Sikkim (Sik)

Nep: सिक्किम sikkim

‘New Palace’

From Lim: su, ‘new’; and Lim: khyim, ‘palace’.

The name Sikkim is usually traced to Limbu, from su ‘new’ and khyim ‘palace’. A local tradition holds that the state’s first ruler built a new palace and asked his Limbu-speaking wife to name it — a story whose very ordinariness is part of its charm. Like many Himalayan toponyms, what sounds poetic in translation may once have been simply practical.

For most of its history, Sikkim was not a “state” at all but a small Himalayan kingdom, ruled from the seventeenth century by the Chogyal dynasty. Wedged between Bengal, Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet, Sikkim connected the Himalayan plateau and the North Indian plains, serving for centuries as a trading route for people, goods, ideas and religious practices.

British influence arrived in the nineteenth century, followed after independence by increasing Indian involvement. In 1975, after a referendum and the abolition of the monarchy, Sikkim became India’s twenty-second state.

This multi-ethnic state has a lot to boast about: 4 countries on its borders (Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and India/West Bengal); 12 official languages [English, Nepali, Sikkimese, Lepcha, Gurung, Limbu, Magar, Mukhia, Newari, Rai, Sherpa and Tamang]; 3 major religions [Hinduism (58%), (Tibetan) Buddhism (27%) and Christianity (10%); nearly 700 species of butterfly; 227 high-altitude lakes; 80 glaciers; and being the first 100% organic state in the world.

Further reading: SIKKIM – India’s Himalayan borderland

For more on Indian place names and history, see Toponymy on the Ashoka Express

For a journey through tribal India and Sri Lanka, see Headhunting with Marguerite

States of the North East Region (NER) and their capitals.