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

Sourced from: Shaw, F. Becker. 1897. Missionary Map of Tibet (dotted lines indicate trade routes) / The Scandinavian Alliance Mission has also Tibetan Missionaries in Ghoom, India, in Baksadnar, Bhutan, and in Guntak, Sikkim.

Map of Sikkim 1906  pic: probertencyclopaedia

From ILAB > click here to see the full size image. "Original lithograph, handcolored in outline. Detailed map of Sikhim and Eastern Nipal with the neighbouring Tibet and Mt. Kintschin-Djunga based on the expeditions of Dr. J.D. Hooker. The map provides pretty good information on elevations, various woods, mountains, rivers, glaciers and monastries. In the lower right corner a small inset map to the ‘Sikhim-Himalaya’. In excellent condition. Gotha, Justus Perthes. 1861 (24,4 x 19,2 cm) Condition: Excellent [Stock No.: 18524]"

I have been writing about Sikkim, but I am sorry I never talked about its physical features. Once a Himalayan kingdom until 1975 and now part of a mighty Indian Union, the small state of Sikkim has seen many changes over the last 50 years. Jawaharlal Nehru and Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, the king of Sikkim, had a very warm relationship.  It was even said that Nehru wanted to spend his retired life in Sikkim, but that could not happen due to his sudden death in 1964. After Nehru's death, some of his ashes were brought to Sikkim and thrown over the sky of Gangtok, Kanchenjunga Range, and other places.  Even Chogyal Tashi Namgyal presented his paintings to Nehru, which is said to be at Anand Bhawan, the ancestral home of the Nehru family at Allahabad. But it was under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, that Sikkim was merged with India just 10 years after Nehru died.     Sikkim shares an interesting geographical boundary. Three countries...

I enjoy what Gerda Lerner, a renowned historian, once quoted: “What we do about history matters? The often repeated saying that those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them has a lot of truth in it. But what are 'the lessons of history? The very attempt at definition furnishes ground for new conflicts. History is not a recipe book; past events are never replicated in the present in quite the same way. Historical events are infinitely variable and their interpretations are a constantly shifting process. There are no certainties to be found in the past. As a toddler, we are here to comprehend the beauty of those immemorial days that have lived up to its days.”  Fig 1. Delisle’s 1723 Carte d’Asie shows the first map of Sikkim, then written as Bramson Often repeated words that history should never be repeated but re-created, I personally believe we have come to that hour of need where we can have local writers brushing up with some history exemplar, pu...

In recent times I am very impressed with the work Barun Roy is doing in his blog http://beacononline.wordpress.com/. Through the exchange of emails, we do correspondence and I too had an opportunity to get published some of my articles. With Barun Roy's blog each day I get to read new information from the past that gives me immense pleasure. In today's news, he put on a proposed map of Pakistan designed by Chaudary Rehmat Ali and the interesting input there is the region of Sikkim merged in it. The map is set prior to pre-independence days. Ali is the founder of the Pakistan National Movement. He coined the word "Pakistan" for 30 million Muslims who lived in the five northern units of India; Punjab, North West Frontier (Afghan) Province, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan. He spoke of an independent homeland for Muslims, Pakistan, in the northern units of India, "Bang-i-Islam" for Muslims in Bengal, and "Usmanistan" for the Muslims in Hyderabad-Deccan...