Memoirs of Photography in the Himalayan State - Sikkim

M e m oi r s of P h oto g ra p hy i n the

Himalayan State - Sikkim

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Cover Image: Group of Lamas in elaborate costumes and head-dress; Ancestors of Tholung family, sitting second and third from left. ca. 1885 Photographer: John Claude White Image Source: Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department Govt. of Sikkim

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M em oi r s of P hotogr a phy i n the

Himalayan State - Sikkim

Tashi T Norden Lepcha Photography Design 2010 Dissertation Project Guide Dr. Deepak John Mathew Co-ordinator P.G. Photography Discipline

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Plate 1: King of Sikkim, Chogyal Thotub Namgyal, in white costume. Seated to his right the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet and a group of Tibetan Lama Priests.

Photographer: This photograph was possibly taken by John Claude White, between 1889 and 1900 and marketed by Johnston & Hoffmann.

Image Source: Department of Information and Public Relations, Govt. of Sikkim

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I would like to thank God and my family for their immense support and time.

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my Professor Dr.DeepakJohnMathew for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this project. The help and guidance given by him time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to embark.

I am very much thankful to Mr. Chakradhar Saswade for his guidance and support to meet my project requirements.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to Cultural Affairs and Heritage Department, Gangtok-Sikkim, for their cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me in completing this task through various stages. I am very much thankful to Mr. Chakradhar Saswade for his guidance and support to meet my project requirements.

Mr. Hemant Pradhan, runs the oldest photographic store in Gangtok, The Orient Photo Studio, who has not only given me valuable information but also provided me with really old prints from his private collections and books.

Mr. Tseten Tashi and Co., owner of the first photographic lab in the small town of Gangtok, who gave me information about the early photographer’s during the British Raj in India.

Last but not the least, Pema Wangchuk and Tenzing C Tashi for sharing their knowledge and experience and a few old photographs which have further strengthened the outcome of this project.

I am grateful to all the staff members of the Knowledge Management Centre, at the National Institute of Design, for their co-operation and support during the period of my project.

To each of them, and to everyone else who has given me ideas, information and tips of all sorts, I wish to say thank you for your contributions to this project.

A number of individuals have been a great help by supplying me with information throughout this project. Prime among them are: Mr. Kiran Rasaily, who gave me information about the oldest photographic shops in Gangtok, also introduced me to John Claude White ‘s book, ’In the Shadows of the Himalayas : Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal and Sikkim’ (1883 - 1908).

Mr. Mingma Tshering Bhutia, a photo-enthusiast, one of the early photographers during the reign of the King, gave me information about the various printing techniques, including several he printed himself.

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Glossary Chogyal : The Supreme Ruler (King) Gyalmo : Queen

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Tulku :

Reincarnated monk.

NIT :

National Institute of Tibetology

IPR :

Information and Public Relations, Govt. of Sikkim

SA :

State Archives, Cultural and Heritage Affairs Depart ment, Government of Sikkim

Chu :

Water

Khada :

Traditional silk scarf

Lepcha :

Indigenous tribe of Sikkim

STNM :

Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial Hospital

Content Acknowledgement Prelude

Chapter 1. Invention of Photography

3.1 Purpose of Review 3.2 In the Shadows of the Himalayas 3.3 Kanchendzonga A Sacred Summit 3.4 Sikkim - A Himalayan Tragedy

3.5 Time change 3.6 Learnings from Review

Chapter 4. Fall of the Monarch

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5.1 Non Local Photographers 5.2 Local Photographers 5.3 Local Photo Studios 5.4 Conclusion

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Chapter 6. Data Collection

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Chapter 7. Discussions and Conclusion

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2.1 The First Ruler

Chapter 3. Book Review

Chapter 5. Photographers Emerging in Sikkim

1.1 Photography Development in India

Chapter 2. History of Sikkim

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7.1 Discussions

7.2 Conclusion 7.3 Scope for further studies 7.4 Learning

30 Bibliography / Webliography

4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Uprising

4.3 The Last Ruler

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A Memoir of Photography in the Himalayan State – Sikkim is a project still in progress on the History of Photography by the Photography Design discipline, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. The project deals with an overview of the photographic history of India, specially the early photographic practices that were employed by various sources and cultures. There are only but a few data available at the present stage on the early history of photography in India of the colonial period and Sikkim the 22nd state of the Indian union has not been explored, in terms of its visual history, although in recent times due to tourism boom, it has drawn little attention, and the history with reference to photography largely remains unexplored. With this research, it aims to throw light on the development of the medium, how the art of image making was introduced and then tracing a structure of photography in Sikkim.

The earliest writings on Sikkim, in the 19th century, were by Englishmen, who were captivated by its colorful culture, varied and beautiful landscapes and most importantly the wealth of flora and fauna. This interaction certainly introduced the medium of visual portrayal.

The first section of the dissertation talks briefly about the invention of photography, following which it focuses on the Indian continent and examines the onset of the medium of visual representation. Furthermore, it progresses on to the subject matter ‘Memoirs of Photography in the Himalayan State – Sikkim. Appearing from the first colonial period who was in fact the first to document the Sikkimese one can experience the culture of the indigenous people of the landlocked Indian state - Sikkim. Artwork, painting and illustrations were pursued neither as a hobby nor as a profession.

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Consequently, photography even though a handful, familiarized them with the medium thus establishing the art of image making during the late 19th century to the mid 20th century. The second chapter briefly discusses in greater detail the history of Sikkim, it’s first inhabitants till the crowning of their first King. Although its written history is quite uncertain, most of the sources reveal that written evidence dates back to the 17th century. Also throws light on the British intervention as making the land as an outpost for accessing Tibet.

The third section examines the literature study which contributed in constructing the field research. From eminent scholars and foreign writers to local authors, all of which has contributed in giving structure and form to the chapters discussed in the following chapters. In section four, it describes documentation of the Royal Highness, his administration, the people and finally the wide spread agitation against the Sikkim Durbar in 1973. Images of the abolishment of the monarchy system and its merger with the Indian sub-continent in 1975 reveal a lot. They were the critical moments which gave birth to the new democratic Sikkim.

The last section of the research focuses on the first local photographers of Sikkim and their way of promoting and establishing photography studios, gradually spreading in the small town. The research covers till the early 1980s wherein photography started to establish itself commercially.

This paper presents the role of photography in the small Himalayan state of Sikkim, along with the history of the state. This will certainly be beneficial for students, researchers, and photographers in their research or investigations. Since, there hasn’t been any kind of research paper executed in this topic on Sikkim, grate-

ful acknowledgment is made here to those who have helped this researcher gather data for this paper. This work would not have reached its present form without their invaluable help.

Fig 2: Page from Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena showing drawing aids and tent camera obscura.

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CHAPTER 1

The Invention of Photography

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he history of photography’s invention is complicated and is encompassed with a great deal of tradition. It would not be possible to state the entire history in this research. However, I would rather want to draw an outline to provide some basic features of the process that structure our familiarity of the photographic images.

Fig 1: Portable camera obscura

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Before photography there were numerous efforts to trace the image as close to reality as possible. The earliest ancestor Aristotle in around 350 B.C. in his document Problemata observed that by passing sunlight through a pinhole, he could construct a reversed image of the Sun on the ground. Through such a device he could gaze at the eclipse without having to lay eyes directly into the Sun. But no further developments were made after that until an Arabian scientist Ibn al-Haytham in A.D. 965 - 1040 discovered that light travels in straight lines. He is claimed to own the explanation of the working of a darkroom viz. Camera Obscura. It worked on the principle that rays of light, reflected from any illuminated object will pass through a tiny hole in a dark room and project the image of the object upside-down on a wall inside the room. This device was used by Ibn al-Haytham and his students for astronomical studies on sunspots and other solar and lunar phenomena.

instrument holding a series of jointed rods which would emulate whatever is traced with a stylus at one end on a different scale at the other. The sitter is placed before a screen and the shadow is cast onto an oiled paper screen by a single light, which resulted in a reduced outline that would then be decorated by the artist.

Fig 2: The camera obscura principle.

Image of the solar eclipse of January 24, 1544 from De Radio Astronomico and geometrico (1546) of Reinerus Gemma-Frisus (1505-1555)

The term Camera Obscura means darkened chamber/room.

(New Latin; camera stands for vaulted chamber/room, obscura stands for dark or hidden, together it stands for darkened chamber or room.)

Almost 500 years later in around 1558, an Italian scholar Giovanni Battista Della Porta perfected the camera obscura. In his journal of Natural Magic he states that the device worked on the behavior of a convex lens. He analyzed the shape of the human eye to the lens in his camera obsucra and furnished an easily understandable example of how light could bring images into the eye. In 1600, Johannes Kepler a German mathematician and astronomer is believed to have coined the phrase ‘camera obscura’. It is described in his published work on astronomy, ‘Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena’.

He further advocated the use of the lens to meliorate the image.

This optical model was employed for viewing solar eclipses but its usage soon extended for other purposes such as paintings and drawings. Huge room sized camera obscuras were constructed as the painter would paint within the box.

Towards the end of the 18th century, there arose many reproductive technologies. In 1786, a French musician Gilles-Louis Chrétien invented the ‘Physionotrace’, which was utilized to speed up the creation of portraits. This device was based on the ‘Pantograph’ an

Similarly, in Britain, Matthew Boulton and Joseph Booth designed systems for generating mechanical paintings. Such developments clearly indicate an interest in reproductive mechanization. But it wasn’t just these techniques that photography was connected; there were other factors that contributed to its development. Joel Synder argues that photography emerged experimentally from the conjuncture of three factors: i) concerns with amateur drawing and/or techniques for reproducing printed matter; ii) light-sensitive materials; iii) the use of the camera obscura. Had these lucid developments not taken place, the works in the field of photography by Niepce, Daguerre, Talbot and others could not have been imagined.

During the 18th century, scholars had noticed that certain compounds especially silver nitrate darkened when exposed to the sun. Johann Heinrich Schulze, a German physicist demonstrated by baking silver nitrate in an oven to display that light, not heat, caused this discoloration. However, his experiments were more limited to his notebook. At roughly, the same period a Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele carefully investigated the properties of silver chloride and discovered that the reaction taking place in sunlight was a reduction to metallic silver. He also observed that ammonia preserved the darkened silver chloride; which helped in solving the problem of ‘fixing’ the camera obscura image. Similarly, Jean Senebier, a Swiss botanist detected that if the sunlight was focused using a lens, the darkening reaction increased. He also experimented with different filters which slowed down the process and different colored rays of the spectrum worked at different rates.

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Fig 3: Painter’s depiction of a working of the camera obscura. Johannes Zahn (1641–1707) a German author experimented with different types of camera obscura, especially with the attachment of a mirror which no longer composed an inverted image.

Thomas Wedgwood, an English physicist along with a young chemist Humphry Davy published a paper Journal of the Royal Institution(1802) in which analysis of how to copy silhouettes or drawings on paper, or pale leather, treated with silver nitrate were given. Although, the experiment failed as Humphry reported that the silver nitrate was insufficiently sensitive. They carried out another experiment by covering a white surface with the compound and placing it behind a painting on glass; also known as contact printing. On exposure to light, the area not obscured by the paper darkened, and the areas blocked produced distinct shades of brown or black. Though the image did form but they were unable to fix them as the surface soon turned dark and eventually faded. In spite of all the experiments that were done, none of the inventors had engaged a camera obscura in combination with their observation on silver salts. Since, both the factors of the photograph had been common for a century, the combining of these two materials viz, the chemical substances and the camera obscura was not attempted.

During 1816, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a Fench inventor and mostly recognized as one of the inventors of photography, was 12

working on the process of capturing images of nature through the agency of light. Since, his interest lied in lithography and was studying the reproductive techniques to displace the process of engraving, Niepce called his invention ‘heliography’ or ‘sun drawing’. He explored a variety of plates, including silver, pewter, and silver-plated copper.

He also analyzed a batch of chemicals such as silver chlorine and iodine, but he had greatest success with bitumen of Judea which had this unusual property of hardening in light, not blackening like silver salts, but its sensitivity was very small.

The following account is taken from Helmut Gernsheim’s article, “The 50th Anniversary of Photography,” in History of Photography, Vol. I, No. 1, January 1977: ‘Finally in 1826, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce made the first permanent photography from nature.

After coating a pewter plate with the solution of bitumen of Judea, he placed the plate into a camera focused upon the sunlit scene looking out from the third-floor window of his house at Le Gras.

The exposure is recorded as having been around eight hours in duration. The brightest parts of the scene bleached and hardened

the bitumen. When developed in the oil of lavender and turpentine, some coating in the partly exposed middle tones and all the coating in the unexposed shadow areas, was dissolved away, revealing the dark gray metal beneath. The resulting image is therefore a direct positive: the light sections being the hardened bitumen, the darks ones being the actual pewter plate surface.’

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, a French artist and physicist was popular for his theatrical presentation and had devised the Diorama in which the scenery itself became the show. Accustomed with the camera obscura from his work on these perspective paintings on stage, Daguerre often experimented with silver chloride to capture the images but didn’t achieve.

In 1829, Daguerre and Niepce collaborated and agreed to share the knowledge and research. Unfortunately, Niepce died in 1833, Daguerre carried forward the experiment, trying different chemicals, lenses and processes to fix the image. From Niepce’s experimentation, Daguerre was aware that exposure to light sometimes contrived a latent image; one that did not become visible until treated with more chemicals. This latent image had to be boosted and brought out by different chemical treatment. Although, Niepce had already experimented with latency, treating his plates after exposure with iodine, it was Daguerre who discovered that mercury vapor made this latent image emerge completely on a copper plate coated with a thin silver layer.

Fig 4: Engraving by Isaac Briot.

Heliography by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, of Georges d’Amboise, French cardinal and minister of state. 1826.

He labeled his process as Daguerreotypes by treating silver plated copper sheets which had been highly polished with iodine fumes.

This reaction created a deposit of light-sensitive silver iodide on the plate. After the plate had been exposed in a camera obscura for about five minutes, Daguerre treated the exposed plate with mercury vapor to enhance the latent image. Although, he was able to stabilize the development with a common salt solution which prevented any further reaction to light, the daguerreotypes did have some significant drawbacks: the image was very frail and contact with the surface easily rubbed it off, so they had to be kept 13

The resulting silhouetted images were fixed, with a strong salt solution which further dissolved the residual silver salts.

In around 1835, Talbot imagined that the process could be repeated by using this first image as a ‘negative’ which could afterwards be used to produce a second ‘positive print’. (Sir John Herschel is usually regarded for using the terms negative and positive and is also credited with coining the term ‘photography’ which means writing with light.

For Talbot it meant that a large number of positive prints could be created from a single negative. But Talbot’s negatives were inadequately dense to generate strong positive image and in 1840 he invented a second process which he named ‘Calotype’ (from the Greek word kalos for beautiful and useful).

Fig 5: View from the Window at Le Gras, the first successful permanent photograph created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826, in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.

Captured on 16×20 cm oil-treated bitumen. Due to the 8-hour exposure, the buildings are illuminated by the sun from both right and left.

in protective velvet and glass cases. However, the image had a remarkable richness of tone, each image was unique and was incredibly sharp and detailed. In 1839, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre revealed the daguerreotype to the world.

At the other end William Henry Fox Talbot, a British inventor and a pioneer in photography, arrived with a different process. It certainly did not possess the greater resolution of Daguerre’s technique, but permitted him to produce multiple images. Working at his studio, Talbot formulated a process he called ‘photogenic drawings’. He began by coating drawing paper with a solution of salt and then soaking it in silver nitrate or chloride. Placing lace or botanical specimens against the paper, he exposed it to the sun.

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Calotype involved combining silver nitrate with acetic acid and gallic acid and produced a latent image just after an exposure of few seconds. He then treated the image with an accelerating agent (gallic acid), amplifying the latent image, this gave way for a strong and denser negative enough to allow further copies to be produced. Later methods of photography, however, have evolved from Talbot’s work. His was the first negative-positive process.

The following years in 1851, Frederick Scott Archer announced his wet-collodion process, in which he used a glass plate coated with collodion as a base for light-sensitive silver halides. The negatives were sharper than that of the calotypes and were less expensive compared to a daguerreotype.

In the 1880s the American George Eastman put flexible roll film on the market, along with this in 1888, Eastman popularized Kodak, the first readymade camera which came with a loaded roll film. Throughout the 19th century a lot of developments to lenses and better chemical solutions resulted in reduced exposure times and various other processes. In this manner, the invention of photography was established.

Thus, photography developed all over the world, companies started manufacturing for mass production and raised the popularity of photography among new amateur photographers. Because of its easy accessibility and instant results, photography turned to be the most extensively used medium for visual representation.

1.1 Photographic Development in India Just after its declaration of the Daguerreotype and the Calotype methods in France and England, photography was brought to India in the 1840s, particularly due to the ardency of the Colonial powers. The East India Company had already been cataloging the cultures and traditions in India, with the birth of photography, it proved to be an effective tool for documentation and surveillance.

The company earnestly aided its employees to photograph, especially to chronicle archaeological sites, and photography became a key element of the ‘Archaeological Survey of India’, established in 1861 (following on from the activities of the ‘Asiatic Society’ dating from 1784) and still in existence.

Commercials studios were well established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The first portrait studios started to advertise around 1849, but sadly there are hardly any daguerreotypes of this generation that has survived. As far as the first photograph taken in India, there seems to be no clear record. A believable possible applicant would be Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy (1808-1889) of the Bengal Medical Service, who had been experimenting with photogenic drawing using gold rather than the commonly used silver compounds as the light sensitive material. O’Shaughnessy had mastered the daguerreotype process by 1840. ‘Several drawings were exhibited to the meeting, of the Esplanade and other parts of Calcutta which had been taken by him. In one part of the drawings a black speck was observable to the naked eye, but with a microscope of great power it would be seen that the speck represented a kite which was at that moment perched [on] the building - and though so small, even the wings and tail of the bird could, with a lens be easily distinguished so minute and yet true to life was the

picture ...’ Some authors propose that a lithograph was printed of Calcutta based on a photograph in 1840, and the first commercial photographs shot in India were made around 1844. Sophie Gordon mentions that the earliest surviving photographs from India are now in a family album, in the Getty Museum, containing views taken in Bareilly, Kanpur and Nanital during the mid 1840s.

Around 1843, Jules Itier a French daguerreotypist had traveled through India, while on his way to China. From his collections, one can still view his daguerreotypes of South India.

By the mid 19th century a lot of photographic societies had begun to appear. The Bombay Photographic Society was established in 1854, followed by the Bengal Photographic Society and the Madras Photographic Society in 1856. These societies played a crucial role in critical discussions in photography.

After 1850s, there was a dramatic increase in the numbers and the type of photography. It expanded from studio portraits to ethnographic documentation, from picturesque landscape to documentary records of architecture, works of art and the natural history of India. The switch towards ethnographic surveys was mostly incited by the First War of Independence in 1857.

(Felice Beato-an Italian/British photographer remains the only photographer to have recorded the sepoy mutiny). The 1857 incident created a fear among the mindset of the London based British government, a movement which threatened to overturn the British influence in the country. Due to such reasons, the colonial shifted their attention towards ethnographic surveys, for obtaining an understanding of Indian folk-lore, for identifying potential allies and enemies.

Although, there had already been an ethnographic study of the Indian society, dealing with issues of infanticide and sati which were prevalent in the western and northern areas of the country, the end result of their observation resulted in an eight volume study titled The People of India between 1868 and 1875. The books contained 15

468 annotated photographs of the native castes and tribes of India.

Denzil Ibbetson in his 1883 report on the 1881 census of the Punjab expressed: The photographs compiled by Dr John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye were not the first to be taken of Indian people, but the project was organized within the framework of attempts by officials to document the people in a methodical, statistically and ethnographically oriented manner.

Learned Indians disapproved the outcome and asserted that their fellow Indians had been represented poorly, unfairly and dispassionately. It is also widely evident that the development of photography in India has been told mainly from the aspect of colonial collections and although the images in the India Office Collection (British Library in London) accommodates an outstanding collection of almost 2, 50,000 items containing the work of hundreds of photographers, it merely portrays what ensued colonial administrators to preserve and collect rather than true depictions of photography in India.

Plate 2: Sameul and Bourne: Maharaja of Rewa; 1877; Photographer: Samuel and Bourne Image Source: Department of Culure and Heritage, Govt. of Sikkim

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Indian photographers also played an important role and distinguished themselves during the colonial survey, although at that time it was not thought of distinct from any other contribution.

Some of the early names in the field of photography were Dr. N Dajee, Nasserwanjee, Ahmed Ali Khan of Lucknow, Raja Ishwar Chandra Singh, Shivashankar Narayan, Rajendra Lal Mitra, Prodyot Kumar Tagore, Ganpatrao S. Kale, S.H. Dagg, C. Iyahsawmy, and above all, the most well known - Raja Deen Dayal.

Indian photographers such as Ahmad Ali Khan and Lala Deen Dayal often sold their work to institutions and expatriates. A series of architectural views in central India, including Sanchi, Khajuraho, and Gwalior, by Lala Deen Dayal (1844-1905) was deposited in the official archive of the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India), as was a group of 23 studies of people of Bombay by Hurrichund Chintamon (ft. 1857-c. 1881). The contribution of the

Bengali scholar Rajendra Lal Mitra (1822-91) is particularly noteworthy, as not only was he a founder member of the Photographic Society of Bengal in 1856, but he also wrote academic books on archaeology and sculpture, incorporating prints by British photographers. Also during the period between 1840 to 1900 numerous studios flourished in Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi and other cities like Hyderabad, Agra and Indore. Bourne & Shepherd the earliest photographic studio established in 1863, by Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd is still operational today in Kolkata. P. A. Johnston and Theodore Julius Hoffmann established the Johnston & Hoffmann studios which was among the most successful studios and photographic publishers in India, similarly studios like Herzog & Higgins in Mhow (Indore district in Madhya Pradesh) were also established. Lala Deen Dayal had also established his firm under Deen Dayal & Sons. It is this studio’s collection, that holds the largest collection (2,857 glass plate negatives) of Deen Dayal’s work which was bought by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi in 1989.

Although, there is no such evidence of the true history of photography from the Indian perspective, apart from the colonial contribution, except for the works of photographers like Lala Deen Dayal, Shambu Shah and Sunil Janah who demonstrated that India was soon to emerge as a confident nation breaking the perception of the colonial empire as an exotic pageant of the east.

Photography had established as a visual medium in the Indian continent and thus began the journey of photography into the himalayan state Sikkim.

Among the contemporaries were, Shambu Saha (1905-1988) who produced portraits, landscapes and studies of Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan, and also produced powerful images of the East Bengal refugees (1971). Sunil Janah (hailed by Peter Nagy to be the first art photographer of Modern India) famous for his covering of Bengal and Orissa’s famine of 1943. Another prominent photographer was Homai Vyarawalla, the first female photojournalist of India.

It’s been more than 170 years, since the invention of photography.

As Andy Grundberg states that, “Photographic images are no longer thought as ‘mirrors with a memory’, reflecting the world back at us in a simple one-to-one translation. Rather, they construct the world for us, helping to create the comforting illusions by which we live. It has definitely transformed our essential understanding of reality and in the process transformed itself”.

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Caption reads: "Front row sitting.

Left to right. (1) Eldest Maharaj Kumari of Sikkim. (2) Second Maharaj Kumar of Sikkim, and (3) Eldest Maharaj Kumar of Sikkim, (the heir apparent). Middle row, sitting. Left to right. (1) Tering Rani, (2) Her Highness the Maharani of Sikkim, (3) Tering Raja, half brother of His Highness the Maharaja of Sikkim, and (4) Tering Kumar Jigme La, the eldest son of Tering Raja. Back row standing. Left to right. (1) His Highness Maharaja Sir Tashi Namgyal, K.C.I.E., Maharaja of Sikkim, and (2) Tering Kumar, the second son of Tering Raja."

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Plate 3: Glass Plate 5x7 inches, ca.1918-20

Photographer: Unknown

Source: Dr. Alice Kandell Library of Congress

CHAPTER 2

History of Sikkim

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here have been various legendary stories and theories regarding the history of Sikkim, yet there is no such evidence regarding the first inhabitants and their lifestyle of the ancient Sikkim.

Except, for the fact that the first occupants were the Lepcha people or ‘Rong’. They were later surrounded and swallowed up by other groups and cultures. It is generally believed that, their cultural traits, like the family system and their clothes showed a likeness with the Khasis of Meghalaya, and linguistically, they shared close affinity with the Tangkul Naga of Northern Manipur.

There has been numerous tales regarding the migration of Tibetans into Sikkim and their establishment of a Sikkimese monarchy.

Among those the most popular legend states, during AD 1200, Guru Tashi, a prince from Eastern Tibet had a divine revelation one night, instructing him to travel south and seek his fortunes.

Along with his family and his five sons, he starts his journey to the south. During their wanderings, they come across a Sakya kingdom where the workers were unable to erect the pillars of a new monastery that was being constructed. However, the eldest son of Guru Tashi helps in raising the pillars single-handedly and comes to be known as Khye Bhumsa, meaning ‘the superior of ten-thousand’. Impressed with his agility, the Sakya king offers his daughter’s hand in marriage and the couples settle in the Chumbi Valley.

It was in this valley that Khye Bhumsa established contacts with the Lepcha priest King, Thekong Tek, who was ruling the southern part of the valley. Since Khye Bhumsa and his wife were unable to bear any children, they consulted the Lepcha priest. With the blessing of Thekong Tek, the couple bore three sons.

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Out of gratitude, Khye Bhumsa visited Thekong Tek number of times strengthing their relationship which finally culminated into a treaty of brotherhood between the two. It is said that, he allowed Khye Bhumsa to rule after his death, on a solemn oath that he would not discriminate his Lepcha people. Thus, in ‘Kabi Longtsok’ a major symbol of reverence to the guardian deity Mt. Kanchendzonga, the blood brotherhood treaty between the Lepcha Chieftain and the Bhutia King was solemnized in the 13th century.

In the following years there were a lot of incidents of persecution of the Nyingmapa sect in Tibet, which forced them to flee towards Sikkim and Bhutan. During this period, it is said that three venerable lamas entered Sikkim from three different directions and met at a place called ‘Yuksom’, which means the place where the three monks met as ‘yukmun’ and three in lepcha is called ‘som’. This historical gathering is said to have been predicted by the buddhist saint Guru Rinpoche who had passed through the land in the 9th century and foretold the era of the monarchy in the land which would reach centuries later.

2.1 THE FIRST RULER

Having met at Yuksom, the three lamas began a debate on establishing a religious head to rule over Sikkim. Two lamas made their claims but the third lama prompted them of the prophecy of Guru Padmasambhava that a man coming from east and going by the name Phuntsok would rule Sikkim. And in 1642, Phuntsok Namgyal the grandson of Khye Bhumsa was ordained the first Chogyal (King) of Sikkim in Yuksom (West Sikkim). Thus, a society based on Tibetan Lamaistic Buddhism was set up and the descendants of Phuntsok Namgyal ruled Sikkim for more than 330 years, giving birth to the Namgyal dynasty in the history of Sikkim.

During the reign of Phuntsok Namgyal his kingdom expanded till Thang-La (Tibet) in the Northern Province, Tagong La near Paro in Bhutan in the east and the Titalia on the borders of West Bengal and Bihar in the south, and in the western province it touched Tamur Chorten on the Tamur River in Nepal. Phuntsok Namgyal 20

proved to be an efficient and capable administrator. He divided his kingdom into 12 Dzongs (districts) and appointed Dzongpana (governor) for each districts. He declared Mahayana Buddhism as the state religion which continued to be the state religion under all the Namgyal rulers.

In 1670 Tensung Namgyal succeeded his father Phuntsok Namgyal and moved the capital to Rabdentse from Yuksom. Under his reign he appointed many councilors and these councilors later came to be known as ‘Kazis’ who enjoyed immense power and privileges.

He had three wives- a Tibetan, a Bhutanese and a Limbu. Chador Namgyal a minor son from Tensung’s second wife succeeded on the death of his father.

However, Tensung Namgyal’s first wife’s daughter Pedi challenged the succession and invited Bhutanese intervention to usurp the throne. But as the ministers discovered the secret move, the minor King Chador Namgyal was fled to Lhasa. During his asylum, he distinguished himself in Buddhist learning and Tibetan literature.

The Dalai Lama was so much pleased by the young scholar that he bestowed high honors and titles. Meanwhile, the Bhutanese forces had captured Rabdentse, but on the intervention of Tibet the Bhutanese King withdrew. Chador was a very religious King; he took steps for the propagation of Buddhism. He built the Guru Lhakhang (Tashiding) in 1715, and also adapted the religious dances to keep alive native traditions. He has also invented an alphabet for the Lepchas. On the other hand, Pedi the half-sister of the ruler did not concur. She conspired with a Tibetan doctor and caused Chador Namgyal’s death by way of letting blood out from the main artery while he was on vacation at Ralang hot water spring in 1716. The ministers executed the doctor and Pedi was strangled to death by a silk scarf.

Chador Namgyal’s throne was then inherited by Gyurmed Namgyal. In his reign, there were a lot of attacks from the Nepalese army (Gorkhas) and the Bhutanese army. People were forced to do labor in order to defend the palace of Rabdentse from attacks.

But since the people were not ready to comply to forced labor they escaped to Limbuwan, which later broke away from Sikkim and became a part of Eastern Nepal. There were also incidents of border issue with Bhutan but it was resolved. However, Gyurmed Namgyal had no offspring, but at his deathbed he confessed that a nun in Sanga Choling was carrying his child. The ministers didn’t agree to this, he was accused of being impotent and mostly stayed away from his wife. Consequently, it is generally believed that, in order to keep the Namgyal dynasty alive the head lamas contrived a story that a nun was carrying the progeny of the King. Fortunately the nun gave birth to a male child and was named Phuntsok II after the name of the first King of Sikkim.

Phuntsok Namgyal II was confronted by the people and regarded him as an illegitimate heir to the throne. Tamdang, the treasurer of Late King Gyurmed Namgyal not only opposed this succession but seized the powers of the ruler and Tamdang ruled Sikkim for a period of three years. This outraged the Lepchas and they protested. Soon, Tamdang was defeated and fled to Tibet to seek cooperation and guidance. But the Tibetan authorities blessed the minority of the King and wanted to keep Sikkim under their protection.

pied large province of Sikkim. The Gorkhas too violated the peace treaty and took charge over the portion of West Sikkim. They attacked the capital Rabdentse and the Chogyal (King) had to flee again to Tibet. The Nepalese were growing larger and stronger in number, they even threatened to invade into Tibet. This infuriated the Chinese and they attacked Nepal, which resulted in a Sino-Nepal treaty. Although, the monarchy was restored in the country, Sikkim lost some of its land to Nepal. Tenzing Namgyal died in Lhasa in exile but his son Tsugphud Namgyal inherited the monarch.

Rabdentse was getting insecure because the area was too close to the Nepal border and Tsugphud Namgyal shifted the capital to North Sikkim in a place called Tumlong. Meanwhile, the defeat of Nepal against the Chinese did not stir the Nepalese. They continued to attack Sikkim and the neighbouring British provinces. At the same time Britishers managed to befriend Sikkim. The people of Sikkim thought their friendship would be beneficial in keeping the Gorkhas at bay. The British also wanted to establish a trade link with Tibet and the route through Sikkim was possible. War broke out between the British and the Nepalese in 1814, towards the end the Nepalese lost and resulted in signing the Treaty of Sugauli.

During the reign of Phuntsok Namgyal II a system of annual taxation was initiated to expand the state treasury. A conference involving all the tribes of Sikkim was held and made clear the power, functions and responsibilities of the government. The later years of Phuntsok Namgyal -II witnessed numerous Gorkha encroachments in Sikkim. Bhutan also invaded and took into custody the entire region, east of river Tista. The Sikkimese fought the Gorkhas seventeen times and eventually a peace treaty was signed with Nepal in 1775. The Gorkhas promised to abstain from further attacks and collaboration with the Bhutanese. Phuntsok Namgyal II had three queens. His son Tenzing Namgyal from his second queen succeeded the throne in 1780.

At the same time British India signed another treaty with Sikkim in February 1817, known as the Treaty of Titalia. The treaty guaranteed security of Sikkim by the British and returned Sikkimese land annexed by the Nepalese over the centuries. In return, the British were given trading rights and rites of passage up to the Tibet frontier. The British always had an interest in Darjeeling, both as a hill station and an outpost to the Tibetan province. After much pressure from the British, Sikkim ultimately gifted Darjeeling to British India on an agreement that a certain sum would be paid as annual subsidy. This gift deed was signed in 1835 by Chogyal Tsugphud Namgyal.

During the reign of Tenzing Namgyal, the Nepalese army occu-

However the British didn’t remunerate according to the deed 21

and the relation quickly fell apart. Because of the attention that Darjeeling got due to British India, the citizens of Sikkim, the labor class, started settling down in the hill station as British subjects.

The shifting of these citizens angered the feudal lords, and the ministers resorted in forcibly getting the migrants back. This irritated the British Government and accused the Sikkim administration of practicing acts of kidnapping of their newly acquired British citizens.

The relations disintegrated to such an extent that when Dr. Arthur Campbell the first superintendent of the sanitarium of Darjeeling, and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker the great botanists and explorer of the 19th century, visitied Sikkim in relation to a botanical research, they were captured and imprisoned by the Dewan of Sikkim 1849.

A British team was sent to negotiate and they were released without any bloodshed.

In February 1850, Sikkim lost a lot of land to the hands of British India and also extended their area in Darjeeling. Sikkim started to attack the British territories and in November 1860 the British administration sent an expeditionary force to Sikkim. However, this force was driven back from Rinchenpong. A aggressive force was sent again in 1861 that resulted in the capture of the capital Tumlong and a treaty was signed between the British force and the Sikkimese government.

At his death in 1863, aged 78, Tsugphud Namgyal had ruled Sikkim for 69 years, making him the longest-reigning Chogyal in history. He was also the oldest Chogyal of Sikkim.

Tsugphud Namgyal’s son Sidkeong Namgyal inherited the throne in 1863. Under his kingship, the British Government initiated the remuneration of annual subsidy of Rs. 6000 for Darjeeling.

Since, the British wanted to develop the relations with Sikkim they increased the subsidy to Rs. 12,000 per annum. However, Chogyal Sidkeong Namgyal was dishonored for not being able to produce a child and in 1874 he was succeeded by his half brother Thutob Namgyal.

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As the Britishers were clear about establishing a trade route to Tibet, a delegation was sent to Sikkim in 1884 led by Colman Macaulay, Fianancial Secretary to the Bengal Government of British India. Soon after, in 1886 the Britishers started constructing roads in Sikkim which was viewed with reproach by Tibet.

In May 1888, Tibetans attacked Gnathang valley, below Jelepa pass in East Sikkim, the battle with the Britishers ended in September 1888, and the defeated Tibetans were pushed back. There is a memorial at the Gnathang valley for the few British soldiers who died in the battle.

For almost five years from 1885 to 1890 Sikkim had to combat pressure from both North and the South. Only after the Anglo Chinese convention the frontier between Tibet and Sikkim was demarcated. Thutob Namgyal then shifted the capital from Tumlong to Gangtok in 1894. It was at this point, the British India government appointed John Claude White as a Political Officer to Sikkim in 1889. Mr. White had a huge responsibility to pacify the confrontational powers between Tibet and India.

It was during his tenancy that Sikkim witnessed the origin of Zamindra system, Thikadari system and Theki Bethi system. Chogyal Thutob Namgyal was virtually under his command. It is worth mentioning that the famous STNM (Sir Thutob Namgyal Memorial) hospital, built in 1917 is named in memory of the Chogyal who died in 1914.

The 10th Maharaja of Sikkim, Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal inherited his father’s throne in 1914. There are not much documents available on the life and contributions of Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal.

The only records mention that he studied in St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling and graduated from Pembroke College in Oxford. He was learned in English, Chinese, Hindi, Nepali, Lepcha and Tibetan.

Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal died of a heart failure on 5th December 1914. He was 35 years old and ruled Sikkim from February to December 1914.

Tashi Namgyal was the 11th ruler of the Namgyal dynasty, succeeding his half brother Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal. He ruled from 1914 to 1963. During his monarchy Chogyal Tashi Namgyal he accepted land reforms and allowed free elections. He was successful in acquiring a special status of protectorate for Sikkim in 1950.

This was due to the revolts arising from local parties like Sikkim State Congress who demanded a democratic setting and augmentation of Sikkim to the Union of India. Tashi Namgyal was married to Kunzang Dechen and had 3 sons and 3 daughters. Unfortunately, his eldest son died in a plane crash in World War II and on the demise of Chogyal Tashi Namgyal in December 1963, his second son Palden Thondup Namgyal succeeded the throne.

Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal was the 12th and the last King of Sikkim. He graduated from Bishop Cotton School in Shimla in 1941. He had served as an advisor for internal affairs for his father Chogyal Tashi Namgyal. He married Sangay Diki in 1950 and together they had two sons and a daughter. Sadly, Sangay Diki died in 1957.

Furthermore, in 1963 Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal married Hope Cooke, a 22 year old American socialite and a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. Their marriage gained worldwide media attention to Sikkim. The couple had two children Palden and Hope Leezum. But this marriage too ended in divorce in 1980 and eventually Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal died of cancer in New York on January 29th 1982. His son from his first marriage, Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal was named the 13th Chogyal of Sikkim, since his eldset son Crown Prince Tenzing Namgyal had died in a car accident in 1978, but his position no longer grants any official authority except few responsibilities only in religious matters.

S. No.

Year

Name

1

1642-1670

Phuntsok Namgyal

2

Tensung Namgyal

3

1670-1700

1700-1717

4

1717-1733

Gyurmed Namgyal

5

1733-1780

Phuntsok Namgyal II

6

1780-1793

Tenzing Namgyal

7

1793-1863

Tsugphud Namgyal

8

1863-1874

Sidkeong Namgyal

9

1874-1914

Thutob Namgyal

10

1914

Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal

11

1914-1963

Tashi Namgyal

12

1963-1975

Palden Thondup Namgyal

Chakdor Namgyal

To summarize, there were 12 Kings (Chogyals) who ruled over Sikkim from 1642 till 1975. The son from the first marriage of Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, Wangchuk Namgyal was named the 13th Chogyal, but the position does not confer any official authority.

23

CHAPTER 3

Book Review

3.1 PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Sikkim’s history has been but recently written from the 16th century. Although, historical text seems to have been written from around 1600, but there isn’t any strong evidence of texts supporting the ancient history of Sikkim. All that remains are but theories and legendary stories.

The purpose then outlines or rather guides in tracing the history, photographically or through books and journals which further provide a stable image of ancient Sikkim and it’s people.

These four books have been reviewed not only for its content but also due to its varied perspective from former Queen Hope Cooke, to Pema Wangchuk (author), from the ICS officer Rustomji to John Claude White, resulting in a mixture of diverse outlook towards the inside. Due to its rich content of images the authors 24

have compiled have been greatly supportive to the contribution of this research project.

There are however, numerous books that one can access in the State Library of Sikkim, National Institute of Tibetology - Sikkim and Cultural Affairs and Heritage Department, Govt. Of Sikkim.

3.2 IN THE SHADOW OF THE HIMALAYAS: A Photographic Record by John Claude White IN THE SHADOW OF THE HIMALAYAS: Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim: A Photographic Record by John Claude White 18831908 by Kurt Meyer and Pamela Deuel Meyer. Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, India, 2005.

In this book, Kurt Meyer and Pamela Deuel Meyer focuses on John Claude White (1853-1918), the first British Political Officer in Sikkim, and his photographic documentation of the Himalayas.

John Claude White was a civil engineer by education, a colonial administrator by profession, and a talented photographer. His images of the Himalayas were taken from 1883 to 1908. Wherever he travelled, he photographed the world around him, mules followed him on the rugged mountain trails bearing his photographic equipment, and ensuring that the fragile glass plates survived the long return trip to south intact, to be printed by the Johnston and Hoffman photography studio in Calcutta. White spent his entire professional life working for the British Raj. This book is a tribute to this extraordinary photographer.

The book In the Shadow of the Himalayas contains six sections.

The first chapter gives an overview of the British colonial enterprise in South Asia and the political alliances. The second section lays emphasis on White’s family background and professional career and helps relate his interests and choices.

The remaining four sections are arranged chronologically according to White’s tours of duty: Nepal (1883-1884), Sikkim (18891908), Tibet (1903-1904) and Bhutan (1905-1908).

However, in Sikkim the location of his longest posting the images are not fulfilling, rather he has focused completely on nature: passes, mountains and gorges. Technically impressive, but for anyone looking in local history or culture there is but a very few details.

The most fascinating images are the images from Bhutan, the photos are varied and intimate with more close ups, possibly because White had made a close relationship, with Urgyen Wangchuk who would later be crowned king of this Himalayan nation.

The Meyers state that despite being an engineer by education and a colonial administrator by profession, Jean Claude White was a ‘photographer by vocation’. I would venture to suggest that White’s training as a civil engineer shows through in his photos.

The images are well framed, carefully centered, unwasteful, and at

times even austere. Kurt Meyer and Pamela Deuel Meyer have accomplished in re-establishing the works of Jean Claude White.

3.3 KHANGCHENDZONGA: SACRED SUMMIT KHANGCHENDZONGA: SACRED SUMMIT by Pema Wangchuk and Mita Zulca. Little Kingdom Publishing, Gangtok, Sikkim, 2007 Wangchuk and Zulca have elaborately stitched the map of Mt. Khangchendzonga through the ethnographic facts, photographs, drawings, narratives and historical documents. This comprehensive book divided into sixteen chapters briefly describes the diversity of people touched by Khangchendzonga from indigenous communities, explorers, mountaineers, surveyors, botanists, to artists and travelers, all are represented in the pages of this book.

The first three chapters focus on the relationship between Khangchendzonga and three of the oldest communities associated with Sikkim-the Lepchas, the Limbus, and the Bhutias. With rich, though not first-hand, detail, these descriptions are perfect orientation for further exploration of Khangchendzonga. Chapter two, ‘Fount of Wisdom,’ and three, ‘Protector of the Faith, respectively deals with the relationship between Khangchendzonga and the Sikkimese Limbus and the Bhutias, who also worship the mountain.

The following three chapters recount in fresh ways, the early British and Indian explorers and local guides, and their ‘own battles of heights.’ Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, the accomplished botanist, is profiled and his work illustrated with amazing engravings (1868) from his private collections. Other wonderful black and white photographs of people, monasteries, and misty landscapes artfully displayed with informative captions, conjure up fantasies of a bygone era. Other fabulous photographs in this chapter include, Vittorio Sella’s Zemu Glacier (1899). The mountain has also motivated artists, philosophers and poets whose works are discussed in chapters fourteen and fifteen.

While Khangchendzonga adjoins Sikkim, Darjeeling and Nepal, 25

the authors have sagely selected to narrow their scope by exploring the mountain’s historical, religious, political and cultural connections with Sikkim.

3.4 SIKKIM — A HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY SIKKIM — A HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY by Nari Rustomji. Allied Publishers, New Delhi 1987.

Nari Kaikhosru Rustomji, popularly known as Nari Rustomji was a affiliate of the Indian Civil Service. It was during his appointment as a Prime Minister of Sikkim from 1954 to 1959; he first met and became close friends with the young Prince Thondup.

This is the story of an optimist who probably didn’t play his cards judiciously and perhaps whose every move was misread and his words distorted until this tiny state immersed into its gigantic neighbor, India. However, the impact of these mutual suspicions and lobbying never did alter their personal friendship.

The book SIKKIM — A HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY undoubtedly declares that, by the Indo-Sikkim Treaty of 1950, India assumed responsibili­ties for Sikkim’s defense, external affairs and communications (as already in post-Independent India the Princely states could no longer survive). In the case of Sikkim, Indian interests were at stake as against the aggressive attitude of the Chinese after the invasion of Tibet. Vested interests and benefits drove the Indian government to acquire the protectorate by means which were extremely crude in manner.

Rustomji outlines the charisma and ambitions of Thondup Namgyal through a series of letters exchanged between them, constructing up from the time when they were at the I.C.S- Adminis­trative Camp at Dehra Dun, and proceeding to the period he was the Prince and, later as the Chogyal of Sikkim. Thondup Namgyal, a strong personality, was determined to reclaim and unite for Sikkim its Tibet-Lepcha culture, and also to restrict the tide of Nepalese 26

influence. He was concerned of India’s interventionist objectives and was privileged to have in Nari Rustomji a friend, theorist and guide to advise and calm his attitude vis-a-vis the Indian Government; On the other hand the Government of India, was blessed to have Rustomji as an arbitrator since its interests lied with the strategic and political aspects in Sikkim. The end comes in a rush of ill-fated events, from the Chinese attack in 1962 to Chogyal’s marriage with an American socialite Hope Cook often viewed as a security risk as the little kingdom was swamped by foreign diplomats from all over the world. Mutual suspicion, false allegations and misreporting of the royal couple’s public speeches further ruined the relations between the two countries.

Nari Rustomji’s letter with Chogyal keeps the reader’s focus attached until the disturbing chapter ‘The Wheel Full Circle’ where in spite of his effort to be fair and rational to his countrymen of India, he cannot explain the callousness that was practiced by the Government of India to occupy Sikkim into its fold. In ‘Retrospect’, Rustomji examines the events and possible options that could have come to pass — but all too late.

3.5 TIME CHANGE TIME CHANGE - An Autobiography by Hope Cooke. Simon & Schuster, New York 1980.

A fascinating story by Sarah Lawrence graduate who gave up her American lifestyle to marry the Crown Prince Palden Thondup Namgyal of Sikkim. This is her autobiography and beautifully records the dissimilarity between private reality and public dream.

Hope Cooke begins with her account from her early years as a privileged, orphaned child living in luxury in a Manhattan apartment shared by her sister Harriet and a nanny (who keeps changing), bought by her affectionate grandparents, who live across the hall. The first few chapters Hope Cooke describes herself as being passionate about spiritual and mysticism, born out of isolation and feelings of outcast. Her grandparents would refuse to talk

about her mother which perhaps torments her forever who is never told the details of her parent’s life and death. Hope’s loneliness and confusion grow over the years, and so does her spiritual quest.

Grandfather dies when she’s 12, Granny dies three years later. She goes to live with her aunt and uncle, Mary and Selden Chapin, then the ambassador to Iran, and finishes high school there. One summer in her late teens she travels to India: ‘’I’ve never been so happy ... India! My heart explodes ... The East is my home ... I must stay near India somehow ...’’

While majoring in Asian studies at Sarah Lawrence she travels to Darjeeling where she meets the recently widowed Crown Prince of Sikkim. Two years later they are engaged. Hope mentions this complex union: Her desire toward him may be motivated by her fascination with Indian spirituality and her desire for some kind of rootedness; his impulse toward her is in part impelled by his need to find a mother for his children. Both are also driven toward each other by the similar isolation of their childhoods.

But soon Hope’s fairytale was soon to turn into a nightmare. The Crown Prince may well have been one of the Far East’s most liberal rulers, yet as Hope Cooke describes him, he was also a heavy-drinking philanderer with an odious streak of macho sexism. Notwithstanding his stressed investments, the Crown Prince managed to maintain a love affair with a married woman in Belgium before and during his marriage to Hope.

The death of Nehru endangered Sikkim’s autonomy. Subsequently, when India finally closes in on Sikkim, Hope sets to return to the United States for good, where she brings the four youngest royal offspring to spare them the house arrest about to be forced on their father. There is little emotion in the final parting of the royal couple: ‘’I embrace Chogyal a final time and the children touch their foreheads to his.’’

Hope Cooke’s autobiography is certainly engrossing and engaging.

She had left Sikkim under traumatic conditions, near the beginning of India’ s annexation of the country and starting from scratch to

survive in New York was more than difficult. However, her decision to leave the tiny kingdom is often questioned, since at the time of the annexation Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal (the last monarch) was diagnosed with cancer. Many people believe the real cause of his death was a broken heart.

3.6 LEARNINGS FROM THE REVIEW These books have provided a firm ground for the research in history of photography in Sikkim, not only due to the presence of images that were documented but more importantly the cultural and social aspects that were governed in the time of monarchy, the presence of the British Raj, and India’s role in the merger of the kingdom in 1975.

John Claude White’s attempt to capture and document the terrains in the Himalayas is highly credible. Although, his fascinating images consist more from the kingdom of Bhutan, the images made in Sikkim certainly puts him, in one of the pioneers who introduced the camera in these region. It does lack of information on culture and traditions but photographs as a whole are technically impressive which provide data of the first photographs created in Sikkim.

Similarly, other books have been elaborate on customs, traditions as well as images collected. Another important factor becomes the mountains that play a central role in these terrains. In Pema and Mita’s book, Khangchendzonga: A sacred summit, one can observe the numerous expeditions taken by various British officials from botanists to mountaineers and photographers. Astounded by its grandeur presence, which cannot miss to have it preserved in their albums, thus, resulting in a photograph. It becomes clear, that the range of mountains existing in these belts draw much attention of the camera’s gaze.

The merger of the kingdom with the Indian continent leads to 27

many unanswered questions, why did the Chogyal give in? Who created the plot for conspiracy? It is during these tough times, that Nari Rustomji in his book provides an insight to the persona of Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. The Chogyal’s concern for his country, his ambitious plans to preserve the art and culture of the kingdom and his determination to unite the Tibet-Lepcha culture has been thoroughly explained. It therefore suggests that Chogyal P.T. Namgyal did have a personal concern over art, craft and the traditions that were slowly being covered by the Nepalese culture.

Finally, through former Queen Hope Cooke in her autobiography Time Change, we get a view from the outsider. The little secrets of the administration that would always remain closed inside the palace, and how the Indian protectorate ever suspected her decisions when delegates from the west would visit the kingdom.

But most importantly, it is through her that one gets access to the Royal family and their passion for art and photography. She has mentioned in one of her speeches in Library of Congress, New York that Chogyal P.T. Namgyal was not only shooting pictures but also had a great ardor for filmmaking. However, none of the images and the footage survived the passage of time.

The next chapter looks into the causes of the last Chogyal P.T. Namgyal’s downfall and its causes. From political groups sprouting in the kingdom to dissolving the 300 years of monarchy.

28

Plate 4: Mass rally being taken out by prodemocratic forces in Sikkim; 1973 Photographer: Unknown Image Source: IPR, Sikkim.

29

CHAPTER 4

Fall of the Monarch

4.1 INTRODUCTION:

4.2 THE UPRISING:

T

However, civil disturbance was growing in Sikkim as diverse political parties, possibly aroused by the political rapture and excitement ongoing in India, began agitating for democratic modus operandi to be established in the state. Political groups started arising and the need for people’s power looked to admonish the monarchy.

he chapter looks briefly in the process and the causes of abolition of the Namgyal dynasty. Photographically speaking, there are but a few images of the agitation and the historic moments for e.g. the signing of the Tripartite Agreement and L.D. Kazi being sworn as the first Chief Minister of Sikkim.

Throughout the Namgyal dynasty, Chogyal’s autonomous region was always under threat right from its ancestors, who struggled hard to fight the Chinese while in Tibet, followed by Nepal and Bhutan till the British Raj in India. Since the British retreated from the Indian sub-continent in 1947, the newly established Republic of India acquired Sikkim as a protectorate.

30

Following this, in May 1949, Sikkim’s first popular ministry was created under Tashi Tshering as the Chief Minister, D.S.Lepcha and C.D.Rai from the State Congress and D.Dadul and R.P.Alley two nominees of the ruler. This was the highest point of achievements of the Sikkim Congress which normally assumed that it had the mandate from the people to rule the country as per its party programme. On the other hand, the palace felt that it had placated

the populists and it would choose their own time and action to mould the emergent situation. In such a situation, there was little chance that this half way democratic experiment would succeed.

Soon there was a feeling of dissatisfaction about the minister’s capacity to actually exercise the powers, resulting in more unrest and finally to large-scale riots in front of the palace gates in June 1949.

Chogyal had no option and was compelled to take assistance from the Indian forces to overcome the anarchy. Thus, a Indo-Sikkim treaty was signed on 5th December 1950. The agreement stipulated that Sikkim would be an Indian protectorate.

According to this Treaty, the Government of India took over the liability of Sikkim’s defence. India agreed to provide Rs. Three lakh per annum to Sikkim as long as the Government of Sikkim duly observed the terms of Treaty. Indian army forces were assigned in Sikkim and the country’s arms, trade goods, and foreign policy were to be regulated by the Indian Government. Roads and communications also came under the attention of India.

Meanwhile, the appeal for larger people’s power lingered. The Chogyal and representatives of two of Sikkim’s largest parties, Sikkim National Party and the Sikkim State Congress held discussions and as a result in May 1951 the ‘parity system’ was introduced.

According to this principle, the seats in the proposed state council were to be divided equally between the Bhutia-Lepcha and the Nepalese group. But the 25 percent Lepcha-Bhutias on six elective seats had to be equated with 75 percent of Sikkimese Nepalese origin on another six seats in the Council. And to add to this formula The Maharaja reserved the right to nominate five members and a President to the council.

This further diminished the importance of elected members and by 1967 the strength of the State Council was raised from 18 during the initial stages to 24, with six seats to be nominated by the Chogyal; and voting remained on the party basis and the rest 6 seats were to be nominated by the Chogyal-out of the 6 seats, one for

Tsong, one for Sangha (monk) and one seat for Scheduled Caste were reserved. The term of the State Council was for three years, but during the last 19 years only 4 general elections were held in Sikkim. This complicated voting system was distorted in such a way that the Nepalese in general and democratic forces in particular were always marginalized.

As internal inconsistency continued between the Nepalese and the Bhutia-Lepcha community, pursuing in their struggle to acquire the authority in the country’s politics, Indian forces clashed with China on the Kingdom’s northern frontiers in October 1962, and the Chogyal was forced to acerbate a state of emergency in the country. The following year Chogyal Tashi Namgyal died.

4.3 THE LAST RULER Palden Thondup Namgyal had completed his IAS training and was already involved as the Chogyal Tashi Namgyal’s advisor in the judicial and executive affairs of Sikkim. In 2nd December 1963, he was crowned the 12th Chogyal(King) of Sikkim and his wife Hope Cook the Gyalmo(Queen).

In April 1973, the disorder brewing between the Nepalese group and the Lepcha-Bhutia factions exploded into a political agitation of anarchy. Partly due to the case of rigging and other electoral dereliction that had become obvious by the time elections to the State Council were held. The Nepalese demanded an election format of ‘one man-one vote’.

A small dispute with regard to the counting centre at Gangtok ignited and shortly after political groups formed demonstrations against the Government. Police force was called in to check the agitation which only added fuel to the fire. Sikkim State Congress and Sikkim National Congress insisted on the cancellation of the election and ordered for a fresh poll. The Durbar attempted to implement its old dual policy of oppression but was in vain. Protestors began to storm the police stations in the interior. The two 31

political groups decided to ostracize and disrupt the ruler’s birthday celebration on April 4, 1974. The situation was frightful and heavy battle was fought between the police and the demonstrators.

The King was uncooperative and continued with the celebrations which inflamed the masses even more.

Eventually, the administration collapsed and once again Chogyal had to pursue the help of India to reinforce order. The Political Officer took over the administration for pro tempore but the bureaucratic deadlock continued. The Indian Government emboldened the Chogyal and the political leaders to adjudicate the case and stabilize normalcy in the State, but both the sides were adamant.

Finally, a Tripartite Agreement was reached on May 8, 1973. The agreement was signed between Chogyal, political leaders and the Indian Government. The Chogyal’s status was further downsized and now became virtually a celebratory head, real function having shifted into the hands of India and the majority group.

As per the Tripartite Agreement, the election to Sikkim Assembly was scheduled to be held in April, 1974. The Janta Congress and the National Congress which had been actively working together to fulfill their common goals since February 1973, united together which ultimately gave rise to Sikkim Congress. This was getting difficult for the National Party as it went in a condition of disorder, their officers were disgraced and most could not get past the fear they were subjected to during the agitation. The Sikkim Congress brushed off the poll acquiring thirty seats, the National Party secured only one and the other was acquired by the Sangha seat. Thus, a ministry was formed under the leadership of Kazi Lhendup Dorji.

Kazi Lhendup Dorji, a man famous for his anti-monarchist belief and his pro-Indian views served as the first Chief Minister of Sikkim. He was married to Elisa Maria Langford-Rae of Scottish origin and she had pursued Law at Edinburgh University.

32

Following in, it was only a matter of epoch before Sikkim ceased to exist as an independent nation. The State Assembly met in an emergency season and passed this resolution: “The institution of Chogyal (the head of the state) is hereby abolished and Sikkim shall hence forth be a constituent unit of India”. While the ruler went on asking for right of self determination to Sikkim, this Resolution of the Assembly was put to the electorate and 97 percent favoured it.

This led to the Indian Parliament passing the 38th Constitutional Amendment Bill on April 26, 1975. Thus, Sikkim ceased to exist as an Indian protectorate and became the 22nd state of the Indian Union. Accordingly, the office of the Chogyal stood abolished and provisions of the Indo-Sikkimese Treaty, Tripartite Agreement and the Government of India ACT, 1974 were made inoperative.

Lhendup Dorji Kazi (LD Kazi), the Chief Minster, emerged as the central figure after these epoch making developments.

On May 16, 1975, Sikkim officialy became the 22nd state of India with Lhendup Dorji Kazi as the head of the state (Chief Minister).

This was promptly acknowledged by the United Nations and all countries except China. The status of Chogyal was thus dissolved ending the monachy. In 1980, Queen Hope Cook divorced the Chogyal and not long after the Last King died of cancer in New York City 1982.

Sikkim’s assimilation into the Indian Union has remained precarious and uncertain among the constitutional Sikkimese population.

At the time of alliance, India had assured that Sikkim’s unification with predominant India would not pressurize Sikkim’s unique cultural identity. However, most Sikkimese believes, that the decades following 1975 have noticed a steady disintegration of this identity.

Plate 5: Chogyal Tashi Namgyal (11th ruler of Namgyal dynasty) with Sir Charles Bell and Lady Bell. ca. 1918-1920

Photographer: Unknown

Image Source: Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

33

CHAPTER 5

Photographers Emerging in Sikkim This chapter has been divided into Non-Local Photographers and Local Photographers. Local photographers consist of people from Sikkim and the non-local comprising of photographers who do not belong to Sikkim.

5.1 NON-LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHERS: A distant view of a snowy range...has a strange power of moving all poets and persons of imagination.” - Douglas W Freshfield Soon after the invention of photography, the camera had become a tool of imperialism, revealing the exotic East which was of great importance to the western eye. Although there are no records available for the first photograph made or taken in Sikkim, but 34

documents of the East India Company suggests that John Claude White, appointed as the first Political Officer of Sikkim in 1889 had a great passion for photography, and probably he could have been the first individual to have brought the tool in the Himalayan state. Rubin Museum in New York City states that John Claude White (1853-1918) was the earliest photographer of many Himalayan regions.

John Claude White was born in Calcutta in 1853, after having graduated from the Royal Engineering College at Cooper’s Hill in 1876 he joined the Bengal Public Works Department as Assistant Engineer. In 1888, he was assigned to the Sikkim-Tibet boundary commission where he had to map and survey the regions’ borders. Using his glass plate camera, he recorded the stunning views

he encountered. John Falconer, curator of photographs in the British Library’s Oriental and India Office Collections describes his photographic work as ‘probably one of the last, and certainly among the most impressive products of a tradition of quasi-amateur photography which had flourished among administrators and military personnel in India since the 1850’s.’ He left behind one of the richest and most detailed accounts of the scenery and culture of the Himalayas.

During his travel, he published his memoir ‘Sikhim and Bhutan: Twenty-one Years on the North-East Frontier’ in London in 1909.

His photographs form the basis of ‘In the Shadow of the Himalayas: Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim: A Photographic Record by John Claude White 1883-1908’ by Kurt Meyer and Pamela Deuel Meyer published in 2005 in Ahmedabad, India.

One hundred years ago, Sikkim‘s Kanchendzonga circuit was one of the most dangerous terrain, it was such factors that attracted the mountain explorers in the west. Following the footsteps of the 1883 mountaineering party of W Graham, which after climbing an 18000 ft peak, was forced to return to Darjeeling after only a week, Douglas Freshfield set out with his party in 1899. He was to be the first mountaineer to trek in a circle around Khangchendzonga, from the North. It was during this expedition an Italian photographer Vittorio Sella had assisted Freshfield and created beautiful plates of the Mt.Siniolchu from Zemu Valley.

This was soon to be followed by L.A.Waddell who had done an extensive research in the region of Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. He used to take his own glass plates and also hired the photographers at Johnson and Hoffman of Calcutta to take studio portraits of subjects that he had selected. Likewise, Sir Charles Bell appointed as a Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet (1910-1920), was also a photographer who trained Rabden Lepcha the art of image making.

Frederick Williamson was a British Political Officer in Sikkim,

Bhutan and Tibet in the early 1930s. He was also a passionate photographer. Along with his wife Margaret Williamson, they shot approximately 1700 photographs throughout the Himalayan region. As well as documenting the Williamsons’ personal travels, the photos provide an unusually well-preserved and well-catalogued insight into social life in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet during the 1930s. The Williamson Photographic Collection is housed in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University. Of equal interest are the 23 reels of 16mm cine film which Williamson shot while in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. These have now been digitized and are being made available online.

During the German-Tibet Expedition of Ernst Schaefer 19381939, headed by Dr Bruno Beger a German anthropologist, the team passed through Sikkim on their way to Tibet. It is generally not known of how long the expedition stayed in Sikkim, however, Dr Beger took a large number of portraits of Sikkimese villagers in the northern regions of Singhik, Lachen and Lachung.

Arthur John Hopkinson entered the Indian Civil Service in 1920.

Somewhere around the end of the 1920s he was appointed as an Assistant Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet with responsibilities also as British Trade Agent in Gyantse. During his post, Hopkinson was instructed by Political Officer F. M. Bailey to oversee the development of a motorized postal service between Gyantse and Gangtok. This proved to be a futile exercise and Hopkinson made his frustration known in his letters home. However, there are many photographs in the British Museum collection documenting his attempts.

However, he soon returned to Sikkim in 1944 as Political Officer.

He was also the last British Political Officer of Sikkim. He was in the post at the time of India’s Independence from Britain in 1947 and remained in Gangtok until after Independence as Indian Political Officer, leaving the sub-continent in 1948. Highlights of his time in Tibet during the post-war period included a visit to Lhasa during December and January 1945-6, when he tried to discuss 35

with Tibetan officials modifications to the McMahon Line and a cloth embargo with India. Sadly there are no photographs of this trip in the collection now held in the British Museum.

Sikkim. Her images on Sikkim are poignant memories of time, looking at these images she somehow manages to be invisible yet visible while releasing the shutter.

Of recent, it was Dr.Alice S Kandell, a student of Harvard University and a close friend of Hope Cooke (Queen of Sikkim), had attended the coronation of Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal.

The King of Sikkim was aware that there were only a few photographs that documented the culture, life, and monuments of the region. It was at this point, that the King granted her permission to photograph Buddhist monks and lamas, ceremonial dances, and monasteries; people working on farms, in canning factories, and at special crafts; and the royal palace and chapel at Gangtok, including the Royal family.

Historically, Sikkim always had its share of photographers from outside. In recent times, there has been discovery of photographic plates dating back to the 1880’s in Florence by an Amercian scholar Patty Bose, who also unearthed 80 collections of photographs on Sikkim in Great Britain. Many of them, forcefully being described as Tibet. It is worthy of mention here that, since Tibet had always been the western destination, it was natural for the Tibetans to keep the foreigners at bay as they didn’t always love the attention, thus, forcing them to retreat or cool themselves in places like Sikkim or Bhutan. Due to such reasons most of them never made it to this holy land and once they traveled back home it didn’t stop them from publishing their images as Tibetan seeing.

Dr. Kandell took over 10,000 photographs of Sikkim and its people. She subsequently published two books about Sikkim. ‘Mountaintop Kingdom: Sikkim’ (WW Norton), with Charlotte and Harrison Salisbury, included many of Dr. Kandell’s photographs.

Dr. Kandell was also the author and photographer for ‘Sikkim, the Hidden Kingdom’ (Doubleday). Dr. Kandell’s photographs constitute the world’s most complete photographic record of the independent Kingdom of Sikkim before it was absorbed into India in 1975.

Marilyn Silverstone went to India on an assignment to photograph Ravi Shankar in 1956, having worked with art and design magazines, including Art News her name grew and in 1967 she became a full member of Magnum. She covered such big events as the arrival of the Dalai Lama in India and the Chogyal of Sikkim. In the late 1960s she also worked on a photography assignment about a Tibetan buddhist monk in Sikkim named Khanpo Rinpoche and in 1977 she converted herself to buddhism.

She also published her book: ‘Ocean of life: Visions of India and the Himalayan kingdoms’. Her contributions have been significant in terms of the style she brought into depicting the people of 36

5.2 LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHERS: Since photography was introduced to Sikkim much later during the 1880s by the colonial powers, there is no data on the first photographer of Sikkim. There is however a mention of Maharani of Sikkim, Kunzang Dechen Tsomo Namgyal (1906-87), wife of the 11th ruler of the Namgyal dynasty of Sikkim, Chogyal Tashi Namgyal. Maharani made regular trips to Tibet, approximately every six years or so, in order to see her relatives.

She was a Tibetan from Lhasa, from the Rangsha family. It appears that the Queen Mother of Sikkim was gifted with an Agfa camera and during her visits to Central Tibet, she took many selfportraits and of relatives on the roofs. Unfortunately, none of the images survived till this date, except for one image of the famous Padmasambhava (Tibetan Guru Ngadrama statue at Samye). On their return to India, the Maharani had spent a month at Samye, while this image was taken.

There is also a reference of a soldier Rabden Lepcha, assigned to

attend and perform various tasks for Sir Charles Alfred Bell, the Political Officer of Sikkim in 1908. Bell states in ‘The People of Tibet’, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928, p.168) that “Rab-den Lepcha, had already to some extent learnt from me how to use my cameras, and was taking my photographic work more and more into his own hands.” He seems to have had a particular responsibility for taking photographs on behalf of Bell.

Rabden Lepcha was born in Sikkim into a Lepcha family. He had assisted Bell for 18 years and in the year 1920-1921 Rabden Lepcha accompanied Bell to Lhasa and took many photographs. There is but little information on the works of Rabden Lepcha, much research is needed on this topic.

After a decade or so, the art of image making was more seriously practiced by Yap Tse Ten Tashi, a man ahead of his times, who knew his photographs would be invaluable testimonials of history.

He had served as a Private Secretary to Chogyal Tashi Namgyal, Crown Prince Paljor Namgyal and Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. In 1963, he was conferred one of Sikkim’s highest honors, the Pema Dorji, in recognition of distinguished service rendered to the Sikkim Darbar.

His journey in photography probably started in the wake of the German Schäfer expedition to Tibet via Sikkim in 1938-39. His close friend, Mr. K.C.Pradhan recollects that “Tse Ten Tashi’s first camera was a Rolleiflex Twin lens Reflex 2.8F TLR, 120 roll film. The camera was brought by Ernst Schafer in 1938 during German Natural History Expedition.

Rai Saheb Bhim Bahadur Pradhan, then Forest Manager and close to Schafer, was so enamored with the camera that he struck a bargain and exchanged with seven tiered ancestral ceremonial brass lamp. The lamp must be either at Berlin or Chicago Museums where the Expedition’s treasures were intercepted at high sea by the Allied Forces. He used it prolifically and TTT being family friend used to borrow frequently. TTT was so hooked to it that

the former gave it to TTT around 1944 as by then Rai Saheb Bhim had lost interest in photography.”

Thus began TTT’s long tryst with serious photography, which would see him remembered as one of Sikkim’s first well-known native photographers, and also his appointment as the Court Photographer to both the Chogyal of Sikkim as well as the Druk Gyalpo, the King of Bhutan. It is also learnt that TTT never stuck to a particular brand, he would keep on experimenting with different models, from Hasselblad to Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, however it was Leica that he used for most of his work.

Processing films in those days required a very long time as it had to be sent to Bombay for developing and printing which would add to a lot of cost. As TTT found this burdensome, he setup the first photographic studio with darkroom facilities in Sikkim, Tse Ten Tashi & Co. The studio gained popularity in no time and made passport photographs including ID for Tibetan refugees, studio portraits and sold images and postcards based on his photographs.

The studio flourished and soon TTT started training a number of people in photography and also taught darkroom techniques including Rinchen Lepcha and Twan Yang. Yap Tse Ten Tashi also made several movies on Tibet, of which only a few survive today.

The fate of a cine-movie that he took of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet and apparently sold to someone abroad remains unknown.

While few of his photographs snuggle in family albums, the major bulk of his collection has been lost. A jovial, social and extremely vital personality, Yap Tse Ten Tashi had several friends and admirers. Nari Rustomji, Dewan of Sikkim aptly summarized him as, ‘amongst his innumerable specimens, Tse Ten himself is the rarest of them all - a truly, truly precious bloom, radiating, through all the seasons, fragrance, beauty, humor, scholarship and- greatest of them all - compassion.’

37

The last reigning Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal was once a school photographer in Bishop Cotton School - Shimla. It is also learnt that sometime during the 1950s he made a movie in Tibet.

Sadly, none of the materials survived and there are no records of the seasons, fragrance, beauty, humor, scholarship and- greatest of them all - compassion.’

came to Sikkim in the 1950s and never again crossed the border at Rangpo. Afraid, that as a Chinese, he may not be allowed back in.

He was born in Kalimpong in 1919 to a Chinese father and a Tibetan mother from Shigatse, Tibet. He was a pioneer in setting up a photo department at the Department of Information and Public Relations (IPR), Government of Sikkim.

The legacy set by TTT was soon to be followed by his eldest son Paljor Dorji Tashi (also known as Yap Penjorla ). As Sikkim made the transition from Himalayan kingdom to 22nd state of India in 1974-75, Penjorla also made the personal transition as Deputy Secretary in the Home Department. In 1975, the Department of Tourism was created and he served as the first Deputy Director.

In 1979, the State Government created the Protocol Division of the Home Department; he was chosen to helm it as Joint Secretary.

He also served as the first Director of the Information and Public Relations Department. He held several posts in his long innings in the State administration until his voluntary retirement as Secretary to the Government in 1997.

Thus, photography established itself as a visual medium in the tiny kingdom of the Himalayan state.

It is a natural inference that Penjorla would ensue, his father’s passion for photography. He was one of the very first subjects of his father’s photography while he was still in diapers; he was exposed to photography at a very early age. One of the earliest cameras he inherited from his father was a Mamiya, of Japanese make. A close friend, Mr. Babulal Malu of Panorama, recollects that it was a Mamiya Super 23.

Like his father, he too engaged himself in trying out different camera makes but later on continued to use the Nikon model and mostly shot on 35mm Ektachrome transparencies. He was a creative photographer and soon established his own style. He loved to document events, landscapes and shooting portraits.

Twan Yang (1919-1995) was an artist, filmmaker, a keen photographer, and a columnist with international magazines. Twan Yang

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5.3 Local Photo Studios Soon after the creation of Tse Ten Tashi studios, the state witnessed numerous photographic studios like New Studio, Orient photo lab and Panorama. New studio was founded by Late Tshering Chonden Bhutia in 1964, on the auspicious occasion of the then Chogyal Palden Thendup Namgyal’s birthday. He operated the studio till 1972 after which his son Mingma Tshering Bhutia took over his father’s passion.

In the studio, he used cameras like Asha Pantek, Minolta, Roliflex (German made) and Rolicord camera. Mr. Mingma Bhutia recalled that the Black and White photographs were more profitable, as the studio had machines for developing and printing. But as soon as color negatives set in, the studio had to send the film rolls to nearby cities like Calcutta, affecting the profit margin in a photo.

With the onset of digital medium, he suffered some loss and although the studio does not shoot more than passport photographs, he started a electronic repair centre along with selling items like televisions, mobile phones, DVD players and watches, all this to support his studio. Mr. Bhutia recalled his days of shooting ceremonies, activities of the Royal family and the Sikkim guards.

However, an army used to assign an officer during the development of the film in the studio and would get hold of the negatives along with the photographs for security reasons.

Although, he had had no frmal training in the photographic process but learned most of the darkroom techniques through his father. From dodging, burning, masking and hand coloring techniques, he claims to have mastered the darkroom.

Sadly, none of his three children are engaged in the family profe ssion but was content and happy with his job and remarked that, “I have worked in this field since the regime of the Chogyal P.T. Namgyal, have photographed the first chief minister of Sikkim and have captured some of the important momemts in the history of evolution of Sikkim, from an independent country to being the 22nd state of India”.

In the late 1960s, Mr. K.B. Chettri an avid photographer built his studio in the heart of the town, in M.G. Marg. It was named Studio Orient, the studio provided all the facilities for film development and also had one of the finest cameras in town, from Rolleiflex to Mamiya and different negative sizes like B2. Mr. Binod Chettri, son of Mr. K.B. Chettri, took over his father’s dedication for photography and soon learned the trade. He stated that he still misses those olden days where magic was happening inside the darkroom.

5.4 Conclusion The history of photographers in Sikkim has been but a handful of people. It is mostly due to the colonial rule that the camera was introduced. The setting up of studios followed soon after. It is also observed that majority of the images that were made were exclusively focused on the Royal family, their events, celebrations and historic moments. It is hard to find the photographic style that existed during the early years, except for instances like Tse Ten Tashi, who instead of arranging a Victorian prop (popularized by the colonial photographers) would have his studio painted with the Mt. Kanchendzonga at the back drop. Creative and distinct were one of his styles.

The camera had always belonged to the privileged (right after its invention), and probably due to such reasons, not many locals could afford to partake in writing with light and although studios had been set up, it didn’t instill the creative aspects as opposed to other States during this period. As already, agitation and political groups were sprouting and within such turmoil, who would have thought to document such moments and events that would change the history of Sikkim.

The following chapter Data Collection deals with the images made right from the colonial rule to images made by local photographers and finally the emergence of photo studios in Sikkim.

With the digital age, it has become an easy task to print and process photographs. The studio has now turned digital and it also sells gifts and toy items to sustain itself.

39

CHAPTER 6

Data Collection

This chapter throws light on the images that were collected during the project. Although, it does not form a visual narrative or follows a structure, but rather provides a timeline of how the camera functioned and captured the isolated and tiny kingdom in the Himalayas. Much of the images have been procured from the State Archives and the Library of Congress, who have managed to preserve these ancient images with proper care and management.

However, the images shown here does follow a hierarchy in terms of the first photographer who ever set foot on this region. The images made in Sikkim have mostly been of landscapes, probably that was what excited the British photographers, most of their interest lying in the upper plateau, Tibet.

Plates have been arranged in a chronological order in terms of the year the images were made. The order being: 40

a) 1870-1900 b) 1900-1930 c) 1930-1978 and d) Local Photo Studios.

The last section of this chapter consist of images of the first local photography studios in the State and its condition at the present digital age.

The research did expose stories like Rabden Lepcha, officially trained by Sir Charles Bell who excelled in the medium, the Queen Kunzang Dechen who was gifted an Agfa camera. Interesting as it seems, but over time it all faded and not much could be found from their family albums.

The images shown here are but a handful of collections and the manner this research was conducted, a sincere attempt has been made to lay down the birth of photography in Sikkim.

Images from 1870-1900 Plate 24:

Sidkeong Namgyal and Sir John Ware Edgar. 1873 Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

British Library

This is the oldest known photograph of the Chogyal. Dated 6 June 1873. It portrays Sidkeong Namgyal, the eighth King of Sikkim with Sir John Ware Edgar-Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling.

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Plate 6

Photographer: John Claude White Image Source: Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department Govt. of Sikkim

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Plate 7

Plate 8

Plate 6:

Plate7:

Plate 8:

In this image John Claude White photographed the lamas in their elaborate costumes and the ones seated; second and third from left belong to the Tholung family.

Sikkimese officials on a survey along the Tibet-Sikkim frontier. c.a 1889

Glacier source of the Teesta river (1883-1908)

Photographer

J.C. White Image Source

Images from J.C.White’s book on Sikkim mostly consists of landscapes and monument spaces, here his approach is different. He hardly took any portraits in Sikkim.

N.I.T.

Photographer

J.C. White Image Source

N.I.T. Landscapes were truly explored by J.C. White. Under such harsh weather conditions and heavy camera equipments, it could have been impossible to shoot such sites.

43

Plate 9:

Photographer

Image Source

The first panorama of Mt. Khangchendzonga showing its five peaks; shot at a height of 17,000 feet. c.a1899

Vittorio Sella

N.I.T.

This first panorama created by Vittorio Sella while on an expedition with Douglas Freshfield indicates their likeness to capture the great mountain range. Although, they were explorers, since the invention of cameraand its inroduction to the Indian continent, it has resulted in a vast amount of images consisting of landscapes and monuments.

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Plate 10:

Photographer

Image Courtesy

Zemu Glacier

Vittorio Sella

Pema Wangchuk (Author of ‘Khangchendzonga : Sacred Summit)

The journey to Zemu glacier is one of the most toughest route in the Himalayan range; Vittorio carrying cameras and plates to this altitude and making this image must have been a challenging task.

45

Plate 11:

Bamboo Bridge.

1883-1908 Photographer

John Claude White Image Source

N.I.T.

Plate 12:

Waterfall.

1883-1908 Photographer

John Claude White Image Source

N.I.T. Plate 11

46

Bamboo plays a vital role for the ihabitants in the himalayan region.

Here J.C. White captures the very essence of that, a bamboo bridge.

Roadways brought to the kingdom was due to the British Raj, earlier there weren’t roads or bridges. However, the image manages to depict the harsh conditions in the himalayas.

Plate 12

J.C.White was the first Political Officer of Sikkim in 1889, and during his period he traveled extensively in the himalayan belt. The image above truly reflects his likeness for scenic terrains and with pathways and bridges made of bamboos it must have been difficult for him to make such detailed account.

Plate 13:

Valley of the Tholung Monastery 1894 Photographer

John Claude White Image Courtesy

Department of Information and Public Relations, Govt. of Sikkim

Landscpaes fascinated J.C.White, the valley of tholung also houses one of the important monatery, known as Tholung Gumpa.

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Plate 14:

Wine drinking to conclude the Bhutia marriage, Sikkim 1879-1882 Photographer

Johnston & Hoffman Image Courtesy

Cultural Affairs & Heritage Department, Govt. of Sikkim

White scarfs termed as ‘Khada’ are a symbol of purity, generally used for celebrations, funerals and other auspicious occasions. The image above is a marriage function, note the tumbler on the left pouring local beer known as ‘chang’, such artifacts have lost its importance in the modern age.

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Plate 15:

Plate 16:

His Highness the Maharaja of Sikkim K.C.I.E. Thutob Namgyal.

Ruling chogyal (monarch) of Sikkim between 1874 and 1914.

The Maharani of Sikkim, Kunzang Dechen.

Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

NIT

Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

NIT 49

Images from 1900-1930

Plate 17:

Chogyal Tashi Namgyal (11th ruler of the Namgyal dynasty) with sir Charles Bell and Lady Bell c.a. 1918-1920 Photographer Image Souce

Probably Rabden Lepcha 50

Pitt Rivers Museum

Plate 18:

Plate 19:

A group of porters and other assistants. c.a 1926

Chumbi Valley, Sikkim. c.a 1926

Photographer

Photographer

A.J.Hopkinson

A.J.Hopkinson

Image Source

Image Source

The Tibet Album, Pitt Rivers Museum

The Tibet Album, Pitt Rivers Museum

A group of porters and other assistants to the British Trade Agency in Tibet take lunch after attempting to create a car route in the snow along the Nathu La (Sikkim).

Arthur J Hopkinson was appointed as a Assistant Political Officer to Sikkim in 1926 and was also responsible for setting up a route till Gyantse in Tibet.

Chumbi valley was once a part of Sikkim, after the 1888 war in Jelepa between the Tibetan army and the British force the valley was soon occupied by the Tibetan communities. At present, the area falls under China hence the significance of the image.

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Plate 20:

13th Sideong Tulku with Charles Bell British Mission to Lhasa Photographer Image Courtesy

Unknown (Probably Rabden Lepcha) 52

Pitt Rivers Museum

Plate 21:

‘Looks Like Me’ statue at Samye. ca. 1935. The statue was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The original negative has also been misplaced. The image to the left has been digitally enhanced.

Photographer

Kunzang Dechen Tsomo Namgyal. ca. 1935 Image Souce

http://www.rigpawiki.org

Plate 22:

Rabden Lepcha A glass negative quarter plate. Dated: 1903-1921 Many of the photographs from Lhasa taken during 1920-21 as well as others in the collection were taken by Rabden Lepcha and not by Bell.

Photographer

Sir Charles Bell.

Image Souce

Pitt Rivers Museum.

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Photographer

Probably Rabden Lepcha Image Souce

Pitt Rivers Museum.

Plate 23:

This image was probably not taken by Bell himself. In his Diary for 4th and 6th of April 1921, Bell describes at some length the conversations he had on those days concerning the role of the Ragyapas in taking corpses forSky Burial, and the events that take place.

These conversations then seem to provide the basis for description in his books, which do not seem to have been supported by Bell’s personal experience of having seen the ritual. It is possible, therefore, that these images were collected by Bell as illustrations for his texts, rather than being taken by Bell himself. Indeed, given the social and political sensitivities of his role in Lhasa, it would probably have been inappropriate for him to have taken such an image.

54

Plate: 24

Plate: 25

Carved and painted panelled walls in background. Monk sitting beside table with vase of flowers. Carpet on floor. c.a 1920-1921 Photographer Probably Rabden Lepcha Image Source Pitt Rivers Museum.

Gelukpa Incarnation Lama with his religious implements. Yellow hat on his head; bell, dorje, skull cap, skull drum in front of him. In the bowl on the left is some fruit. The staff at the side he uses when walking. It has a ring round it which he shakes when he reaches his destination, and, hearing this, people bring him food. c.a 1920-1921 Photographer Probably Rabden Lepcha Image Source Pitt Rivers Museum.

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Plate: 26

Plate: 27

British Residency, Gangtok. 1921 A negative glass plate gelatin.

Photographer Rabden Lepcha Image Source Pitt Rivers Museum.

Residency buildings and garden as seen from nearby hillside, also looking out into valley beyond.

In a Sikkim forest, group of people walking with two horses. 1921 Photographer Rabden Lepcha Image Source Pitt Rivers Museum

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Images from 1930-1970

Plate 28:

Chogyal Tashi Namgyal’s visit to Delhi with his family. Jawaharlal Nehru to his left and Prince Palden Thondup Namgyal behind Chogyal. c.a,1960 Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

NIT

57

58

Plate 29:

Plate 30:

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with Maharaja of Sikkim Chogyal Tashi Namgyal(with glasses), Maharajkumar of Sikkim P.T. Namgyal (far left) and Shri B.K. Kapoor(far right) before his departure from Gangtok. April 1952.

Image Courtesy Photo Division of India.

Jawaharlal Nehru having a conversation with a minister.

Image Courtesy Photo Division of India.

Plate 31:

Chogyal Tashi Namgyal with his family and officials.

Photographer

Unknown Image Souce

NIT

59

60

Plate 32:

Jawaharlal Nehru being greeted by the young Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, Nari Rustomji wearing a white robe.

Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

NIT

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Plate 33:

Sir Tashi Namgyal, 11th Chogyal of Sikkim, in his studio with his grandchildren Tenzing Kunzap (8), Tenzing Namgyal (7) and Simla (4)Gangtok Royal Palace., Sikkim.

Photographer

Marilyn Silverstone Image Courtesy

Library of Congress

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Photography in Sikkim has mostly been of documenting nature, also because the tiny kingdom had been so isolated from the rest of the world for ages. These are now poignant memories of time.

Plate 34:

Plate 35:

Villagers looking at slides of themselves, Yumthang, North Sikkim 1971

Two women weaving a loom. 1965-1971

Photographer

Marilyn Silverstone Image Source

Magnum Photos

Photographer

Alice S Kandell Image Source

Library of Congress

Marilyn images of villagers looking at slides (Plate 34) is a classic depiction of these village and she has also managed to be invisible yet visible while releasing the shutter.

Plate 36:

Plate 37:

Aerial view of terraced fields, Sikkim.

Sikkim Press. 1965-1971

Photographer

Photographer

Alice S Kandell

Alice S Kandell

Image Source

Image Source

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

63

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Plate 38:

Plate 39:

Plate 40:

Looking toward downtown Gangtok 1965-1971

“Bhotia� villager in North Sikkim. 1965-1971

Lama and Prayer Wheel.

1965-1971

Photographer

Photographer

Photographer

Alice S Kandell

Alice S Kandell

Alice S Kandell

Image Source

Image Source

Image Source

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Plate 41:

Plate 42:

Buddhist monks at Rumtek Monastery.

Monk at right playing a lute.1965-1971

Old M.G. Marg, Gangtok. The first house on the left with two white border window frames was the first Post Office in Sikkim

Photographer

Alice S Kandell Image Source

Library of Congress

Photographer

Unknown Image Courtesy

IPR. Govt. of Sikkim

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Plate 43:

Plate 44:

The 12th Chogyal of Sikkim Palden Thondup Namgyal (1963).

Queen of Sikkim Hope Cooke (1963)

Photographer

Photographer

Alice S Kandell

Alice S Kandell

Image Courtesy

Image Courtesy

Library of Congress

Library of Congress

Plate 45:

Newly wed King and Queen of Sikkim (1963) Photographer

Alice S Kandell Image Courtesy

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Library of Congress

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Plate 46:

Plate 47:

Signing the May 8, Tripartite Agreement of 1973.

Mr. Kewal Singh(Black Frame Glasses) Indian Foreign Secretary, Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal and K.S.Bajpai with Karma Topden in attendance.

Cheif Minister Kazi Lhendup Dorjee Khangsarpa being sworn in as the First Chief Minister of Democratic Sikkim

by Governor B.B Lal on 16th May 1975.

Photographer

Photographer

Unknown

Unknown

Image Souce

Image Souce

IPR

IPR

Local Photo Studios

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

Plate: 48

Tse Ten Tashi & Co. The first photo studio to be established in Sikkim. However, with the advent of the digital medium, the production and development of the film process had completely stopped. Digitial offering a cheaper solution had been quickly absorbed in the modern studio scenarios. The image above used to be one of the renowned centre for photographers in the 1950s, sadly with the demise of Tse Ten Tashi, the studio stopped functioning, instead it has been replaced by a medicine store.

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Plate: 49

Tseten Tashi with his wife.

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Photographer

Unknown

Image Source

NIT

Plate: 50

Paljor Dorji Tashi ( also known as Yap Penjorla ) Photographer

Unknown

Image Source

NIT

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Plate: 51

Studio Orient in M.G. Marg, Gangtok.

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha 72

Plate: 52

Plate: 53

Studio Orient in M.G. Marg, Gangtok.

Inside Studio Orient. This space used to be a darkroom for film development.

At present, it is only used to shoot digital passport photographs.

Studio Orient’s collection of the Twin SLRs and a 35mm SLR. Most of them being used for portraiture except for the Vivitar 35mm which was often used for documentary and journalistic purposes.

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

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Plate: 54

Plate: 55

The size of a B2 negative is 5 cm x 7 cm, popular in the late 1960s till 1980s.

The negatives have been well archived till date.

Journals of Mr. K.B. Chettri. During huge projects it was difficult to remember the frames captured, hence small journals were vital for documenting purposes.

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

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Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

Plate: 56

New Studio, Gangtok, Sikkim.

Mr. Mingma Bhutia (Owner) at the center, leaning against the door frame.

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha 75

Plate: 57

New Studio, Gangtok, Sikkim.

Photograph of Mingma Bhutia displaying his technical skills.

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Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

Plate: 58

New Studio, Gangtok, Sikkim.

The background for portrait and family shoots. The studio space is now being half utilized by electronic items.

Photographer

Tashi T Norden Lepcha

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CHAPTER 7

Discussions & Conclusion

7.1 Discussions

T

he history of photography in Sikkim certainly requires to be studied thoroughly with more time and patience. Although, there are numerous research done on Tibetan art, culture and paintings in Sikkim but the role of photography has been marginalized. On the contrary, the existence ofphotography in Sikkim has prevailed right from the 1880s. As the album, ‘In the Shadow of the Himalayas: Tibet-Bhutan-Nepal-Sikkim’ by John Claude White shows that photography initially began as a practice used to establish historical accounts. Because of its inherent nature to establish its surroundings, photography became an effective agent of shaping the historical narrrative of colonial India.

Historically, photography was brought by the colonial empire in the Indian continent. Sikkim too was no exception, with the constant tension on the Sikkim-Tibet frontier, the British Indian gov-

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ernment employed the Macaulay mission under Colman Macaulay in 1886, but the mission failed when the Tibetan army crossed the Jelep La pass and occupied Lingtu, around thirteen miles into Sikkikm. The tiny kingdom was now being sandwiched bet ween North and South. It was only after the Anglo-Chinese convention of 1890, the border between Sikkim and Tibet was demarcated.

Such circumstances lead to the appointment of the first Political Offcer in Sikkim, John Claude White and it is through his eyes we see and understand our landscapes today.

If we are to look at the ‘The Williamson Photographic Collection (1930-1935)’ which consists of five albums and contains over 1700 photographs of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet and related 16mm films, one can notice the importance of those images which consists of the main political, secular and religious sites as well as

dramatic landscapes with views of the Himalayas. Also between 1889 and 1947 almost a half a dozen of Political Officers administered the State, it is implicit that the camera wielding Britisher’s played a dominant force in capturing the historical and the cultural facet, after which the number and type of photographers increased dramatically.

7.3 Scope for further studies

In Chapter 4, we see how photography was practiced by the native people of Sikkim, introduced by the royal family and gradually learned by the locals in the State. Unfortunately, most of the images are missing and the ones that are surviving are difficult to ascertain due to lack of proper records and the image’s deteriorating nature.

During the research, institutions like the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, State Library, Cultural and Heritage Affairs – Govt.

Of Sikkim were approached for tracing the source of the photographs. However, the Cultural Affairs and Heritage Department are constructing a new department-State Archives under their wing, which is believed to receive ancient artifacts and images from Britain. The department is supposedly building a state-of-art archival facility. At the time of this research, the department was still under construction. For further research materials the State Archives could be approached.

7.2 Conclusion During the early stages of photography in the State, Tse Ten Tashi a contemporary in the photography circle had more a journalistic approach than art. But then what is the use of classifying? In fact, it is much more momentous to note the accomplishment and legacy he left for future photographers in Sikkim.

Thus, photography paved its way into the small state in the Himalayas, witnessing the monarch, its struggle for existence and democracy, the fall of the Namgyal dynasty and finally its annexation in to the Indian Union. Today, there is quite a rigorous amateur photography going on in Sikkim, which is evident by looking at several lifestyle glossy magazines.

This research paper has been the first attempt to trace the origin of photography in Sikkim, looking at the history, the Namgyal dynasty, its merger with the Indian Union and finally the local and non-local photographers and the emergence of photo studios.

The Royal family album has been absent during this research, primarily because the families could not be contacted, as it was they were on a vacation abroad. Sources indicate that one of the largest collections of photographs is housed, which could be brought to light.

The Tse Ten Tashi photo studio, now a medicine store, is still believed to have a small space for darkroom purposes, although not functional. The visit to this studio could unearth the first darkroom equipments that were imported into the kingdom.

This research paper has been the first attempt to trace the origin of photography in the state of Sikkim, looking at the history, the Namgyal dynasty and the merger with the Indian Union. Further research may be carried on in this topic. This research paper may be used as a source of reference for further academic work.

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7.4 Learning Finally, the research not only made me understand the history of the kingdom but also exposed me to various new findings, such as Rabden Lepcha and our Queen Kunzang Dechen, who had experienced the joys of making an image. Such surprising fact certainly makes one wonder about the impact of camera and the way it traveled from the West to the small Himalayan kingdom in Sikkim. It has been a privilege to do this research, first of its kind ever attempted and certain that it will serve as a marker/pointer for photographers; researchers, students and everyone else keen on looking at the history of photography in Sikkim.

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