Rai Bahadur Norbu DhondupOBE, CBE

Rai Bahadur Norbu Dhondup

Photographer

Frederick Spencer Chapman
Year 1936

Rai Bahadur Norbhu Dhondup OBE, CBE (1904-1947) was the confidential clerk to the British Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. He was born in Kalimpong and had no aristocratic connections but in school in Darjeeling was chosen to be an interpreter for Colonel L. A. Waddell during the Younghusband Expedition of 1903-1904. When Youngshusband left Lhasa he refused to go with him as he was engaged to a Tibetan girl and was treated as a deserter. However, he was used by the British as an interpreter again when the Panchen Lama visited India in 1905. He then served as confidential clerk to the British Trade Agent in Gyantse and the Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. In 1920 he accompanied Sir Charles Bell to Lhasa and in 1923 visited again with Leiut.-Col. Bailey. In 1927 the 13th Dalai Lama made him a depön (general) in the Tibetan army. In 1928 he organized and accompanied Leiut.-Col. Weir’s visit to Lhasa and in 1934 was ordered to Lhasa to counteract the Chinese Mission. Following the death of Frederick Williamson in Lhasa in 1935, Norbhu became Gould’s confidential clerk for the 1936 Mission. He reported that his life had been endangered numerous times by Russian and Chinese agents during his trips to Tibet but pledged, “I… shall not die before I murder at least two, as I have my rifles and my pistols always loaded”. Gould writes of him “his greatest asset was the fact that he was a man who had no guile in him. He was full of life and experience and he was trusted. The only time I ever saw him put out was when I told him that it was not customary to wear both O.B.E and C.B.E. decorations at the same time. Some years later, an hour before he died, he sat up in bed and called the doctors fools for suggesting that he was ill… He had little education, lots of common sense, a ready laugh and infinite guts”.  Norbhu died in 1947 of tuberculosis.

The information and picture about Rai Bahadur Norbu is collected from http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk

An Old Family Photograph of the Tibetans

Being a great admirer of past, to bring together old pictures from all the available sources has become a kind of ardor for me. The old pictures not only provide us information about our past but serves also as a bridge to block up a huge bay between the precedents and current. I have got this picture at http://oldindianphotos.blogspot.com. The picture with this post belongs to an unknown Tibetan family probably taken by some British Officials during their stay at Darjeeling or in some other parts of the Himalayas. The most important feature for me in this picture is the apparel of the Tibetan family. The lady is wearing a typical Tibetan dress (Bakkhu and Hanju) and her male counterpart is wearing a dress which does not bear a Tibetan feature. The upper garment he is wearing is a woolen Coat generally worn by the North Indians and the lower garment looks like a Suruwal of the Nepalese. Another interesting thing here is a turban worn by the male member which also was not a part of the Tibetan culture. Turbans were in vogue in India since Ancient period and even today it is greatly admired by rural India.  I have never seen any Tibetans wearing such attire in Sikkim or Darjeeling. Even during their exile in India they are wearing their traditional attire with the same pride as it had in Tibet.

The divergent feature of the picture puts me in a confusion to reach to a tangible conclusion. So what was it? Was it an acculturation? 

Antique picture of Bhutia Coolies

The picture is of Bhutia Coolies probably taken by some British officials in 1875. I  got this vintage picture at http://oldindianphotos.in and has simply magnetized  me. From the attire of the people on this picture there is no doubt to ascertain that they were the coolies who were probably working for some construction tasks initiated by the British. The most attractive thing which has dragged my attention on this picture is the Doko they are carrying on their back. Doko is a typical Nepali contrivance used by them in the earlier period to carry grass and fire wood and is now widely used not only in Nepal but in the entire Himalayan belt. To carry the said items the Bhutias used a similar type of contrivance which has a different shape. From this, it becomes clear that the picture was not taken in Sikkim, Bhutan or Tibet as the Nepalese were allowed to get into Sikkim a bit later. Hence, the picture of the Bhutia Coolies was possibly taken in Darjeeling and they are carrying Doko due to the influence of  Nepalese in Darjeeling.

A Rare photograph of Lepcha Bhutia and Nepali.....

This is a rare photograph of three ethnic groups of Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalaya which is being preserved by Das Studio Darjeeling since a long time. These kinds of document are few ladders from where we can reach to the past. It really makes us miserable when we are not capable to get it from our own state. I am not getting regionalist nor have I ever supported this evil perception. But, this is the veracity of our state where one has to depend upon other states to get information about Sikkim. May be this is the first instance about the matter. After the Indian independence, people of Sikkim were clamoring for democracy which they finally got in 1975. Now it seems that our people are satisfied, they do not need those documents because for them it is a dead past. However, being a great admirer of history of this forgotten kingdom I sometimes ask myself…Where are those documents and accords which were signed between India and Sikkim? Where are those Royal Decrees issued by the Sikkim Durbar?  Where are other priceless credentials of Sikkim? Very few of them are available in National Archives, NIT Gangtok and a small number of them are at the Sikkim State Archive.But, what about the rest?  Did an independent kingdom of Sikkim only have a handful of papers? I have a hesitation to say, but, I believe that they are still in the possession of erstwhile super class of Sikkim and it is very tough for a present meager to get them....

(Pic. L-R Lepcha, Nepali and Bhutia village men in their traditional attire)

Trade in the Pre-Independent scenario- Sikkim and Darjeeling

The photograph in the inset is once again a long preserved historical document (courtesy the Das Studio Darjeeling) which is shared with me by Mr. Dweep Subba, a student of B.A. III semester of Namchi Government College. This is a photograph of a Sikkimese Carpet Seller probably of 1910's taken at Darjeeling. The person in the photograph is a typical Bhutia or Tibetan as his dress suggests. These traders used to bring carpets from Darjeeling to Sikkim and then they used to send it to Tibet. The British provincial Estate of Darjeeling had then been the centre of trade and commerce of the places like Kalimpong, Kurseong, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal. Tradesmen from Nepal, Bhutan and many other neighbouring places used to come to Darjeeling to attend the Sunday HAAT (Market) to have their trade dealings. This is to be cited here that they used the Silk Route which connected Kalimpong with Tibet via Sikkim for their trading purpose. The background of the photograph shows one portion of Darjeeling which seems to be comparatively developed in the then scenario. The posters and hoardings written in English suggest that Darjeeling was a pioneering place to amalgamate with the English language. The photograph itself is a testimony to the fact that technological instruments like camera, electricity, and, of course, the system of photo developing marked the advancement of Darjeeling in comparision to other adjacent places.

The Bridge over the Rungeet- The Life-line of Sikkim and neighbouring British Provinces.

This photograph of the old bridge has been shared with me by my student Dweep Subba of B. A. IIIrd Semester (Eng. Hons). The Picture was taken by Das Studio, Darjeeling in the 1880's. The bridge was a life line towards Sikkim during those days. It is to be noted here that Colmon Macauley has also talked about the existence of a similar kind of bridge over River Rungeet between the Kingdom of Sikkim and British province of Darjeeling while he was going to Tibet for a trade mission. Probably this might be the bridge which Macauley had crossed while heading towards Sikkim in the 80's of the 19th century. The bridge was made up of bamboos. It became the main way of transportation of the British when they caught hold of the politics of Sikkim. Probably, via this way only the British came to Sikkim to stabilise the political upheavels poised by the then Sikkimese monarchy. This bridge played a vital role in the treaty of 1861 between Government of Sikkim and British India if it is the same bridge which has been referred upon. In the photograph, we can see a couple of Britishers along with one or two local who might have been the porters to carry their loads towards Sikkim. Certainly, the bridge bears a historical value in the context of Independent Sikkim and its relation with the British India. Das Studio, Darjeeling obviously deserves special sense of gratitude for having preserved such an important photograph and we are greatly indebted to the owners.