Lepchas the ancient race that has survived for time
immemorial within the boundaries of the present-day Darjeeling
district of West Bengal and Sikkim in India , ILLam district in Nepal and
Samtse district in Bhutan. They call themselves “Mutanchyee Rum Kup” in
their native language Rong-Aaring or Lepcha language, which in literal
translation means ‘Mothers loved one- children of God’
The creation story (Aa-Eet Sung) is the core part of Lepcha traditional
story (Lungten Sung). It takes more than thirty days and
nights to complete the whole story.
CREATION OF THE WORLD
The Supreme deity, the Creator ‘Eetboo-deyboo Rum’ created the Kaongchyenkaonglo-Chyoo (Mt.
Kanchendzonga) and Matli Pano (Earthquake
King). Kanchendzonga is the elder brother of Matli Pano. Eetboo-Deyboo
Rum created these two; but this creation was not habitable for any creature
because the whole world was covered with water Talyo Da – (the ocean). Eetboo-Deyboo Rum was
concerned about human beings and where they would live. The Supreme deity, Eetboo-Deyboo Rum thought about the shelter for human beings;
hence it was decided that Matli Pano would lie above the Talyo Da. Eetboo-Deyboo Rum made the soil on his body
which became the earth, where the creatures could live. Matli Pano did not want
to live under the soil, so he moved below the earth and caused the whole world
to shake. There was no control over his body movement, and thus there were
floods and earthquakes everywhere, and no creature could live comfortably.
Eetbo-deyboo now decided that Kanchendzonga should stand on Matli Pano’s chest
so that he could control the movements of his younger brother.
Thereafter Eetbu
Deyboo Rum wanted to create every possible type of living creatures
that would be found on earth. So he called deities from all directions,
like Somgli Soambam from
East, West, South and North and deities from under the earth like Tongdek Mardek. They advised
that the flesh of the animals and living creatures be made from the dust of the
soil, the ribs, bones and spines to be made from rocks, the breath from the
wind and the heat from the sun.
Having completed all these, Eetboo-Deyboo Rum chose a creature among them for
the purpose of making a human being. Eetboo-Deyboo Rum put the soul
from the fresh snow of Mt. Kanchendzonga into the human being
and named him Fadaongthing, who became the first male. Eetboo-Deyboo
Rum, the Creator, realized Fodaongthing’s loneliness; so Eetboo-Deyboo Rum
decided to made a sister for him who could
give him company. Eetboo-Deyboo Rum took one of the souls from Fodaongthing and
created her, and named her Nuzaongnyoo.
It
is believed that each Lepcha male has eight units in a soul inside
his body and every female has nine units or sub-souls inside
her. Each of these sub-souls is called ‘Sum’ in
Lepcha. These units of sub-souls together constitute one soul that is called ‘Apil’. A Lepcha male has
one unit or a sub-soul less because one of it was used to create the female,
hence this calculation of the sub-souls is very important while conducting
death ceremonies.
Eetboo-Deyboo Rum had instructed Fadaongthing and Nuzaongnyoo to
live as brother and sister, in Ney-
Mayel-Kyong (Village of eternity) and warned them of untold misery
and misfortune if this relation was altered. Eetboo-Deyboo Rum then sent Fadaongthing to
live at the top of Tungseng Nareng Chyoo (a
mountain peak in Mt. Kanchendzonga) and Nuzaongnyoo was to
live next to Naho Nathar Da, a lake at the
base of that mountain. They were thus separated from each other.
Nuzaongnyoo grew into a beautiful young woman. She longed to see and
meet Fadaongthing. Although she remembered well God’s command
and warning not to meet Fadaongthing in an indecent manner, she was unable to
control and resist the temptation. So one fine day she built a golden ladder
and climbed up to Tungseng Nareng Chyoo and met Fadaongthing secretly.
Thereafter Fadaongthing and Nazaongnyoo climbed down and spent their first
night together at Lake Naho Nathar Da. On the night they broke the
incest taboo, Nuzaongnyoo held the hand of Fadaongthing,
when her bracelet gave obstruction, so she took it off and kept it beside her
pillow, but it fell into the Naho Nathar Da lake where it grew into
the Sanyaol Koong tree.
The brother and sister violated the incest taboo,
and Nuzaongnyoo got pregnant several times. Their first seven
babies were hidden in a cave in order to hide their evil deeds from Eetboo-deyboo Rum.
Realizing this, God summoned the first progenitors of the Lepchas and dropped
them nine steps below the Ney-Mayel-Kyong to Tarbong
Partam, where God instructed them to live as husband and wife, which
began the first marriage ceremony. They were now to fend for themselves, spread
and survive in this world of pain and sorrow, and to take care of their own
children.
In this land of pain and sorrow of Tarbong
Partam they now had four children. The eldest daughter got the
name ‘Nonglennyoo’, the
eldest son got the name ‘Kuthaongfee’,
the middle daughter got the name ‘Numsyumnyoo’ and
the last son got the name‘Numbumthing’.
One day God the creator visited the family of Tarbong Partam, where
everyone was called for blessing, Nonglennyoo andKuthaongfee were
playing in dirt and was not presentable, in order to hide the shame the
mother Nuzaongnyoo hid them in a cave and showed only the
younger children Numsyumnyoo and Numbumthing, where God gave
the blessings to them. It was later learnt that the two elder children were not
there in the cave that mother Nuzaongnyoo had hidden, where
they all started weeping and crying. In hearing their pain God asked them for
the reason of their sorrow. With repentance and guilt Nuzaongnyoo confessed
to God about the incident, where God showed the souls of Nonglennyoo and Kuthaongfee.
God told them like the seven children which they could not hide earlier, Nonglennyooand Kuthaongfee also
could not be hidden from His eyes. God the creator then made Nonglennyoo and Kuthaongfee the
guardian angels of all the human beings. Nonglennyoo the
eldest daughter was bestowed as the guardian angel of all the males,
while Kuthaongfee the eldest son was made the guardian angel of all
the females. Where these two were the guardian angel of human beings while the
previous seven souls were bestowed as the guardian angels of stone, trees,
rivers, mountains, wild animals which included all the others inside the
nature,
Meanwhile, the seven who were born in Ney-Mayel-Kyong the youths that lived for
eternity, then became very powerful, within them came out a leader who was
the eldest and the strongest among the brothers and was called Laso-Mung-Pano. As they grew
older, they got jealous of their other brothers and sisters who were been
taken care of with the love of mother and father, They felt betrayed by their
parents and even questioned themselves that if they were to be discarded then
why were they given birth. They discussed among themselves that the rights of
the children they must get. In listening to their words Laso-Mung-Pano consoled
them by giving assurance that revenge will be taken. The seven of them under
the leadership of Laso-Mung-Pano came into a decision to start troubling the
generations of Numsyumnyoo and Numbumthing.
Laso-Mung stayed
in Sanyaol Koong a big tree, on top of the mountain Sanyaol
Chyoo. He lived on top of this tree as this location gave him the view of
an eagle, wherefrom he observed human beings and took revenge by killing them.
Various deities along with the Lepcha people decided to cut down the Sanyaol
Koong tree and kill the demon. This was not an easy task. The Kumyu Kumshi deity (deity of ancestral
wisdom) spent all day chopping the tree trunk, but overnight the tree would
regenerate itself. After several failed attempts, they looked for someone with
the special ability to bring down this tree.Pasyok Bu, a type of wood-eating caterpillar offered
his help. In return he asked god of a favor that in future he (the god) should
give him the Sungru kung tree
as a reward; the tree would be his food as well as his shelter. The Kumyu Kumshi deity agreed to this. The
deities then cut the tree during the day and at night the caterpillar kept
eating the timber. Before the tree could be fully brought down, the Kumyu
Kumshi deity suddenly faced a new problem which he had not foreseen. They would
have to decide in which direction the huge tree should fall. They thought of
different possibilities: whether the tree was to fall to the east Prolyang (Bhutan), to the north Putlyang (Tibet), to the west Payulyang (Nepal) or towards the
south Pontonglyang (Indian plains). If the tree fell on one of
those directions, they feared that the huge tree would block the paths, cut off
the trading routes and communications and make those places inaccessible. So
they looked towards the passage of the living and the dead in Mt.
Kanchendzonga. It was decided that it would be best to block this passage as
this was the only alternative. It was from that very day that the living in
this world could not meet the dead. Finally when the tree fell, Laso-Mung started
to fly towards Mayel Lyang or Lepcha country.
THE LEPCHA EARTHEN TOWER
The Lapchas were terrified of Laso-Mung-Pano, the devil; so some of
them fled to Tibet and to the Himalayas, some settled down in China, many
entered Assam, Tripura, Chittagong and Burma. A group of them did not want to
leave the Sikkim Himalayas and went to Toonaok Tungshi
Da, the source of Romam
river, they followed its course and finally arrived at Da Raom-Dyen ( (Daromden lake) and
built the legendary Lepcha Earthen Pots Tower to reach out to Eetboo-Deyboo Rum
for help at Tal Laom Purtam. The Lepchas in dire straits demolished
the lake and used the mud and clay of the lake to build earthen pots. They
stacked the earthen pots on top of one another in order to build a staircase.
When it was nearing completion, there was a serious breakdown of communications
between the artisans working at the top and bottom of the Earthen Tower. When
the artisans at the top of tower required a hook, shouted to the Lepcha
artisans working below, ‘Kaok Vim
Yang Tal!’ meaning ‘send up a hook’. The artisans working below heard
it as ‘Chyek Ta’ meaning
‘knock it down’.
The Earthen
Tower was thus knocked down, destroyed and many Lepchas were killed.
Fragments of pottery are still found in and around Tal Laom
Purtam and Da Raom-Dyen.
CREATION OF LEPCHA PRIEST AND PRIESTESS
On seeing the plight and misery of the Lepchas, the
Eetbu Deyboo Rum consecrated the first Lepcha Priest, Azaor Boongthing as an aid
to help the Lepchas. In Lepcha language the world is known as Sukdum-lung-ming-taam and a
great personality is known as Aathing; so Sukdum-lung-ming-taam-saa-aathing was
the name of the first Lepcha priest. Azaor Boongthing was in short also known
as Taam-saa-aathing or Taamsangthing who gathered
all possible knowledge about Laso-Mung-Pano. Knowledge alone was not enough for
this and more power was needed to forecast and guide the movement for the
preparation of the great battle. Under the advice of Tamsangthing, Eetboo-Deyboo
Rum, the creator, decided to consecrate Nyolik
Nyosong Mun who was bestowed with great powers for guidance and forecast.
God himself established the first priest and priestess. The first Mun,
a Lepcha priestess Nyolik Nyosong Mun was given supernatural powers by offering
her three young shoots of Pashyaor
(elephant grass). In the beginning Nyolik Nyosong found it extremely difficult
to communicate and express her thoughts and powers to the terror stricken
Lepchas. One day she heard and saw a Tungbum
(bumble bee), humming and moving from flower to flower. Nyolik Nyosong was
inspired by tungbum and she imitated the sound and rhythmic
tones of Tungbum in her prayer and supplication to Eetbu
Deyboo Rum . Thenceforth she successfully exercised her powers,
communicated and expressed her thoughts to the Lepchas. The Lepcha Muns still
continue to follow and use Tungbum’s rhythmic tones in their
invocations and prayers to God till today.
There is no institution for making of Lepcha priests and priestesses. It has to
be inborn, made by the Lord and creator Eetboo-Deyboo Rum himself. It is due to
this reason that a Lepcha Mun and Boongthing, that is, a Lepcha priestess and a
priest recite their prayers together.
ORIGIN OF CHYEE, THE SPIRITUOUS LIQUOR
Using the supernatural powers bestowed upon her by Eetboo-Deyboo Rum,
Nyolik Nyosong Mun revealed that the medicine for the restoration of lost
morale of the Lepchas lay in the form of a Buth (Ingredient
to make a Potion) . She knew of Matlimanyoo, a
sorceress who lived below the earth, and who was in possession of Buth,
the power potion. Nyolik Nyosong asked for a volunteer to fetch Buth from
Matlimanyoo. Tungdyer Palyung,
a cockroach (blatta orientalis), volunteered to fetch it. It successfully
brought the Buth from Matlimanyoo after tricking her and stealing
the recipe and the medicinal herbs from the back of the neck of Matlimanyoo
where she used to hide them.
On the way back while Tungdyer Palyung was resting on the way
after its arduous journey, Pamaol
Bu, a pure black cobra (of genus Naja Naja) sneaked in and
stole a bit of Buth from Tungdyer Palyung and
tasted it. As soon as Pamaol Bu, the cobra tasted the Buth, it
became mad and very poisonous. Next Hu, a
honey bee, tasted a tiny bit of Buth, and it developed a sharp needle to prick
with a seemingly negligible sting. Some of the large birds that tasted Buth became
carnivorous. Kantek, a
fig tree, who also touched Buth, developed sour taste. Finally
when Kundong
Koong, a plantain tree, touched Buth, its fruit became sweet. The
Lepchas believe that Buth was thus tasted by various animals
and plants, which resulted in the removal of its poison; in this way it became
suitable for the consumption of the Lepchas
Tungdyer
Palyaong finally arrived with Buth, a power potion, and
handed it over to Nyolik Nyosong Mun. The priestess cooked millet, mixed Buth to
prepare Chyee, fermented beverage, the ultimate power potion, and
distributed it among the Lepcha soldiers to raise their morale to fight against
Laso-Mung-Pano, the devil, in battle. With their morale high after drinking Chyee,
the Lepchas fought gallantly.
This is how the Lepchas’ Chyee, a fermented beverage, originated.
Meanwhile when Matlimonyoo realized that her precious and rare Buth was
stolen, she cast a spell on the Chyee, saying, ‘Chyee thong ya gong ney maon, thong ma
ya na gong ney nyung’, meaning, ‘Chyee is a
very good medicine if you know how to drink it properly, but if you don’t know
how to drink it, it is like poison’. The Lepchas believe that because of this
curse by Matlimonyoo, drinking excessive quantity of Chyee makes
one quarrel, lose health, wealth and respect in the society.
ORIGIN OF YEARS
During the pursuit and hunt to kill Laso-Mung-Pano
the Lepchas gathered from all directions under the leadership of Tamsangthing.
Laso-Mung on seeing their new strength camouflaged himself in different forms
using his magical powers to change his appearance. Each year, in a cycle of
twelve years, he assumed a different form. These forms were - Mouse -Kalok, Ox-Laong,
Tiger-Sathaong, Eagle-Panthyong, Dragon-Sadyer, Snake-Bu,
Horse-Un, Sheep-Luk, Monkey-Sahu, Hen-Hik,
Dog-Kujyou and Pig-Mon. This gave rise to
the origin of years. This cycle of twelve different forms assumed by
Laso-Mung-Pano evolved into the calculation of years; the twelve forms come in
a rotation in the Lepcha calendar.
ORIGIN OF CLANS
The Lepchas under the leadership of Tamsangthing fought
and defeatedLaso- Mung-Pano at a place called Sukver,
the valley of death. While Laso-Mung-Pano was lying on the
ground in defeat, no one was sure if the devil was dead or alive. When the
devil, Laso-Mung-Pano was finally slain, the Lepchas and Tamsangthing moved
to a place called Tarkaol Tam-E-Tam, meaning the valley of
deliverance. Tamsangthing bestowed upon the Lepchas the
following clans:
1. The Lepchas who prayed, remembered Eetboo-Deyboo,
the Creator, and requested him to deliver the Lepchas from the clutches of the
devil Laso-Mung-Pano were given the title of ‘Munlaommoo’.
2. Those who made and prepared weapons like
swords, Banmaok, etc., to fight the devil were called ‘Karvomoo’.
3. The ones who served Nyolik Nyosong Mun,
Azaor Boongthing, and Lepcha leaders during the battle were given the
title of ‘Adenmoo’.
4. Those who helped to make bows and arrows for the
purpose of fighting were called ‘Phyoong
Talimmoo’.
5. Suppliers of water, ration and food were given the
title of ‘Joriboo’.
6. The Lepchas who constructed and made bridges,
roads, ropes and bow-strings were called ‘Sampumoo’ (girl).
7. The man who dared to check if Laso Mung
Pano’s heart was beating and if he was breathing was given the title
of ‘Lutsaom moo’. In
Lepcha alut means ‘heart’ and aasaom means
‘breath’ and when the prefix a-, common to both is removed,
the two combined words become Lutsaom.
8. The person who broke the eyes and blinded the devil
was called‘Seemickmoo’.
9. One who separated Laso-Mung-Pano’s head
and legs with his Banmaokwas called ‘Sungngootmoo’.
10. The man who beat up, crushed the body of Laso
Mung Pano into dust and blew them away into thin air from a hill top
was given the title of‘Sungdyangmoo’.
The following
ten Lepcha clans thus originated:
1. Munlaommoo (Female) 2.
Karvomoo (Male)
3. Adenmoo (Male)
4. Phyoong Talimmoo (Male)
5. Joriboo (Male)
6. Lutsaommoo(Male)
7. Sampumoo (Female)
8. Seemickmoo (Male) 9. Sungngootmoo(Male)
10. Sungdyangmoo(Male)
Since the women folk helped equally in the battle, it is recognized that they
had taken equal responsibility and their surnames are intact
till today. The daughters take the surname of the mother and sons take that of
the father. This is the reason why the brothers and sisters of the same parents
can never have the same surname.
The Lepcha priests, priestesses and elders while conducting the Lepcha rituals,
rites and traditions still relate them to the origin of the Lepcha clans and
the ten customary laws of the Lepchas.
References:
1) Lepcha Folklore and Folk Songs, by Lyangsong Tamsang, year 2008. Place of
publication Kalimpong, District Darjeeling, West Bengal . Publisher Sahitya
academy Kolkatta.
2) Laso Mung
Sung: Lepcha Oral tradition as a Reflection of Culture, 2008.
by
Jenny Bentley. Place of publication Gangtok,Sikkim. Publisher
Bulletin of Tibetology .
3) Nyolik-Nyosong, by Mungshel Simickmoo. year 2008.
Place of publication Kalimpong, District Darjeeling, West Bengal. Publisher
Tansen Simikmoo Lepcha
4) Lepcha My vanishing Tribe ,by A.R. Foning
year 1987, Kalimpong, District Darjeeling, West Bengal. Publisher
Chupandi Farm Kalimpong.
5) The author’s unpublished field notes from villages
in Kalimpong, District Darjeeling, West Bengal and Dzongu, Sikkim.
6) Lepcha ancient manuscripts called the ‘Naamthaars’
(these manuscript have no recorded dates and authors)
trade mark of the lepcha pattern . The hat itself gives a perfect defination on a Lepcha attire , the combination of this papri hat along with the spikes of porcupine siT)Aacu Sathim Aachyu attached in the front part of the hat is believed to protect the lepchas from negative and hovering spirits, which also acts as a helmet against the evil spirits.
SEYRAABOO THAKTUK serabU : A hunters hat , made out of different straws and intricately binded bamboo strips , the straws are rolled in such a manner that it cushions the skull and acts as an effective helmet, the sherabu hat is an important part of the instrument of a hunter. 
