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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Chumbi
Chumbi (Tibetan: ཆུ་འབི, Wylie: chu 'bi, THL: chu bi; Chinese: 春丕; pinyin: Chūn pī) is a historic village in the Chumbi Valley or the Yadong County of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is in the valley of the Amo Chu River, where the route from Sikkim's Cho La Pass meets the Amo Chu Valley. The "Chumbi Valley" of the European nomenclature derives its name from the village of Chumbi. It was the administrative center of the lower Chumbi Valley until the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1950, after which Yatung became its headquarters. Chumbi is also associated with the Sikkim's royal family, which had a summer palace in the village.

History

The Chumbi Valley was originally part of the Lepcha territory. In the 13th or 14th century, it began to be colonised by Khampas from the Kham region of Tibet. A Minyak prince called Khye Bumsa (Wylie: Gyad 'bum bsags) is said to have settled in Chumbi and established a small kingdom. He later built an alliance with the Lepchas in present-day Sikkim and expanded into that region. The ruins of the house built by Khye Bumsa were reportedly present in the Chumbi village till the end of the 19th century.

The lower Chumbi valley appears to have been under the control of the Lepchas till the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama. A Lepcha chieftain called Gaeboo Achyok (Gyalpo Ajok, r. c. 1660 – 1676) based at Damsang (in the present day Kalimpong district) faced invasions from the Bhutanese and obtained Dalai Lama's assistance. The Bhutanese captured and executed Achyok, after which the Tibetans continued to fight the Bhutanese. The end result of these conflicts is not clearly documented, but the Bhutanese were evicted from the lower Chumbi Valley and its control passed to the Sikkimese and Tibetans in some form.

The Sikkim Chogyals constructed a palace at Chumbi during the reign of Chakdor Namgyal (r. 1700–1717), who is said to have received the lower Chumbi valley as an estate from the Tibetan government. It came to be used as a regular summer residence of the Chogyals since 1780. The Chogyals regarded the people of the lower Chumbi Valley as their subjects until 1959, irrespective of the prevailing official boundaries.

Geography

The village of Chumbi is roughly in the centre of the stretch of Amo Chu valley between Yatung and Rinchengang. The road from the Cho La pass on the Sikkim border arrives here. On the Sikkimese side of the pass, there was a direct road to Tumlong, the capital of Sikkim and the seat of its royalty in the 18th and 19th centuries.

About 2 miles (3.2 km) upstream from Chumbi lies the town of Yatung (Shasima), the present headquarters of the Yadong County. Downstream from Chumbi are the twin villages of Chema and Pipitang, where the route from the Nathu La pass arrives, and Rinchengang, which receives the route from the Jelep La pass.

Notes

  1. ^ It is likely that prior to the European involvement, the term "Chumbi Valley" might have been used only for the lower Chumbi Valley below Yatung. The Tibetans call the overall Chumbi Vally "Tromo" with its headquarters at Phari.
  2. ^ The "Sikkim" mentioned in these sources is mainly southeastern Sikkim, which appears to have extended on both the sides of the Jelep La pass. Chogyals' Sikkim was to the west of the Teesta river. After the elimination of the Damsang chieftaincy, the way was opened for the Chogyals to expand east of the river.

References

  1. ^ Markham, Narratives of the Mission of George Bogle (1876), p. civ: "Next, to the north, is the Cho-la pass, 15,000 feet high, which is the direct route from Tumlung to Chumbi."
  2. ^ Waddell (1905), p. 80: "we marched up the valley, to the village of Chumbi, which has given the valley the name by which it is known to Europeans..."
  3. ^ Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land (2011), p. 40, note 25.
  4. ^ White, Sikhim & Bhutan (1909), p. 111 "It was instructive, in view of the then disputed question as to whether Chumbi, as the people themselves maintained it ought to be, should be restored to Sikhim, to note the close intimacy that exists between Chumbi and Sikhim."
  5. ^ Siiger, The Lepchas (1967), p. 44: "Further eastwards, beyond the Sikkim border, lies the Chumbi alley, which used to be Lepcha territory, but which now belongs to Tibet"
  6. ^ Perry, Nepali around the World (1997, p. 9): "There was earlier contact with the Lepcha in the 13th or 14th century by Kham people from Tibet who colonised the Chumbi valley, but they only later went into Sikkim."
  7. ^ Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land (2011), pp. 39–40: "[25] Until the late nineteenth century, close to the summer palace of the Sikkimese royal family in Chumbi there stood ruins that were said to be the remains of Gyad ’bum sags' house."
  8. ^ Shakabpa, Tibet: A Political History (1984), p. 122: "In 1676 the Bhutanese attacked Sikkim and captured three hundred homesteads in the Chumbi valley. Again Tibetan troops marched against Bhutan and the Bhutanese withdrew from Sikkim, giving up the Chumbi valley."
  9. ^ Shakabpa, One Hundred Thousand Moons (2009), pp. 363–364: "Thereby, the Bhutan forces fled back to their homes, while the Tibetans and Mongolians took back the lost territories and expelled the Bhutanese from Sikkim."
  10. ^ Aris, Bhutan (1979), p. 248: "Five columns advanced by way of sPa-gro [Paro], Gling-bzhi, Bum-thang, bKra-shis-sgang [Trashigang] and Phag-ri [Phari], but their only lasting achievement was the expulsion of the Bhutanese troops from Sikkim."
  11. ^ Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land (2011), p. 151.
  12. ^ Mullard, Opening the Hidden Land (2011), p. 40, note 25.
  13. ^ Balikci, Anna (2008), Lamas, Shamans and Ancestors: Village Religion in Sikkim, BRILL, p. 73, note 52, ISBN 978-90-474-3348-4

Bibliography

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