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 People
of Sikkim
Sikkim is a land of
different ethnic cultures and communities. Sikkim is bordered
by four sides with China occupied Tibet in the North and North
East, Bhutan in the East, Nepal in West and the Indian State
West Bengal, which was also a foreign state to Sikkim few years
back, in the South. See map
Because of so many international borders there
has been a steady influx of different communities from all sides.
In Sikkim, people from the flatlands to the south are "Indian"
while those who grew up in the mountains identify themselves
according to their ancestry:  Nepalese,
Bhutia, Tibetan, or Lepcha.
Recently there has been a resurgence of ancestral languages
in response to the promulgation of English. Sikkim also contends
with a religious mix - the Hindu Nepalese currently represents
75% of the population. Sikkim is historically a Buddhist kingdom,
and is closely linked to Tibet. To really understand the ethnicity, social
lives and culture of different communities in Sikkim, it is
necessary to visit the small hamlets in the remote rural Sikkim,
preferably on foot. It is impossible not to be awed by Sikkim's
sharp lush hills, leaping waterfalls, thundering rivers and
placid lakes. The people sculpted by lives of low-tech farming
and mountainous travel have behind them generations of communal
intermixing, which, unlike in most of India, is socially acceptable
in Sikkim. |
East-Sikkim
West-Sikkim
South-Sikkim
North-Sikkim
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