To
Sikkim
SIKKIM
A former Kingdom and a fascinating
Himalayan Jewel, Sikkim is situated in Eastern Himalayas spreading below
Mount Kanchenjunga (8,534m), the third highest mountain in the world. Lying between 27 to 28 degree North latitude and 88 to 89 degree East
longitude, it is barely 7,096 sq. km in size yet has an elevation ranging
from 224 m to 8,540 m above sea level in a distance of 110 km from North
to South and 64 km from East to West. The state’s about 64 km width is
squeezed between the mountainous kingdoms of Bhutan and Nepal to the east
and west respectively. The high plateau of Tibet lies 40 km to the north India’s
and state of Bengal to its south.
The various ethnic group has their own nomenclature for this enchanting
land – the Nepalese call it Sukhim or new home, while Tibetans refer to it
as Denzong or the valley of rice and to the Lepchas, the original
inhabitants of Sikkim, it is Nye-al-Ale or heaven.
Shrouded in heavy mist, the guardian deity Kanchenjunga protects the inhabitants of Sikkim. Omnipresent and mystical, Kanchenjunga finally yields to nature’s power and sheds its monsoon veil in autumn. Sikkimese celebrate this re-awakening with great pomp and ceremony during the Pang Lhabsol festival. Locals belief that great god created, from beneath the slope of this sacred mountain, the original man and woman from whom all Sikkimese descended.
Sikkim is conveniently divided into four regions – east, west, north and
south. The most populated area is the eastern part which includes the
capital town of Gangtok, followed by southern and western districts and
finally the sparsely populated northern area with its inhospitable climate
and steep ridges.
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