IS LEPCHA REALLY A VANISHING TRIBE?

Denis Lepcha


Introduction- As a born Lepcha, I was confronted often with the above title ‘Is   Lepcha really vanishing Tribe?’At times I found that whoever put such question were basing themselves on a book ‘Lepcha My vanishing Tribe’ by A.R.Fonning. But this question really posed me a great challenge either to answer or to neglect it. After much pondering upon the question I thought of analyzing my own tribe based on the topic. Interiorizing into myself I found myself asking the following questions. If Lepcha tribe is vanishing, in what sense are they vanishing? (1) Are they vanishing in population or culture (2) are Lepcha developing their culture or alienating from it? (3) In the age of globalization is Lepcha culture surviving? If it is surviving then in what way Lepcha are vanishing? These are the questions I am trying to answer in this article. We are in post-modern world where the very idea of culture is undergoing changes. Hermeneutic of culture in the current discourse is more dynamic, inclusive, evolutionary and dialogical. Even human being is seen as ‘culture thing’. They are ever searching meaning and constructing identity which is narrative, processive, inclusive and integral taking account of the simultaneity of existence. Due to the compulsions of market economy there is a mass movement of populace seeking jobs and learning new culture thereby mingling their own culture to the new one. The present mass media, the sequent cyber culture and informatics foster and deepen the borderline social, religious and cultural contextuality as well as inter-textuality in their identity constructions of the present generation. In this context Lepcha are not the exception. They are living with pace of the world and they are the part of this changing world scenario. Hence the above question needs to be addressed from that prospective. The population growth of Lepchas are very natural i.e. migration and immigration are not found in the history of Lepchas. There is a great impact on Lepchas due to the growth of population of non-Lepchas in the region. This has resulted in the inter mingling of Lepcha culture to the newly brought culture of the non-Lepchas .But the question is not much of the demography but I am sure it is about the  alienation of Lepchas from their culture. It is modernity and globalization that have impact on the Lepchas. This has to be seen from the following perspectives:

Lepcha as Indian: We live in India and we are proud to be Indian. The idea of monolithic Indian is far removed from social reality. Several religions, numerous languages and lifestyles and manifestation of culture-art, dance forms, dress patterns, cuisines etc.co-exist in India. There are three distinct and interrelated dimension of culture. (1) The cognitive (2) the conative and (3) The normative. The cognitive dimension refers to thinking. Lepchas have adapted to the new way of thinking of their lives otherwise they will be lagging behind the time pace of the society that they live .The conative aspect implies acting; it provides a design of action for those who share the same culture. The conative dimension manifests in everyday life through the community’s consumption pattern, worship styles and the like. The Lepchas worshiping Hindu goddesses or praying to Christ or agriculturists Lepchas taking the professions of businessmen can be cited as examples. The normative dimension connotes judging. It implies a hierarchy of cultures, high refined or elite culture as against low subaltern or mass culture .It invariably gives birth to differentiations of cultures into dominant or mainstream on the one hand and      dominated or marginalized on the other. Here question of assimilation or liquidation of culture comes.  It   is in this sense Lepchas can be called vanishing tribe for some extent. But this does not mean Lepchas are fully alienated from their culture.
 They accept the cultural co-existence. Lepchas as Indian have to cope with the Indian culture.  Thus they have to communicate with each other in Indian way. We have to accept cultural universals which are common to the entire humanity irrespective of caste, creed and communities. But within this universe one can speak of cultural specialities across civilizations and societies. Thus one speaks of Lepcha culture, Nepali culture or Limbu culture. However within each of these societies cultural variations at the level of classes, age groups, castes and genders are permitted and practiced. Further all societies permit variations some more and some less at the individual level with regard to dress, food and style of life. Cultural alternatives indicate the individual variations within cultural speciallities. If a sufficient number of individual follow similar alternatives they come to constitute a cultural sub-group. If we consider in broader sense Lepchas have not abandon their culture but modernized the culture. They are Indians and so indianised their culture to some extent.

Culturological perspectives: According to T.K.Oommen, there are four culturological perspectives in India. They are (1) cultural monism (2) cultural pluralism (3) cultural federalism and (4) cultural subalternism. (Oommen.T.K.’Future India: Society, Nation State, Civilisation’2004)36,745-55. Cultural monism implies one nation, one people and one culture. It meant that India is a cultural unity. Hence non Indic community culture is alien. Lepchas have no religion as such .Hence their culture is not acceptable to the prevailing mass. The cultural pluralists consider that Indian culture is the synthesis and fusion of different cultures. Hence Lepcha culture finds its significance. Cultural federalism signifies that different linguistic regions make the Indian culture as a whole. In this sense Lepcha’s  linguistic culture finds its place among the other Indian culture. The scheduled caste and scheduled tribe feel that their rich culture is not accepted in the majority cultural fold. Hence need to be liberated. Such concept of culture is cultural subalternism. From the subaltern perspective one can easily infer that Lepcha culture has lost its significant in comparison to the majority culture. If we consider the position of the Lepcha culture explicitly from this angle, then Lepcha culture is really vanishing. But this concept cannot be taken as gospel truth because there are other factors influencing in the advancement of Lepcha culture. Therefore one needs to search for other supplementary answers to these questions.

Global Scenario: In recent years we are witnessing a cultural process of globalization due to diverse social, political, economic and even religious processes worldwide. It has comprehensively metamorphosed the very idea of culture and transmuted its nature, scope, dynamic and hermeneutics and heuristics. And therefore, Lepcha culture is also not excluded from these changing perspectives. It has influenced every aspect of human life political, economic, social, and cultural life in every nook and corner of the globe .The Lepcha life style has changed due to these tremendous demands of the time and hence even if they wish they cannot remain aloof from these sorts of global circumstances. The end of bipolar world politics has been replaced by multi -polar world politics hereby world being the thriving ground for market capitalism. The demise of bipolar world politics has drifted the world into a single economy without any other options. It is obvious that Lepchas have to change their thinking pattern to cope with the changing world economic scenario. We are in Neoliberal world. If we don’t act accordingly we will be lagging behind in every aspect of human social fabrics. Even Chinese who were ardent communists had to kneel down before the changing world economy and passed a landmark property rights bill in 2007 hastening privatization in their country. Hence a Lepcha boy or girl if found without Dumdem or dumpra but doing exceedingly well in his/ her professional careers is not surprising. But in narrow sense it seems that boy or girl is drifting away from Lepcha culture. In fact, they have progressed in life without losing Lepchaness.

Media world: The modern mass media has augmented the post modernism. The communication revolution has introduced a new praxis and imagination in the societal relationship. It has deconstructed the hierarchical structures and constructs and introduced an alternative network community through social media like twitter, YouTube Face book, Internet, Blog mobile and SMS. It has taken away the originality of idea, orthodox concepts and old social norms. The media has become the message, emotion,   intelligence and experience. Phenomenon has been mistakenly considered as the  noumenon.  The implications of this shift from hierarchical place to network space are multifaceted, paradigmatic and revolutionary. In these circumstances Lepcha youth will really ask themselves whether to remain in traditional system of life style or to go with new horizon of life style that is brought about by the media world. The important and safest way is to take the middle path. Here comes the guidance of Sezum to make them aware of their culture and the way of life without disturbing the changing thinking pattern. Therefore a culture to be envisioned and constructed in the ambit of inter cultural hermeneutics built upon inter- cultural communication. Media world has created a globalized space which is a spontaneous ,free and fertile liminal space of inter cultural life encounters ,it has turned out to be platforms of new identity construction through confrontations ,clashes ,contest ,conflicts and confluences. In this life juncture Lepcha will find himself in bizarre condition and will enquire about the validity of their cultural practices. At times they become skeptic which is in a way positive gesture from the part of a normal human being. This cannot be gauged as anti culture but a step forward to know the value of the hitherto practicing culture.

Conclusion:   From the above discussion we infer that Cultural purity is a misconstructed ideal in the present scenario of interculturality and multiculturality. All cultures indeed have constants –the cultural codes which are non-negotiable. However all cultures adapt to the evolving contexts so that its competency and relevance are tested and sustained. The ethos of reform is inherent in all cultures. In this cultural flux people struggle with identity and difference, integrity and integration, partnership and resistance. This is the delight of the present era. It is adventurous, creative, and innovative and is dense with promises and newness. Culture involves five main distinctive characters namely food habit, dress, music, art and architect, language and religion. Judging from this point, The Title of the Book of A.R.Fonning ‘Lepcha my vanishing tribe ‘holds solid ground. However, the indigenous people the Lepchas actually have adapted the new way of life keeping their identity intact. This is a positive sign. Lepchas have developed and progressed in life rather vanishing. It is true that Lepchas who are born and brought up in the urban areas are not practicing their culture but recently if we see the youth of these places, they are already seeking their identity by reconstructing their indigenous cultures. And then the role of Sezum and the elders cannot be underestimated. They have toiled hard and are working hard to protect and safeguard the Lepcha culture. In this sense, Lepchas are not vanishing tribe they are surely progressing tribe. The identity of each culture and the difference are upheld in the intercultural communication and are mutually appropriated and transmuted on a higher realm in the tryst with destiny. For this purpose both the youth folk and elders must endeavor hard in unison towards cultural understanding of multifaceted tasks. With pride and confidence one can say that Lepcha is not vanishing but they are progressing amidst all odds.

References:
Featherstone Mike,’ Undoing Modernity: Globalisation, Postmodernism and Identity’ London Sage 1955.
Homi. K. Bhabha ‘The Location Of Culture’ London Routledge,1994.
Sudhir Kakar ‘The Indian Mind’ New Delhi Oxford Unversity Press
 Christianity and Indian Culture-National Level Workshop 1-3 August 2013 –Salesian College Sonada.
 A.R.Fonning ‘Lepcha my vanishing Tribe’ Kolkota 2003
Chris Barker,’Cultural Studies Theory and Practice,New Delhi,Sage Publication 2008
P.N Chopra ‘B.N.Puri,M.N.Das ‘A social Cultural and Economic History of India’ Macmillan India Ltd ,New Delhi 1974