Sanga Choling, lamas and khadas….the confusion continues

There has always been a debate about the oldest monastery in Sikkim, and I have come across certain general knowledge books based on Sikkim that depict Dubdi as the oldest.  I do not know how far I am correct. Still, the mother of all books on Sikkim History, The Gazetteer of Sikhim, written by HH Rishley and published from Calcutta in 1894, writes Sanga Chelling (meaning The Place of Secret Spells) Monastery near Pelling was built in 1697. The Dubdi (meaning The Hermit's Cell) Monastery near Yuksom was built in 1701.

I believe in the case of the Sanga Choling and Dubdi issue, it was in later years that the original Sanga Choling monastery was burned and reconstructed in 1965. The confusion started here when most writers wrote their work as Dubdi was the first monastery of Sikkim. When an actual building is removed (here burned), as in the case of Sanga Choling, 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.

Interesting narration finds a place inside the book Rishley wrote more than a century ago that defines the differences between what we call gompas and mere monasteries. HH Rishley writes there are three types of so-called monasteries in and around Sikkim: rock caves, hermitages, and gompas, which are found in remote and solitary places. In contrast, the latter so-called gompas are merely temples with one or more priests engaged in ministering to the religious wants of the villagers. 

To a layman, every person wearing a red and yellow robe is a “lama," which is entirely wrong. I, too, made the same mistake. Later, I was told that in a monastic compound, three different types of people reside. They include students and scholars, usually called monks or the ‘traps’ and their teachers as the "Lamas." Similarly, the head or senior lama is called the “Rinpoche."

There is another confusion among us. I do like to have small talk. I have often witnessed the mistakes we usually make when we use the khandas. During my Weekend Review days, we used to have long discussions on different topics related to the culture and traditions of Sikkim. In one of the sessions, we talked about the khandas. 

The khadas are usually of two types: printed and non-printed. We were then told that the printed khadas were offered on happy festive occasions, i.e., marriage, birthdays, greetings, and others, while the non-printed khadas were non-festive. I do not know how correct I am, but I believe that the khandas' offering varies from place to place, from person to person, and from customs to customs.