A Nepalese woman wearing purple headscarf and nose ring holds a baby [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
2 of 41
Shinglay Lama beats on large drum near Singhik, Sikkim [January 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
3 of 41
Smiling schoolchildren in Gangtok, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
4 of 41
King Palden Thondup Namgyal at his coronation in Gangtok, Sikkim [April 1965].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
5 of 41
A man dances while wearing a ceremonial mask [January 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
6 of 41
A young woman walks with a small child on her back [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
7 of 41
Princess Suang La wears a headdress and necklace [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
8 of 41
Prince Palden (second from left) makes silly faces with friends [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
9 of 41
The royal family looks on during coronation ceremony of Palden Thondup Namgyal and Hope Cooke in Gangtok, Sikkim [April 1965].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
10 of 41
Two brothers laugh by their horse [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
11 of 41
Photographer Alice Kandell poses with a villager and his horse [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
12 of 41
Two Lepcha women in traditional clothing in Singhik, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
13 of 41
Boys studying how to paint religious pictures [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
14 of 41
Masks of different deities in Gangtok, Sikkim [January 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
15 of 41
The Queen of Sikkim accepts the traditional white scarf during her coronation [April 1965].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
16 of 41
Schoolchildren raise their hands in classroom [February 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
17 of 41
King of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, and Queen of Sikkim, Hope Cooke, walk to the Tsuklakhang Main Temple for the King's birthday celebration in Gangtok, the kingdom's capital [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
18 of 41
Women use hoes to work the mountain fields in North Sikkim [between 1965 and 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
19 of 41
Rinchen Namgyal Lachungpa and his wife drink millet beer at home in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
20 of 41
The Jorbu family children sit with their mother by the hearth in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
21 of 41
A mother nurses her child in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
22 of 41
Princess Hope Lezzum [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
23 of 41
Poh, a shaman, performing a ritual to heal a sick child [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
24 of 41
Birthday parade for the King of Sikkim in Gangtok, Sikkim [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
25 of 41
School children line up for the birthday parade in honor of King of Sikkim Palden Thondup Namgyal in Gangtok, Sikkim [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
26 of 41
Lamas spinning prayer wheels at old Rumtek Monastery [April 1965].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
27 of 41
Two men secure wood logs on a yak's back [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
28 of 41
A mother pours yak tea from the churn into a pot in hearth at the Jorbu home in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
29 of 41
A monk plays a large drum in a monastery in Lachung, Sikkim [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
30 of 41
A Nepalese woman works with blue dyed wool [May 1971].`Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
31 of 41
The Black Hat Lama and men stand around offerings at a New Year's ceremony [January 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
32 of 41
Princess Hope & Queen Hope in their palace [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
33 of 41
The queen and prince of Sikkim playing outdoors [December 1965].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
34 of 41
The Black Hat Lama throws a religious sacrifice into fire to destroy evil for the New Year [February 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
35 of 41
King of Sikkim Palden Thondup Namgyal stands next to soldier on his birthday in Gangtok, Sikkim [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
36 of 41
Shinglay Lama and his grandchildren sit in haystack near Singhik, Sikkim [January 1969].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
37 of 41
The headman of village, Pipon, drinks out of a cup as he sits with children in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
38 of 41
A woman and boy from the Jorbu family farm in a field next to a fence [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
39 of 41
A woman spins a hand spindle while seated on the floor across from another woman carding fibers in Lachung, Sikkim [between 1965 and 1979].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
40 of 41
A woman carrying wood on her back and a man carrying vegetation in basket walk down a road in Lachung, Sikkim [May 1971].Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs/Library of Congress
On April 6, 1975, Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last ruler of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim, was practicing his morning ritual when short rapid bursts of machine gun fire broke through his palace windows.
Running to the window, he saw 5,000 Indian soldiers pour out of army trucks and surround his palace. A 19-year-old guard lay dead at the main gate. This was the first casualty of India's forced annexation of the -- now -- lost Kingdom of Sikkim.
The Indian army took 30 minutes to capture the entire 243-strong palace guard, who chanted "May my country keep blooming like a flower" as soldiers shoved them into trucks.
By 12:45 PM, the Kingdom of Sikkim ceased to exist. Founded in 1642, it was one of the last independent tribes in some of the toughest terrain on Earth, and it survived all the way until 1975.
Yet the writing was on the wall. RAW, India's premier foreign intelligence agency, had been laying the groundwork for capitulation since 1971 and the tiny kingdom had been a tributary to India -- meaning India controlled Sikkim's defense forces and external diplomacy -- since the late 1940s.
Foreign propaganda convinced the Sikkim population to abolish the monarchy in a disputed referendum less than ten days after the siege. Considering that the Indian army moved more than 100,000 soldiers into a kingdom with fewer than 200,000 inhabitants in the days before the vote, it makes sense that 97.55 percent of voters approved the measure.
The subsequent Indian prime minister, Morarji Desai, later regretted and criticized the annexation, but at that point it was too late. The once independent Buddhist kingdom had become the 22nd Indian state.
Years before that, Palden Thondup Namgyal granted one American professor, Alice Kandell, access to photograph inside the kingdom that no one knew was about to disappear forever.
In 2010, alongside the former Queen of Sikkim, Hope Cooke, Kandell presented her photographs in a lecture featured below.
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.
Citation copied
COPY
Cite This Article
Kuroski, John. "Inside Sikkim, The Lost Kingdom Of The Himalayas." AllThatsInteresting.com, February 2, 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/sikkim-kingdom. Accessed February 2, 2025.
