ENCHEY MONASTERY
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daily.
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only allowed outside the monastery.
GANGTOK
- East Sikkim district. 110 km (68 miles) N of Siliguri.
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29,200.
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Bagdogra, 117 km (73 miles) S of city centre, then taxi or bus.
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Siliguri, 107 km (66 miles) S of city centre, then taxi or bus.
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Sikkim Tourism, MG Marg, Tel: (03592) 221 634 .
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Losar Festival (Feb/Mar), Enchey Monastery Festival (Aug & Dec).
- Travel permits required to enter Sikkim.
The capital of Sikkim, Gangtok reflects this tiny state’s extraordinary ethnic diversity. In the crowded city, which spills precariously down a ridge, Lepchas (the region’s original inhabitants) live alongside Tibetans, Bhutias, Nepalis and Indians from the plains. Though now full of modern structures, Gangtok’s “Shangrila” aspects can still be experienced in pockets of the city and in its alpine environs.
Until 1975, Sikkim was a kingdom, with the status of an Indian Protectorate. It was ruled by the Chogyals, Buddhists of Tibetan origin, whose dynasty began in the 17th century. However, the British Raj’s policies of importing cheap labour from neighbouring Nepal for Sikkim’s rice, cardamom and tea plantations drastically changed Sikkim’s demography. Soon Nepali Hindus constituted 75 per cent of the state’s population. In 1975 the population of Sikkim voted to join the Indian Republic, ending the rule of Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last Chogyal.
At the town’s northern edge is the early 20th-century Enchey Monastery , whose large prayer hall is full of murals and images, representing the pantheon of Mahayana Buddhist deities. Enchey’s festivals feature spectacular masked dances. At the southern end is the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology . Established in 1958, it has a rare collection of medieval Buddhist scriptures, bronzes and embroidered thangkas .
ENVIRONS
Saramsa Orchidarium , situated 14 km (9 miles) south of Gangtok, displays many of the 450 orchid species found in Sikkim. They flower from April to May, and again in October.
Rumtek Monastery , 24 km (15 miles) southwest of Gangtok, is the headquarters of the Kagyupa (Black Hat) sect, one of the oldest Tibetan Buddhist sects, and the seat of its head, the Gyalwa Karmapa. The 16th Karmapa fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese invasion, and built a replica here of his monastery at Tsurphu in Tibet. Rumtek is an impressive complex, its flat-roofed buildings topped with golden finials, and filled with treasures brought from the monastery in Tibet. Especially splendid is the reliquary chorten of the 16th Karmapa, behind the main prayer hall, made of silver and gold and studded with corals, amber and turquoise. Since the 16th Karmapa’s death in 1981, however, there have been two claimants to his title (and the monastery’s legendary treasures), including one who dramatically escaped from Tibet into India in 2000. Until this dispute is resolved, the armed guards that surround the monastery will remain. Rumtek’s main festivals are in February/March and in May/June. Tshangu Lake , 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Gangtok, lies at an altitude of 3,780 m (12,402 ft). Visitors to the lake require a special permit from the Sikkim Tourism office in Gangtok. The drive to Tshangu Lake, close to the border with China, is spectacular. The lake is impressive both in spring and summer, when it is surrounded by alpine flowers, and in winter when it’s frozen. Visitors can go for rides on the shaggy black yaks that stand docilely on the lake’s shores.
Ganesh Tok, Gangtok
