Rabdentse Ruins: A Living Heritage in Sikkim

Garima Thakuria* and Shankar Narayan Bagh

Rabdentse is an archaeological site near Pelling in Geyzing district of Sikkim. It is a historical treasure of the seventeenth century where ruins of the palace and the chortens/ manes or stupas are visible at present. The palace ruins today remain as one of the most iconic monuments in Sikkim, as well as in the Indian Himalayas. The ruined walls and floors of the crumbled palace at Rabdentse today serve/ symbolise as a sweltering testimony of the past opulence and power. Rabdentse, also considered as the Machu Picchu of India, is both a sacred place and a historical monument in the contemporary times. The site is decorated with khatag or khada, which is basically a traditional silk scarf used in Tibetan Buddhism to offer respect during rituals and ceremonies. Besides being a religious site, it also has continued to be a secular place as it itself speaks about the history of the region in volumes. Through this paper, an effort shall be made to understand how and why the Sikkimese worship and offer khatags at Rabdentse and how the ruined palace has become a living heritage of the state. The archaeo-anthropological methods will also perceive how knowledge dissemination of the historical events speaks about the Chogyal kingdom and their reign, the reasons of the shift of the capital from one place to another and the treaties in order to negotiate the troubles by the invaders.