Page:Sikhim and Bhutan.djvu/39



earliest settlers in Sikhim, or Dejong—“the land of rice”—were the Lepchas, who called themselves Rongpa, or dwellers in the valley; they seem to have migrated from the hills of Assam, but when, there is no means of ascertaining. At all events, they were in Sikhim as early as the thirteenth century. The present ruling family are of Tibeto-Chinese origin and came from Kham-Mina-Andong, a small principality taken by the Chinese about 1732 where their ancestor, the great-great-grandson of the Tibetan King of Tibet—Ti-son-desen ( 730) founded a small kingdom. Various scions of the family found their way back to Tibet, where they rose to high positions. Coming to more recent times, one of their descendants, Khye-Bumsu (stronger than 10,000) was so strong that unaided he set up the four immense pillars of the great Sakya Monastery; he migrated to Ha, where he overpowered the Titan robbers of that district and is worshipped for his prowess to this day. His children crossed over to Sikhim and settled at Gangtak.

In 1641 the Lhasan Lama, with the aid of two other saints, converted the Sikhim people to the Buddhist faith and appointed Penchoo Namgyel to be the first Gyalpo or King. Thotup Namgyel, the present ruler, is the ninth.

In the time of the third Gyalpo—Chador Namgye—Sikhim was overrun by the Bhutanese under Deb Naku Zidar (1700 to 1706). The Tibetans drove them out and