Lepchā

Lepchā, people of eastern Nepal, western Bhutan, Sikkim state, and the Darjeeling district of West Bengal in India. They number about 46,000 (11,000 in India; 25,000 in Sikkim; and 10,000 in Bhutan). They are thought to be the earliest inhabitants of Sikkim, but have adopted many elements of the culture of the Bhutia people, who entered Sikkim from Tibet in the 14th century and afterward. The Bhutia are mainly pastoralists in the high mountains; the Lepchā usually live in the remotest valleys. While some intermarriage has occurred between the two groups, they tend to stay apart and to speak their own languages, which are dialects of Tibetan. Neither group has much to do with the Hindu Nepalese settlers, who have entered Sikkim since the 18th century and in the late 20th century comprised about two-thirds of the population.

The Lepchā are primarily monogamous, although a married man may invite a younger unmarried brother to live with him and share his fields and his wife. Occasionally, also, a man may have more than one wife. The Lepchā trace their descent through the paternal line and have large patrilineal clans.

They were converted to Tibetan Buddhism by the Bhutia, but still retain their earlier pantheon of spirits and their shamans, who cure illnesses, intercede with the gods, and preside over the rites accompanying birth, marriage, and death.

Traditionally hunters and gatherers, the Lepchā now also engage in farming and cattle breeding.