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Scanned by CamScanner Scanned by CamScanner Scanned by CamScanner Scanned by CamScanner ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr.SangmuThendup, whose guidance; patience, support, and encouragement enable me to complete my dissertation. I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to the faculty member of History DepartmentDr.Vijay KumarThangellapali,Dr. Veenu Pant,Dr. V Krishna Ananth, Dr. AniraPhiponLepcha, Dr.SJeevanandamand Dr. KhwairakpamRenuka Devi, for their valuable guidance throughout my dissertation. I express my sincere thanks to Dr. RuthLepcha for her unconditional support and guidance. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to members of theRoyal family namely: Hope Lizum, JigmeePhuenkhang, Dr.TsewangTendukPulger for giving their precious time for this work. Also, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart to Hope Cooke,Mrs. Ruth KarthakLepchani and N.B Khatiwada for being cordial and of very approachable nature. Thank you to Librarians of Namgyal Institute of Tibetology and Sikkim University Librarians for their help and support. I express my sincere thanks to Mrs. Bishnu Maya Karki, staff in the department of History, for her timely assistance at various stages of my research. I’m forever grateful to my parents, for there constant source of support and love. Last but not the least; I would like to thank my friendsSolami Rai, PerismitaBasumatary, JigmeeDorjiBhutia and Govind Chhetri and my seniors for their love and support during this dissertation. INGNAM SUBBA CONTENTS CHAPTER –I Page No. Introduction 1-20 CHAPTER-II Women’s position in Sikkim: With reference to the changing socio-political dynamic of Sikkim 21-49 CHAPTER-III Eminent Political women Personalities (1642-1975) 50-100 CHAPTER-1V Foreign women verses Native women 101-127 CHAPTER-V Influence of Modern Education 128-149 CHAPTER-VI Conclusion 150-154 APPENDIX 155-159 BIBLIOGRAPHY 160-164 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The study of the role of women in the history of Sikkim falls within the fold of women’s history. Prior to the 1970s the study of history was basically confined to political history, historical events, and the achievements of the leaders; predominately men. Women were usually excluded and when ever mentioned, were portrayed in stereotypical roles such as: wives, mothers daughters and mistresses. But this dynamic started to change with the feminist movement of the late 1960s in America where women started to question the existing historical narratives and the invisibility of the women in history. They started to stress on the importance of the study of women in the historical front and the whole process of historical revisionism started. “The women’s history that now fills the shelves of libraries and appears in computers searches had its beginnings in the feminist activities of the late 1960’s in the North America and the United Kingdom.”1 From 1970s onwards, where second wave of feminist historians, influenced by the new approaches promoted by the social history, led the way and the insistence of the women such as “Gerda Lerner in The United States and Sheila Rowbotham in England that history consists of two sexes both worthy of inclusion in our narratives and analyses of the past. ”2 In that way with the efforts of the feminist movement and the many female historians the study of women’s history started. Women’s history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the growth of women’s right throughout recorded history, personal achievements over a period of time, the examination of individual and 1 Judith P. Zinsser ‘Women’s History/Feminist History’ The Saga Handbook of Historical Theory, p 239. 2 Ibid, 1 groups of women of historical significance, and the effects that historical events have had on women. Women in Sikkim Before Sikkim became a part of the Indian union in1975, it was an independent kingdom ruled by the Namgyal Dynasty from 1642 to 1975. Three distinct ethnic groups constituted the population of Sikkim: the Lepcha, Bhutia and the Nepalese. Among them the Lepchas are believed to be the original inhabitants of Sikkim and the other two ethnic groups are believed to have immigrated from Tibet and Nepal respectively. According to tradition, Phuntsog Namgyal was crowned the first Buddhist king of Sikkim in 1642 and after him the legacy of the Namgyals continued up to 1975 until Sikkim became a part of India. With the establishment of a Buddhist kingdom in Sikkim, the king became the temporal and the religious head, while Buddhism was made the state religion of Sikkim. “By tradition the Namgyal rulers were racially and culturally close to the Tibetan theocracy.”3 The Namgyal dynasty had to face many challenges both politically and economically right from the time when the British entered Sikkim in the 19th century up to the time when they left Sikkim with the end of British colonialism. Sikkim was made into a protectorate state of British India from 1889. The main struggle for the Namgyal rulers started when the educated people of Sikkim wanted to do away with the monarchical system and there was a huge upsurge against the monarchical system. The upsurge was led by many new political parties to abolish monarchy as a form of government and for Sikkim to join the Indian union. In this political struggle, there were 3 A.C Sinha,Sikkim Feudal and Democratic, Indus publishing company, New Delhi.p.15. 2 many people both men and women who took an active part. Unfortunately, the role of women in the political struggle of Sikkim has often been overlooked in the historical narratives of Sikkim. Regarding the position of women and the role of women in Sikkim, before the establishment of the Buddhist monarchical rule and the advent of British into Sikkim it is important to understand the political organization of Sikkim. Prior to the establishment of the monarchical institute, Sikkim was mainly a place where chiefdom was prevalent and among the ethnic groups which resided, the prominent one was the Lepcha community, but the presence of Limboo and Mangar communities have also been recorded. The Lepchas were totally unknown to the outside world and they lived in the forest, which provided them food and shelter. “Lepcha women were part and parcel of the Lepcha economy and this was because women’s status and role in any tribal society is different than among the non tribals.”4 Since their main economy was based on hunting and gathering and women were as active as men in this process their position was same as that of men in the tribal community. As far as the religious aspect is concerned, in the tribal society the people earlier used to follow animist from of religion where females also had a high position. But after the establishment of the monarchical rule we can see the changing dynamics in the position of women. As Sikkim slowly moved away from the traditional tribal element and came under the theocratic patriarchal model of the Namgyal Dynasty, where Buddhism was made a state religion and there were several conversions which took place, Tibetan Lamaism became the prominent religion in Sikkim, and under it the clergy class started to flourish with monastic monks starting to dominate the religious front. Because of this, the animist form of religion lost its prominence within the tribal communities and so did the importance of the female priests of the Lepcha community who were called Mun. Besides in the religious front, we can also observe huge shifts in the women’s 4 D.C Roy, Status of Women Among The Lepchas, Akansha Publishing House New Delhi,p.8 3 position of Sikkim when the Namgyal Dynasty was established as the center of the Tibetan theocratic and patriarchal system in Sikkim. Naturally, the society of Sikkim became regressive towards women, the overall position of women was weakened under the umbrella of the Namgyal rule, women did not have any kind of voice-be it politically, socially, or economically and they were basically confined to the household. Their jobs were to look after their husbands and children and the status of women in the feudal structure was at the bottom. “In the past, Sikkim under monarchy had no schemes to empower the local women so they had no role to play in major decision-making process. The old laws gave no rights to women and the kingdom was basically about the men and the king”.5 Even though with the saturation of women’s position in Sikkim under monarchical rule, Sikkim has also witnessed many prominent women who had voiced their opinions against the rigid patriarchal society and had tried to break free from the existing social setup. These women left a mark in the history of Sikkim by playing major roles politically, socially and economically. 1.1. Statement of the problem Sikkim’s history is very fascinating and there are many topics of interest in the study of this region, such as the cultural aspects of Sikkim and its people, the relation between Sikkim and others regions, its religious history, and various other issues remain a subject of interest to scholars. But what is even more fascinating is the political history of Sikkim which constitutes a major part in the history of Sikkim. However, what is lacking in the past studies about the history of Sikkim is the study of the role of ‘women’ in the political history of Sikkim. We can find lots of books dedicated to the political struggle of Sikkim which extensively deal with the role of kings of Sikkim 5 Bitu Subba Women, “Quest” for Empowerment in Sikkim’s society, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publication, volume4, issue9, sep2014.

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