MONGOLIAN COMMUNITY

Mongolian Mystery of Kalimpong unraveled

By Sandip c. Jain

Kalimpong down the ages have been a magnet attracting royalties, aristocrats and noblemen from all round the world – Prince Peter of Greece & Denmark, the Roerichs from Russia, the Burmese Royalty, the Afghan Prince, the Bhutanese royalty and several others have made Kalimpong their own in different periods of the towns not so long history. The period starting the early 1940’s till the mid 1960’s especially was one where Kalimpong came to be known for attracting several many of very high quality people from across the globe. Besides the royalty and noblemen, the town also became a favoured destination for scholars and learned men from all quarters of the world and hence it was natural that the common folks from across the globe too followed them here. The Chinese had a large presence here so did the Tibetans and to a smaller extent the Burmese, but this comes as no surprise considering the geographical location the town occupied being bang in the center of the India –Tibet(China) trading route. What definitely is surprising is that Kalimpong also had a large presence of people from a land far far away with which it had no geographical boundaries and no known direct contacts- the far off land being Mongolia which besides being thousands of Kilometers away also has several countries between itself and Kalimpong.

The story of their presence actually lies intermingled in a complex web of international and national politics as well as religious beliefs and the changing world order of those times.

The Mongolian community in Kalimpong during the middle of the 20th Century was actually a miniature version of those existing in Tibet before the Chinese invaded the ‘Roof of the World’. The movement of the Mongol community towards the Darjeeling Hills, more specifically towards Kalimpong, was forced by the forcible occupation of Buddhist Tibet by Communist China.

Mongolia & Buddhism are said to have a very long association, infact even during the times of the great Chinggis Khan and his grandson Khubaili Khan, Buddhism is known to have had its presence in parts of Mongolia if not the whole of the country-a lull followed. It was during the times of HH Sonam Gyatso the 3rd Dalai Lama, the highest ranking Lama in the Gelupa school of Tibetan Buddhism, that Buddhism actually took firmer roots in Mongolia. In 1578, a meeting between the 3rd Dalai Lama and Altan Khan actually led to Buddhism laying a stronger foundation in the whole of Mongolia. It is said that it was in this meeting that the title of ‘Dalai Lama’ was first conferred upon the head of the Gelupa Sect of Tibetan Buddhism and he is known as such till date. Thus started the active interaction between the Mongols and the Tibetans.

Many in Mongolia having embraced the teachings of Buddha became Monks and traveled to Tibet to study the religion and master its holy scriptures. The interaction was not limited only to religious affairs only- trade too opened up between the two countries and hence a regular two way movement between the two countries commenced.

Over a period of time the Mongol monks came to establish their presence wherever a larger body of Tibetan Buddhist community existed. Gradually over a period of time several leading Buddhist institutions of Tibet like those in Kambum, Labrang, Dre-pung and others created a special section specially for Buddhist monks and scholars from Mongolia.

Mongolians, whether scholars or monks or just ordinary pilgrims, called both Tibet and India as “Burhanil-Oran” meaning ‘the land of the Buddha’. Those who traveled to Tibet usually extended their travel into India and visa-versa. This very vibrant interaction between Mongolia and Tibet and to a smaller extent India lasted till the very early part of the 20th Century. Then came the storm… in 1911 the Chinese nationalist movement overthrew the Manchurian Empire which had ruled China, Mongolia, Tibet and other Central Asian countries. Outer Mongolia too soon managed freedom from the Manchurian rule though Inner Mongolia still was in a politically unstable state. Communism soon established its hold over China & Russia and believers of Buddhism as also other religions soon found themselves in a position where their very own country was inhospitable to them and not conducive for them to follow, propagate or practice their own religion. Many of these monks and scholars made a beeline for Inner Mongolia where the communists still had not stuck roots. In 1940 when Inner Mongolia too was overrun by believers of the communist ideology, these monks and scholars had to plan another escape- this time the exodus was towards Tibet. Lhasa soon was teeming with monks from Mongolia, both with the newly arrived ones and also with those who were there from earlier times.

Experience had made the monks from Mongolia wiser and hence even before the Chinese(read Communists) actually entered Tibet, the Mongolian monks saw it coming and fled to safer havens into newly formed secular India where religious freedom and tolerance was probably more than in any other country of the region. Those of the Mongolian monks who stayed behind in Tibet eventually made their way into India in the footsteps of the present Dalai Lama who entered into India in 1959 and took up home in Dharamsala.

Upon entering India, the Mongolian monks who traveled with their Tibetan counterparts found the Hills of Darjeeling ideally suited for their stay. Being in the middle of the trade route to Tibet, Kalimpong with its ideal climate and conducive intellectual environment attracted a large number of monks and scholars into in. Infact even before 1959, Kalimpong already was home to several many highly regarded scholars, monks and religious leaders from across the world. It had already acquired a name for itself as an academic centre for Himalayan & Tibetan studies.

The influx of so many foreigners also infamously and unfairly earned Kalimpong the name of “a nest of spies”. In 1959, the then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for the first time in a interview with the US bases Time magazine called Kalimpong as a nest of spies. Though research now shows that the Peking(Beijing) based daily “Peoples Daily” probably was the first to call Kalimpong ‘a nest of spies’ and that probably Nehru just picked it up from there.

The Mongols who settled down in Kalimpong were mostly monks though later many married, some within the community while others to Tibetans and they eventually formed a community within Kalimpong. The community thus formed was a small though the talent it possessed was quite admirable and enviably. It consisted of some very highly regarded scholars and academics, very high ranking Lamas, religious leaders and noble families. Kalimpong gained immensely from scholars like Lama Chimpa, Da-Lama, Rigzin Wangpo, Geshe Wangyal, Geshe Kaldan, Geshe Agwang Nima and several others. Lama Chimpa (see box) who still is a resident of the town living in the Madhuban area of the town, has worked with the great Russian scholar George Roerich and helped him in compiling the Tibetan- Sanskrit dictionary. He also had a long association with Viswa Bharati University in Shantineketan (Bolpur) which was set up by Rabindranath Tagore. Another Mongolian scholar, Rigzin Wangpo, who was the son of a Buryat Mongol who was an Electrical engineer and who help set up the first electrical network in Tibet, was a Kalimpong bases scholar, writer, poet and journalist. Infact some of his works were published in Himalayan Times in the 1950’s.

The Chinese always viewed Kalimpong as a hotbed of Political activities against it. Sadly India and Nehru to took a similar view and so following the India-Sino conflict of 1962, all those who were viewed as controversial persons and whom the government thought would be hindrances to the Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai concept, were forcibly removed from Kalimpong and relocated to special settlements in Mussorie which is now in the state of Uttaranchal. Gradually the community in Mussorie migrated to different places many to the West, in search of greened pastures.

But the pull of Kalimpong was too strong for people like Lama Chimpa who after working in different institutions in India for more than three decades came back to settle down in Kalimpong with his wife and still resides here till date.

His contributions along with those of several other Mongol scholars and monks will always be something Kalimpong will be proud to be associated with.

References:

www.intermongol.net

www.rmaf.org.ph

www.american-buddha.com