SHEDDING SOME LIGHT ON THE HISTORY, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE OF THE LEPCHAS

By Dr. R.K. Sprigg

I. The English version

Probably the ‘Grant of Darjeeling’ is most widely known from the version in English given in the ‘Darjeeling’ volume of the series of ‘Bengal District Gazetteers’ (A.J. Dash ed., 1947); certainly it was through this version that I first came to know of ‘the Grant’: ” The Governor General having expressed his desire for the possession of the hill of Darjeeling on account of its cool climate, for the purpose of enabling the servants of his Government, suffering from sickness, to avail themselves of its advantages, I, the Sikkimputtee Rajah, out of friendship for the said Governor General; hereby present Darjeeling to the East India Company, that is all the land South of the Great Rangit river, east of the Balasun, Kahail and Little Rangit rivers and west of Rungno (Tista) and Mahanadi rivers” (pp.37-8).

II. The Lepcha and Hindustani Versions

Later, F. Pinn, author of ‘The Road of Destiny: Darjeeling letters 1839′, published in 1986, sent me a version of that same text written in the Lepcha language followed by a version in Hindustani photographed from an original in the India Office Library, London; I have given below a facsimile of that crucial Lepcha-cum-Hindustani document, and have added a Romanization of both versions in an Appendix.

It is, of course, only right that the text of the Darjeeling Grant should be in Lepcha; for Lepcha was the language spoken by the majority of the people of Sikkim at that time (1835); but I was perplexed to find that the Lepcha text was accompanied by a version in Hidustani. I had expected to find a version of it in Tibetan; for at that time Tibetan was the language of the (seventh) Rajah of Sikkim and his Court.

These two mysteries, the presence of a Hindustani version and the absence of a Tibetan version, were solved for me when I read the chapter entitled ‘ The deed of Grant’ in ‘ The Road of Destiny’; so I will now quote from that chapter passages dealing with Major Lloyd’s reports to the Governor General, termed ‘Consultations’, [Fort William]:

‘On 25 February [1835] Lloyd was again sent for and was told by the Rajah ” if his requests were complied with, he from friendship would give Darjeeling to the British Government, but that his country was a very small one, meaning, I suppose, that he could not afford to part with any of it” ‘ (”Consultations”, 6 April 1835). At the same time the Rajah in Durbar delivered a paper to Lloyd with a specific paragraph on Darjeeling:

‘Also if from friendship Dabgong from Ahma (?) Diggee north be given to me, then my Dewan will deliver to Major Lloyd the grant and agreement under my red seal of Darjeeling that he may erect houses there which I have given in charge of the said Dewan to be so delivered, dated 1891, 19th Maug, 5th February 1835′ [Ibid.]

On the 26 February Lloyd began his return to the plains. ” The Rajah delivered to his officers whom he appointed to accompany me a paper purporting to be a grant of Darjeeling to be given to me as soon as his request should be complied with” ["Consultations", 6 April, 1835].

This original or first deed must be one of the shortest in documentary history.

‘That health may be obtained by residing there I from friendship make an offering of Durgeeling to the Governor General Sahib. 1891, 19th Maug (25th February 1835)’.

True translation

G.W.A.Lloyd, Major

['Consultations, 6 April 1835, Translation marked "E"].

III. A Tibetan version

A long letter dated 26 February to the Governor-General followed Lloyd, this time written in Tibetan (which had to be translated in Calcutta by Csoma de Koros) which once more dealt at great length with the various problems discussed [namely handing over to the Rajah an absconding minister and some Lepcha chiefs, and extending the western boundary of Sikkim]. The subject of Darjeeling is referred to very briefly:

“I beg your acceptance of ground for building a house at Darjeeling [Ibid].” (Pinn 1986, pp.122-3). I regret that I am not able to supply the text of the Tibetan version of this brief reference to Darjeeling.

It is interesting to note, from the above excerpts, that the Rajah corresponded with the Governor General, through Lloyd, in both Lepcha and Tibetan, the former language Lloyd was able to have translated into English immediately, whence document ‘E’; but the Tibetan text had to be sent to Calcutta for translation.

Pounding Keys, Not Gavels, to Sell India’s Tea

A processing room at the Goomtee tea estate in Darjeeling, India.

By JEREMY KAHN

GUWAHATI, India — Traders crowd around wooden desks in a huge dusty auditorium, poring over thick catalogs describing chests of tea. A broker seated at the front of the room calls out prices in a quick, rolling cadence as the traders shout and gesture, signaling their bids.

A sharp rap of the gavel closes each sale, and the process starts over — under the market’s rules, the auctioneer must sell at least three lots in a minute.

The scene repeats itself every Tuesday and Wednesday morning here at the Tea Auction Center in the state of Assam, heart of India’s famed tea country, wedged among Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

Tea has been traded this way in India since 1861.

But this year, the cacophony of the public tea auctions will give way to the gentle tapping of keyboards: India’s tea markets are going digital.

Just as electronic trading rocked the floors of the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the move to computerized auctions promises to turn the tradition-bound world of tea traders upside down. While tea growers and large multinationals have welcomed the promise of computerized trading, many small tea brokers fear an electronic exchange will mean the end of their livelihoods.

The government body that sets the rules for tea sales in India, the Indian Tea Board, sees electronic trading as a way to help planters who have been hit hard by low tea prices for much of the last decade. Electronic trading is supposed to result in fairer prices and lower transaction costs.