Lepcha People - Origins

Origins

Regarding the origin of the term 'Lepcha' writes Sailen Debnath "The word 'Lepcha', most probably a geo-racial term, is phonetically an elongated and much evolved form of the Bhutanese Dzongkha word (even might be of Chhokey origin) “La – chhu” which the Drukpa Bhutanese might have used to geographically identify the early people of Sikkim and Kalimpong in the bygone ages of their long connection with Tibet via the Chumbey Valley since the time of Sabdrung Nagawang Namgyal, the founding father of Drug-Yul. In Dzongkha Language, as systematized on Chhokey, “la” means hill or mountain and “chhu” means river or water; significantly, therefore, the compound word La- chhu indicates to people living in the valleys bounded by mountains and watered by rivers."

The origin of the Lepcha is unknown. Many research scholars have come up with theories regarding the origin of the Lepcha people, but the Lepcha people themselves firmly believe that they did not migrate to the current location from anywhere, and are indigenous to the region. They speak a Tibeto-Burman language which some classify as Himalayish. Based on this, some anthropologists suggest they emigrated directly from Tibet to the north, or from Eastern Mongolia. They were even said to be from Japan or Korea, while others suggest a more complex migration that started in southeast Tibet, a migration to Thailand, Burma, or Japan, then a navigation of the Ayeyarwady River and Chindwin rivers, a crossing of the Patkoi range coming back west, and finally entering ancient India. While migrating westward through India, they are surmised to have passed through southern Bhutan before reaching their final destination near Kanchenjunga. But the scholars who have suggested such migratory patterns could not come up with sufficient evidence to prove their theories. The Lepcha people themselves do not have any tradition of migration, and hence they conclude that they are aboriginal to the region, currently falling under the state of Sikkim, Darjeeling District of West Bengal, Ilam District of eastern Nepal, and the southwestern parts of Bhutan. The Lepcha people have folklore and tales that suggest they have inhabited the region since time immemorial. As to this point, writes historian Sailen Debnath,

The Lepchas, who call themselves “Mutanchi-Rong-kup” or “Rongpa” or only “Rong”, were, perhaps, the indigenous inhabitants of Sikkim and Darjeeling in the lap of the Great and Lower Himalayas. Mutanchi Rong-kup means the most cared loved offspring of Mother Earth; and this traditional belief exists in Lepcha Lore. Previously it was commonly held by scholars that the Lepchas migrated from Tibet or southern China; but the Lepchas hold on a story mentioned in Chunakh-Aakhen, a Lepcha book of history, tradition and folk-lore that a Lepcha king named Pohartak Panu sent his army to help Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryan emperor in his war with the Greeks in Takshashila. In the book, the name of Alexander is mentioned as the leader of the Greeks. The Lepcha word Panu means king; and in Chunakh-Aakhen Chandra Gupta is named as Chandra Gop Panu. Historically there did not take place any war between Chandragupta Maurya and Alexander; but the war mentioned in the Lepcha book could the one between Chandragupta Maurya and the Greeks after the departure of the Great Macedonian from India. If Pohartak Panu, the legendary Lepcha king was at all a historical figure, then we have to accept the view of the Lepchas that they had been living in India at least as early as in the fourth century B.C., and they were autochthons of or early settlers in India and their forefathers did not migrate from Burma or southern China.