The fascinating splendor of Gorubathan has its unique
history. It is said that a soldier from Chhentang who was a follower of Kabir
Panth happened to come to Gorubathan and cited couple of patriotic lines. He
uttered two words in his citation Gubbathok and Lameykan. Gubbathok a language
of Lepcha’s. Lameykan which was said to be
a country’s of Lepchas. Combining Gubbathok and Lameykan together the word
Gorubathan Came up. Gorubathan was also thought to be a dense
forest area. Wild ox (Goru, in Nepali) used to graze in this forest thus
overtime this area obtained a new name for itself and that is Gorubathan. It is
said this is how the Gorubathan got its name. (Courtesy : Mr Daya Das Rai, 83 years)
Gorubathan Tar
Gorubathan Tar
.
Gorubathan Tar is famous for seeing sunrise and sunset.
Locals dependent on rain water for the cultivation. There is an open field
called Daak Bunglow. It was a Bungalow built by Britishes later on decimated
for it had not been given any notice.
Gorubathan Tar
Kabir Panth Religion came into Gorubathan 124 years ago from
Mirik, brought by two men Gani Das Rai (Bachhana)
Upper Fagu,Gorubathan
Mayalu Busty ,Gorubathan
and Rup Das Rai (Namdung). This was the first religion to come to Gorubathan.
In 1905 Missionary T.E Taylor started first primary school
in Gorubathan Tar. It was from then that he begun to propagate Christainity in
Gorubathan and to its surrounding areas.
In 1939 Father
Franchischan established Catholic Church. He even worked from Maria Busty to
Gorubathan Tar in health sector, treating destitute and downtrodden.(Courtesy : Mr William Phipon)
There is Lepcha Stupa which is more than 200 years old.
Tamang Monastery in Neem Busty
Hello I'm from gurubathan n I'm so delighted to see this site
ReplyDeleteHello I'm from gurubathan n I'm so delighted to see this site
ReplyDeleteI am from Bhutan and I would like to share to you some stories about Gorobhatan and its neighboring places of Samshing, Kalingpong, Pedong and the Duars.
ReplyDeleteUntil 1865, a fort in Dalingma, adjacent to Gorubhathan was a gate-way frontier to western Bhutan under the Governor-Ponlop of Paro. Dzongpon of Daling Fort administered Bengal Duars and south western territory of Bhutan starting east side of river Teesta that includes Pedong, Kalingpong till Totopara.
Bhutan ceded three of its main southern frontiers of Daling-kha in the west, Buxa fort at Sunkosh Raidak, Dewang giri in the east whose administration stretched till river Dhunsiri near Guhati to Britain in 1865 after the two nations fought the war. Kalimpong was made as the next retreat center for British government after Darjeeling who British have annexed from Sikkim in the early 1800s. After the Anglo-Bhutanese war of 1865 the forts of Daling, Buxa and Dewangiri was crumbled down by the British so that Bhutanese could never come to reclaim its past glory. However British have always acknowledged the territories captured from Bhutan and later when relation became better, British have returned some portions of land in Kalimpong to Bhutan as the resident of the then upper chamberlain to the King of Bhutan, Gongzim Kazi Ugyen Dorji, who was that time the foreign minister and ambassador of Bhutan to Britain. The place is known as Bhutan house and until road network penetrated to Bhutan, that is till 1960s, the southern parts of Bhutan was administered from Bhutan House in Kalimpong by the Gongzim.
Before British left India in 1947, 80 square kilometers of Dewangiri was returned back to Bhutan as a gesture of respect to the King of Bhutan. Just to let you know, that Bhutan was compensated in the form of money by the British for capturing Bhutanese Duars and its administration forts that includes Daling in 1965.
I can say that, territories which I am talking about were Bhutanese at one point of time and people of that area are still Bhutanese.
However we understand that demographic pattern of the population, people and religions were greatly changed after British have converted all the territories captured from Bhutan to tea gardens, where extensive tea gardeners were brought from various parts of India.
One thing that people quickly forget is the history of the place that they live in. I have not seen Darjeeling media houses and tourism officials of West Bengal writing histories and facts of the places.
As a fact, the southern foothills of the Himalayas has Mongoloid settlements as far as 2000 years plus and not known where they originated from. Mentioned by renowned anthropologists.
I hope this small piece of article helps trail history of gorubhatan in case visitors and youngsters wants to know.
Karma Dhendup.