PERCHED 7500 feet above sea level on the majestic Himalayan range, Darjeeling oversees the world’s third highest snowcapped mountain, the Kanchanjunga. According to local myth, the death of Sati, wife of Lord Shiva, the third member of the Hindu trinity, caused the grieving deity to perform a frenzied cosmic dance till he was so exhausted that he fell into a deep stupor. Mount Kanchanjunga is believed to be the manifestation of the slumbering Shiva. If looked at carefully it is possible to envision the matted hair, forehead, eyebrows and lashes, nose, lips, chin, and neck in supine profile. And to watch the play of light and colours on the mountain during sunrise from the highest point – Tiger Hill – is awe inspiring indeed.

The Darjeeling hill tracts are predominantly populated by the renowned martial race of Indian Gorkhas. Though little is known of their origin, tradition has it that they are the descendants of Rajput emigrants who left Rajputana as a consequence of the Muslim invasions of the medieval kingdom of Chittor. These emigrants are said to have travelled north and settled in a small locality of Nepal known as Gorkha from whence they took their name.

Prithvi Narayan Shah who ascended the Gorkha throne in 1742, began a systematic expansion of his sphere of influence, finally becoming the sovereign of entire Nepal before his death in 1771. His successors continued the policy of expansion, incorporating Darjeeling belonging to Sikkim into the Gorkha kingdom in 1780. The Gorkha ambition was finally halted when expansion even further south led to a major clash of arms with the East India Company. In 1815, General Ochterlony commanding a contingent of sepoys pushed them back into Nepal, securing the borders of the two countries as they are today, once and for all.

A conglomerate of numerous tribes form the community of Indian Gorkhas who settled in Darjeeling. According to the records of 1947, Darjeeling town alone comprised of Lepchas, Butias, Mangars, Newars, Tamangs, Damais, Gurungs, Limbus, Kamis, Sunawars, Yakhas, Sarkis, and Ghartis belonging to the Hindu and Buddhist communities. Each of these sects have a unique ensemble of costumes, jewellery, armouries, musical instruments, songs and dances, handicrafts, paintings, and cuisines that will be of great interest to people with an anthropological orientation.

Consequently, numerous temples and monasteries in Nepali and Tibetan styles of architecture of interest to people studying building modes, were constructed in the hills. The most picturesque temple undoubtedly happens to be in Dhirdham. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, it was constructed by the King of Nepal in 1939. But the most esteemed is the Mahakal which is considered the gramdevata (community deity) by all the people of Darjeeling. On one side of the deity sits a Hindu priest chanting mantras while on the other is a Buddhist lama reciting prayers. The Yiga Cholang Monastery built in 1875 is the oldest of its kind in the Darjeeling hills. Visitors are welcome to all their daily rituals and living accommodation is provided in the monasteries for research students interested in lama Buddhism.

 

A few years after the Ochterlony war the British Indian government sent Lloyd and Grant, two officers of the Company, to inspect the military station then known as Dorjiling in 1829. By all accounts, Lloyd was instructed to negotiate with its owner – Raja of Sikkim – for acquiring the hill tract as a potential health resort. The negotiation culminated in the Raja making a grant deed in favour of the East India Company in 1837. A sanitorium was constructed for British soldiers which incidentally still exists.

Soon thereafter began the development of the township with numerous houses and hotels constructed basically in the hill cottage style of stone or wood with sloping tin roofs and square criss-crossed window panes, many of which can be seen even today. The oldest hotel is the Elgin. Amongst the private residences the earliest would be Vernon Lodge, while the most spectacular is the annexe of the summer palace of the Maharaja of Burdwan in which Swami Vivekananda sojourned for three months in 1897, working on his blueprint for the Ramakrishna Mission.

 

Following in the footsteps of the settlers arrived the Christian missionaries who founded numerous high quality schools and colleges, converting Darjeeling into an important seat of education. The most glamourous of these places of learning is undoubtedly Saint Joseph’s College of the Roman Catholic order, with Grecian columns and cuneiform windows enclosing an eye catching quadrangle at the centre. On the other hand the most well-known educational institute is Saint Paul’s School of the Church of Northern India, lauded as one of the best public schools of India.

For girls, the Loreto Convent was established by Jesuit nuns from Ireland. The Nobel laureate, Mother Teresa, started her career for the uplift of the destitutes from this institution. The impact of Christianity led to the construction of Saint Andrew’s Church which is considered worthy of being a national monument. Apart from the building itself, its interior still has all the original pews, the pulpit, the altar, the stained glasses, the organ, and the lamps.

To connect the hill town to the plains below, two roads were laid in mid-nineteenth century. The older one, constructed in the 1840s, is the Pankabari – Old Military Road on which people either trekked up, rode on mountain ponies, or were carried up in palanquins, braving the dangers of wild beasts populating the abutting jungles in numerous numbers. The adventurous can still follow the tracks through verdant forests and visit the old rest houses built for weary travellers, and see the remnants of a chimney of the first bakery created to help replenish their stocks en-route.

The second road, known as the Hill Cart Road, laid in 1861, has an easier gradient overlooking a vista of green tea gardens sloping down to the plains. Many world travellers claim that the view from this road is better than anywhere else in the world.

 

To enjoy the natural beauty of these hills with silvery mountain streams rippling down the hillsides, picnic spots and parks have been established in recent times. The most popular ones are the Rock Garden, Ganga Maya and the Nightingale Park where cultural programmes by the Gorkhas are performed for the tourists every day. Moreover, one can enjoy a leisurely picnic by the side of the lake at Jorepokhri, watching the antics of salamanders swimming gracefully in its crystal clear water. These rare water creatures resembling scaleless lizards with soft moist skins, have existed in this lake since the time of the dinosaurs.

Following the arrival of the settlers from the plains, experiments in tea growing showed that tea bushes grown in Darjeeling yielded the tastiest flavour in the world. The Himalayan heights, the gentle earth, soft mists, golden sunshine, and spring rains made the local brew exceptional.

Thousands of acres of forest were rapidly cleared for the plantations, making it the largest commercial enterprise in Darjeeling. Nowadays, with the encouragement of tea tourism, to spend a few leisurely days in a tea garden has gained in popularity. The two best-known tea resorts are Makaibari and Glenborne. It is a divine place for people interested not only in sipping the delectable Darjeeling tea in sylvan surroundings but also in birds, beetles, bees, butterflies and small animals.

For relaxation from their gruelling lifestyle in the plantations, the Planters Club was founded and housed in a heritage building at the heart of the town known as the Chowrasta. The Chowrasta shops are abundantly stocked with antiques, artifacts and local goods to delight the hearts of the ladies while their children enjoy a ride on mountain ponies around the mall: a circuitous walk through scenic surroundings.

To preserve the knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Himalaya, the Botanical Garden with its fabulous trees and plants was laid in the early years of Darjeeling’s development. Subsequently in 1903, the Natural History Museum came up with its comprehensive collection of birds, nests and eggs, local mammals, cats, red pandas, squirrels, snow leopards, beetles, snakes, moths, butterflies and insects.

 

Years later, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute was founded to commemorate the singular success of the ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay of Darjeeling, and encourage mountaineering as an organized sport. People from the age of fourteen upward can participate in the various adventure courses involving trekking, rock climbing, and mountain climbing. The institute houses an excellent museum with the largest collection of records of the Himalayan expeditions that took place in the 20th century. Tenzing Norgay’s own house doubles as a private museum displaying his personal effects, collection of artifacts and mementos. Adjoining the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute is the Darjeeling Zoo in which one can see a number of mountain animals and birds, among them the frolicking red panda and majestic snow leopard.

The other interesting museum belongs to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. The railway, constructed along the Hill Cart Road to transport passengers and tea chests to the plains, is popularly referred to as the toy train. It comprises small steam engines pulling tiny compartments on two feet narrow gauge tracks – a great attraction for train buffs who can experience the ride by chartering the entire train of thirty seats for Rs 25000 or take a short joy ride for Rs 250 from Darjeeling station to Ghum where the railway museum is located.

 

In 1999 the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was granted World Heritage Site status by Unesco. ‘The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is the first, and still the most outstanding example of a hill passenger railway. Opened in 1881 it applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problems of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty. It is still fully operational and retains most of its original features intact.’

Darjeeling is undoubtedly a dream destination. It is a pleasure to drive up on zigzagging roads through majestic pine forests in the midst of gigantic mountains flecked with multicoloured flowers and bushes, and occasional blossoming trees that merge into a sky of milky blue radiance to be finally confronted by the awesome sight of the snowcapped Kanchanjunga. Once there the senses are titillated by the stimulating admixture of Gorkha and Tibetan ethnic cultures along with a graceful lifestyle inherited from the British Raj. Much more than a place to escape from the Indian heat, Darjeeling offers a unique experience.