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Kingdom of Sikkim འབྲས་ལྗོངས། (Sikkimese) Drenjong འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས། (Classical Tibetan) Dremoshong ᰕᰚᰬᰯ ᰜᰤᰴ (Lepcha) Mayel Lyang | |
|---|---|
| 1642–1975 | |
| Motto: "Oh, the jewel of creation is in the Lotus"[1] | |
| Anthem: Drenjong Silé Yang Chhagpa Chilo[2] "Why is Sikkim Blooming So Fresh and Beautiful?" | |
  Location and administrative map of the Kingdom of Sikkim before incorporation into India | |
| Status |
|
| Capital | |
| Official languages | Chöke,Sikkimese |
| Common languages | Lepcha (early period),Dzongkha,Nepali (late period) |
| Religion | Tibetan Buddhism Nepali Hinduism[4] |
| Demonyms | Drenjop, Sikkimese |
| Government | Absolute monarchy (until 1973) Parliamentaryconstitutional monarchy (1973–1975)[5] |
| Chogyal | |
• 1642–1670 (first) | Phuntsog Namgyal |
• 1963–1975 (last) | Palden Thondup Namgyal |
| Prime Minister | |
• 1949 (first) | Tashi Tshering |
• 1974–1975 (last) | Kazi Lhendup Dorji |
| Legislature | State Council of Sikkim |
| History | |
• Established | 1642 |
| 1680 | |
| 1700 | |
• Nepalese Invasion | 1776 |
• Treaty of Titalia signed | 1817 |
• Darjeeling given toBritish India | 1835 |
• Palden Thondup Namgyal forced to abdicate | 1975 |
• Merger withIndia | 16 May 1975 |
| Currency | Rupee |
| ISO 3166 code | SK |
| Today part of | India |
TheKingdom of Sikkim (Classical Tibetan andSikkimese:འབྲས་ལྗོངས།,Drenjong,Dzongkha:སི་ཀིམ་རྒྱལ་ཁབ།,Sikimr Gyalkhab) officiallyDremoshong (Classical Tibetan and Sikkimese:འབྲས་མོ་གཤོངས།) until the 1800s, was ahereditary monarchy in theEastern Himalayas that existed from 1642 to 16 May 1975, when itjoined[6][7][8] India after a referendum and constitutional process. It was ruled byChogyals of the Namgyal dynasty.[9]
According to legend,Khye Bumsa, a 14th-century prince from theMinyak House inKham in easternTibet, received adivine revelation instructing him to travel south to seek his fortunes. A fifth-generation descendant of Khye Bumsa,Phuntsog Namgyal, became the founder of Sikkim's monarchy in 1642, when he was consecrated as the firstChogyal, or priest-king, of Sikkim by the three veneratedlamas atYuksom. Phuntsog Namgyal was succeeded in 1670 by his son,Tensung Namgyal, who moved the capital from Yuksom toRabdentse (near modernPelling). By the time of its foundation, Sikkim became a protectorate of Tibet (which at the time was part of TheKhoshut Khanate until 1717 when it became part of theDzungar Khanate and later to TheQing Dynasty in 1720.)
In the mid-18th century,Sikkim was invaded by bothNepal (then theGorkha Kingdom) andBhutan (then ruled byGyalsey Tenzin Rabgye) and was under both the Gorkha and the Bhutanese rule for more than 40 years. Between 1775 and 1815, almost 180,000 ethnicNepalis[10] from Eastern and Central Nepal migrated to Sikkim.[citation needed] After the British colonisation of India, however, Sikkim allied itself with the British India in order to fight Nepal, their common enemy at the time.[citation needed] The Nepalese then attacked Sikkim, overrunning most of the region including theTerai. This prompted theBritish East India Company to attack Nepal in 1814, resulting in theAnglo-Nepalese War.[citation needed] TheSugauli Treaty betweenBritain and Nepal and theTreaty of Titalia between Sikkim and British India resulted in territorial concessions by Nepal, which ceded Sikkim to British India.[11]
Under the 1861Treaty of Tumlong, Sikkim became aBritish protectorate.
Thutob Namgyal, the 9th Chogyal of Sikkim, looked to theDalai Lama for spiritual leadership and during his reign theTibetan government started to regain political influence over Sikkim. In 1888 the British sent amilitary expedition to expel Tibetan forces from Sikkim.
Sikkim became an Indian protectorate in 1950.[12]
In 1975, allegations of discrimination againstNepali Hindus in Sikkim led to resentment against theChogyal.[13][14] According to some accounts, these developments contributed to the movement ofIndian Army personnel intoGangtok. According to journalistSunanda K. Datta-Ray ofThe Statesman, in April 1975 the Indian Army carried out a surprise operation during which the palace was surrounded and palace guards were killed.[12]
Following the disarming of the palace, areferendum on the monarchy was held, which some sources describe as having taken place under questionable circumstances. Official results indicated that an overwhelming majority voted to abolish the monarchy. Subsequently, the newly formed parliament of Sikkim, led byKazi Lhendup Dorjee, passed a resolution requesting that Sikkim become an Indianstate, which was accepted by the Government of India under Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi.[12][15]
In culture and religion, Sikkim was linked closely withTibet, from which its first king migrated, andBhutan, with which it shares borders. The presence of a large ethnic Nepali population, mainly from eastern and central Nepal, also leads to cultural linkages with Nepal.[citation needed]
| State symbols | |
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| Topics | |
| Administration | |
| Districts | |
| Towns | |
| Rivers | |
| Lakes | |
| Glaciers | |
| See also | |
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