Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

On May 8, 2020, the Sikkim state cabinet meeting sanctioned different funds through different government departments. Among these sanctioned lists was the approval and sanction of Rs.6383.00 lakhs (Rupees sixty-three crores and eighty-three lakhs only) for the construction of the Pilgrimage Centre with a 54-foot-high statue of Nishani Kali Devi at Central Pandam, East Sikkim, under the Civil and Tourism Department. This project will definitely help the region grow and provide better prospects for tourism. Visitors who look for new destinations will appreciate the natural beauty around the mandir. The panoramic beauty of the hills across will rightly capture the exquisiteness of nature.  I have visited this place four times, and this mandir falls on the way to the historic Pandam Garhi ruins. We had always talked about Garhi ruins, but stories related to Kali Mandir or the Pandam Garhi Mandir were limited to oral rendition and followed from generation to generation. These ...

I still remember writing an article on early man tools found in Sikkim some time back. I had wrapped in brief three separate excavations completed in different parts of Sikkim. A few years later, I saw a complete package of excavation reports of the last excavation done at Sikkim (2004) in the form of a book, which was enough to excite my tiny heart.  The book Archeological Exploration in Sikkim , written by Dr. PK Mishra , provides a report on the excavations done in 2002 and 2004 at Sikkim by the team led by Dr. Mishra from the Prehistoric Branch of the Archeological Survey of India . The book also illustrates photographs with information on early man artifacts discovered from over two dozen Neolithic sites in  North and East Sikkim.   Dr. Mishra writes that the tools recovered from Sikkim were collected from the fields under step cultivation and even from the local people who thought those were “ Chattang ko Dunga ” or the “ Vajra Dunga ” stone from heaven. I smile...

Shared by Ram Kumar Shrestha Global Coordinator Kapilvastu Day Movement Global Committee As part of the World Peace Movement, Nepalese people living in different parts of the world last year decided to commemorate Lumbini and Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, by observing Kapilvastu Day as a global holiday in order to spread the Buddha’s peace and nonviolence messages all over the world. The Buddha is revered as a Messenger of Peace. He is also known as the Light of Asia who is actually the Light of the world as his message of peace and nonviolence has become more relevant as the world is facing the problems of violence today. The world today has become more violent than ever before. Therefore, we have decided to spread the messages of the Buddha all over the world by observing Kapilvastu Day every year.   Originally, on December 1, 1896, Dr Anton Führer, a German archaeologist, had discovered the Buddha’s birthplace when he found the A...

        Wikipedia says:     Rabdentse was the second capital of Sikkim. It was shifted from Yuksom in 1670 by Tensung Namgyal, the second Chogyal (monarch). However, Rabdentse was too close to the Nepal border, which had cold relations with Sikkim. After repeated raids on the capital by the Nepalese in the 18th century, the capital was shifted further inland to Tumlong in 1793 by Tshudpud Namgyal, then Chogyal. The ruined capital is surrounded by thickly forested valley. It is nearby Pemayangtse Monastery. Rabdentse has also a bird sanctuary. This monument is declared to be of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India. 

Artefacts lying at the ruins of Tumlong BY SHITAL PRADHAN Last month I visited the ruins of Tumlong, the third capital of Sikkim and the observation to that historical site and the half done repairing work made me feel are we, I hear say are we Sikkimese really concern about our prime past. When I was going through the different pages of Sikkim history I believe there are many things we still do not know about our Sikkim or I say we know very little about it. Time has come the account of Sikkim history should be re-written from its initial stages, though we know that we have limited resources along with us. I am sure to capture the early days of Sikkim (from that epoch when we find the first settlements to this land) in 2008 isn’t as easy as it seems, but we can give an attempt.   As a student of Sikkim History I feel it is not within our perimeter to come up with the entire scene of near the beginning era of Sikkim till now at once but we can create a space for our comi...

Petrified fossil found in Sikkim BY SHITAL PRADHAN A few months back, when a fossil of blue-green algae was discovered on one of the rocks at Mamley, Namchi, I was one of the few who was very excited to take notice of the news. For me, I had found a friend for my petrified plant fossil. Has anyone ever realized the potential of finding possible fossil materials in Sikkim? The answer would undoubtedly be a tricky one. During my college days at Tadong, I asked one of my lecturers about the chances of finding fossils in Sikkim, and the prompt reply was, "It's a silly question." He added that Sikkim is a young mountain range, and there is no possibility of finding such materials in plants and animals. He made his fullest assumption, which did not affect my fanatical thoughts over my query.  My wildest imagination would have me wondering what happened to the life forms beneath the so-called Tethys, from which the Himalayan mountains evolved, or what those vigorously, wildly...

--> Display of Neolithic tools recovered from Sajyong, 2003 (Weekend Review) BY SHITAL PRADHAN Not only is the Himalayan land of Sikkim old but it is also considered ancient. The archeological findings of different Neolithic tools in this part of the Himalayas over the last three decades speak of its antiquity. It may be of little importance to many. However, findings of various Neolithic tools from the remote pockets in Sikkim over the past five decades have still collected vivid interest in people beyond this region. On three separate occasions, Neolithic tools had been dug out from Sikkim, and that unfolded the age of this Himalayan mountain land much against the period we were supposed to. “The term Neolithic Period, or New Stone Age, defines the second period, at the beginning of which ground and usually polished rock tools, notably axes, came into widespread use after the adoption of a new technique of stone working. The beginning of the Neolithic...