Rangnyung (the great straight going water) and to the Tibetans as Tsang-Chhu (pure water). There is another suggestion that the word Tista is derived from di or ti, the Bodo word for water. The Bengali place names mentioned by Waddell are not many in number. These are: Baghdogra (the place of roaring tigers), Balasan (the river of golden sand), Mahanadi (the great river), Mechi (the river of the Meches) and Siliguri (the stony site). The hills, the valleys and the rivers were, in fact, the most conspicuous writing tablets on which the people of Darjeeling belonging to various ethnic groups inscribed their annals. The cultural mosaic in the district thus sparkles '"ith a symbiosis of the lndic world and the Mongolian world. II It is said Manu lived in Manali and Bhima married Hidimba during his conquest of the area near Manali. Such mythological vistas have been denied to Darjeeling. The Chenab (Vedic Askni/ Skt. Chandrabhaga), the Ravi (Vedic Purushni/Skt. Iravati), the Beas (Vedic Arjikiya/Skt. Vipasa), and the Sutlej (Vedic Saturdi/ Skt. Shatadru) have history to narrate from hoary antiquity. But the Balasan, the Kahail, ·the Mechi, the Tista and the Rangit
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claim no proud linkage with the great classical tradition of India; Chamba is mentioned in the works of Panini and Kulu in the accounts of Yuan Chwang. Darjeeling had no Panini or Yuan Chwang. But Darjeeling has the most esteemed place in the official reports of Grant, Herbert, Lloyd, Campbell, Edgar and Claude White. Eminent scholars like B.H. Hodgson, Csoma de Koros, J.D. Hooker, L.A. Waddell, Lord Ronaldsay, Saratchandra Das and Rahul Sankrityayan were struck by its immense potentiality as an area of culture study. In the record-room of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling there are many volumes of correspondence, Annual General Administration Reports of the Deputy Commissioner, copies of the Annual Reports of the Political Officer, Sikkim and also those of some letters and reports of the Nepal Residency and other miscellaneous documents. From a study of these records, we get a glimpse of the picture of the relations India had developed with Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet in the nineteenth century. Further Investigations may bring to light significant documents lying in private custody in this district and in the neighbouring areas. The discovery of the genealogy of the Malla dynasty by G. Tucci in the small Dulla state in Nepal is a striking illustration of the fact that even the documents in private custody sometimes unravel illuminating facts hidden in the limbo of the past. The Buddhist monasteries in and around Darjeeling are the repositories of invaluable materials relating to religion, philosophy, art, iconography and literature of Mahayana Buddhism. The Darjeeling monastery which was once situated on the Observatory Hill was built in 176S as a branch of the Phodong monastery of Sikkim. It was looted and sacked by the Nepalese in 181S and finally removed to Bhutia Basti where it still exists. The Ging monastery rebuilt in stone during 1896-98 belongs to the Red Sect called Lbachun-pa. The Ghoom monastery was founded in 187S by Lama Sherabgyatsa belonging to the Yellow Sect. On 27 March 1918 here took place the unveiling and consecration of an image of Maitreya Buddha. This _huge image (over fifteen feet in height) was constn1cted under the guidance and supervision of an eminent Lama called Tromo Geshe Rimpoche. The lower portion of
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat
the image of clay contains sixteen volumes of the sacred commandments of Buddha printed in Tibet from blocks. The interior of the image preserves precious stones, emblems and various costly articles and its surface is studded with gold and valuable stones like rubies and turquoise, while on its forehead is set a cat's eye of priceless value. The Bhutia Basti monastery preserves all the volumes of Kanjur and Tanjur, rare books on Buddhist religion and philosophy, most valuable and authoritative Sanskrit texts and Tibetan translation of a large number of Sanskrit texts. 6 Many of the gems of classical Sanskrit literature, the original texts of which are lost, have been preserved in Tibetan translations. Among such treasures Meghaduta by Kalidasa, Kavyadarsa by Dandi, Nagananda by Sriharsa, Candraloka by the renowned grammarian Candragomin and Nyaya Texts by Dharmakirti deserve special mention. The Tamang Buddhist monastery was built in 1926. This structure is the most beautiful embodiment of Tibeto-Nepalese architecture. Many of the Tibetan Lamas who settled in the monasteries at Darjeeling were highly learned. Extensive and intensive field work by eminent scholars has brought to light important monastic sources that have thrown light on the religious life of the Sikkimese and Darjeeling Tibetans. Mt. Kanchenjunga (Gangs Chen mdzod Inga) is believed to be the seat of a number of deities. The Buddhists of Sikkim and Darjeeling worship the personification of this mountain as one of the divine protectors of their land. According to the most popular tradition Nam thas sras, the guardian of the North and god of riches dwells on Mt. Kanchenjunga, where he has amassed five kinds of treasures: gold, silver, gems, grain and holy books. Another tradition holds that Mt. Kanchenjunga is the abode of five divine brothers, who reside at the five main peaks. They are worshipped as the five-fold reproduction of one and the same mountain-god. Nebesky-Wojkowitz7 has informed us that the Buddhists of Darjeeling worship as a local protective deity an 'Rahul Sankrityayan, Darjeelln6 Parlchay (Calcutta: Adhunik Pustak Bhavan, 1950), Passim. 7Rene De Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protectwe Deities (London: OUP, 1956), p. 219.
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'emanation' of Gang Chen mdzod Inga called rdo gling yul gang chen, who is the 'guardian of Gang Chen mdzod Inga's southern gate. He heard in Darjeeling about a local oracle-priest who acted from time to time as the mouthpiece of this deity. The chief acolyte of Gangs Chen mdzod Inga is the so-called yab-bdud, an 'emanation' of Mahakala. He is a mountain god too and his seat is supposed to be a mountain near Siliguri.
III The cultural life of this district is closely knit with the tapestry of that of the adjoining territories. The original habitat of the Lepchas is known in their myths, as Maye! Lyang. This mythical land is now covered by Sikkim, Ilam region of eastern Nepal, the district of Darjeeling and some pockets of Bhutan. The original inhabitants of Darjeeling, according to this mythical account, were the Lepchas. In modem times the reference to the Lepcha people occurs first in a descriptive account furnished by Francis Buchanan Hamilton. He writes, 'Another considerable tribe of Nepal, taken in its most extended sense, are the Lepchas, who occupy the country between the Kankayi and Tista, .... Their manners were very nearly the same with those of the Kirats. The Lepchas are a set of vigorous barbarians, about one half of whom had been deluded by the monkish austerities and superior learning of the Lamas. ' 8 An article written by A. Campbell, Superintendent of Darjeeling, contains the first reference to the Lepcha language.9 Colonel G .B. Mainwaring, an officer of the Indian Army in the Bengal Staff Corps made a claim in 1876 that the Lepcha language is 'unquestionably far anterior to Hebrew or Sanskrit, the oldest language extant and regarded alone, as a prolific source of the derivation and etyma of words, it is invaluable to the philological world. It however recommends itself to us on higher ground; it possesses and plainly evinces the principle and motive on which all language is constructed. ' 10 'Francis Buchanan Hamilton, An Account of tM Kingdom of Nepal (1819, rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri, 1971), p. 55. 'A. Campbell, "Note on the Lepcbas of Sikkim with a Vocabulary of their Language••, Journal of the Asiatic of Bengal, 9(1840), 379-93. 10O.B. Mainwaring, A Grammar of the Rong(Lepcha) Language (Calcutta, The Baptist Mission Press, 1876), p. XX.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat
R.K. Sprigg holds the view that 'Lepcha is a mystery language: it forms a small linguistic island in Sikkim and the Darjeeling area, remote from any closely related language.' 11 He argues that it has no close relationship with the language surrounding it, Limbu and the various Rai languages to the west, Tibetan to the north and east and Bengali to the south. In this paper Sprigg examines the views of N.C. Bodman who in 1968 came to the conclusion that the Adi group of language, formerly known as Abor-Miri (spoken in the southern area of Arunachal Pradesh) is nearest to the Lepcha language. Robert Shafer has noticed connecting link between the Lepcha speech of Darjeeling and Sikkim, and the Naga dialect group of Assam, which are members of the BodoNaga section of Tibetan-Burman.1 2 Sprigg agrees with R.A.D. Forrest [''The Linguistic Position of Rong (Lepcha)'', Journal of the American Oriental Society, 82, 3 July-Sept. 1962] that Lepcha is a very mixed form of speech but disagrees with him regarding the importance the latter attaches to the K.hasi element in the Lepcha. Sprigg firmly maintains that '. . . the really important element in the Lepcha mixture comes from at least three hundred years of close contact with Tibetans, which is continuing today.' 13 There is a Lepcha folk tradition, according to which ltbu-moo, the Mother Creator, herself gave the Lepchas their script along with mountains, rivers and lakes. According to another folk tradition, the script had its origin in the beginning of the seventeenth century, invented by Thekong Mensalong, a legendary tribal tigure. 14 Another Lepcha mythical tradition states that the script was invented by five Lepcha scholars, namely, Turgey, Sayyun, Goley, Tangrab and During. Maitra holds the view that the Lepcha script resembles in some important respects the Arabic uR.K. Sprigg, "The Lepcha Language and the Three Hundred Yean of Tibetan Influence in Sikkim'', Journal of the Asiatic Society, 24: 1-4 (1982), 17. 11Robert Shafer, "Classification of Some Languages of the Flirna)ayas'', Journal of IM Bihar &search Society, 36 (1950), 193. USprigg, op. cit., p. 19. 16A.R. Foning, upcha My Vanishing Tribe (New Delhi: Sterling, 1987). pp. 151-53.
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script and he conjectures that the Arabian scholars were the inventors of this script. 15 Foning refers to a Nepalese theory, according to which in the seventh century A.D. King Maw-rong was the king of the Chiefs of the Kirata people. The Lepchas belonged to the Kirata tribe and were known as lmay. King Maw-rong is said to have invented a script for his subjects among whom only the Lepchas have retained it till modem times. According to this theory the Lepeha script was prevalent for about ten centuries before the arrival of the Tibetans in the land of the Lepchas. Tsepon Shakabpa, a reputed Tibetan scholar, informs us that in a book written by Lama Khajon Ngawa, Lama Lhatsun Nangkha Jigme, popularly known as Lhatsun Chhempo, has been mentioned as the inventor of the Lepcha script. Lama Lhatsun is venerated as the patron saint of Sikkim. He was the leader of the group of three who in 1642 anointed and consecrated the first king of Sikkim. Chador Namgyal, the third consecrated Maharaja of Sikkim (1700-17), is credited to have invente~ an alphabet for his Lepeha subjects. The Lepcha influence was quite profound in Sikkim till the middle of the region of the seventh Chogyal (17931854). Diringer's Alphabet contains the picture of a page from a Lep~ha manuscript dated c. 1800 preserved at the India Office Library. The Lepcha language and script must have been very much in use at Darjeeling in 1848 when Joseph Dalton Hooker visited Darjeeling. Sprigg informs us that he· has in his possession a xerox copy of a Lepcha document found among Hooker's papers at Kew gardens. This document was a statement of accounts for the expenses of his journey to Sikkim, stage by stage, in 1848-49. Sprigg believes that this document was probably the oldest nonreligions Lepcha text in existence. Kumar Pradhan claims that a document collected by him in Eastern Nepal proves that the script was in vogue in Darjeeling in the fifties of the last century.16 The document contains two loan deeds between a Limbu, Ohan Bahadur and a Lepcha, Ata Sardar, 11
Arun Maitra, Slkklm~r Adlvasi upcha: upcha Upajatir Purnanga ltlhM (Calcutta: A. Mukherjee&. Co., 1975), p. 25. 11Kumar Pradhan, "Pr~s and Consequences of the Unification of Nepal with particular reference to &stem Nepal", Diss., Calcutta University, 1982, p. 82.
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registered at the Darjeeling court under the two-anna non-judicial stamps of the East India Company. The texts are in Nepali and . the Lepcha texts in the Lepcha script are written on the back. The Thacker's Directory for Bengal for the year 1865 mentions that there was a l,epcha interpreter attached to the Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling Court, as a salaried official. No records are available to tell us whether the Lepchas are indigenous people of Sikkim or immigrants from the east or the west and how long they had been in Sikkim. In 1840 Campbell calculated that Lepcha population in Sikkim was about three thousands and Sikkim-Bhutia (Tibetan) population nearly two thousands. At this time Sikkim included a strip of Darjeeling district on the western border and the whole of the Darjeeling terai. It is true there were not many Lepchas in this unhealthy area. In 1872 the Lepcha population of Darjeeling district was 4,952 only, just over four per cent of its total population of 94,712. In 1941 the number of Lepchas rose to 12,470 and the total population of the district rose to 3, 76,369. The total percentage of the Lepchas was a little more than three per cent. The earliest written literature of the Lepchas is known as Tashay Namthar or Tashay Sung written by Lama Ugen Lingpo. This is the biography of Guru Padma Sambhava who first propagated Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim. The Namthar period commenced from the early eighteenth century and came to a close in the beginning of the twentieth century. As to the importance of this genre of literature, Foning writes, 'In each region of the Lepcha land, ardent and devoted copyists mushroomed and, as a result, this particular book, the Tashay Namthar, acted as one piece of literature that carried the torch of the written language of the Lepchas undimmed for centuries to• gether.' 17 In 1841 a school for the Lepcha children was established at Takvar in Darjeeling by Rev. William Start. The enterprising missionaries like Treutler, Wernike, Stoelke, Schultz and Neibel compiled a Lepcha primer and a Lepcha dictionary with the help of alphabets taken from the existing Namthar. The book of lipon1n1, • op.
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Genesis and a part of Exodus, along with the Gospels of St. Mark and St. John were also translated into Lepcha language. In 1903 a book of Catechism and in 1911 a hymn book, both in Lepcha language, were printed. The Lepcha language became the vehicle of Christian prayers, hymns and sermons. C.J. Page of the Baptist Mission Press took initiative in bringing out a fount for Lepcha type. In the twenties of the present century Rev. Oyen Tshering Sitting founded the District General Lepcha Association. In 1929 he published a Lepcha primer. The second edition of this book appeared in 19S6. In 1967 A.R. Foning established a new organisation called Longten Chok Lee or Culture Centre at Kalimpong where Mani Printing Press enthusiastically undertook publication work in Lepcha language. In 1970 a revised edition of Rev. Sitting's Primer and the Second Book of Tasso were published. Next year came out Lha Tsering's Aids to the Study of the Primer. A bi-monthly newspaper Mutanchi, the first newspaper in Lepcha language was also published. The Nagassey Chyo Bong Chyo Kurmom, a literary society in Chobo village started the publication of the ancient traditional Namtbars like Biruchana, Kumya, Kumsi, Chyoten Manlom and also some songs and poems. Both G.B. Mainwaring [A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language 1876] and K.K. Das [''The Lepcha People and Their Notions of Heaven and Hell'', Journal of Buddhist Text Society of India IV. I. appendix l-5, Calcutta, 1896] have maintained that even before the advent of the Tibetans, the Lepchas had their own written literature which was destroyed by the Tibetan Buddhists. Sprigg is not inclined to accept this view. His arguments are as follows: 18 First, the Lepchas lived in isolated farms and hamlets and their social life was restricted. Secondly, their numbers were too small to sustain a literature. Thirdly, their priest and priestess, bongthings and muns, transmitted their skill orally by chanting and singing with appropriate gestures. This is not to underestimate the importance their oral tradition.
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USprig, op. cit., p. 29.
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In a mimeographed working paper entitled ''The Nepali Language with Reference to its Relationship with the Rai, Limbu and Lepcha Languages'' presented to the Seminar on the Development of the Nepali Language in India, University of North Bengal on 18-20 December 1986, R.K. Sprigg has argued (p. I) that the degree to which Nepali, an Indo-Aryan Language, has influenced the Tibeteo-Burman Lepcha and Limbu and Rai group of languages varies in proportion to the distance of each language area from Kathmandu. In the case of Bantwa, belonging to the Rai group of languages, the influence has been strong at the phonetic, phonological and the lexical levels and not at the grammatical level. On the Limbu the influence of Nepali has been much less at all the three levels. On the Lepcha it is slight. T.W. Clark in an article ''The Rani Pokhri Inscription, Kathmandu'' (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, XX, 1957, pp. 167-87) drew our attention to the fact that the Nepali language had a major place in the said document belonging to the year 1670. ' ... the first two lines of the text and part of the third are in Sanskrit; the last five lines and part of the preceding line are in Newari; but the greater part of the text approximately 33 lines, is in Nepali.' This is what Clark characterizes as 'an event of importance in the history of Nepali language' and the importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it preceded the conquest of the Kathamandu valley by Prithvi Narayan Shah (1768-69) by almost one hundred years. Clark added, 'whereas it is reasonably certain that in A.D. 1670 the major language in the Kathamandu valley, measured statistically in terms of the number of people who spoke it as their mother tongue, was Newari, there is strong evidence that there were many Nepali speakers permanently resident there at this time, and that the two languages were in use concurrently, both in the court and in the city. Relying on the above-mentioned findings of T.W. Clark, Sprigg maintains in the aforesaid paper (pp. 2-3) that the expansion of Nepali language in the Nepal valley should not be ascribed to the conquests of Prithvi Narayan Shah, 'but it is certainly Prithvi Narayan Shah who was mainly responsible for the spread of Nepali from the valley eastwards into the Rai and Limbu language areas
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of Khambuan and Limbuan. . . . The Oorkha conquest of K.hambuan and Limbuan opened the way for the Nepali language to advance as the language of administration into what was then Kirant and is now eastern Nepal upto the _present frontier, the Singalila Range.' Sprigg further points out that military recruitment and military service both inside and outside Nepal were contributory factors · to the spread of Nepali language. Recruitment into the Gurkha army started even before the death of Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1775. From 1847 onwards Kirantis were enlisted in the Nepal Army by Jung Bahadur. They were certainly subject to the influence of Nepali language outside their own village areas. From 1828 onwards Kirantis served in 42nd, 43rd and 44th Assam Regiments in Assam, the Chin Hills, Sikkim and Burma. Until 1890 recruitment into the Brigade of Gurkhas was not extended to Rais and Limbus in the case of 10th Gurkha Rifles based firstly at Maymyo in Burma and later at Quetta. Similarly, they were not recruited for the 7th Gurkha Rifles based firstly at Thayetmyo in Burma and later at Quetta until 1902. The British officers were conversant only with the Nepali language. The know• ledge of Nepali was sine qua non for the recruits in these regiments. Later a newspaper in Nepali language in the Roman script was published to spread literacy among the Gurkha soldiers. Sprigg informs us that in 1956 during his field work in Chhinamulchu village he found that Rai women there invariably spoke Bantawa among themselves and the men, many of whom were ex-service men or on leave from British or Indian Gurkha Regiments, usually spoke Nepali in gatherings where males dominated. For sixty years after the treaty ofSegauli (1816) Sikkim Darbar made it a policy not to allow the Nepalese to enter Sikkim. In 1875 some Sikkimese feudal lords encouraged Nepali settlement in southern Sikkim. From 1889 onwards during the tenure of Claude White as Political Officer, encouragement to immigration from Nepal became a settled policy of the Sikkim Darbar_. As shown in 1891 census, 15,925 Nepalese (the figure, however, excluded 3,356 Limbus) had already settled in Sikkim. In 1835 when Darjeeling was transferred to the East India Company as a gift, the population was estimated to be only about a hundred
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and the number of those who spoke Nepali at that time must have been very negligible. Lloyd issued a proclamation in 1838 in four languages: Lepcha, Urdu, Hindusthani and Bengali. The population rose to 10,000 by 1850. In the 1911 census of Darjeeling district the most numerous single group of immigrants from Nepal as recorded were the Rais, 40,000 in number, of whom 39,448 (97.64%) spoke one or other of the Rai languages. The Rai population was, during this period about a quarter of the total number of Nepali hillmen in the district. Again, in that census, 13.804 were recorded of whom 11,489 (83.23%) spoke Limbu. 'These figures suggest', Sprigg reminds us (p. 5), 'that the great expansion in the use of Nepali in the District has come during the seventy-five years since the census.' He noticed that the influence of Sikkimese Tibetan on the Lepcha is strong in Sikkim, the 11am district of Nepal and the Sadar and Kurseong sub-divisions of Darjeeling district. The Kalimpong sub-division ceased to be governed by Sikkim Darbar after the Bhutanese conquest and so the Tibetan influence on the Lepchas there is less pronounced. The influence of Nepali has been almost negligible except perhaps for intonation. We have already mentioned that the Lepcha record in possession of Sprigg mentions the expenses incurred by J.D. Hooker on an expedition to Nepal and Sikkim in 1848-49. In this 42line Lepcha text he could find only the following Nepali loanwords: tsar, tsho, bar (-ro), huldar, zam-dar, du-hi, to-lop, rak, buk-ahi, Kum-pa-nyi, bo-tol. From a study of these loan-w~rds, some inferences have been drawn. First, by 1848-49 the Darjeeling Lepchas were in touch with immigrant Nepali speakers. Secondly, it is also possible that the said expedition while passing through eastern Nepal collected these loan-words. Thirdly, the expedition had a small escort of Nepali troops under a havildar. Sprigg has noticed (p. 16) that these phonetic spelling are based on Kathmandu style of pronunciation. In 1898 Mainwaring's Dictionary of the Lepcha Language was published. Sprigg could find out only three Nepali words in this dictionary. In 1952 he could detect only two Nepali loan-words in the sizeable corpus of Lepcha colloquial sentences transcribed phonetically from the speech of
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K.P. Tamsang Mandal of Bong Basti, near Kalimpong. These are: baze/baza and bi/a (i) t.
Kumar Pradhan has made a comparative study of the role of Nepali language in the configuration of Nepali society both in Nepal and India. Nepal is a land of isolated villages and mutually unintelligible speeches. Most of these speeches had no script and lacked literary tradition. It is in this background that K.haskura/Gorkhali/Nepali could emerge as the second language for those tribes who belonged to the family of Tibeto-Burman speeches. After the unification of Nepal as a result of Gorkha conquests, it received official patronage and encouragement. The rapid improvement in transport and communication hastened its dissemination. Pradhan points out that as the Brahmin-Chhetri class had a dominant role in the social-political structure in Nepal, the percentage of the literate and educated was high among them, their proficiency in the official language further helped to consolidate their domination. The situation in India had an altogether different dimension. I quote Pradhan: In this context, it will not be amiss to mention here that in different situation in India, the Nepali language has helped to bring about a closer integration of the Kirats, Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs, Newars, Brahmans, Chhetris and many others. The Nepali Janguage is spoken there as their first language or mother tongue. There are the socio-economic factors behind the rise of a feeling of identity among the Indian Nepalese, and the language serves as a bond of unity among them ... However, this should be noted that in this different context the absence of any domination by a group over others within the community has gone a long way in bringing about closer union. This is only to show a contrast and not to suggest that the problem of national integration can be circumvented by the elimination of other languages and beliefs. 19
IV In Darjeeling the Christian missionaries were the pioneers in the field of education.20 In 1850 Rev. W. Start, a private missionary 11
K1,rnat Pradhan, "Process and Consequences of the Unification of
Nepal ..•", pp. 236-37. •O'Malley, op. cit., Chap. XV.
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opened a school for the Lepchas. After him came, Niebel, a German missionary, who prepared Lepcha primers and collected some boys for the school. In 1864 the Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling was instructed to address the authorities in Sikkim and Bhutan in vernacular and to take an opportunity of gradually extending the use of English language. 21 It appears from the Annual General Administration Report of the Cooch-Behar Division, 1867-68 that there was a so-called Anglo-Vernacular school in which English, Urdu and Hindi . were taught. There were tw0 Mufossil schools, where the stude~ts learnt Hindi. The sons of foreign shopkeepers, government servants, Nepali coolies and employees of the tea-garden~ were the students of the school. The report bemoaned, 'Not one of the indigenous inhabitants is receiving education in the Government Establishment.' It also drew the attention of the appropriate authority to 'the desirability of opening schools for the Bhooteas and Lepchas of the Hills and Bengalli and Mech of the Terai.... ' 22 Fortunately enough in the Annual General Administration Report of the Cooch Behar Division during ·1869-70 it was stated that one school (private) for the education of the Lepchas had been established at Lebong and another (also private) f9r 'Hindoo' at Phanseedewa.23 On 22 February 1873 the Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling fumished useful data regarding the linguistic configuration of the district as detailed in the table on the next page.24 The Deputy Commissioner further informed that Hindusthani and Bengali languages were the medium of administration in the district. The people throup-hout the district were familiar with the Hindusthani language. The Lepchas and the Tibetans who were not conversant with the Hindusthani language were easily dealt with through the medium of interpreters. The letters from the 11
DDR. General Department, English Correspondence, 1841-79. Letter No. 2S60T dated 26 August 1864 from the Secretary to the Govt. of Bengal. 11 Proc. of Bengal Govt., General, July 1868, Nos. 54-60. 11Ibid., General, July 1870, Nos. 49, SO. "DDR, Correspondence volume 58/63, Memo. No. 311 dated 22 February 1873.
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Spoken by the number of inhabitants
Bengali Hindusthani Lepcha Tibetan Nepali Murmi Mech European and others
33,324 16,044 3,952 6,000 25,781 6,557 1,766 1,288
--94,712
Kings of Sikkim and Bhutan were translated by the interpreters. No officer had ever been examined in any of the languages of the hill tribes of the district. The Deputy Comn1issioner of Darjeeling submitted on 19 August 1873 proposals for the improvement of the Bhooteah and Anglovernacular schools in Darjeeling. 25 The object of the proposals were three-fold: (1) to improve the boarding schools for Lepcha and Tibetan boys; (2) to establish a good Anglo-vernacular school for the benefit of the children of those who had settled in Darjeeling from the plains; (3) to provide good secondary education for the Nepalese who had hitherto been grievously neglected in the matter. The report referred to the views of Macfarlane, who was inclined to think that a separate school for the Nepalese would be in the highest degree desirable, if not absolutely necessary. Macfarlane believed that the Nepalese could not hold their own against the Bengalees in a common school. The Deputy Commissioner, on the other hand, came to the conclusion that it would not be advisable to attempt to establish another school at that stage and suggested that both the Bhooteah and the Anglo-vernacular schools, at least experimentally should be made available ... to the Nepalese. He proposed to take in from ten to twelve boarders, all Lepchas and Tibetans, who were to be taught and •Proc. of Bengal Govt., Education Dept., September 1873, No. 139C dated 19 August 1873, from J.W. Edgar, Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling to the Commissioner, Cooch-Behar division.
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fed free of cost. His main aim in training these boys was to equip them as intermediaries of communication with Central Asia. He was in favour of imparting them good education in English and Tibetan languages. He further proposed to make arrangements to teach them a little surveying and the use of scientific instruments used in hill work with a view to employing some of them in the exploration of less accessible parts of Central Asia. His prime concern was to tum out a class of men capable of being employed as interpreters in Darjeeling and agents in Tibet. He was not in favour of a~lowing them to learn a third language until they had acquired proficiency in English and could write Tibetan elegantly. He stated, 'I should not aim at giving Nepalese a very high literary training at this school, but should be satisfied, if I could tum out good clerks and the like. If any boy should be capable and desirous of higher culture, he should have an opportunity to getting it at the Anglo-Vernacular School, intended primarily for plains boys. I should not attempt any industrial training at present. . . .' The Bengal Government was of opinion that Hindi ('including the pahari form of that languages') should in future be considered as the vernacular of the Darjeeling Hills and the only vernacular to be taught in government schools except those ror Tibetans and Lepchas. The Tibetan boarders should not be taught Hindi unless they were willing to learn it. The government decided to set up a school at Darjeeling to teach Tibetan and English languages to a rair number of Tibetan students. It was also proposed that a Hindi school for the Nepalese students should be set up along with an inexpensive lower class English school, if possible, under the superintendence of a single authority.26 In this connection it should be mentioned that on 19 September 1873, the Government of Bengal issued a notification declaring Hindi as the court language to be used in judicial and revenue proceedings and the ordinary language in the hill f>ortion of the district. It was not till the arrival of Rev. William Macfarlane at Darjeeling in 1869 that any systematic plan of vernacular education was •Ibid., Letter No. 3418 dated 19 September 1873 from C. Bernard, offlciating Secretary to the Govt. of Bengal in the General Department to the Director of Public Instruction.
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framed for the district. He persuaded the government to offer scholarship for the students during their course. 'He grasped the fact that the Nepalese were people of a stronger character than any of the other hill tribes, and he soon found that their language was so akin to Hindi that he could use many Hindi text-books as a means of instruction. He also found that Lepchas and Bhootias, from their contact with Hindi and Nepali-speaking peoples, were soon able to converse in this language. ' 27 In 1879 Tumahang Sitting, Damyong Lucksom and Namdyer Rongong, the Lepcha patriarchs resident of Dam, helped the British authorities with the supply of Lepcha workers in building up the Botanical Garden at Darjeeling. The children of the Lepcha workers were the students in the schools established by MacFarlane. Later the missionaries from Scotland built the Macfarlane Memorial Church at Kalimpong under the direct supervision of Sitting and established schools, hospitals and dispensaries. The descendants of the Lepcha converts acted as pastors, catechists and preachers in the eastern Himalayas and adorned many government offices in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and India. In the schools established by Macfarlane Hindi was the medium of instruction, but he adopted Nepali language also, keeping in view the requirements of a large number of students who spoke Nepali. In 1887, Nepali Grammar and Vocabulary by A. Turnbull was published in Darjeeling. The book was written in Roman and Nagri scripts but the vocabulary was in Roman script only. Hindi was the vernacular and also the medium of instruction, but in the Christian missionary schools the Nepali language was also getting gradual recognition as a vernacular. Ramlal Adhikari firmly affirms that in the schools at Darjeeling it was the Christian missionaries who first introduced Nepali language as the medium of instruction. 28 The contribution of the Christian missionaries to the development of the Nepal literature is also not 0'Malley, op. cit., p. 171. •Ramlal Adhikari "Paschim Rangal Ra Sikkimka Sikshan Sansthaharuma Bhasa Sikshan Ra Sikshan Madhyamka Rupma Vasko Prayog'' {mimeographed paper written in Nepali and presented to the seminar on the Development of Nepali Language in India, University of North Bengal, 18-20 December 1986), p. 7. 17
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insignificant. As far back as 1821 the Serampore missionaries were the first to translate the New Testament into Nepali. In 1850 the Calcutta Auxiliary of the Bible Society published a translation of St. Luke by Rev. William Start, an Anglican Chaplain who had established an independent mission at Darjeeling. In 1861 C.G. Niebel prepared a version of these books. Rev. William Macfarlane aided by Gangaprasad Pradhan, one of the earliest Nepali converts, started in 1869 the translations of the Bible in Nepali. In 1878 Macfarlane was joined by Archibald Turnbull, who assumed his place when the former died. Turnbull died in 1905 and his place was taken by Alexander Macleish. The Nepali Bible was completed in 1914 under Macleish, who for nearly twenty years on the Nepal frontier sold thousands of copies of the scripture. Gangaprasad Pradhan, Reverend Paster in Darjeeling, was the colleague of all three, and Macleish admits, 'to him is due the greatest credit of pulling the whole Bible into his mother tongue. ' 29
•
On 24 July 1918 K.L. Dutta, officiating Registrar, University of Calcutta, issued a notification by which Nepali was included in the list of vernacular languages for the subject of composition in the Matriculation, Intermediate and B.A. examinations of the university. Parasmani Pradhan, the doyen of Nepali intellectuals, joined Kalimpong High School in March 1919 to teach Nepali which had just been recognized as a vernacular subject. In 1892 Darjeeling Government School was established by the merger of Government Middle School (1860) and Bhutia Boarding School (1874). The Nepali language was introduced as a vernacular subject in the Darjeeling Government Scoool in the year 1921. Dharanidhar Sarma, a distinguished Nepali scholar joined this school as a teacher in Nepali language. In response to the recognition of Nepali language by the educational institutions of Darjeeling district, Parasmani Pradhan and Seshmani Pradhan undertook with enthusiasm the task of writing Nepali text books. In 1920 Nepali grammar written lby Parasmani Pradhan and Sesh•Quoted in Dayaratna, Sandarbha Sahltya: Kalimpong (Kalimpong: Upasak Prakasan, 1982), pp. 170-71. For a detailed discussion on the contributions of Gangaprasad Pradhan, see Kumar Pradhan, Pahllo Pahar (Darjeeling: Shyam Prakasan, 1982), chapter 2; and Kumar Pradhan, A History of Nepali Llteratur~ (New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1984), pp. 47-49.
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mani Pradhan and Naivedaya (a collectionofpoems)composed by Dharanidhar Sarma were published. These two books were subsequently recommended as text books for Matriculation exami• nation. It was strongly felt that recognition of Nepali language simply as a vernacular subject did not serve any useful purpose unless it was also accepted as the medium of instruction. The Gurkha League held a meeting at Prem Nivas, Dehradun under the Presidentship of Thakur Chandan Singh Sahib on 15 August 1926 and passed the foilowing resolution: The Gurkha League expresses great surprise to learn that no formal sanction regarding the introduction of the Nepali Language as a medium of instruction and vernacular in Primary and Middle School of the District of Darjeeling which is one of the most important centres of the Nepal residents of British Indian has been accorded upto this time, and it therefore strongly urges that Government may be pleased to issue orders that Nepali Language which is practically the lingua franca of the Darjeeling district should be introduced without any further delay in all classes of Primary Schools as well as in Middle Schools of the District. A copy of this resolution was published in Gorkhe Khabar Kagat on 1 September 1926. In 1929 a. text book committee was constituted for Darjeeling district by the government with P.J. Griffith, Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling as its chairman. Among other fourteen members of the committee were included three distinguished Nepalese namely, Motichand Pradhan, Suryavikram Jnavali and Dharanidhar Sa,:-ma. In 1931 this Committee sent a report to the Director of Public Instruction, Bengal recommending a list of ten books for use as text books. In April 1933 the Education Department, Government of Bengal, notified that the Nepali language should be used as the medium of instruction in all the primary schools in Darjeeling district. A movement was launched in 1939 in Darjeeling demanding the recognition of Nepali as the medium of instruction in the matriculation examination. This movement
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bore fruit after a decade. The relevant order of the Government of Bengal is quoted below: 30 The undersigned is directed to say that in pursuance of the policy of the National Government, the Government of West Bengal have decid~d that in predominantly Nepali-speaking areas in the District of Darjeeling, the medium of instruction in all Primary, Middle and High Schools will be Nepali, but there shall be separate provision for teaching through the mother-tongue of Bengali and Hindi-speaking children if their numbers justify such arrangement being made. The Director of Public Instruction, West Bengal is being requested to implement the decision with effect from the next school session. Ramlal Adhikari has prepared a list of schools situated at four sub-divisions of the district that have adopted Nepali as the medium of instruction. 31 His findings are revealing. Within municipal jurisdiction of Darjeeling town, both Darjeeling Government High School and Maharani Girls' High School have Bengali and Nepali as medium of instruction. There are approximately fifteen high schools in this area, but only six among these have opted for Nepali as medium of instruction. Darjeeling hi)l town itself has been, from the very inception of its development, the centre of western cu1ture and that is why, it has not been able to cast off the spel) of English as the medium of instruction. In Kurseong the Pusparani High Secondary School has retained five languages as medium of instruction: Nepali, English, Bengali, Urdu and Hindi. The Krishnamaya Memorial High School in Siliguri is an old institution. The number of Nepali students here is not large. Still it has retained N~pali as the medium of instruction. In the entire district the number of secondary and higher secondary schools is approximately one hundred and seventy-five. The Nepali language as the medium of instruction has been recognized only in approximately eighty-three schools, that is to say, in less than fifty per cent schools. •Letter No. 2303 Edn. dated, Calcutta, the 2nd July, 1949 from Dr. D.M. Sen, Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal to the Commissioner, Presidency Division. 11Ramlal Adhikari, op. cit., pp. 11-15.
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The West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961 makes Nepali a second language alongside Bengali in the three hill sub divisions of the district for official purposes of the State. Since the establishment of the University of North Bengal in 1962, Nepali has been recognized as a vernacular subject and also as an elective subject in the colleges affiliated to it. In 1969 it got recognition as an Honours subject and in 1978 the Department of Nepali for Postgraduate studies was opened in the University of North Bengal. V
It appears from the official reports that in 1892 the following newspapers and journals were in circulation in Darjeeling district: I. The Darjeeling News (weekly in English), 2. Misaiki Masik Samachar (monthly in Hindi), 3. News and Notes (monthly in · English), and 4. Darjeeling Standard (weekly in English). In 189798, we find mention of the following journals and newspapers: 1. The Darjeeling Times (weekly in English), 2. The Darjeeling Standard (weekly in English), 3. Darjeeling Mission Ka Masik Samachar Patrika (monthly in Hindi), and 4. Darjeeling-Kalimpong-Sikkim News (monthly in English). In 1978, All India Nepali Bhasa Samity organized in Darjeeling an exhibition of Nepali periodicals published in India. A list prepared on that occasion showed 290 different titles. A search in early 1981 revealed that about eighty Nepali periodicals published in India were still in circulation. 32 A large number of Nepali periodicals have been published from Sikkim since 1974. The first journal published in Nepali language in India is Gorkha Bharat Jivan (1886). It was started by Motiram Bhatta, a pioneer figure in Nepali literature, and printed by Babu Ram Krishna Varma in his press Gorkha Bharat Jivan at Varanasi. The young contributors to this journal hailed from Nepal but they settled at Varanasi for study. Lakhidevi Sundas believes that they must have been imbued with inspiration from Hindi and Bengali literature. Their efforts were focussed mainly on the enrichment of Nepali language and literature and homogenization of Nepali society by acquisition and assimilation. 33 11
Kurnar Pradhan, A History of Nepali Literature, p. 223. 11 Lakhidevi Sundas, "Bharatma Nepali Patra Patrikako Attasiaun Varsa'', Academy Nibandha,a/l (University of North Bengal, 1976), pp. 75-102.
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The Nepali language began to acquire literary qualities in and through the journals. In this section, we propose to make a brief survey of the journals published from different centres in the district of Darjeeling. The first journal/newspaper published from Darjeeling was Gorkhe Khabar Kagat(l901-1931)edited by Gangaprasad Pradhan. In simple, non-literary spoken language, it contained news and information for the enlightenment of the common people. This journal from Darjeeling preceded the publication of the prestigious Gorkhapatra from Nepal by a few months, and according to Pradhan, herein lies its historical significance. 34 The main concern of the journals published during 1912-1939 was investigation into different aspects of Nepali society, culture and language, propagation of republican ideals and condemnation of the social evils like child marriage and polygamy. They espoused the cause of education for women and advocated a radical change in social outlook. Chandrika (1918) proclaimed in an editorial column that Gorkha language has its origin in Sanskrit or deva-vani. It was spoken by fifty-two lakhs of Gurkhas. Despite all these the condition of the language was poor and deplorable. It was the first journal in Nepali language that published thought provoking original essays written by Dharanidhar Sarma, Lekhanath Paudyal and Sambhuprasad Dhungel. Nepali Sahitya Sammelan Patrika (Varsa I, Anka 2, A.D. 1932) urged on the University of Calcutta not to use the expression 'Nepali Parbatiya'. Through a circular issued by the Government of Bengal 'Parbatiya' was dropped. This journal had eminent contributors like Dharanidhar Sarma, Suryavikram Jnavali, Hariprasad Pradhan, K.B. Sinha and others. Adarsa ( 1930) concentrated on agriculture, commerce and literature. Nebula (1935) and its successor Paribartan preached the message of..unity and solidarity among the three hill tribes of the district, namely, Nepalese, Tibetans and Lepchas. The literary genre known as prose-poem first made its appearance in Nepali literature in Khoji (1940), published by the Gorkha Dukkha Nivarak Sammelan. Gorkha ( 1945) was the mouthpiece of the Gorkha League. It contained many analytical, thoughtful and critical essays and also poetry and satire. During 1940-48 a large number of manuscript and cyclostyled journals appeared at "Kumar Pradhan, A History of Nepali Literature, p. 74.
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different places in Darjeeling district. The contribution of these journals is not insignificant in the history of Nepali literature. It was during this period that modem Indian Nepali literature was born. Romanticism, lyricism, prose-poetry, autobiography, discursive essays and satires marked the adventure of Nepali literature during this time. Most of the Indian Nepali literary figures first made their appearance in the pages of Gorkha. Approximately forty-eight manuscript pictorial journals contained learned articles written by Dharanidhar Sanna, Lain Singh Bangdel, Achchha Rai, Agam Singh Giri, Ambarbahadur Gahatraj and others. It has to be admitted that the foundation was laid by the manuscript journals and the edifice was constructed on it by Bharati, Sathi, Hamro Katha. The period 1949-S8 is regarded as the golden age of Nepali journals in India. The lyrical under-current of Nepali literature manifested itself in Pukar (1948). Bharati (1949) loudly proclaimed the glory of lndo-Nepal culture. Kailash Nath Katju, Governor of West Bengal, sent a message to this journal which was published in its varsa I, No. I, June 1949. The content of the message is full of historical significance and it is relevant even today. So J quote below the important extract from the message: Before coming to Darjeeling I had heard a great deal of the tremendous urge ror education among the hill people but the reality as I have seen it during the last six weeks has far exceeded all my anticipations. The people here seems to have been starved of all education during the British regime and now they are flocking to schools of all grades, both boys' and girls', just as a thirsty man would rush to life-giving waters. It is one of the most joy-giving and ennobling sights that I have seen in my life. These small schools are scattered all over the hill side and there the children come walking up miles and miles to learn to read and write. And though it is obviously imperative in the national interest that we should have Rashtrabhasa for the en• tire Bharatbarsa and wherever necessary, a regional language into which our Bharatbarsa will be divided, it is conceded that the best medium of instruction for a child is his own mothertongue . . . And it is not only the children but men and women who live in the villages of India and who speak, read and write to a great extent their own mother-tongue who ask and are entitled to have intellectual sustenance in their own language. It is from this point of view particularly that I welcome this literary enterprise in the Nepali language . . • .
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Needless to say, as a literary enterprise Bharati did provide the 'intellectual sustenance in their own language' to the Nepalese in India and also in Nepal. Sathi (1949), a mouthpiece of the local branch ·of Indian National Congress, served as a bridge between the old and the new. Hamro Katha (1949) was the first Nepali journal exclusively devoted to short stories. The stories published in this journal reflected the agony and ecstasy .o f Nepali society in India. Siksha (1949) was the first Nepali monthly devoted to educational problems. The first Nepali journal for children and young readers was Himal Kisore (1951·52). Khetipati (1952), published by the Government of West Bengal, Department of Agriculture, Darjeeling, disseminated useful information aimed at developing peasant economy of the hills. According to Sundas, during the post-1959 period Nepali journals in India stepped into the threshold of modern age. These bear the hallmarks of new experiments with forms of expression, and new philosophy and new perspective of ]ife. The important journals published special numbers (visesanka) containing research papers. The journals like Sahitya-Sangama (1959-60), Diyalo (1959-64) and Malingo (1964) were the treasures of Nepali literature. In May 1963 a literary journal known as Tesro Ayam (the third dimensional writings) published from Darjeeling inaugurated a new movement in the history of Nepali literature. A group of poets and writers led by Indra Rai, lswar Ballabh and Bairagi Kaila were the vanguard of this movement. The ideological thrust of the movement was expressed in an editorial article of Tesro A.yam. 'The writing of to-day must present a total picture of man. A man is the sum total of all senses, heart and mind. Literature should depict this totality of man. To do this, literature should breakaway from the norm of one dimensional literature. The depiction of life should be elevated from the individual level to the universal level. Such literature should be a curious blend of philosophy, politics and intellectuality. Then, that will be a third dimensional writing.' 35 On 2, July 1963 lswar Baral set forth in a letter from London to Bairagi Kaila: 'I am glad to note that Tesro Ayam has recognised the importance and responsibility of writers 11
Abhi Subedi, Nepali Literatur~: Background & History (Kathmandu: Sajha Prakasan, 1978), p. 80.
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in the true sense of the term .... So far we have been contented only with bounding over hills and getting enraptured by the moonlit nights ... and regard the elegies and lamentations, erotic songs, a proletariat's grievances and eulogies as the true forms of literature. ' 36 In this letter Baral expressed hope that the people of Darjeeling should develop an independent Nepali literature of their o,vn as Australia and the USA did independently of the English literary tradition. In 1960s the movement demanding inclusion of Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India was launched. The journals born in· 1970s, namely, Khoji, Astitva, Chaubandi,
Pratinidhi, Utsaha, Hamro Dvani, Nepali Bhasa Prayog Gara, Mada/, Guhar and others provided in no uncertain terms the ideological impetus to the movement for constitutional recognition of Nepali language. It is true most of the jounals were short-lived. The prime reason is that they owed their origin and existence to individual enterprise. The organisers did not get financial patronage of the industrialists and business houses. They are, in their zeal for literary pursuits, by and large, uncontaminated by vices of capitalist society. In their devotion to literature they did not indulge in cultural degeneration. For them, the journals are, to quote Sachchidananda H. Vatsyayan, 'the means of self-recognition, indeed of self-creation, for that is what a discovery of identity is. ' 37 Subedi has drawn our attention to the great contributions of the literary magazines to the growth and development of Nepali literature. The facilities for publication of books in Nepali language are not ample in Nepal and also in the Nepali-speaking areas in India. This has forced many poets and writers to tum to literary magazines. 'By giving a secondary importance to the magazines and primary importance to the publication of books', Subedi argues, 'we cannot trace down the real history of Nepali literature. ' 38 The oral tradition of story telling was bestowed a new dimension in print in Nepali magazines. The contribution of Nepali journals 'must be viewed with some gratitude.' 39 NSubedi, op. cit., pp. 80-81. 17 Sachchidananda H. Vatsyayan, "Language and Identity", Language and Society in India (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1969), p. 144. 11Subedi, op. cit., p. 100. "Subedi, op. cit., p. 130.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat
The continuous bludgeonings of life in Darjeeling have been depicted in a novel entitled Nayaa Khitijko Khoj (A Search for a New Horizon) written by Asit Rai, an eminent young Nepali writer and published by Shyam Brothers Prakasan, Darjeeling. The book was published in 1980 and its second edition appeared in 1984. It won the Sahitya Akademi award for 19.81. The author has depicted the wanderlust of nomadic people, who in search of security and livelihood, settled in lands and forest in and around Darjeeling watered by the Tista, the Mechi, the Balasan, the Rangit and the Mahanadi. They cut down trees and planted tea bushes. There were influx of traders and investment of capital. Many of the descendants of the immigrants, enlisted in the army, fought in defence of India, their motherland. The present genera· tion is concious of the wider dimensions of the problems of this lovely-ghastly world. Too well they know that the sparking tea plants represent the exploited, neglected and cursed life of the Nepali community (sosita, upekshita, abhisapita Nepalijivan). They have a deeper awareness that all these reflect the beauty of Darjeeling and the dream and glory of India (Darjeelingko sundarata ho, Bharatko sapna ra gaurav ho). The history of Darjeeling, spanning four generations, is a story of transformation from delusion of tradition to disillusion of modernity. A search for a new horizon is, indeed, a quest for an expansive horizon.
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APPENDIX 1
Treaty of Tita/ia, 1817
Treaty, Covenant or Agreement entered into by Captain Barre Latter, Agent on the part of the Earl of Moira, K.G., the Governor-General of India and by Nazir Chaina Tenjin, Macha Teinbah, and Lama Duchim Longdoo, Deputies on the part of the Rajah of Sikkimputtee, being severally authorized and duly appointed for the above purposes, 1817.
Article 1 The Honourable East India Company cedes, transfers and makes over in full sovereignty to the Sikkimputtee Rajah, his heirs or successors, all the hilly or mountainous country situated to the eastward of the Meitchie River and to the westward of the Teesta River, formerly possessed and occupied by the Rajah of Nepaul, but ceded to the Honourable East India Company by the Treaty of Peace signed at Segoulee.
Article 2 The Sikkimputtee Rajah engages for himself and successors to abstain from any acts of aggression or hostility against the Goorkhas or any other State.
Article 3 That he will refer to the arbitration of the British Government any disputes or questions that may arise between his subjects and those of Nepaul or any other neighbouring State, and to abide by the decision of the British Government.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat Article 4
He engages for himse]f and his successors to join the British troops with the who]e of his Mi1itary Force when employed within the Hil]s, and in general to afford the British Troops every aid and faci1ity in his power. Article 5
That he will not permit any British subject, nor the subject of any European and American state to reside within his dominions, without the permission of the English Government. Article 6
That he will immediately seize and deliver up any dacoits or notorious offenders that may take refuge within his territories. Article 7
That he will not afford protection to any defaulters of revenue or other delinquents when demanded by the British Government through their accredited Agents. Article 8
That he will afford protection to merchants and traders from the Company's Provinces, and he engages that no duties shall be levied on the transit of merchandize beyond the established custom at the several golahs or marts. Article 9
The Honourable East India Company guarantees to the Sikkimputtee Rajah and his successors the full and peaceable possession of the tract of hilly country specified in the first Article of the present Agreement. Article 10
This Treaty shall be ratified and exchanged by the Sikkimputtee Rajah within one month from the present date, and the counter-
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part, when confirmed by His Excellency the Right Hon'ble the Governor-General, shall be transmitted to the Rajah. Done at Titalya, the tenth day of February 1817, answering to the ninth of Phagoon 1873 Sambut, and to the thirteenth of Magh 1223 Bengallie. L.S. Barre Latter L.S. Nazir Chaina Tinjin L.S. Macha Timbah L.S. Lama Duchim Longadoo
The Company's Wafer Seal
The Governor-General's Small Seal
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APPENDIX 2
Extracts from Reports on the Military Defences of Darjeeling, by Colonel D.J.F. Newall, R.A ., Commanding
Darjee1ing, 4th January, 1873 Sir, Having in accordance with the intentions expressed in my ''Report on the Defences of Darjeeling'' dated 1st of August, 1872, completed a military inspection of the frontiers of British Sikkim, I have now the honour to submit the following remarks as a sequel thereto, and solicit the favour of your laying them before His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief at an early convenient opportunity. (1) My Report, dated 1st August, 1872 pointed merely to a defence of the Town and Station of Darjeeling, but in as much as much valuable property is included within the djstrict, I have deemed it expedient to acquire a knowledge of the frontiers where it is possible an enemy might be met with advantage, so as, if possible, to keep him at arm's length, out of the district altogether. (2) It is doubtless well known to His Excellency that a belt of dense bamboo forest clothes the crest of the hills bounding the western or Nepal Frontier, which forms a very effectual barrier to any possible invasion from that quarter in force, but there is one weak point which attracted my notice, and which I consider it right to mention, as bearing on the subject of this Report. (3) Behind the ridge forming our boundary called, I believe, 'Tongloo'exists the Fort of Elam in Nepal, some eight miles from the frontier, dominating a fertile valley; here the Nepalese government
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Appendix 2
101
possesses a considerable garrison, ,vith granaries, store-houses, and as I am informed, several field guns. This fortress is about eight hours or less from our frontier pillar or post No. 17, which is situated at the point where our boundary line of road turns north along the Nepal frontier, and which is itself about equidistant from our own position at Jullapahar, by an easy, level road. From this Fort of Elam three roads converge on Pillar 17, so that-granting the desire of aggression on the part of the Nepalese Government, and that they could have the address to conceal their preparation till the last moment-I can see nothing to prevent their marching by these converging roads on the point indicated, and in the course of one long night throwing a force of 5000 or 6000 men, with a couple of mountain batteries, right across our communications with the plains; in other words occupying the ridge from ''Lepchajuggut'' to ''Senchal'', the key of Darjeeling, by an army twenty or thirty times the strength of the garrison. (5) It would not become me to vaticinate, or to point to possible political complications, or venture on suggestions beyond my immediate province, but I cannot help stating that I think a Block-house calculated to hold, on an emergency, from 50 to 100 native levies or police, should be quietly constructed at this point. Were the garrison at Jullapahar sufficiently strong to detach, I would select this point to occupy in strength, there to meet the enemy on the frontier, and prevent his debouching on the basin valley of Darjeeling, where much valuable property would beat his mercy for plunder; but the numerical strength of the present garrison would not admit of detaching any sufficient force of regular troops, who would be amply occupied in the defence of the towns and suburbs of Darjeeling. More could not be attempted. The Post No. 17 in question could perhaps, however, be held by police or volunteers placed in telegraphic communication with the main position of Jullapahar, and would form a valuable outpost on the line of least resistance into our territory. If unable to hold the block-house suggested, the garrison might retire on ambuscades or other strong positions previously prepared by the regular troops in the re~r. Should, moreover, the British garrison of Jullapahar ever reach 300 men, it is believed that half that number including a portion of the artillery with guns, might be safely detached towards the outposts
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named for the above purpose. (7) In view, however, of the importance which a successful • effort on the part of the enemy would confer on the position of Senchal, and the ridge south-west if in his possession, I would propose to modify the scale of ordnance recommended for the defence of this station in my Report of 1st August, 1872, and instead of the howitzers named, would incline to prefer two additional 40-pounder Armstrongs, as-from their longer range-better calculated to dislodge an enemy who had gained possession of the ridge named. The ordance therefore recommended would be as marginally noted. I consider these - - - - - - - - - - - - essential to the adequate defence Four 40 pr. Armstrongs, two I of this station under circumstanten in. mortars, four light I ces that might occur in the future; brass 5.5 inch or 4.4 inch I and I would earnestly and resditto, besides the four moun- I pectfully urge that the supply of tain gun already here. I this ordnance be considered of. - - - - - - - - - - - - - (8) Itoccursto metoremark that several very promising plateaux for sites for ''military colonies'' or ''reserve circles'' such as have at times been advocated as a means of frontier defence, exist in this district; such are found at ''Damsong'' ''K.alingpoong'' on the Bhootan frontier to the east ~cross the Teesta; the long ridge spur between the Kanjulia and Goke outposts on north-west, besides the Lebong spur in the immediate vicinity of Darjeeling. (9) The Military Communications of this district appear generally good, but a Report on the Frontier Defences of the district would be incomplete without some allusion to the Passes south of Post 17 from Nepal leading towards .... Terai; especially that from Phikul in Nepal via the sources of the Mechi, Mirig, &c. This road, as _ascertained by personal inspection, is fairly good, and quite practicable for native troops. The district of Phikul is singularly fertile, and commands resources available to an enemy in event of aggression from that quarter. It is not above six or seven miles from Elam~ In the event of invasion thence the garrison of DarJeeling when numerically increased, might perhaps detach as far as Kursiong, not further• •
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APPENDIX 3
List of Gurkha Recruiting Battalions of the Military Police of Bengal, Assam and Burma
___________________________ Name of Battalion
Address
,..,_
_____ _
Authorised Gurkhas element
- - -- -- - - -- - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - ---- -- Bengal
Assam
Burma
South Lushai Battalion Total
Lungleh
North Lushai Battalion Lakhimpur Battalion Naga Hills Battalion Silchar Garo Hills Total
Fort Aijal Dibrugarh Kohima Silchar Tura
Myitkyana Battalion Mogoung Battalion Ruby Mines Battalion Karen Battalion Arakan Battalion Upper Chindwin Battalion Lashio Battalion North Chin Hills Total
Myitkyana Mogoung Magok Tongoo Paletwa Kindat Lashio Tiddim
350
350
844 847 671
389 202 2,953
1,356 678
339 220
195 113 113 339 3,353
----------------------------------·G rand Total 6,566
---- - - --- ---- ------- ---- --------- -- --The above corps enlist entirely from Eastern Nepal viz., through the Darjeeling and Pumeah depots . •
Source: Vansittart Eden, The Goorkhas (1890, New Delhi: Ariana Publish• ing House, 1980) pp. 97-99.
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APPENDIX 4
List of Principal Places in Darjeeling District in 1873
lo 1873 the administration of Darjeeling district was in search of a list of place names for official purpose. They could ascertain and locate Tibetan and Lepcha place names, which were prevalent for a long time. They could not ascertain exactly the Nepali place names. They used the expression 'Hindu' which obviously included Nepali. Darjeeling District Records General Department-English Correspondence 1841-79 List of principal places in the District of Darjeeling prepared with refereoce to Government Circular No. 65 Statistical Department dated 10 September 1873 and Commissioner's Circular No. 96 dated 8 October 1873.
----------------------------------Orthography in Transliteration in Remarks Roman character acc. to prescribed system
Roman character proposed to be
adopted
------------------------------------2 1 3 ----------------------------------Rdorjegling Darjeeling Bhooteah Khanhang Jalapahar Sonadba Paokbabari
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Lepcha Hindu
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Appendix 4
105
----------..... -------------------~-2 1 3 ---------------------------------Jor Bangla Jore-Bungalow Hindu Rinyo Ranglat Sgog Rinjit Ziphog Gayabari Matigara Phasidewa Nakesoorbari Kanjiliya Kalongdpung Shukna Trisrota Balasan Mahananda Ringhabis Nam,uy Chunbhate Rohini Chatakpur Besharbati Rakti Panchanai Phulug Phulungdung Skangkislong Salarnsboong Bsangsgad Tunglu Skolabong Zom Lehongthang Rinyerung Zinclur Bachim Stighadas Spumom Spasag Zigdung Amrog Zlaliugpho Gurnpahar
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Btighabar Dyying Hom Singla Dgyel Shinpbaling Spadarodam Gdambasang Patharghata Hatighisa Nagris Rishi
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APPENDIX 5
The West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL LAW DEPARTMENT LEGISLATIVE West Bengal Act XXIV of 1961 The West Be~gal Official Language Act, 1961 · (Passed by the West Bengal Legislature) (Assent of the Governor was first published in the Calcutta, Extraordinary, of the 11th November, 1961). (11th November, 1961) An Act to provide for the adoption of the Bengali Language as the language to be used for the official purposes of the State of West Bengal including purposes of legislation. It [is hereby enacted in the Twelfth year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of West Bengal as follows: 1. Short title and extent ( 1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961. (2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal. 2. Language or Languages to be used for official purposes of the State With effect from such date, not later than two years from the date of commencement of this Act, as the State Government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint in this behalf:
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat
(a) in the three hill subdivisions of the district Darjeeling, namely, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseoµg, the Bengali Language and the Nepali Language, and (b) elsewhere, the Bengali Language, shall be the language or languages to be used for the official purposes of the State of West Bengal referred to in the West Bengal Official Language Act, 1961. (West Bengal Act XXIV of 1961) (Section 3) article 345 of the Constitution of India, and different dates may be appointed for different official purposes or for different areas in West Bengal: Provided that the issue of any such notification shall be without prejudice to(i) the use of any language other than the Bengali Language which is authorised by or under any law for the time being in force to be used for any purpose in any of the civil or criminal courts within the State of West Bengal, and (ii) the use of the English Language in the examinations conducted by the Public Service Commission, West Bengal. 3. Bengali Language to be used in bills, etc. With effect from such date as the State Government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint in this behalf the Bengali Language shall be the language to be used(a) in bills introduced in, and Acts passed by, the Legislature of West Bengal, ordinances promulgated by the Governor of West Bengal under article 213 of Constitution of India and rules, regulations and by-laws made by the State Government under the Constitution of India or under any law made by Parliament or the Legislature of West Bengal; and (b) in notifications or orders issued by the State Government under the Constitution of India or under any law made by Parliament or the Legislature of West Bengal: Provided that different dates may be appointed in respect of different matters referred to in clauses (a) and (b).
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Select Sources and Bibliography
A. National Archives of India 1. Nepal Residency Records 2. Nepal Residency Department Records 3. Foreign Department Consultations (1841-1900) B. West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta Proceedings of the Government of Bengal Political Department ( 1863-1900) General Department ( 1868-1900) C. Deputy Commissioners' Office, Darjeeling Darjeeling District Records
D. Bibliography Adhikari, Ramlal. Paschim Bangal Ra Sikkimka Sikshan Sansthaharuma Bhasa Sikshan Ra Sikshan Madhyamka Rupma Yosko Prayog. Mimeographed paper written in Nepali and presented to the seminar on 'The Development of Nepali Language in India', at the University of North Bengal, 18-20 December, 1986. Aitchison, C.U. Comp. A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads relating to India and Neighbouring Countries. 5th ed. revised and continued up to 1929 by the authority of the Foreign and Political Department, Calcutta, Govt. of India, Central Publication Branch, 1929-33. In the 5th edition Vol.12 contains documents relating to Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Assam and Burma; Vol. 14 contains documents relating to Eastern Turkistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and Siam.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured ·R etreat
Bell, Charles. The People of Tibet. Oxford, 1928.
Bengal Administration Reports. Calcutta. 1855/56-1900. Title • varies. Buchanan, Francis Hamilton. An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal and of Territories Annexed to this Dominion by the House of Gorkha. 1819, rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri Publishing House, 1971. Buchanan, W.J. ''Notes on Old Darjeeling'', Bengal Past and Present, 2 ( 1908). Campbell, A. ''Note on the Lepchas of Sikkim with a vocabulary of their language'', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 9 (1940), 379-93. Clark, T.W. ''The Roni Pokhrilnscription, Kathmandu'', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 20 (1957), 167187. Clark, T.W. Introduction to Nepali. Cambridge: W. Heifer and Sons, 1963. ''Darjeeling'', Calcutta Review, 28 (1857). ''Darjeeling in 1841'' by J.D., Bengal Past andPresent,44 (1932), 74-8S. Das, K.K. ''The Lepcha People and Their Notions of Heaven and Hell'', Journal of Buddhist Text Seciety of India, 4 (1896). Das, S.C. Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet. Calcutta, 1902, rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri, 1970. Dash, A.J. ed. Bengal District Gazetteers: Darjeeling. Alipore: Bengal Government Press, 1947. Dayaratna. Sandharbha Sahitya: Kalimpong. Kalimpong: Upasak Prakasan, 1982. Devkota, Grishmabahadur. Nepalko Chhapakhana Ra Potra Patrikako ltihas (in Nepali). Kathmandu: Keshavprasad Tamsal, 1967. .
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Select Sources and Bibliography
Edgar, J.W. Report on a Yisit to Sikhim and the 11zibetan Frontier in October, November, and December, 1873. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1874, rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri, 1969. Foning, A.R. Lepcha My Vanishing Tribe, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private Limited, 1987. Forrest, R.A.D. ''The Linguistic Position of Rong (Lepcha)'', Journal of the American Oriental Society, 82, 3, July-Sept., 1962. Girl, Krishna and D. Kumar Pariyar ed. Darjeelingka Kehi Nepali Sahityik Pratibhaharu (in Nepali). Darjeeling: Nepali Sahitya Sanchayika, 1977. •
Great Britain, Ministry of Defence. Nepal and the Gurkhas. London: H.M.S.O., 1965. Gurung, M.M. Birsieka Samskriti, (in Nepali). 2nd edn. Darjeeling: Shyam Brothers Prakasan, 1983. Hooker, J.D. Himalayan Journals. 2 Vols. London: J. Murray, 1854; rpt. New Delhi: Today and Tommorrow's Printers and Publishers, 1969. Hunter, W.W. Statiitical Account of Bengal. Vol. 10 (1876).
--~ife of Brian Houghton
Hodgson, British Resident at the Court of Nepal. London: J. Murray, 1896. Jackson, W.B. Repori on Darjeeling (Selections from the Records of the Bengal Govt.) Calcutta: ''Calcutta Gazette'' office, 1854. Kirkpatrick, W. An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, being the Substance of Observation made during a Mission to that Country, in the year 1793. London: W. Miller, 1811; New Delhi: Manjusri, 1969. Lamb, A. Britain and Chinese Central Asia: The Road to Lhasa, 1767 to 1905. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960.
Macaulay, C. Report of a Mission to Sikkim and the Thibetan Frontier, with a Memorandum on Our Relations with Tibet. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1885. Mainwaring, G.B. A Grammer of the Rong (Lepcha) Language. Calcutta: The Baptist Mission Press, 1876.
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Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat
Mainwaring, G.B. Dictionary of the Lepcha Language, revised and ~mpleted by A. Grunwedel. Berlin: Unger Bros., 1898. Maitra, Arun. Sikkimer Adivasi Lepcha: Lepcha Upajatir Purnanga ltihas (in Bengali). Calcutta: A Mukherjee & Co., 1975. Marshall, Julie G. Britain and Tibet 1765-1947. The Background to the India China Border Dispute: .A Select Annotated Bibliography of Printed Material in European Languages. Bundoora: La Trobe University Library, 1977. See Section VI,pp. 115-130 and passim. Namgyal, Hope. ''The Sikkimese Theory of Land Holding and the ~arjeeling Grant'', Bulletin of Tibetology, 3, 2 (1966), 47-59. Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Rene De. Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Dieties. London: OUP, 1956. Newall, D.J.F. The Highlands of India Strategically Considered, with special reference to their Colonization as Reserve Circles.. Military, Industrial and Sanitary. London: Harrison, 1882~ O'Malley, L.S.S. Bengal District Gazetteers, Darjeeling. 1907; rpt. New Delhi: Logos Press, 1985. Panikkar, K.M. Geographical Factors in Indian History. 2nd ed. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1959. --The Himalayas in Indian Life. Bombay: Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, 1963. Pradhan, Kumar. Process and Consequences of the Unification of Nepal with Particular Reference to Eastern Nepal. Diss. Calcutta University, 1982. --Pahilo Pahar (in Nepali). Darjeeling: Shyam Prakasan, 1982. --A History of Nepali Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1984. Rai, Asit. Nayaa Kshitijko Khoj (in Nepali). 2nd ed. Darjeeling: Shyam Brothers Prakasan, 1984. Report on the External Trade of Bengal with Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan. l 880/81-1912/ 13. Calcutta. Title varies.
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Richardson, H.B. Tibet and its History. London: OUP, 1962. Risley, H.H. ed. The Gazetteer of Sikkim. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1894; rpt. New Delhi: Manjusri, 1972. Ronaldsay. The Landa of Tliunderbolt: Sikkim, Chumbi 4 Bhutan. London: Constable and Company, 1923. Roychaudhuri, P.C. Muzajfarpur Old Records. Patna, 1959. Sankrityayan, R. Darjeeling Parichay (in Hindi). Calcutta: Adhunik Pustak Bhavan, 1950. Sankrityayan, K. Vichar Tatha Vivechana (in Nepali). Darjeeling: Shyam Brothers Prakasan, 1981. --Nepali Sahitya (in Hindi). Calcutta: Bharatiya Bhasa Pari. sad, 1986.
Sen, Jahar. ''India's Trade with Central Asia via Nepal'', Bulletin of Tibetology. 8(1971), 21-40. --''The Military Importance of Darjeeling in the 19th Century'', Bengal Past and Present, 91. No. 171 ( 1972), 81-92. --''Land Routes of lndo-Nepal Trade in the Nineteenth Century'', Journal of Indian History, 54(3) December 1976. --lndo-Nepal Trade in the Nineteenth Cent,,ry. Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd., 1977.
--''Bharat-Nepal Yogayog: Sahitya Patra Patrikay (in Bengali), Sahitya Parisat Patrika, 85: 3-4, 1978. --''Sikkim and Himalayan Trade'', Bulletin of Tibetology, New Series, 3 ( 1981 ). --''Darjeeling-An Entrepot of Central Asian Trade'', The Calcutta Historical Journal. 6, 2 ( 1982), 1-32. -Commercial Exchange in the Nepal Terai (Bengal-Nepal Frontier): A Nineteenth Century Study. A mimeographed paper for private circulation. Published as special lecture No. 6 by Centre For Himalayan Studies, University of North Bengal, in March 1987. --''The Cultural Heritage of Nepal'' (accepted for publication in the forthcoming volume entitled ''Himalayan Environment and
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Culture'' to be published by Indian Institute of Advance.d Study (hereafter cited as IIAS), Shimla. --''Nepali Drama in a Comparative Framework: Towards a Comparative Indo-Aryan Literature'' (accepted for publication in the forthcoming volume entitled ''Comparative Literature: Theory and Practice'' to be published by IIAS). --''The Cultural Profile of Darjeeling'' (accepted for publication in the forthcoming book, ''Man, Nature and Society'' to be published by IIAS). --''The Land of the Thunderbolt: A Study of Strategic Considerations'' (Working Paper No. 28 presented to a seminar at IIAS on 2 April 1987). Sen, Sukumar. Bang/a Sthananam (in Bengali). 2nd ed. Calcutta: Ananda Publishers, 1982. Shafer, Robert. ''Classification of Some Languages of the Himalayas'', Journal of the Bihar Research Society, 36 (1950), 193. Sikkim-A Concise Chronicle. Gangtok, 1963.
Sprigg, R. K. ''The Lepcha Language and Three Hundred Years of Tibetan Influence in Sikkim'', Journal of the Asiatic Society, 24: 1-4 (1982), 16-31 . • --''The Nepali Language with reference to its Relationship with Rai, Limbu and Lepcha Languages''. Mimeographed paper presented to the seminar on ''The Development of the Nepali Language in India'', at the University of North Bengal on 18-20 December 1986. Subedi, Abhi. Nepali Literature: Background cl History. Kathmandu: Sajha Prakasan, 1978. Sundas, Lakhidevi (ed.). Academy Nibandhavali (in Nepali). Darjeeling, University of North Bengal, 1976. Taylor, Issac. Words and Places or Etymological Illustrations of History, Ethnology and Geography. ed. with corrections and additions by A. Smythe Palmer D.D. London: George Routledge and Sons Ltd., 1909; rpt. Detroit: Gale Research Company, Book Tower, 1968.
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Vansittart, E. 'The Goorkhas. Calcutta, 1890; 2nd rev. ed. New Delhi: Ariana Publishing House, 1980. Vatsyayan, S.H. ''Language and Identity'', Language and Society in India. Shimla: IIAS, 1969. Waddell, L.A. ''Place and River Names in the Darjeeling District and Sikkim'', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 60 (1891 ), · 53-79. --Among the Himalayas. 2nd ed. London: Constable, 1900.
Watt, G. A Dictionary of the Economic Products in India. Calcutta; Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1889-1893; rpt. Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 1972.
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Index
Note: Spelling variations of words occurring in official documents have been put within brackets. Adhikari, Ramlal, 87, 90, 109 All India Nepali Bhasa Samity, 91 Ambari, 64 Ambhutia, 72 Amherst, Lord, 12 Anglo-Burmese War (1826), 12 Anglo-Chinese Convention (1890), 31, 47 Ango-Nepalese'War(1814-16), 11, 13 Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty (1861), 24 Arunriver,47,48 Arun valley, 48, 49, 50 Assam, 12, 62, 64 Assam Himalayas, 12, 43
Nepal-Bhutan intriaues against Bast India Company, 53-54; steps taken against the threat of Bhutanese attack, 63-65 Birch Hill, 18, 19 Bodman, N.C., 76 Brahmaputra valley, 12, 43, 69 Brine, F., 23 Buchanan, W.G., 110 Burma, 43, 61, 62, 81 Buxa, 43 Byers, Captain, 56 Calcutta, IS, 29, 30, 34, 43, 45, 46,
so Baghdogra,35,72 Balasan (Balasun) river, 15, 35, 60, 72 Ballabh, Iswar, 94 Baral, Iswar, 94, 95 Batasia, 72 Beadon, Cecil, 66, 67 Bell, Charles, 22, 110 Bentink, 15, 68 Berhampore, lS Bhamo, 43 Bhatta, Motiram, 91 Bhutan (Bootan), 13, 16, 26, 39; Bhutan trade, 24-26, 35, 37, 39, 44; Eden Mission to Bhutan, 24;
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Calcutta Road, 19 Campbell, A., 15-17, 21, 23, 43, SS57, 61, 63, 73, 75, 78, 110 Canning, Lord, 68 Cart Road, 4S Central Asia, 43, 47, 52, 86 Chadam, 26 Chapman, Dr., 15, 18 China, 27, 29, 43-46, 51, 57 Chinese brick tea, 31 Chinese Tartary, 15, 48 Chola, 26, 72 · Chumbi, 26, 44 Chunabati, 72 Chungtong, 60
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Index Clark, T.W., 80, 110 Clarke, H., 65 Clive, Lord, 68 Colbong, 26 Cooch-Behar Division, 28, 45, 46, 58, 63, 84 Csoma de Koros, 73 Cumra,26 Dalhousie, 12 Dalhousie, Lord, 68 Dalimkote, 26, 64 Damdim, 36 Damsong, 102 Damyong Lucksom, 87 Dangsa, 26 Darbhanga, 34 Darjeeling spur, 14; arguments in favour of its acquisition, 14; Cession of (J 885), 12, 13; itinerary to, 15; sanatorium, 15; maps; 18; Darjeeling Hill Territory, 18; hotels and private houses, 19; Darjeeling Hotel, 19-21; its progress, 21;_ a ·d escriptive account, 22; entrepot of trade, 23-24; Tea Planters' Association, 23; weekly markets, 35; trade reaistration stations, 35-38; local manufactures, 41-42; Census (1911), 82; Botanical Garden, 87; cantonments, 65-67, schools and education, 83-91; Nepali introduced as vernacular, 88; Nepali as medium of instruction, 89-90; journals published from the district, 91-96. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, 31, 40, 46-48, 50, 51 Das, K.K., 76, 100 Das,_S.C., 46, 52, 73, 110 Davidson, T.R., 63 Dayaratna, 88, 110 Dehradun, 69, 89 Dell Comer, 19 Dhaokota, 48 Dhulabari, 59
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Dhungel, Sarnbhuprasad, 92 Dibn,garh, 62 Dikeeling, 26 Dinajpore, 15, 49,57,61,64 Doab, 69 Dolma, Yesbay Maharani, 17 Dozey, E.C., 22, 110 Dnirnrnend, E., 61 Dulla State, 73 Dunkottah, 58 Dutta, K.L., 88 East India Company, lS-17, 53, 61, 78, 81, 97, 98 Eastern Bengal Railway Company, 42 Eden, A., 16, 23, 27, 65 Eden Sanatorium, 18 Edgar, J.W., 44, 45, 73, 111 Bdmonstone. G., 56 Elam, 60, l 02 Elamghuree, 26 Ellenborough, 68 Foning, A.R., 76-79, 111 Forrest, R.A.D., 76, 111 Fort of 11am, 100-01 Fulaloong, 26 Gahatraj, Ambarbabadur, 93 Gangtok, 26, 37, 40, 44 Garhwal, 11, 69 Oaridura, 35 Gawler, Colonel, 16, 43 Gayabari, 72 Ghoom monastery, 73 Ghoompabar, 34, 36 Ghoom ridge, 47 Giagong, 46 Ging, 72 Ging monastery, 73 Giri, Agamsingh, 93 Gnatui, 44 Gok, 26, 102 Goong, 26 Gorkbas (Goorkbas, Gurkhas), 13, 53, 54, 97
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Gorkha Bharat Jivan Press, Varanasi, 91 Oorkha conquest, 83 Gorkhalanguage,92 Grant, J.W., 14, 73 Griffith, P.J., 89 Guiab Singh, Maharaja, 11 Gurkha League, 89 Gurkha recruitment, in Assam regiments, 81; 10th Gurkha Rifles, 81; 7th Gurkha Rifles, 81 Gurkha regiment, 62 Gurkha soldiers, 50, 61 Oyen Tsering Sitting, 79 Hamilton, Francis Buchanan, 75 Hanskhawa, 35 Hastings, Warren, 11, 68 Hathighisa, 18 Haughton, Colonel, 43, S8 Herbert, J.D., 14, 1S, 73 Hodgson, B.H., 23, 43, 54, SS, 68, 73 Hooker, J.D., 15, 19, 20, 22, 43, 73, 77, 82, 111 Hopkins, G.R., Major, 57 Hunter, W.W., 23, 25, 27, 34, 35,111
Dam, 48, 82, 87 Irvine, A .. Colonel.. 18 Jackson Report, 23, 111 Jackson, W.B., 17, 21 Jagartcbi, 28 · Jalapabar tJullapabar),· 18, 66, 67, 72 Jalpaiguri, 39, 6S Jang (Jung) Bahadur, 56-58, 81 Jelep La (Pass), 31, 45-48 Jnavali, Suryavikram, 89, 92 Jorebungalow, 37 Jorpokri, 60 Jungsa, 26 Kagjhora, 72 Kabail, 15
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Kaila, Bairagi, 94 Kainjilia (Kanjalia, Kanjulia), 34, 37,102 Kalimpong (Kalimpoong), 12, 13, 16, 22, 35, 36, 72, 82, 102 Kanchenjunga (Kangcbenjunga) 72, 74 Kankayi river, 75 Kathmandu (Kbatmandoo), 47, 48, S8, S9, 69 Katju, K.N., 93 Khambuan, 81 Kharihari, 35 Kirant, 81 Kiratas, 75, 77 Koostea, 42 Kosi river, 47 Krishnagar, 15 Kumaun, 11, 47 Kurigallia, 36 Kurseong (Kursiong), 16, 19, 35, 46 67, 71, 82, 90 Labah, 35-37 Lachen valley, 46 Lachmikant, 59 Ladakh, 11,43 Lama,Cheboo,24,25,27,64 Lama, Kajon Ngawa, 77 Lama, Latsun Nangkha Jigme, 77 Lama, Sherabgyatsa, 73 Lama, Ugen Lingpo, 78 Lamb, A., 12, 13, 27, 34, 111 Lebong, 19,24,27, 84,102 Lepcha, 15, 40, 66, 71, 72; language, literature, culture, 7S-79, 82, 8487 Lepchajuggat, 101 Lhasa (Lassa), 28, 30, 31, 44 48, 50 Limbuan,81 Lloyd, 14, 15, 18, 53, 73, 82 Macaulay, Colman, 46, 111 Macfarlane, 85-88 Macleish, 88 MabaJdiram, 19
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Index Mahanadi river, 13, 15, 72, 96 Mainwaring, G.B., 1S, 79, 82, 111 Maitra, A., 77, 112 Maida, 15 Malighat, 37 Mandal, K.P. Tamsang, 83 Matigara, 35 Mayoong, 26 Mechi (Meitchie) river, 12, 13, 26, 72, 96, 97, 102 Mirik (Mirig), 60. 71, 102 Myong valley, 49, SO Nagri, 26, 71 Nainital, 12, 69 Namchee, 26 Namdyer, Rongong, 87 Namgyal, Chador, 13, 77 Namgyal, Hope, 16, 112 Namgyal, Thutob, 17 Namsu, 35 Napier, Robert, S4 Nathey, 26 Naxalbari, 34-36, S9 Nebesky-Wojkowitz, 73, 112 Neibel, C.G., 78, 84, 88 Nepal, 13-17; imports from and exports to, 26, 33-34; trade-routes, 26; duties levied by Nepal Darbar, 38-39; rumours of invasion by Nepalese forces, S4 61 Nethai Pass, 28 Newall, D.J.F., 68, 112; report by, 100-102 Northern Bengal State Railway, 46 Observatory Hill, 19, 70, 73 Olangom, 58 O'Malley, L.S.S., 14, 35, 83, 112 Padma Sambhava, 78 Page, C.J., 79 Pakyong,36 Panighata, 35 Panikkar, K.M., 12, 112 Pankhabari, 18, 57
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Paro, 26 Pashok, 26 Patheorghatta, 18 Patna, 43 Paudyal, Lekhnath, 92
Paul, A. W., 60 Pedong,35-37 Peiking, 45-48 Phalut, 60 Phansidewa, 35, 84 Phari, 39, 44 Phikul, 102 Phodong monastery, 73 Pradhan,Gangaprasad, 88,92 Pradhan, Hariprasad, 92 Pradhan, Kumar, 77, 83, 88, 91, 92, 112 Pradhan, Motichand, 89 Pradhan, Parasmani, 88, 89 Pradhan, Seshmani, 88, 89 Prestage, F .• 47, 48, 52 Prinsep, H.P., 54 Prithvi Narayan Shah, 80, 81 Pulbazar, 35, 60, 72 Pumea, 34, 64
Rai, Achchha, 93 Rai, Asit, 96, 112 Rajshahi Division, 28, 36, 37, 46, 62 Ramman (Raman) river, 16, 36 Ramsay, G., 56, S1 Rangit (Rangeet, Rungeet), Great, 15, 16, 26, 27, 35, 64, 72, 96; Little, 15 Rangit Registration Station, 36, 37 Rangpo, 71 Rhenock (Rhinock, Rhenok), 13, 28, 36, 72 Richardson, H.B., 12, 113 Rinchingong, 26 Risley, H., 44, S2, 113 Ronaldsay, 70, 73, 113 Rungbe valley, 67 Rungno river, IS Rungpore (Rangpore), 28, 30, 49, 63,64
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Sarnabjong, 26 Sandakphu,60, 72 Sankrityayan, R., 70, 73, 74, 113 Sanpo,3~ Sarma, Dharanidhar, 88, 89, 92, 93 Schultz, 78 Sebundy Sappers, 54, 61 Senchal, 65, 67, 71, 101, 102 Serampore missionaries, 88 Shafer, Robert, 76, 114 Shakabpa,Tscpon, 77 Sherwill, W.S., 18 Showers, G .D., 65 Sikkim, 12-18; imports from and exports to, 25, 31-33; trade routes, 26-28; duties levied by Sikkim Darbar, 39 Silchar, 62 . Siliguri, 16, 35, 36, 45, 72, 75, 90 Simana Basti, 59, 60 Singala, 36, 37 Singalila range, 13, 47, 60, 81 Singh, Thakur Chand, 89 Singhia, 60 Sinha, K.B., 92 Skinner, R.M., 59, 60 Sombari, 35 Sprigg, R.K., 76, 77, 79-82, 114 Start, William, 78, 83, 88 Stoelke, 78 Subedi, Abhi, 94-96, 114 Sukhiapokri, 3S, 37 Snmlienghat, 26 Sundas, Lakhidevi, 91, 94, 114 Takpay,40 Takvar, 60 Tamakote, 48 Tamang Buddhist monastery, 74 Tambur valley, 48, 49 Terai, 12, 13, 16, 35, 38, S1, 59, 60, 78,102 Tibet, 11-13, 21; imports from and exports to, 25, 29-31, 44 46; effect of opening of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on Indo-Tibetan trade,
University of North Bengal, 91 Varma, Ramkrishna, 91 Vatsyayan, S.H., 95 Waddell, L.A., 22, 42, 70-73 Waloongchang, 40 Wernike, 78 West Bengal Official. Language Act (1961), 91, 107-108 Western Dooars, 43 White, Claude, 73, 81. Yatung, 37 Yekla, 26 Young, A.B., S1 Younghusband Mission (1904), 52 Yuan Chwang, 73
Zeeme, 26
46
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Tindharia, 72 Tingri Maidan, 48 Tista (Teesta) river, 12, 13, 16, 27,, 57,64,69, 72,96, 102 Tista valley, 28, 42, 45, 72 Titalia, 15, 65 Tongloo, 60, 61, 100 Tongloong, 26 Toribari, 59, 60 Towang, 43 Trade, Central Asian, 13, 22, 23; transfrontier, 24, 27, 29, 41; tea trade, 27, 31, 44, 45; salt trade, 31, 39, 41, 44, 45; routes through which markets of Central Asia could be reached, 43; wool trade, 47,49 Tramduc, 26 Treaty, Segauli (1816), 11, · 17, 81, 97; Titalia, (1817), 12, 13, 77-99; Tumlong (1861), 16 Trevor, 57 Tromo Geshe Rimpoche, 73 Tsang,46 Tucci, 0., 73 Tumahang Sitting, 87 Turnbull, A., 87, 89
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