Saturday, November 15, 2014

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

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Friday, November 7, 2014

BILINGUALISM IN LEPCHA IN THE MULTILINGUAL SETTING: A DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE (With Special reference to West Bengal)



Satarupa Dattamajumdar
8-9Introduction
The demographic variables like population strength, group concentration, group proportion, rate of population growth, territorial demarcation, inter-ethnic marriages and history of immigration and emigration are important factors that contribute in understanding the social dynamics of an ethnic group and help in describing their bilingual status. In bilingual social situations the members of the speech community use languages other than their mother tongue in socially defined environments and the bilingual cognitive status implies the motivation (or the psycho-social set-up) of a speaker behind choosing and using different languages from individual’s speech network in specific domains of social life. Therefore, the study of demography and its co-variation with the languages in the social network becomes imperative for understanding the nature of bilingualism in the multilingual social set up of the Lepcha speaking community. An attempt has been made in this article to look into the demographic (language) account of the Lepcha speaking population with special reference to West Bengal from the point of view of the socio-political history of the Lepchas of Darjeeling district in West Bengal. 
At the very outset in the context of the dealing with census data, it is pertinent to mention that in spite of many criticisms regarding ‘anomalous handling’ or ‘intentional distortions’ of the census data, scholars opine that language census can serve as a foundation of socio-linguistic enquiries because of its magnitude of   geographical coverage which cannot be expected in individual effort. In connection to the discussion of the use and misuse of language census data Khubchandani (1997:161)[1] states “A language census thus could be used as an important tool to interpret, at the macro level, the trends of population concerning speech behavior and correlating them with other trends, and not as a depository of ‘absolute’ numbers accounting for the speech behavior at the micro level.”
 Demographic Status of Lepcha
The numerical data of the demographic profile of Lepcha according to Indian census are provided in the following in order to have a glance at the ethnic group strength (by region) and language and its growth. Based upon the data comments will be made on the demographic profile of the speech community.
Total Native Speakers by Country
The numerical strength of Lepcha speakers in India (Male and Female), Nepal and Bhutan are given below.
Table -  1: Strength of Lepcha speakers in India, Nepal and Bhutan
Name of  the countries
Total Number of Speakers
Males
Females
India
39,342  (1991 census)           
50,629 (2001 census)
20,445 (1991 census)
26,111(2001 census)
18,897 (1991 census)
 24,518 (2001census)
Bhutan
34,700 (2000)
Not available
Not available
Nepal
3,660 (2001)
Not available
Not available

Numerical Strength of Language by State/ Region
The distribution of the Lepcha speakers in different states of India according to 1991 census and 2001 census are presented in the following for a comparative picture.
   Table-2: Distribution of the Lepcha speakers in different states of India (1991)
Place Names
Total Population
Males
Females
Arunachal Pradesh
9
7
2
Assam
2
1
1
Bihar
1
1
-
Goa
4
2
2
Maharastra
6
3
3
Manipur
9
6
3
Meghalaya
7
4
3
Mizoram
4
3
1
Rajasthan
3
1
2
Sikkim
29,854
15,535
14,319
Tripura
8
3
5
Uttar Pradesh
8
3
5
West Bengal
9,421
4,873
4,548
Delhi
6
3
3
                                                               
Table-3: Distribution of the Lepcha speakers in different states of India (2001)
Place Names
Total Population
Males
Females
Arunachal Pradesh
23
15
8
Assam
13
9
4
Delhi
9
6
3
Goa  
4
2
2
Haryana
6
6
0
Jammu &Kashmir
4
3
1
Jharkhand
2
1
1
Karnataka
40
35
5
Madhya Pradesh
7
3
4
Maharastra
7
1
6
Manipur
5
5
0
Meghalaya
22
11
11
Mizoram
1
1
0
Nagaland
8
7
1
Rajasthan
9
6
3
Sikkim
35,728
18,505
17,223
Tamilnadu
1
0
1
Tripura
5
4
1
Uttaranchal
3
1
2
Uttar Pradesh
1
1
0
West Bengal
14,731
7,489
7,242
The above data reveals that the population strength of Lepcha speakers is more in Sikkim than in West Bengal. (Perhaps the geo-political history of the Lepcha inhabiting region explains the situation, discussed in the following section)
It is to be mentioned here that if the speaker strength of Lepcha is compared with the speaker strength of other languages of the country, it may not occupy a numerically significant position, the percentage being 0.00. However, when it comes to the area where the language is spoken, the percentage is 6.6 in Sikkim (occupying a fourth position in the state) and it is equally significant if we consider the locality, i.e., Kalimpong subdivision of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. 
Numerical Growth of Lepcha Population
The growth of Lepcha population according to Indian census of 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001 are shown below.
Table – 4: Growth of Lepcha Population in India
Persons who returned Lepcha as their mother tongue
Decadal percentage of increase
1971
1981
1991
2001
1971 to 1981
1981 to 1991
1991 to 2001
33,360
27,814
39,342
50,629
-16.62         
41.45
28.69
The above table reveals that though the population strength of the speech community is not very high, the growth rate of population is on the rise for last two decades (1981 to 1991 and 1991 to 2001). But there is a decadal decrease of percentage of population during 1971 to 1981 .
Total Bilinguals and Trilinguals
Total Lepcha Bilinguals are 37,654 (2001 census) and total Trilinguals are 12,821 (2001 census). That is, 74.37% of Lepcha speakers are bilinguals whereas, 25.32% are trilinguals according to 2001 census.
Coming to the phenomenon of bilingualism it can be said that the percentage of bilingualism is very high among the Lepcha speakers compared to the national average of bilingualism (i.e., 24.79%). In the incidence of bilingualism among the hundred non-schedule languages of the country, Lepcha occupies the tenth position (highest being 80.63% in case of the Maring speech community). It is equally significant when it comes to trilingualism, i.e., people knowing third language, Lepcha occupies the twenty fifth position among the non-schedule languages.  
 Total Monolinguals
Total monolingual speakers in Lepcha are 12,975 (2001 census) of which total monolingual males are 6,267 and monolingual females are 6,708 in number according to 2001census.
Bilinguals by Language
The number of bilingual Lepcha speakers speaking different languages according to census data of 2001 is presented in the following.
Table – 5: Bilingual Lepcha speakers speaking different languages
Name of the  language in which Lepchas are bilingual
Number of Speakers
Assamese
3
Bengali
31
Hindi
2,119
Kannada
1
Nepali
30,471
Oriya
14
Sanskrit
3
Telugu
7
Urdu
12
Ao
1
Bhotia
1,423
English
3,415
Limbu
27
Rai
 3
Sherpa
5
Tamang
2
Tibetan
56
Others
25

Amongst the second languages that are spoken by the Lepcha speakers in India, Nepali holds the first position, the number of speakers being 30,471, English holds the second position, the number of speakers being 3,415 , Hindi holds the third position, the number of speakers being 2,119 and Bhotia holds the fourth position, the speaker strength being 1,423. Bangla, in spite of the state official language for the Lepchas of West Bengal has practically no impact on the Lepcha speaking population (if we accept the census position).
 Breakup of Monolingual, Bilingual and Trilingual Lepcha Speakers in India
The number of the Lepcha speakers speaking only Lepcha (monolingual), second language (bilingual) and third language (trilingual) according to 2001 census is provided in the following.



Table -6: Lepcha monolingual, bilingual and trilingual speakers
Total Lepcha speakers: 50,629

Monolinguals
Bilingual
Trilingual
Total
12,975
 37,654
12,821
Males
 6,267
19,844
 7,327
Females
 6,708
17,810
5,494

The Bilingual and Trilingual Situations of Lepcha
As the objective of the present paper is to discuss the bilingual situation of Lepcha with special reference to West Bengal, the number of Lepcha speakers speaking mother tongue, second and third languages in West Bengal according to 2001census are given in the following.
Table-7: Lepcha Monolingual, Bilingual and Trilingual Speakers in West Bengal (2001)
Total
Male
Female
Number of Lepcha  speakers
14,731
7,489
7,242
Monolinguals
  3,847
1,851
1,996
Total number speaking a second language
10,884
5,638
5,246
Total number speaking a third language
  2,763
1,560
1,203

Table-8: Bilingual and Trilingual Situations of Lepcha by Language in West Bengal (2001)
Name of second Language 
Total
Male  
Female
Name of third Language 
Total
Male  
Female
1. Bengali
26
13
13

1.Hindi
9
6
3
2.Nepali
2
1
1
3.English
1
0
1
2. Hindi
709
410
299

1.Nepali
187
126
61
2.English
182
100
82
3. Bengali
  24
  18
  6
3.Nepali
9450
4832
4618

1. Hindi
1216
700
516
2.English
  562
288
274
3. Bengali
    17
  14
    3
4.Tibetan
      4
    1
    3
5. Urdu
      1
    1
    0
6. Others
      1
    1
    0
  4. Urdu
      2
    2
     0


5. English
 695
380
 315


1. Hindi
335
184
151

2.Nepali
207
114
93

3. Bengali
  14
    6
  8

6. Tamang
       1
    1
      0


7. Tibetan


1. Nepali
     1
    0
    1


Keeping in view the complexity of bilingualism an offshoot of languages in contact, the language situation of Lepcha,  has been studied in the multicultural and multilingual context. Following the retrospective literature on Lepcha social, political and cultural life the socio-political history of migration, colonialism, geo political fragmentation and modern democratic set-up have been discussed in detail in the following sections for the purpose of substantiating bilingual or multilingual situation of the Lepcha speaking community from the socio-political perspective. Co-relation of the use or choice of language(s) in different social domains and the societal factors has been established throughout the study in order to substantiate bilingual/multilingual position of the Lepcha speech community which will ultimately help us in determining and justifying the present bilingual/multilingual status of Lepcha. 
SOCIO-POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE LEPCHAS
The socio-political history is one of the important factors in building up of a psychological state in perceiving the world of languages – the attitude of the speakers towards the languages in their speech network, the vitality status of a language they speak, the role of language(s) more than a mode of communication. So the discussion of the socio-political history of the Lepcha inhabiting areas becomes imperative in studying the status of Lepcha language. 
The socio-political dynamics of the Lepchas as per available records has been divided into five major phases which have been discussed in the following.
1. Traditional Social Set-up
Lepchas-the original inhabitants of Sikkim basically used to lead nomadic life (Ref: Gorer: 1938)[2]. The Lepchas used to have a simple social structure with animistic practice and primitive technology. Mythology, folklore and indigenous knowledge were an integral part of their social life. Probably, the retention of such a simple socio-cultural set-up for the Lepcha community was possible due to their geographical situation. Historical documents reveal that the first major contact with the Lepcha land and people was established by the ethnic group of people from ‘Kham’, a province of Tibet sometime during the 13th or the 14th century. But Siiger and Rischel (1967:26)[3] states, “From a strictly historical point of view we know hardly anything about the Lepchas until about the year 1600 A.D, when a branch of Tibetan Minyang dynasty from the eastern Kham province took part in the great migration of Tibetan nobles, entered Sikkim, and some decades later made themselves kings.” Awasty (1978:30)[4] feds the same argument by stating, “...with the establishment of lamaism in the 17th c, the Lepcha script must have been developed, based on the Tibetan alphabet. The main Lepcha works were Tibetan scriptures translated into Lepcha to facilitate the progress of the Lamaistic religion among the Lepchas. There are however, references to even earlier Lepcha manuscripts narrating Lepcha mythology and legends which according to Gorer and even Father Rey, were destroyed by the Tibetan lamas in their zeal to convert the Lepchas. This view of fanaticism of Lamaism in Sikkim is held by the Christian missionaries”. With the migration of the ‘Khamba’ Tibetans, Buddhist religion came to the land, resulting in the conversion of a number of Lepchas to Buddhism by the Tibetan monks. As a result of the introduction of Buddhism, the traditional Lepcha scripture was gradually replaced by the Tibetan and the impact of Tibetan culture led to the gradual development of new ideas. Das (1978:15)[5] rightly points out, “This phase of Lepcha culture is the history of dominance of Tibetans over the Lepchas in every sphere of their life and activities…(ibid:243) The language with its literature, which flourished during the reign of the Lepcha kings, got a rude set back after the dominance of the Tibetans who gradually replaced Lepcha literature, etc. by their own language.” The situation has been observed also by Foning (1987:153)[6] who states, “Buddhist lamas started to get the Tibetan religious scriptures and books translated into the language of the original Lepchas. Of all the religious books and other books translated, Tashay Namthar, also called Tashay Sung is pre-eminent. This book was probably written by one lama Ugen Lingpo … the approximate Namthar period started from the beginning of the 18th c and completely faded out by the beginning of the 20th c.”              
2. History of Migration and Inter-Communal Change
The next socio-political phase of Lepcha life was marked by the migration of the Bhutanese after 1700. The eastern and western frontiers of the land were attacked by the Bhutanese and Gurkhas, threatening the territorial integrity of Sikkim. The end of the 18thc, (1788-89) was marked by the invasion of Sikkim by Nepal. Foning (1987:283)[7] opines, “Large scale migration took place at any time to overwhelm the autochthons, like the Nepalese immigration in the nineteenth century.” With such contact situations with the Bhutanese and Nepali communities, the Lepcha social life changed to some extent, giving rise to ideas like heroism, conflicts and tensions on the one hand and destruction of Lepcha scripture on the other. Inter-mixing in terms of marriage and other social activities became evident resulting in the infiltration of new ideas and exposures.
The metamorphosis of the speech community took place with the constant migration of the three ethnic communities --- Tibetans, Bhutanese and Nepalese. This has been aptly observed by Foning (1987:283)[8] as, “In time due to intermarriage between the native Rongfolk and the migrating people, new tribes came into being. The tribes thus formed incorporated the culture, customs and traditions of the two inter-mingling tribes and, as a result, a new and a separate tribe came into existence. The best example of this type of the tribe is the ‘Denjongpa’ people, a cross between the Lepchas and the Khamba Tibetans.”
3. Lepchas under British Imperialism
With the British administration in the following phase of development, Lepcha socio-political life was exposed to a new system of administrative development which countenanced the primitive system of slavery. But the British Govt. actually did not pay any heed to the development of Lepcha society --- the original inhabitants of the area. As an administrative measure by the British, forests were reserved and taxes were imposed on the ‘son of the soil’. With the Nepal war of 1816, a treaty was signed between Nepal and the British in 1817 at Titalia, where the British took over portions of plains in the south of Sikkim and Nepal was allowed to retain considerable portion of the land --- all took place ignoring Sikkim. Of the neighbouring communities, Nepalese migrated in large number  and took part in the development. This resulted in rapid out-numbering of the Lepchas by the settlers from Nepal. Therefore Foning (1987:283)[9] aptly observes, “… today, the vast majority of people inhabiting the old-time Mayel country of the Rongfolk are the people of mixed ethnic origin from the country of Nepal.” He (1987:296)[10] also points out, “Both in the urban and the rural areas, the Nepali language has virtually became the ‘Lingua Franca’ for the people of different ethnic groups that one finds in the regions.”
Later in 1835, Darjeeling was acquired by the East India company ‘by diplomatically legalised might and force’ from the then ruler of Sikkim by the ‘Deed of Darjeeling Grant dated 01.02.1835’. The grant was signed by A. Campbell, the then superintendent of Darjeeling and in charge of political relations with Sikkim. This event can be seen as an important turn in the history of the region which has yield a long term impact on the Lepcha population, the original inhabitants of the region. The translated version of the extract of the ‘Deed of Grant’ for handing over Darjeeling to the East India company (Ref: Moktan,R. (ed.) 2004. Sikkim: Darjeeling Compendium of Documents. Pub: Sumaralaya: Kalimpong, Darjeeling) is presented in the following.
The Governor-General having expressed his desire for the possession of the Hill of Darjeeling, on account of its cool climate, for the purpose of enabling the servants of his Government , suffering from sickness, to avail themselves of its advantages, I, the Sikkimputtee Rajah, out of friendship to the said Governor-General, hereby present Darjeeling to the East India Company, that is, all the land South of the Great Runjeet River, east of the Balasun, Kahali and Little Runjeet Rivers, and west of the Rungno and Mahanuddi Rivers.

Seal of Rajah prefixed                                                     Sd/- A.Campbell,
to the document                                                               Superintendent of Darjreeling and in charge of political relations with Sikkim
The British rule that took control over the surrounding areas of Darjeeling in 1841, marked the impact of missionary activities which converted a section of the Lepcha community into Christianity. But Buddhism (Lamaism) continued its influence on the common people. This resulted in creating a gap within the community --- those with Christian education could raise their standard of living and outlook and those who still adhered to their age old traditional beliefs and customs. This situation has been observed by Das (1978: 259)[11] as “The conflict of these two major religious groups of Lepchas at times results in creating a gulf within the community due to differences in social, religious and cultural traits.” Apart from this, the expansion of the tea manufacturing industry by the British in the hilly tract of Darjeeling, led the original inhabitants of the land, the Lepchas, take a back step and receded into interiors. Foning (1987:160)[12] cites the situation by stating, “This was the real reason behind the miserable picture in the very first census report published by the Govt. in 1891. The incredible figure shown for Sikkim was just 5762, as against 1000 in the Darjeeling area.” Such a situation motivated Col. Lloyd, the then administrator of Darjeeling district to carry out administrative work in the Lepcha language and documentation were encouraged in the Lepcha language. Circulars, receipt books in Lepcha scripts and many such documents in Lepcha find their existence in the Govt. archives. Lepcha language was in extensive use in Kalimpong area till the end of 19thc. Mainwaring (1876)[13] also mentions that Lepcha was the language for the entire Sikkim. The Tibetans, the Bhutias and other immigrants used to communicate in the Lepcha language. Business, justice, recording of decrees and documents were carried on in the Lepcha language, under the rule of Col. Llyod. In this connection the name of Reverend Mr. William Start is worthy to mention as he established a school for the Lepchas and employed Moravian system of education. At that time a Lepcha primer and a dictionary was also compiled. Foning (1987 :155)[14] comments on the situation as, “At the same time he tried to convert them to the new faith of Christianity, which he thought would bring an all round improvement … These missionaries did exactly what the Tibetan Lamas had done about a century and a half earlier by translating their religious books for the purpose of converting them to their own faiths … with the death of Rev. C.G. Neible in 1865 (one of the missionaries), the grand and admirable effort of these missionaries faded out completely.” After Dr. Campbell came to Darjeeling administration, Lepcha language  received a back foot and started to be considered as the language of the aboriginal people who are socially and culturally backward. Foning (1987:160)[15] rightly puts it as, “The government language report gave unfavourable findings. This was the result of a politically motivated action on the part of the British government.”
4. The Society after World War I
With the breaking of World War I in 1914, the socio-religious aspect underwent a radical change in the Lepcha horizon. The Gospel period (i.e., the spreading of Gospel that started with the coming of British in Darjeeling) which started in the middle of the 19thc, faded away by the first decade of 20th c with the breaking of World War I along with other factors. The period which was followed by the departure of the British from the Indian sub-continent, marked a radical change in the socio-political and socio-cultural scenario of the Indo-Sikkim relationship. According to Singh (1993:3)[16], “The period between 1950 and 1973 was marked by several important events in Sikkim, like the emergence of various political parties, formation of State Assembly, introduction of franchise on the basis of party formula. The tension that developed between the Durbar and the various political parties led to the agitation of 1973, the signing of the May Agreement in 1973, formation of a popular ministry in 1974, and finally its merger with Indian Union in 1975.”
The socio-linguistic development that took  place in the post World War I period in the Lepcha inhabiting areas of Sikkim and Darjeeling exhibit a sociolinguistic mosaic of  Bhotia, Hindi, Nepali and Lepcha languages.
As mentioned by Foning (1987)[17] attention was being paid to Nepali language with the initiative of Rev. Pradhan’s Gorkha Press at Darjeeling. The missionary activities like publishing of the Bible, book of hymns and Catechism started printing in Nepali. By this time, though the missionaries stopped taking active interest in the Lepcha language and started encouraging Hindi following the language policy adopted by the Govt., ultimately, Nepali received the impetus and was accepted as a medium of spreading religious teachings.
From the account of Foning (1987)[18] regarding the development of the Lepcha language, it is found that contrary to the above situation, Gyen Tshering Sitling, the Lepcha Padre started taking active interest in the Lepcha language for the welfare of the speech community. He was the founder of the District General Lepcha Association. Lepcha primer was published in 1929 in the Baptist mission press of Calcutta in his initiative. Mrs Azem Rebecca (known as ‘Babuni’) was next to Sitling, who took the charge of Presidentship of the Lepcha Association and took the initiative of reprinting Rev. Sitling’s Primer in 1956. In the arena of literary activities the names that are worth mentioning are--- Sangkyol Tasso and Imansingh Chemjong, who compiled a Lepcha dictionary, Apang Choden and Duksing of Darjeeling initiated the publication of a primer with Devanagari equivalents. In the year 1953, the Eastern Himalayan Church council printed a Lepcha Hymn book which was discarded and the reprint of the Gospel of St. Luke took place with the initiative of the Bible Society of India. In this connection it is relevant to mention that, by this time the local Christian missionaries had stopped their linguistic and literary activities. In 1967, a wing of the Lepcha  Association called ‘Longten Chok Lee’ or ‘Culture Centre’ was established in Kalimpong. Along with this development, the Mani Printing works of Kalimpong set up a Lepcha section along with the English, Nepali, Tibetan and Bhutanese sections. In 1970, Rev. Sitling’s primer was revised and published along with the publication of a small primer, Aids to the Study of the primer by Lha Tsherings in 1971. The traditional literature (Namtho Namthar) like Biruchana, Kumya Kumsi, ChyotenManlom were reprinted by a literary society, the ‘Ngassey Chyo Bong Chyo Kurmon’ in Chobo village with the encouragement of ‘Longten Chok Lee’. It was for the first time the Lepcha newspaper, Mutanchi was published in Darjeeling. Foning (1987)[19] also mentions that during this period, Government took initiative in improving the language and literature of Lepcha. Lepcha was made the compulsory medium of instruction at the primary level and books were published up to the middle school standard by the initiative of the then administration. Mani Printing works at Kalimpong was the only press for printing Lepcha script. Lepcha language pedagogy was initiated up to the school-leaving standard by the Govt. Foning (1987: 164)[20] mentions that, “Lepcha songs are now heard over All- India Radio stations, both from Kurseong and from Gangtok.” In 1970, the Lepcha-Nepali- English Dictionary was published by ‘Nepal Rajkiya Pragya Pratisthan’, the Royal National Academy of Science and Literature with the initiative of Imansingh Chemjong. Apart from these, the other available publications are, Grammar of the Rong language by Kharpo Tamsang and Holy Bible by Rev. Father Stoelke.
The Present State of Affair
Nepali has gained ground in the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim and exerts immense socio-political pressure on the minority communities like Lepcha. Bhotia also holds a considerable position in Lepcha life. No institutional effort as a part of language planning from the state or central governments has been found in Darjeeling. Such institutional efforts to uplift the language by the state government are of course evident in Sikkim. The culture has acclimatized the trend of modern or so-called western culture. As a result, a gradual detachment from the traditional values, knowledge of indigenous medicine is taking place. Preservation of natural objects is losing its ground from Lepcha life and culture and incorporation of newer ideas has taken place. 
But a renewed interest has been observed during last few years with the sole effort of Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association (ILTA) in Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Efforts for revitalization of the language and culture have made a conscious entry into the life of the Lepchas. Forty night schools for teaching Lepcha the mother tongue in different villages of Darjeeling district are run with the sole initiative of ILTA, Kalimpong.  In this context it is pertinent to have a look at the revitalization efforts of the language objectively. Different kinds of effort have been undertaken by ILTA for revitalization of the language. One such effort is publication of the magazine Achuley and other booklets from time to time. The publications include text books, songs, drama, novel, book of prayer, essay, narrative, poem, book of terminology, NamthoNamthar, the Lepcha indigenous traditional literature and different other translation works.
Examining the growth rate of publication is one of the ways to understand the nature and extent of revitalization of a language (especially in case of those languages which have a developed written form of their own like Lepcha). Therefore, an attempt has been made in the concluding section to examine the effort of revitalization of the Lepcha language from the point of view of publication in the Lepcha language. This seems to be indicative for the maintenance of Lepcha, the mother tongue in the bilingual/multilingual context.
Conclusion:  Examining the status of  Lepcha  in terms of   Publications
Language products produced over the years, like publications and film production in the language being one of the indicators of the vitality status of a language, functions as symptomatic to language growth and decay.
However, for the time being, the data of publication in the language available till date (published from Kalimpong, Darjeeling) is presented below to have a glance at the development in the particular area. As film production is a marginal feature in Lepcha, this is kept outside the purview of the quantitative analysis in the present study. A table consisting of the number of different kinds of publications in Lepcha across the time period is given below.
Table- 9: Number of Publications in Lepcha (from Kalimpong) across the Time Period
1841-1860
1861-1880
1881-1900
1901-1920
1921-1940
1941-1960
1961-1980
1981-2000
2001-2010
Magazines







10
23
Text books




1
1
1
3
9
Folk tales







3
2
Songs






1
1
2
Drama








6
Novel








1
Book of prayer








6
Essays








2
Narrative








4
Book of Poems








4
Book of Terminology








2
Namtho Namthar






3
1
4
Translation works
4
2

2


1



The data of publications in Lepcha has been graphically presented in the following in order to view the growth or decay of different kinds of publications across the recorded time period.
Graph – 1: Growth or Decay of Number of different kinds of  Publications in Lepcha across the Time period
                                                                                               
                 A gross composite picture of  Publication in Lepcha
In order to view the composite growth of publication in Lepcha, a composite quantitative picture of publications in the language is presented graphically below based upon the data of the number of publications in Lepcha (mentioned above) across the recorded time period of 170 years.                                     
Graph – 2: Growth of Publication in Lepcha (in Kalimpong) across the Time period



Thus the growth rate of publication is found to gain momentum from the second half of the last century and accelerated a significant rise in the first decade of twenty-first century. It is worth mentioning in this context that this rise in publication is due to the sole effort of  ILTA of Kalimpong, Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

                                ---------------------------------------------

References
Awasty,I. 1978. Between Sikkim and Bhutan (the Lepchas and Bhutanis of Pedong) Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.
Gorer, G.1938. Himalayan Village. An Account of the Lepchas of Sikkim. London: M.Joseph Ltd. Reprinted in 1984 as The Lapchas of Sikkim. Delhi: Cultural Publishing House.
Das,A.K.1978. The Lepchas of West Bengal. S.Dey for Editions Indian.

Dattamajumdar,S.2012. An Enquiry Into the Status of Lepcha. Kolkata: The Asiatic Society. (Forthcoming)

Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
Khubchandani, L.M. 1997 Revisualizing Boundaries A Plurilingual Ethos. New Delhi: Sage Publications
Mainwaring,G.B.1898. Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. Revised and completed by Albert Grunwedel. Berlin: Unger.
Siiger,H. and Rischel, J. 1967. The Lepchas: Culture, Religion of a Himalayan People, Pt.I &II. National Museum Ethnographic Series. Vol.II, Pt I. Copenhagen: Gyldenal.
Singh,K.S.(ed.)1993. People of India: Sikkim. Vol.XXXIX . Anthropological Survey of India. Calcutta: Seagull Books.

                                                                ----------------------------------

[1] Khubchandani, L.M. 1997 Revisualizing Boundaries A Plurilingual Ethos. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

[2] Gorer, G.1938. Himalayan Village. An Account of the Lepchas of Sikkim. London: M.Joseph Ltd. Reprinted in 1984 as The Lapchas of Sikkim. Delhi: Cultural Publishing House.
[3] Siiger,H. and Rischel, J. 1967. The Lepchas: Culture, Religion of a Himalayan People, Pt.I &II. National Museum Ethnographic Series. Vol.II, Pt I. Copenhagen: Gyldenal.

[4] Awasty,I. 1978. Between Sikkim and Bhutan (the Lepchas and Bhutanis of Pedong) Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation.
[5] Das,A.K.1978. The Lepchas of West Bengal. S.Dey for Editions Indian.
[6] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.
[7] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.

[8] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.
[9] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.
[10] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.

[11] Das,A.K.1978. The Lepchas of West Bengal. S.Dey for Editions Indian.
[12] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.

[13] Mainwaring,G.B.1898. Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. Revised and completed by Albert Grunwedel. Berlin: Unger.
[14] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
.
[15] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling.

[16] Singh,K.S.(ed.)1993. People of India: Sikkim. Vol.XXXIX . Anthropological Survey of India. Calcutta: Seagull Books.
[17]  Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
[18] Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
[19]  Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
[20]  Foning, A.R. 1987. Lepcha, my vanishing tribe. New Delhi: Sterling
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