Namgyal dynasty of Sikkim

The consecration at Yuksom

In 1642 three lamas from Tibet consecrated Phuntsog Namgyal as the first chogyal — dharma king — at Yuksom in western Sikkim, establishing a Buddhist monarchy over a country whose original inhabitants were the Lepcha, with Bhutia settlers from Tibet. The blood-brotherhood pact between the Lepcha chief Thekong Tek and the Bhutia leader Khye Bumsa, which the tradition places earlier, is the founding compact between the two communities.

The kingdom lost territory to Nepal and Bhutan over the following centuries, and the capital moved from Yuksom to Rabdentse to Tumlong and finally to Gangtok.

British and Indian protection

The British obtained Darjeeling from Sikkim in 1835 and, after the detention of two British officers, took further territory and imposed a protectorate. Nepali migration into Sikkim during this period, encouraged for revenue reasons, changed the demographic balance decisively: by the twentieth century the Nepali-speaking population was the majority in a kingdom whose ruling institution was Bhutia and Buddhist.

Sikkim became a protectorate of India in 1950, with India responsible for defence and external affairs and the chogyal retaining internal government.

1975

Agitation for representative government, led by parties drawing on the Nepali-speaking majority, culminated in 1973–75. The chogyal's position collapsed, the assembly voted for merger, and a referendum in April 1975 recorded an overwhelming majority for abolishing the monarchy and joining India; Sikkim became the twenty-second state.

The referendum's conduct and the extent of Indian involvement have been questioned, and Palden Thondup Namgyal, the last chogyal, never accepted the outcome. Whatever view is taken, the event has a particular place in this census: with Sikkim's merger the last reigning dynasty in the subcontinent ceased to rule, ending a political form that had been continuous since the Vedic janapadas.