Sikkimese Tribes
BHUTIA TRIBE
The Bhutia community is an Ethnic group primarily found in the Indian State of Sikkim. Bhutia community have a rich and distinct cultural heritage, with unique traditions and customs.
Here are some aspects of the Bhutia community’s origin and history.
Bhutias are one of the earliest inhabitants of the “Greater Sikkim” they migrated from southern part of Tibet and are of Tibetan origin. The Bhutias called themselves as “Lhopos or Lhorees” which means the dwellers of the southward and are the descendants of Khye Bhumsa the chieftain of Bhutia People.
LEPCHA TRIBE
Lepcha refers to an indigenous people inhabiting in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong districts of West Bengal and Tripura in India. The nomenclatures of language, people and their culture is same, thus they use Lepchas (for the people), Lepcha for the distinct language and also the culture they carry since time immemorial is also referred as Lepcha culture. The other term that refers to both the Lepcha people and their language is called Rong and the endoethnonym of the Lepchas is Mutanchi Rong Kup Rum Kup the meaning of which is popular among the Lepchas as the beloved Children of God. The Constitution (Sikkim) Scheduled Tribe Order, 1978 listed Lepchas as Scheduled Tribe in the State of Sikkim. The population of Lepcha as per the Census of India, 2011 is 42,909 with 21,614 male and 21295 female.
LIMBOO TRIBE
The historian and anthropologist working in the country have divided the people of India in to various ethnological groups and categorized the people of India in to seven ethnological types. The word “Kirata” or Kirati, a derogatory word was termed by Aryans for the ancientmongoloid people inhabiting the Himalayas about 2000, B.C. who were trading a medicinal herb, Chireto (Sunghing) in Limboo Language when they came in contact with them. It is not known what they used to call themselves, 4000 years ago. The present day three ancient mongoloid people, (Ancient Kiratas) – the Limboo(Yakthungba or Limboo) KhambuRai (Kirawa) and Yakha called themselves as “Susuwa Lilim Yakthum Suwang” or Yakthumba “Khambu”, “Kirawa” and “Limboo Yakha” or “Khambu Yakha” respectively, (Sinha et. Al 2005, Subba T.B 1999). There is not a single word as “Kirata” in their ancient oral tradition known as “Mundhum”. The Limboos believes that they are the descended of Sawa Yethangs and called themselves as “Susuwa Lilim Yakthum Suwang” since antiquity. From this the term Yakthumba, Limboo” or Limbu, “Subba” or Subha etc has been evolved in due course of time.
SHERPA TRIBE
Sikkim is the land of peace and tranquility, a land blessed by Guru Padmasambhava in 8th century, which was initially known as Beyul Demazong[1] and Mayal-Lyang[2] (J.R Subba: 2007). It is a land of natural beauty and peaceful co-existence of different communities, namely Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali.
The Sherpa is an ethnic group that lives on the higher mountainous region of Eastern Himalayas mainly distributed in eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Bhutan. Sherpa shares a common Tibeto-Burman language and follows an ancient form of Buddhism tradition and way of life supports and suggestsa historical root back to Tibet.
TAMANG TRIBE
Since the existence of human being on this earth, there might be few group or communities those who have written or established the accounts of their origin, migration remigration till they settle permanently in a particular country or place. There may not be any human being or community or society those who have not migrated to other place or country from their land or country of origin. It is presumed that near about three and half billions passed of human existence on this earth. It is not known yet exactly as where the first human being came into existence. As stated in the universe creation history of Tamang tribe, the human being is the last creation.