The Limbu of western Sikkim: a short history

Who the Limbu are

The Limbu call themselves Yakthung and their language Yakthungpan. Their homeland, Limbuwan, is usually described as running from the hills of eastern Nepal across into western Sikkim, and Limbu families have lived on both sides of the Singalila ridge for centuries. In older Sikkimese and Tibetan sources they are called Tsong. The Wikipedia article on the Limbu people, which cites census data, puts their number in Sikkim at around 60,000 in 2011.

Soreng district is one of the places where this heritage is closest to the surface. In the 2011 census figures for the area now forming the district, summarised on Wikipedia's Soreng district page, Limbu is the mother tongue of about 14 percent of people, second only to Nepali, ahead of Lepcha, Sherpa and Tamang. Walk through villages around Soreng, Daramdin and the slopes below Barsey and you will see Limbu surnames on shop boards, hear Limbu spoken at home and, at the right time of year, see the harvest festival of Chasok Tangnam.

This guide is a short, careful introduction, not the last word. Limbu history is told differently by different writers, and much of it lives in oral tradition. Where accounts disagree, we say so, and we list our sources at the end.

Tsong in the old kingdom

The most widely repeated explanation of the name Sikkim, given in the Wikipedia article on Sikkim, is that it joins two Limbu words: su, new, and khyim, house or palace. The new house is usually taken to be a palace built by an early ruler. It is a reminder that the Limbu were part of the story from the start.

When the Namgyal dynasty took shape in the 17th century, its founding idea, as summarised in Wikipedia's articles on Phuntsog Namgyal and the History of Sikkim, was Lho-Mon-Tsong-Sum: the unity of the Lho (Bhutia), the Mon (Lepcha) and the Tsong (Limbu). Histories of the kingdom describe agreements that recognised Limbu chiefs and gave them a degree of autonomy. The phrase is still used in Sikkim today to describe the three communities seen as the state's oldest.

Relations were not always easy. The 18th century in particular saw conflict between the Sikkimese court, Limbu chiefs and the expanding Gorkha kingdom of Nepal, and Limbuwan was eventually divided by the border that still runs along the Singalila ridge above Barsey.

Sirijunga and the Limbu script

The Limbu have their own script, often called the Sirijunga script. Limbu tradition, recorded on Wikipedia, credits its first form to a Limbu king named Sirijanga Hang many centuries ago, and its revival to the scholar Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe, born in 1704 in what is now Taplejung district of Nepal.

Sirijunga travelled through Limbuwan and Sikkim teaching the script, the language and Limbu religious knowledge. According to the Wikipedia article on him, which draws on Limbu historians, he was killed in about 1741 at Hee-Martam in western Sikkim, on the orders of monastic authorities who saw his work as a threat. This is a painful memory for many Limbu people, and Sirijunga is honoured today as a teacher and martyr. Accounts differ in detail, and visitors should approach the subject with care.

The script survived. It is taught in schools in Sikkim, has its own block in the Unicode standard, and appears on signs, calendars and books produced by Limbu cultural bodies. Sirijunga's memory is kept alive each December, when Sikkim observes Teyongsi Sirijunga Sawan Tongnam with songs, speeches and performances by Limbu organisations. If you are in the district then, it is a good time to hear the language spoken and sung in public.

Mundhum, priests and Yuma Sammang

The Limbu religious tradition centres on the Mundhum, an oral body of scripture, history and ritual knowledge recited by trained ritual specialists such as the phedangma. Wikipedia describes the traditional faith as Yuma Samyo or Yumawad, after Yuma Sammang, the ancestral mother goddess to whom first harvests are offered. In the 20th century the reformer Phalgunanda founded the Satyahangma movement, which is followed by many Limbu families today.

Many Limbu households are also Hindu, Buddhist or Christian, or combine practices. Community temples, called mangheem, stand in several villages; if you would like to visit one, ask locally whether visitors are welcome and when. Rituals for birth, marriage and death, and for healing, are still led by Limbu ritual specialists in many families, often in the home rather than a temple, and are usually private occasions.

Key dates, with sources

Some dates in Limbu history are firm and some are traditional. The table below sticks to those you can check in the sources listed at the end of this guide.

Chasok Tangnam, dance and food

Chasok Tangnam is the Limbu harvest festival, traditionally held on the full moon of the Limbu month of Senchengla, in late November or December. The first grain of the season is offered to Yuma Sammang and the ancestors before anyone eats it; chasok refers to that offering and tangnam means festival. Sikkim marks it with a holiday, observed on 15 December in recent state holiday lists, and community grounds fill with food stalls, speeches and dancing. A second December holiday, Teyongsi Sirijunga Sawan Tongnam, honours the scholar Sirijunga with cultural programmes; it fell on 23 December in the 2026 list. Dates can change, so check current status before you travel.

Two dances you may see are the chyabrung drum dance, in which dancers carry and beat a long two-headed drum while stepping in patterns, and the dhan naach or paddy dance, a slow, linked-arm circle dance with sung verses, traditionally performed after the harvest.

Limbu food has given the hills two well-known things. Tongba, warm fermented millet sipped through a bamboo straw from a wooden vessel, is described on Wikipedia as a traditional and ritual drink of the Limbu. Kinema, fermented soybean with a strong smell and deep flavour, takes its name, according to Wikipedia, from a Limbu word. Ask in a Limbu homestay and you may find both on the table, alongside rice, greens and pickles.

Visiting with respect

Sources used here, all checkable: Wikipedia articles on the Limbu people, Sikkim, Phuntsog Namgyal, History of Sikkim, Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe, Limbu script, Chasok Tangnam, Tongba, Kinema and Soreng district; the Sikkim Official Languages Act, 1977, as amended in 1981; and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 2002. For deeper reading, look for books by Limbu scholars published in Sikkim and Nepal, and ask at your homestay: many Limbu families keep their own histories.

• Ask before photographing people, rituals and festival dances; some rituals are private
• Do not touch ritual objects, drums or offerings without being invited
• At festivals, follow local guidance on where visitors may sit or stand
• Avoid labelling customs as strange or old-fashioned; they are living practice
• Buy books, calendars or crafts from Limbu cultural bodies where you see them