________________
356
Lepcha Character
The writing (Fig. 160, 3-4, and 161) employed by the Rong, the aboriginal population of Sikkim, a native state in the eastern Himalayas, is also of Tibetan origin.
The Rong are called also Lepchas-this term being a Nepalese nicknameor Rong-pa, "dwellers in the valleys," or Mom-pa, "dwellers in the low country." They number about 25,000; their speech is a non-pronominalized Himalayan language, belonging to the Tibeto-Burmese sub-family; they are probably of Mongolian race. Because of their promiscuous sexual relations and innate addiction to drink, their disappearance as a distinct race is said to be only a matter of time. What civilization and literature the Lepchas possess, they owe entirely to the Tibetan form of Buddhism, generally known as Lamaism, which is believed to have been introduced into Sikkim about the middle of the seventeenth century by Lha-b-Tsun Chhen-po, a Tibetan title meaning "the Great Reverend God," the patron-saint of Sikkim.
(For the Lepchas see John Morris, Living with Lepchas. A Book about the Sikkim Himalayas, London, 1938.)
رم - ** ** ** م و مه سه له ی 5 =
ka
THE ALPHABET
May kha
gla mg(a) cha chha
pha
20 30 3 r(a)
A NO 10 MG F ***
10 (4) pa (a)
fa fla
ba Na
(a)
ja
ha
wyw
hla
22 a az fara r ) a) 2329
mla
(0)
م - سس 4 + ۱ در ۳۰ «« ٤٤ **
ta
tha
9
キャノ
da
BAAGH
42-12 12 1
tsha
ht 204
Fig. 161-The Lepcha character
Two (or four, when marked *) signs are given for each akshara, the first being employed in print, the second being used in current hand. In the akshararas thus marked, the final signs are also shown, which are very much abbreviated, and generally consist of little dashes, commas, circles, etc.
The Lepcha character (Fig. 161) seems to have been invented or revised by the Sikkim raja Chakdor Namgye, Phyag-rdor rnam-gyal (b. 1686). Peculiar features of this character are the vowel-signs and the final marks of eight consonants (k, ng, t, n, p, m, r, I), which consist of dashes, dots and small circles, and are placed above or before the preceding letter.
