Historical Background
For centuries, the contested territory of Darjeeling was but a pristine jungle area in the South of the Buddhist Kingdom of Sikkim, probably ranged by occasional hunters and gatherers from the indigenous Lepcha and Limbu tribes.
Colonel Mainwaring1 places the establishment of the first Bhutia settlement including a monastery on top of the ridge at around 1765. The History of Sikkim2, on the other hand, implies the foundation to have happened earlier. According to the royal authors, the new monastery was a branch of Pemayangtse belonging to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Wangdu Dorje Ling (dbang 'dus rdo rje gling), as they name the site, was a Gonpa in the truest sense of the word. In Tibetan, dgon pa literally means a 'wilderness' or a 'solitary place'. Alluding to an existing group of ancient standing stones, it was referred to as Dotsug Gonpa3 (rdo btsugs dgon pa = Monastery of the upright Stones) or, in more flowery language, as Dorje Ling (rdo rje gling = Domain of the Thunderbolt).
Irrespective of the exact circumstances of this first Buddhist base on the hill, the megalithic core of the sanctuary makes clear that this had most likely been a place of worship of the Rong, previously, representing a sacred location of classic Lung Tsak (Lepcha lúng tsak or lang tsak = erected stones 4) type. The term Dotsug were, thus, a literal translation of Lung Tsak, and the appearance of the Bhutia monks at Dotsug may be seen as part of their efforts to embed their blood brothers as well as the deities they had venerated for centuries into a common Buddhist array. This view is backed by Laden La with a note in his report on Observatory Hill written in 1912. The Sardar Bahadur states that
"The old site was used by the Buddhists as a place of great sanctity and they ... worship the country god or guardian of the temples who is supposed to have been living on the old monastery site before man." 5
The monastic practice was violently interrupted around 1788, when Nepali troops overran the land and, reportedly, sacked Dotsug. Destruction was, however, not complete. Mural remnants can be made out on many old photographs of the hill taken during the following hundred years. The foreign troops were driven out by the British East India Company during the Gurkha-War and the territory was returned to the Chogyal of Sikkim in 1817.
Thereafter, the Buddhist monks returned. Around 1818, the Lamas from Pemayangtse reportedly established Sangchen Thongdrol Ling (gsang chen mthong grol gling), the Gonpa generally known as Gying Monastery. Originally built at the western slope below the ancient sanctuary, Sangchen Thongdrol Ling was relocated to Gying6 in 1879 at the request of the British authorities, thus clearing the space for Victoria Pleasance Park.
In the 1860s, the former Dotsug Monastery was resurrected a considerable stretch down the eastern flank of the hill at a spot known as Bhutia Basti (Bhutia Settlement). It was named Dotsug Sangag Shedrub Choling (rdo btsugs gsang sngags zhad sgrub chos gling) raising the question still under investigation wether the reconstruction was carried out by the Nyingmapa handing over the Gonpa to the Karma-Kagyupa later, or wether it was affiliated to the latter from the beginning. As a documented fact, Dotsug was a branch of Phodong and, as such, following Karma-Kagyu tradition at the latest when the next reconstruction was due following a devastating earthquake in 1934. The formal name of the present monastery is Karma Dorje Drubgyu Choling (kar ma rdo rje sgrub rgyu chos gling), but it's more popularly known as the Bhutia Basti Monastery.
As established by photographic documents and much in contrast to its present-day appearance, the shrine at the original location atop Observatory Hill remained predominantly Buddhist in character at least until the 1960s: A clearly defined circular mound decorated with countless poles holding prayer flags (dar chen) and banners of victory (rgyal mtshan) providing the base for the sanctuary.
In 1835, the East India Company acquired the main ridge of Darjeeling from the King of Sikkim by lease. In 1850, the British occupied the surrounding area as a 'punitive measure' against the misconduct of the Chogyal's Dewan (chancellor). However, the Company as well as her respective successors - the British Crown and independent India - paid their annual compensations to the Kingdom of Sikkim until 1975.
For a lengthy period following the deed of Darjeeling, lively debates were held - mainly by officers of the East India Company - wether the Chogyal's grant was conditional or unconditional. Hope Namgyal, the Gyalmo of Sikkim, published a comprehensive investigation7 into that matter in 1966 taking into account documents from both the parties involved, the Sikkimese as well as the British. Her conclusion ist clear and convincing: Tsugphud Namgyal's cession of Darjeeling was a conditional agreement granted under the premise that the tract was to be used for the declared purpose of establishing a health resort. The Gyalmo states that, within the framework of Sikkimese feudal law, every lease granted by the Chogyal was, per se, conditional and temporary, a finding backed by a number of scientific investigations. A recent paper8, thus, states: "Legally, there was a tacit understanding among the people of the kingdom that all lands belonged to the king, and that even royally endowed lands to meritorious subjects of the state, unless stated otherwise, were liable to revocation by the king at his own discretion."
The paper of the Gyalmo caused considerable unease at the cabinet of Indira Gandhi who had, lately, succeeded Lal Bahadur Shastri. And, though the Chogyal appeased Delhi stating his wife's paper to be a purely scientific exercise, the incident reminded the Government of India of a previous submission shelved but not settled.
A few weeks after Prime Minister Attlee's announcement that Britain would grant independance to India, Chogyal Tashi Namgyal had requested restitution of Darjeeling. The Darbar's 20 Point Memorandum 9 meticulously authored by Sirdar Dhirendra Kumar Sen, the legal advisor to the Chogyal, was submitted to the Viceroy on 1st August 1947. Arthur Hopkinson, the Political Officer in Gangtok, was of the view "that this representation need not be taken seriously and that no reply need be sent". The Sikkim Darbar would certainly raise the matter in the impending negotiations for a standstill agreement. An agreement between the Sikkim Darbar and the Government of India was eventually signed on February 27, 1948, drawing the curtain over the restitution of Darjeeling.
Discharged to the secure archives of the Ministry of External Affairs, the document was declassified in 2012 only. Hence, when Indira Gandhi stated in the Indian Parliament, that "there has been no demand from any responsible quarter in Sikkim laying claim over the Darjeeling district", she did not tell the truth, and it may be assumed that this happened purposely and against better knowledge.
The Government of West Bengal unmistakingly affirmed in 1986, that "the present territory of Darjeeling historically belonged to Sikkim and Bhutan".10 The Government of India, on the other hand, is unable to produce a legal title to prove holding. In 2010, late D. K. Bomjan, president of the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress (GRC), filed an RTI (Right to Information) application with the Prime Minister's Office inquiring about the legal foundation for the fact that the Sikkimese territory of Darjeeling is administered by West Bengal. The application, forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs, produced an astonishing outcome stating that "the information sought by you is not available with the answering CPIO".
Hence, the factual and legal status is beyond question. The district of Darjeeling is, most obviously, a highly wanted territory. The British wanted it, India wants it, West Bengal wants it and the Gorkhas want it ... but to Sikkim it belongs.
The ambition of a reunification or 'merger' - a most controversial term when in connection with Sikkim - is raised with a certain regularity by minor Gorkha outfits such as the Gorkha Rashtriya Congress mentioned or the Gorkhaland Task Force (GTF). It seems, however, that their motivation does not point to the restoration of a status based on legal claims. Their main concern is suspected to be the detachment of Darjeeling from West Bengal. Accordingly, intellectual and political leaders on the Sikkimese side vehemently reject such aspirations. They are, generally, aware of the fact that Darjeeling is a part of Sikkim but they are not willing to consider recovery of the territory in its present run-down condition including lawlessness and high potential for ethnic conflict.
1 George Byres Mainwaring, A Grammar of the Róng (Lepcha) Language, as it exists in the Dorjeling and Sikim Hills, Calcutta, 1876, p. vii
2 Chogyal Thutob Namgyal and Gyalmo Yeshe Dolma, History of Sikkim, translated by Kazi Dousamdup, typescript, 1908
3 Variant transcriptions: Dotsuk, Dochug, Dotchuk.
4 Personal communication Dr. Heleen Plaisier, adding: "There is also a root cók (chók, chok) used in several compounds to do with styles of graves. In isolation it refers to the type of circular grave in which the body would be buried as if it were standing up, said to be an older style of burial no longer in use by the Lepchas."
5 Nicholas and Deki Rhodes, A Man of the Frontier: S. W. Laden La (1876-1936): His Life and Times in Darjeeling and Tibet, Kolkata, 2006, p. 74
6 Tibetan gying = a gentle slope. Established simplified spelling: Ging. Lloyd mentions Ging in 1829, hence, the toponym was in use when the British arrived.
7 Hope Namgyal Cooke, The Sikkimese Theory of Land-Holding and the Darjeeling Grant, Bulletin of Tibetology, Gangtok, 1966.
8 Hong Tran, Chogyal's Sikkim: Tax, Land & Clan Politics, Independent Study Project Collection, Paper 1446, 2012
9 Sirdar D.K. Sen, Memorandum of the Government of Sikkim: Claims in Respect of Darjeeling, 1947
10 Government of West Bengal, Gorkhaland Agitation - The Issues - An Information Document, Calcutta, 1986, p. 4. Integral versions of both the brochures by the Government of West Bengal on the Gorkhaland Agitation available at the Documents page.
Photo Credit: Samuel Bourne, late 1860ies. Woodless Observatory Hill with a gazebo-like structure on top: The observatory the hill derived its name from.