Nga Dak Monastery once a Palace of Pende Ongmoo

Nga-Dak Monastery at Namchi

Nga Dak Monastery is situated 2 Kms above Namchi that offers substantiation about the early Namgyals in a most voluminous manner. It was primarily constructed as a palace for the most disastrous Princess of Sikkim Pende Ongmo (Pendi Wangmoo) by King Chagdor Namgyal (Tensung Namgyal?) in or around 1700 AD. This edifice has tolerated two major jolts in the recent years and amidst nudges, the structure is yet standing and updating the times of yore of the early Sikkim in general and the Namgyals in particular. Nga Dak is a Tibetan word that corresponds to “promise”. Apart from abhorrence, the monastery also symbolises a struggle for supremacy between Princess Pende Ongmoo and Chagdor Namgyal that took place in the 2^nd decade of the 18^th century. 

King Chagdor Namgyal succeeded his father Tensung Namgyal at the age of 14 in 1700 AD. Soon after his succession, trouble arose between him and his half sister Pendi Ongmoo, who claimed that she was entitled to the throne. Pendi Ongmoo, whose mother was a Bhutanese, approached her maternal relatives for help and invited Bhutanese force to attack Sikkim to evict her brother. As a sequel to this, the Bhutanese attacked Rhabdentse, the then Capital of Sikkim and the areas adjoining to the Capital remained under Bhutanese for more than seven years. The young King was rescued by Yugthing Teshi, a loyal Councillor who took him to Lhasa via Elam and Walong in Nepal. The King remained in Tibet for eight years leaving everything rampant in his Kingdom.

Room where Pende Ongmoo was executed 

Chagdor returned to Sikkim accompanied by a Tibetan named Jigmed Pao and began to consolidate his position in Sikkim by driving out the Bhutanese elements from Sikkimese territories. Under the guidance of Lama Jigmed Pao, Chagdor accomplished the construction of Pemiongchi monastery, one of the oldest and most famous monasteries in Sikkim. The monastery consisted of 108 monks including the Raja himself who was an ardent Buddhist. The most significant works of Chagdor Namgyal include Changa-Yig, a book on monastic discipline, Rong-Chham, a religious dance in the honour of the Takpoo or war like demons and he is also credited of the designing of Lepcha alphabets.

An old wooden printing system preserved at Nga Dag 

Pendi Ongmoo, the King’s half sister however, was not solaced and the anomaly between them continued and culminated into a crisis. She conspired with a Tibetan physician to kill the King and to secure her position on the Sikkimese throne. During a visit to Ralong hot spring in 1717, Pende Ongmoo insisted the physician to open the main artery of the King which eventually caused the death of Chagdor Namgyal. After the death of the King, a force was sent to Namchi to execute the princess. The doctor was granted a fierce death by the Sikkimese ministers. Likewise Pende Ongmoo was put to death with a silk scarf inside a room of the Nga Dak palace.The place is also known as Pende Lhaptse and it needs a serious attention of the concerned officials for its preservation. 

Pictures of Namchi Government College Relief Team taken at Bey

Team above River Kanaka

We crossed more than 12 Landslides

Carrying material was a difficult task

Simon Rai carrying relief materials on the adverse way

Tilak- Waiting other members after crossing 10th Mile Landslide

Taking rest on the devastated path

Crossing the most dangerous way

Jeet- Busy in making strategy 

Phurba crossing the barrier 

Above River Kankai

Roads- Brush off by the Landslide

Rope a small means to reach Bey. It was tighten by the mountaineering team

Humanism through Learning

Devastation Everywhere

At 4t Mile Relief Camp 

Post Earthquake Pictures of Bey

Attrition and Abrasion on the Mountains

A Hut on the way to Bey

Relief Team of Namchi Govt. College crossing the adverse way to Bey

From Bey Village

Landslide after the earthquake at Bey

Materials left by the villagers during wobble 

Bey- Once a Paradise has now become a Land of Melancholy

A Rocky Mountain above the village of Bey

Lakit: The Smiling Daughter of Bey

This landslide has swept the house of Lakit

We have been hearing many “narratives” of Sikkim Earthquake since its occurrence on September 18^th. The spectators, or we may say the narrators, whosoever they may be, exaggerate the events in such a way that the real things remain behind curtail because of their overstatement. I also have heard similar exaggerated narratives from some people after the earthquake. Few people of my village Assam Lingzey told me that it is “impossible” to reach some places like Sakyong, Thulung and Bey in North Sikkim due to the massive landslides. They were very much correct in their sayings and possibly they were averting me from going there in the midst of Dasain. It was a challenging task for all of us to reach there. But, as we reach there the “narratives” were different. In fact, we had a face to face contact with the vinegary realities of earthquake in Bey.

A cloth pack left by the villagers at Bey

We were already aware from the fact that the village called Bey in north Sikkim has been abandoned by the villagers and they were now living at a Relief Camp at Char Mile. Even though, we decided to go there to see the enormity of the huge shake which has thrilled the entire state of Sikkim. In the evening of 7^th October, a native of Lingzya had come to our camp at the Panchayat Bhavan of the village. He told us about the death of a 16 years old girl at Bey due to the landslide after the earthquake. She was Lakit Lepcha, a student of Class VII of Lingzya Jr. High School. She was a smiling and a beautiful child and was staying at Lingzya with her friends. On 18^th September which will be remembered as a “Black Day” by every Sikkimese in the coming days, she asked her friends to visit her house at Bey to have Momo (a traditional Tibetan dish mostly popular in the entire Himalayan region). Her friends refused to go with her and they stay back at Lingzya. After their refusal she took a small boy from Lingzya to her house at Bey. Her brother, a saw puller (I have forgotten his Name) who was working at lower Dzongu, had also come to his house. When the earthquake occurred, the brother-sister duo was preparing Momo for the evening. After a few seconds of the earthquake the mountain above their village fall down with a huge spark (possibly occurred due to rubbing of the rocks) and swept the house of Lakit leading her to bury inside the debris of her house. Her smiles, her happiness, her containment and cheerfulness were also buried along with her in the wreckage  of her house.  The small boy, who accompanied Lakit on her way to Bey, fortunately was at another house where a Puja was going on. The second house remains untouched and many other villagers of Bey survived.

Relief Team of Namchi Govt. College on the way to Bey

After hearing this account about Lakit, I decided to meet the surviving members of her family. They had come to Bey to lift Dhaja in the name of those who lost their lives in the catastrophe of September 18^th. Her surviving family members (I did not have the courage to ask their relation with Lakit) cried in front of us while telling about her. The family has lost almost all of its members. Five people including Lakit lost their lives at Bey. Three bodies had been recovered, but they could not find the bodies of another two people.

After hearing about the untimed and a most unfortunate demise of Lakit, every person in our team got tearful. The account about the smiling daughter of Bey is not an overstatement as we have been hearing; it is undeniably a heartbreaking fact of the September 18^th. I wanted to acquire more information about her from Lingzya.  After our arrival from Bey, I met a student of Lingzya Jr. High School and asked her about Lakit. She told me that Lakit was her senior and was a pleasant and a kindly girl. On 8^th of October, we left Lingzya and proceeded towards Singtam for Namchi. Everybody in our team was silently praying for the soul of the Smiling Daughter of Bey to rest in peace.