My outlook towards the Heritage Management Seminar-1

 Sangachelling Gompa in Sikkim, East India (1925)

It was an opportunity for me to be part of the recently held Two Days Seminar on Strategy for Heritage Management for Sikkim organized by the Cultural Department at Denzong Residency, Gangtok. I did not want to miss it. It was my dedication towards understanding the old days of Sikkim that gave me a chance to have a closer look at what has been going on or I would rather say what the higher officials were thinking about Sikkim History as a whole; this was also my first foray into the big league. 

I was happy to be among the learned personalities of Sikkim, sitting beside them and taking note of what they were talking about. It was more than an honour for me (as a student of Sikkim History) to be invited and interact with the officials out there. The meeting, though, left many unanswered questions, but I am sure that in days to come, the quest to preserve the story of Sikkim for the coming generations will have some definite outcome. 

There were questions during our interaction sessions, and I would have loved to have the answers for them. Still, I believe it was more of an unfair means to ask those resource persons ( most of whom were teachers or architects) speaking on the topics provided to them on that day who were not in a true sense related to that field. It was an inspiring occasion for me when one of the readers read a few paragraphs from the article I wrote a few years back, which can easily be accessed online through my blog “Proud to be a Sikkimese.”  

For the last couple of years, I have been following Sikkim's History on my personal ground, and the biggest happiness I could gather from my studies are those lesser mistakes a couple of readers made that should have been avoided. Sikkim lacks a Sikkim Historian, and I consider it is due to this fact that many queries about the old Sikkim remain unanswered. Sikkim History has many debatable issues. Let’s take a few examples: What were the capitals of Sikkim?

All major books derived from English writers write about the four capitals of the small kingdom of Sikkim over the three centuries. But a chance of exchanging words with Oxford scholar Saul Mallard, who specializes in Tibetan languages, pointed out to me that to understand the correct and exact history of Sikkim, one must understand the Tibetan language first. According to him, Yoksum is not the first capital of Sikkim!

I have always seen people confused when naming the first monastery of Sikkim. According to The Gazetteer of Sikhim, written by HH Rishley and published from Calcutta in 1894, Sanga Chelling (meaning the place of secret spells) Monastery near Pelling was built in 1697 and is the oldest monastery of Sikkim. Meanwhile, the Dubdi (meaning The Hermit's Cell) Monastery was built in 1701. In later years, the Sanga Chelling Monastery was burned and was reconstructed in 1965.

The confusion starts here when most of the writers read their work as Dubdi is the first monastery of Sikkim. When an actual building is removed (here burned), as in the case of Sanga Chelling, how correct are we to replace its original construction years? The State Government of Sikkim is trying its best to preserve the cultural heritage of Sikkim by protecting and preserving the ancient Sikkim, but do we think about the Chumbi Palace that was once part of Sikkim but is now in Tibet? 

Pic: National Archives of UK