Eco-anthropological Approach to Select Lepcha Folklore: A Study

Abstract

Lepcha is a tribe mostly inhabiting the Dzongu Valley in North Sikkim and the Kalimpong district of West Bengal. Lepchas believe their homeland to be Mayel Lyang which means the hidden paradise. Therefore, they are called by the name mutunci rongkup or rumkup which means the precious children of Nature and God. With Kangchenjunga revered as their venerated guardian deity, the Lepchas are the custodians of a mosaic of folklore in the form of myths, legends and fables that have been orally transmitted and are known as lungten sung. The entire complex of the Lepcha folklore is predicated on the belief system that divine essence resides within Nature, thereby associating corporeality with the mountains and the rivers around which they inhabit. This can also be viewed from the perspective of ecological anthropology which can be read as the study of relationships between a population of humans and their biophysical environment. At the wake of the Lepcha movement that was directed against the development of hydropower projects to be built along the river Teesta and its several tributaries, the Lepchas referred to their mythology to prove the ownership of their land. Religious ecology forms the crux of their protest as the river projects will not only herald an environmental desecration but will also defile their sacred space, in turn, endangering their identity. This paper seeks to undertake an ecoanthropological study of select Lepcha folk narratives to find out how the Lepchas reassert their folkloric tradition to preserve their ecosystem and how, in the process, their core indigenous identity merges with the land.