3. TWO LEPCHA DELÚK TEXTS Heleen PLAISIER (Leiden University)

1. INTRODUCTION

The are generally considered to be the native inhabitants of the erstwhile kingdom of . The tribal homeland of the Lepcha people comprises present-day Sikkim and most of the district and is referred to as ne mayeL VÎa ne máyel lyáng ‘hidden paradise’ or ne mayeL malXU VÎa ne máyel málúk lyáng ‘land of eternal purity’. The indigenous religious beliefs of the Lepchas are expected to have been influenced by Tibetan Buddhist values and traditions ever since the introduction of in Sikkim, but especially since the establishment of the Namgyal dynasty in the seventeenth century (van Driem 2001: 904-905). Although Lepcha religious beliefs and Tibetan Buddhist beliefs generally manage to coexist peacefully, the two systems sometimes clash and contradict each other. For example, both religious traditions hold that after death the must be guided onwards. The Buddhist soul will be judged and sent on to its next incarnation, but for the Lepchas there is traditionally no judgement in the and once the soul reaches its destination it lives on forever among all other immortal spirits (Gorer 1938: 346).

According to Lepcha traditional beliefs, the soul, in Lepcha Aaip* ʔápíl, disconnects itself from the human body at some point after death and wanders around VOtdXe mRadXe VÎa tongdek márdek lyáng, the netherworld, until it is guided to the ruMVÎa rumlyáng ‘abode of ’ by a Lepcha mun, a divine healer, during the ZsOÎN sanglyon ceremony. People who have died shall never return to our world benevolently, they can only ever have contact with our world again in the form of VmU múng ‘evil spirits’ (Gorer 1938: 345). After death a soul can be converted into an evil spirit while it is in tongdek márdek lyáng, and the risk of this happening is provoked when death occurs suddenly, violently, at a young age, or when the sanglyon ceremony is not conducted.

The Lepchas use the term ZsOÎN sanglyon to refer to both the Tibetan Buddhist and the Lepcha for guiding the soul of the deceased from this world to their next destination. Both ceremonies used to be performed simultaneously, though for Lepcha Buddhist lamas and the Lepcha was not performed and for Lepcha laymen the Buddhist ceremony 24 HELEEN PLAISIER was much abbreviated (Gorer 1938: 355). In line with the disappearance and erosion of many traditional religious Lepcha beliefs, it appears that in the present time the traditional Lepcha funerary ceremony is not regularly performed anymore (Bentley 2007: 63-64).

The Lepcha sanglyon ceremony is traditionally performed by the ip*OdN mNu píldon mun, one of seven different classes of Lepcha muns (Támsáng 1982: 49, Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association 2007: 11). Reportedly, the mun starts the ceremony by creating a small hole in the roof of the house where the deceased’s body is kept. The mun then calls out the name, clan and protective of the deceased, as well as the names of the deceased’s ancestors, pleading with them to create a place for the newly deceased in the realm of immortal , which some Lepchas refer to as pMUzu púmzu rather than rumlyáng (Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association 2007: 11). During the ceremony, the mun contacts the departed soul in order to find out how death befell it and to explain what will happen next, to urge the wandering soul to find its way to rumlyáng and to guide it there across a secret passage called lBe lep. During its journey in tongdek márdek lyáng demons will chase the wandering soul and attempt to lure it away and it to stay with them, but the sanglyon ritual should enable the soul to reach rumlyáng unharmed. In the sanglyon ceremony, the mun may use several objects which can be passed on to the wandering soul in order to confuse or slow down the demons that haunt it, such as small ladders or torches to deal with obstacles thrown up by the demons or rice or other food mixed with stones (Gorer 1938: 357-359). Some descriptions of death and burial customs mention similar objects having been buried with the deceased’s body (Siiger 1967: 149, Foning 1987: 39). When the departed soul has safely reached rumlyáng, the sanglyon ceremony has reached its conclusion. Another ceremony traditionally follows a year later, when the mun revisits the soul in the rumlyáng to warrant iÏ^ hyít, the final transformation of the soul into an immortal spirit (Gorer 1938: 359, Siiger: 1967: 149).

2. LEPCHA DELÚK TEXTS

The Lepcha alphabet was devised in the early eighteenth century, presumably for the purpose of disseminating translations of Tibetan Buddhist texts in Lepcha (Sprigg 1982: 29, Plaisier 2003: 19-22). Lepcha literature comprises various literary genres, such as folktales, poetry, fiction