The University of Calcutta has partnered with Darjeeling Government College for the protection and promotion of the Lepcha language through literary translation, particularly targeting texts that reflect the intellectual, cultural, and historical legacy of the indigenous community in the hills of Bengal and Sikkim.
Experts associated with the project noted that Lepcha literature embodies deep intellectual and philosophical traditions rooted in Tibetan Buddhism, while also chronicling India’s colonial encounters and the oral histories of indigenous people in the eastern Himalayan region, including parts of Nepal and Bhutan.
M.A. students and research scholars from the university’s Department of Comparative Indian Language and Literature participated in a workshop last week at Darjeeling Government College. Titled Mountain Melodies: Translating Lepcha Texts, the workshop marked the first in a proposed series and sought to introduce the language and its cultural world to audiences beyond the Himalayan belt.
“Darjeeling is a multilingual, multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan literary site, and one should look at it beyond travel, tourism and tea. There should be a space for acknowledging its identity, culture and speeches of various ethnic communities living there. Darjeeling is originally the land of the Lepcha people and the word ‘Darjeeling’ also comes from the Lepcha language,” said Mrinmoy Pramanick, who represented the university at the workshop.
