Numerous writers, authors, scholars, linguists and anthropologists have written books, and many are still writing, about the Lepchas of Sikkim, Illam, Eastern Nepal, the Darjeeling District of West Bengal and South West Bhutan. But one name stands out above all others- General G .B. Mainwaring, Bengal Staff Corps.
General George Byres Mainwaring (pronounced ‘Mannering’) was born at a place called Banda, about 100 miles due west of Allahabad, UP, India on 18 July 1825. He was the son of Mr George Mainwaring, Bengal Civil Service, and Isabella Byres. He was a member of an old aristocratic titled family, the Cavenagh-Mainwaring of Whitmore, Staffordshire. George Byres Mainwaring was educated in Mr Tulloch’s Academy, Aberdeen, Scotland and later by Messrs Stoton and Mayor, Wimbledon near London where he studied both classics and mathematics.
After commissioning on 8 January 1842, he sailed for India in the ‘Conqueror’ on 10 February 1842 and joined his Regiment, the 16th Bengal Native Infantry (Grenadiers) in June 1842. Lieutenant Mainwaring was present at the Battle of Maharajpur with his Regiment and was awarded the Gwalior Campaign Bronze Star for Maharajpur, 1843. During the First Sikh War or the Sutlej Campaign of 1845-46, he fought at the Battles of Moodki, Ferozashahur and Sobraon. He was later awarded the Sutlej Campaign Medal 1845-46 for the Battle of Moodki with Bars or Clasps for the Battle of Ferozashahur and Sobraon.
In 1854 he went to England to see to his private affairs and returned to India on 5 November 1857. He was immediately sent to Cawnpur, U.P as an interpreter with 42nd and 49th Highlanders during the Sepoy Munity as he was probably a fluent speaker in Hindi and Urdu. Afterwards he was put in command of detached troops at Delhi, Meerut, Peshawar, Bombay etc. In 1863 he went to England for medical reasons and returned to India in March 1866 to do general duties in the Punjab. At the end of 1867 he was employed by the British Government of India to complete a Lepcha Grammar and Dictionary.Thus he proceeded to Darjeeling to compile the Lepcha work. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 8 January 1868.
Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring lived among the Lepchas at Lebong and later, at a village called Poloongdong,near Darjeeling for many years and studied the Lepcha language and literature under a highly capable ‘Mun’, a Lepcha priestess. A Lepcha Mun or Priestess has an excellent command of the Lepcha language because of her profession. Her name was “Mun Dey Mem” [mNude meM]. “Mun” means a born Lepcha priestess and “Dey” means a destroyer. Most probably she was an “Aavaor” Mun, a class of born Lepcha priestess who possesses a supernatural power and can bring destruction if provoked. “Mem” was probably added to her name later when she was associated with Colonel Mainwaring. “Mem” is a short form of “Memsaheb” meaning a lady in Hindustani. It is said that she also learnt spoken English from the Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel Mainwaring, himself a gifted linguist, thoroughly mastered the language and, to this day, he remains unsurpassed and supreme amongst foreign writers, authors,linguists, scholars and anthropologists on the Lepcha language and literature.Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring was promoted to the rank of full Colonel on 8 January 1873.
Colonel Mainwaring published ‘A Grammar of the Lepcha (Rong) Language as it exists in the Dorjeling and Sikkim Hills” in 1876. To keep the record straight, he was the first person to write and publish the first Lepcha Grammar. Although he based his Lepcha Grammar on the principles of Latin Grammar and not on the structure of the Lepcha Grammar itself, he used the Lepcha characters/scripts widely, to the delight of the Lepcha people;Roman letters were used for the learners of the language and simple and accurate explanations in English were given. He has also given a brief account about the powers of the Lepcha Letters called ‘ Lazoang’ in Lepcha.
Colonel G .B. Mainwaring was again promoted, this time to the rank of Major General on 1 January 1884 on the supernumerary list and finally to Lieutenant General on 1 January 1887.
Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. General Mainwaring compiled the Dictionary of the Lepcha Language but it was only published after his death. Dr Albert Grunwedel, a German Tibetologist, was entrusted to revise, edit and publish the Dictionary. This Dictionary was first published in Berlin in 1898. This Dictionary consists of 552 pages and contains about 18,000 entries. The Lepchas, I believe, are the only people in the Indian Sub-Continent who have given the names for each and every butterfly that are found in the Darjeeling and Sikkim hills. The General has included the names of various butterflies in his Dictionary as well as the names of birds, animals, insects, plants etc. The second edition of the Dictionary came out in 1979 by Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
General Mainwaring, died on 16 January 1893 at Serampore near Calcutta, at the age of sixty eight. This place, Serampore, is not that far from the old East India Company Arsenal at Dum Dum. The Baptist Mission Printing Press was also located at Serampore and the only Lepcha Printing Press was at this place at that time.
General G .B. Mainwaring has been described as ‘ Lepcha Mad’ for his keen interest and love for the Lepcha language, literature, culture and the people. It is said that he bought about eighty acres of land from the Government to start collective farming at Poloongdong for the Lepchas. He bequeathed this land to his mentor, Mun Dey Mem, before his departure to Calcutta to publish his Lepcha books. Mun Dey Mem was issueless; therefore her younger sister’s offsprings inherited the land after her demise. One of the great grand sons, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha, has turned about twenty seven acres of the land into a beautiful woodland with approximately 10,000 trees today. Wild animals like deers, leopards, wild boars, porcupines, birds, insects etc freely roam in the woodland. General G. B. Mainwaring must be smiling with great satisfaction and blessing the great grand son of Mun Dey Mem, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha. The old Lepchas also recount that he sent a Lepcha to England for further studies. It is the General who said that the Lepcha language is one of the most ancient languages of the world. This remarkable man who loved the Lepcha language and respected the Lepcha ways of life, living, culture, traditions and heritage tried very hard indeed to protect as well as to promote, the Lepcha language and succeeded in doing so. Today the Lepcha language is alive and well. A Lepcha scholar, Aathing K.P.Tamsang, has paid the following tribute to the General: ‘ In truth, the Lepchas owe a great debt to General Mainwaring for laying the foundation of the Lepcha language firmly in the world and thereby protecting the Lepcha language from becoming extinct’. We remember him as the champion of the Lepcha cause; to us he is our ‘ Thikoong Mainwaring Saheb’ i.e a wise, learned and respected Mainwaring Saheb in Lepcha.
General George Byres Mainwaring (pronounced ‘Mannering’) was born at a place called Banda, about 100 miles due west of Allahabad, UP, India on 18 July 1825. He was the son of Mr George Mainwaring, Bengal Civil Service, and Isabella Byres. He was a member of an old aristocratic titled family, the Cavenagh-Mainwaring of Whitmore, Staffordshire. George Byres Mainwaring was educated in Mr Tulloch’s Academy, Aberdeen, Scotland and later by Messrs Stoton and Mayor, Wimbledon near London where he studied both classics and mathematics.
After commissioning on 8 January 1842, he sailed for India in the ‘Conqueror’ on 10 February 1842 and joined his Regiment, the 16th Bengal Native Infantry (Grenadiers) in June 1842. Lieutenant Mainwaring was present at the Battle of Maharajpur with his Regiment and was awarded the Gwalior Campaign Bronze Star for Maharajpur, 1843. During the First Sikh War or the Sutlej Campaign of 1845-46, he fought at the Battles of Moodki, Ferozashahur and Sobraon. He was later awarded the Sutlej Campaign Medal 1845-46 for the Battle of Moodki with Bars or Clasps for the Battle of Ferozashahur and Sobraon.
In 1854 he went to England to see to his private affairs and returned to India on 5 November 1857. He was immediately sent to Cawnpur, U.P as an interpreter with 42nd and 49th Highlanders during the Sepoy Munity as he was probably a fluent speaker in Hindi and Urdu. Afterwards he was put in command of detached troops at Delhi, Meerut, Peshawar, Bombay etc. In 1863 he went to England for medical reasons and returned to India in March 1866 to do general duties in the Punjab. At the end of 1867 he was employed by the British Government of India to complete a Lepcha Grammar and Dictionary.Thus he proceeded to Darjeeling to compile the Lepcha work. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 8 January 1868.
Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring lived among the Lepchas at Lebong and later, at a village called Poloongdong,near Darjeeling for many years and studied the Lepcha language and literature under a highly capable ‘Mun’, a Lepcha priestess. A Lepcha Mun or Priestess has an excellent command of the Lepcha language because of her profession. Her name was “Mun Dey Mem” [mNude meM]. “Mun” means a born Lepcha priestess and “Dey” means a destroyer. Most probably she was an “Aavaor” Mun, a class of born Lepcha priestess who possesses a supernatural power and can bring destruction if provoked. “Mem” was probably added to her name later when she was associated with Colonel Mainwaring. “Mem” is a short form of “Memsaheb” meaning a lady in Hindustani. It is said that she also learnt spoken English from the Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel Mainwaring, himself a gifted linguist, thoroughly mastered the language and, to this day, he remains unsurpassed and supreme amongst foreign writers, authors,linguists, scholars and anthropologists on the Lepcha language and literature.Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring was promoted to the rank of full Colonel on 8 January 1873.
Colonel Mainwaring published ‘A Grammar of the Lepcha (Rong) Language as it exists in the Dorjeling and Sikkim Hills” in 1876. To keep the record straight, he was the first person to write and publish the first Lepcha Grammar. Although he based his Lepcha Grammar on the principles of Latin Grammar and not on the structure of the Lepcha Grammar itself, he used the Lepcha characters/scripts widely, to the delight of the Lepcha people;Roman letters were used for the learners of the language and simple and accurate explanations in English were given. He has also given a brief account about the powers of the Lepcha Letters called ‘ Lazoang’ in Lepcha.
Colonel G .B. Mainwaring was again promoted, this time to the rank of Major General on 1 January 1884 on the supernumerary list and finally to Lieutenant General on 1 January 1887.
Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. General Mainwaring compiled the Dictionary of the Lepcha Language but it was only published after his death. Dr Albert Grunwedel, a German Tibetologist, was entrusted to revise, edit and publish the Dictionary. This Dictionary was first published in Berlin in 1898. This Dictionary consists of 552 pages and contains about 18,000 entries. The Lepchas, I believe, are the only people in the Indian Sub-Continent who have given the names for each and every butterfly that are found in the Darjeeling and Sikkim hills. The General has included the names of various butterflies in his Dictionary as well as the names of birds, animals, insects, plants etc. The second edition of the Dictionary came out in 1979 by Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
General Mainwaring, died on 16 January 1893 at Serampore near Calcutta, at the age of sixty eight. This place, Serampore, is not that far from the old East India Company Arsenal at Dum Dum. The Baptist Mission Printing Press was also located at Serampore and the only Lepcha Printing Press was at this place at that time.
General G .B. Mainwaring has been described as ‘ Lepcha Mad’ for his keen interest and love for the Lepcha language, literature, culture and the people. It is said that he bought about eighty acres of land from the Government to start collective farming at Poloongdong for the Lepchas. He bequeathed this land to his mentor, Mun Dey Mem, before his departure to Calcutta to publish his Lepcha books. Mun Dey Mem was issueless; therefore her younger sister’s offsprings inherited the land after her demise. One of the great grand sons, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha, has turned about twenty seven acres of the land into a beautiful woodland with approximately 10,000 trees today. Wild animals like deers, leopards, wild boars, porcupines, birds, insects etc freely roam in the woodland. General G. B. Mainwaring must be smiling with great satisfaction and blessing the great grand son of Mun Dey Mem, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha. The old Lepchas also recount that he sent a Lepcha to England for further studies. It is the General who said that the Lepcha language is one of the most ancient languages of the world. This remarkable man who loved the Lepcha language and respected the Lepcha ways of life, living, culture, traditions and heritage tried very hard indeed to protect as well as to promote, the Lepcha language and succeeded in doing so. Today the Lepcha language is alive and well. A Lepcha scholar, Aathing K.P.Tamsang, has paid the following tribute to the General: ‘ In truth, the Lepchas owe a great debt to General Mainwaring for laying the foundation of the Lepcha language firmly in the world and thereby protecting the Lepcha language from becoming extinct’. We remember him as the champion of the Lepcha cause; to us he is our ‘ Thikoong Mainwaring Saheb’ i.e a wise, learned and respected Mainwaring Saheb in Lepcha.
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