Nye Mâyel Kyong, a Paradise on Earth
In accordance to the Lepcha mythology, there is a Lepcha-village in the Sikkim Himalayas called ‘Nye Mâyel Kyong’. The Lepcha meaning of Nye Mâyel Kyong is as follows: Nye - holy; Mâ - hidden; yel - eternal, immortal and Kyong - village; meaning a hidden village that is holy and eternal, a paradise on Earth.
There lived seven Lepcha couples in this village. They lived in seven traditional Lepcha houses (Kâden Mo Lee). They wore the traditional Lepcha dresses made of nettle plant threads and hats made of bamboo and cane splits. They were immortal. In the morning they became children, at midday they became youths and in the evening old men and women. It is said that once the road to this holy, hidden village was open but is now closed forever. In Nye Mâyel Kyong, crops grew many times bigger than elsewhere and it is from that place that all the seeds of present crops originated. The migratory birds called ‘Mâyel-Fo’ (cuckoo) are sent out by these seven immortal couples to indicate the seasons and the actual time for commencing various agricultural works.
The village is so mysteriously hidden and barred that no one can go there. If by accident, any one reaches there, as soon as he/she leaves the village, the path and the village disappears and to try to reach the village for a second time is futile. About this a Lepcha story runs that once a Lepcha hunter went tracking a wild boar. He tracked on and on and felt that he was always getting closer to the boar. Days and nights passed but he could not reach or catch it. In the night he sheltered in the caves and again in the morning followed the boar. He lost his way so badly that he could not go back, so he thought it would be better to follow the boar. After several days he came to a village where the boar had come and disappeared underneath a house. He marvelled that he had been running behind a tamed pig all this time. He put the arrow back in its quiver and went inside the house to ask shelter for the night as the sun was setting by that time. He found an old couple inside the house and they enquired of him how he had managed to find their house. He told them about the boar and his tracking etc. The old man said to him, “You have done well because it was our tamed pig and sometime it goes astray. You can stay for the night.” They prepared food and Chi for him and a straw bed.
Next morning when he woke, the Lepcha hunter could not find the old couple; when he entered the next room in search of them, to his surprise, he saw and found two small babies lying down on the bed, kicking their two feet and smiling at him. At midday, they turned into beautiful young couple and prepared food, Chi and fed him well. The young couple took the hunter around their village and introduced him to the remaining immortal couples. Nye Mâyel Kyong, he found, was incredibly beautiful and emancipated from hunger, desire, greed or sin. It was a land of eternal beauty, peace and prosperity, a heaven on earth. They also gave him different types of grains, fruits, and vegetables seeds to take home and distribute among the Lepchas.
The couple showed him a staircase to go down and told him that he would find his way at the bottom of the staircase. The Lepcha hunter went down to the ground and turned back to see the staircase and the house that he had came from just a moment ago, but to his surprise, the staircase had disappeared from sight and he could not make out the house where he had stayed. He found himself in the middle of a jungle close to where he had first started the tracking of the boar.
Thus the Lepcha hunter came back to his own house and narrated this story to the Lepchas. It is believed that the hunter was no other than Thikoong Men Salaong, a famous Boongthing, wizard, and above all the great Lepcha literateur.
The Lepchas observe ‘Sakyoo Rum Fât’ each year after harvesting. It is a thanks giving ceremony and prayers and offerings to those seven immortal Lepcha couples of ‘Nye Mâyel Kyong’ who gave them cereals, fruits, vegetables seed to plant in Mayel Lyang. It is also predicted that these seven immortal Lepcha couples of Nye Mayel Kyong will come to the Lepchas’ rescue and save them from a major natural or man made catastrophic disaster in this part of the world in the future.
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