By Dukpas – The Oldest Tribal Community of North Bengal Fighting Extinction
The serene hills of Darjeeling offer an experience one would cherish forever. But deep within these hilly terrains reside an old, vanishing Tibetan-Buddhist tribe – Drugpa or Dukpa. This indigenous community inhabits the foothills of the Himalayas on the Indo-Butan border, living in a far-flung village of North Bengal, Sikkim, and Bhutan. This article will give you a peek into the origin, lifestyle, and customs of the Dukpa tribe and the threats to their existence. Keep scrolling to save them from extinction.
Genetically, the Drugpas are descendants of the Mongoloid community, who migrated from Bhutan to Sikkim in the 1960s after the arrival of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa (the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism). The Bhutanese community called themselves ‘Drugpa’ where ‘Drug’ means ‘Dragon’ and ‘Pa’ means ‘resident’, i.e. residents of the Dragon land. They settled in and around Darjeeling and Sikkim in the 13th century, where they continue to reside till the present.
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Today, they are a part of the present-day Bhutia community and only a few Dukpa people remain in Darjeeling. But in North Bengal, they inhabit the scrubs of unexplored hilly villages Buxaduar, Chunabhati, Tasigaon, Lepchaka, and Adma. They make their living from agriculture and small-scale animal husbandry. They produce rice, cardamom, maize, and millet, while animals like pigs, goats, and fowl can be found in almost every household.
The community celebrates its own traditional festivals and observes certain rituals specific to them. Drugpas celebrate (i) Lhabab Duchen (the Descending Day of Lord Buddha from Heaven) on the 22nd day of the ninth lunar month, (ii) the blessed rainy day, (iii) the birth of Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rimpoche, and (iv) their new year Losar. While people living in the villages of Darjeeling celebrate the festivals with color and enthusiasm, the indigenous culture is losing its significance among the community members of the urban areas.
The burial rituals of the tribe are different from those observed by other Indian tribes or even Tibetans. They await instructions from the Buddhist Lamas in Bhutan before performing the last rites of the dead. Indajan Dukpa, a resident of Lepchaka village says, “We have to keep the bodies inside the room and wait for the instruction. Once the instruction comes then we will take the body out of the house according to their instructions. If there is no door on that side of the house then we will have to break the wall and take the body out for cremation.”1 Until the funeral, the dead body is not left alone and one person always accompanies it till the funeral. Sometimes the instructions may take a few days or weeks before their arrival, but the community is not deterred from the practice. In one shocking instance, the villagers had to burn down the entire house, as per the instruction of the Lamas, to protect the villagers from the omen of the dead.
While the community lives peacefully, they are rapidly vanishing due to ill health and malnutrition. The remoteness and inaccessibility of the Indian villages deprive them of basic necessities, like sanitation, health, education, and even pure drinking water.
The Association for Conservation & Tourism (ACT) organizes the Dukpa Living Heritage Festival at Lepchaka to promote the culture, tradition, cuisine, and handicrafts of the ethnic group. The three-day festival uses star-gazing in the night sky and beautiful orchards and wildflowers to attract visitors.
References
- “Some practises of Dukpa tribe might shock the world”, ETV Bharat, https://www.etvbharat.com/english/bharat/some-practises-of-dukpa-tribe-might-shock-the-world/na20221117183102525525090