Himalayan Times (1954)

October 24, 1954 ■ ir.

LEPCHA FOLK DANCES

( Continued from page 7 )
raised to the forehead,
with tl.e first finger bent
a little, and, pointing for
ward to represent the
beak of the bird. The
girls stand in. a line with
one hand stretching back-
ward, to represent the
snake's tail, while the
other hand stretching for-
ward, with all the five
fingers bent a little, and
raised up from the wrist,
and pointing forward to
represent the hood of the
snake. The dancing con-
sists of moving to and
fro, hopping here and
there, and going through
the pantomime of two
rivers meeting together
and flowing together to
the plains. The song sung
with this dance are simple
Joys and sorrows of the
two rivers and often stri-
king a pathetic note.

'Pasyu Lyon-Guru-Tak'
(History)

An action dance. In
the days of yore when
Lepchas defended them-
selves from the on rush
of the Bhutanfse at Pa-
ling Fort \'M\ miles frrm
Kalimpong now in. ruins)
fair maidens kept up the
spirits of the gallant figh-
ters high by keeping com-
pany and by entertaining
tnem. The songs sung
have reference to the
tragic historical events at
Daling Fort connected
with the life of 'GaeBu

Achook', the Lord of
Tamsang. The tunes ere
melodious and pathetic.
'Yaba Lok1 (Mysticism)

Depicts the yaba dance,
one of the dances in
connection with Lepcha
mysticism—after dancing
for quite a while the yaba
•gets into a irance and
starts to foretell future
or to speak out the sec-
rets of the dead etc.

Though the rural Lep-
, chas have been able to
preserve some of its folk
dances in all their fresh-
ness and vigour, yet th^re
are visible signs of its
becoming a sort of a ' lost
Horizon". To , preserve
this rich—legacy is not
only the bounden duty of
the Government but the
Lepchau also. Preserva
tion and protection of the
Lepoha folk dances, folk
tunes, and folk instru-
ments, and collection and
P'eseivation of folk cos-
tumes is very essential.
To encourage the revival
of the Lepcha dances, th-y
should be. invited as the
other tribes of India to
perform their folk dances
and songs in the Republic
Day Festival of Folk
Dances at New Delhi. lh>*
Lepcha artistes should
also be invited to make
disc recordings of their
songs and music, and
broadcasted from the All
India Radio, in folk songs
programme. The prepe-.
ration of suitable docu-

SRI T. WANGDI
VISITS TINDHARIA

Tindharia, Oct. 22

Sri T. Wangdi, iJcpmy
Minister of 1'ribal Wei tare
and excise ' Department,
Govt, of West Bengal,
visited the Tamang Bu-
dhist Monastery and the
Junior High School, Tin-
dnaria. ..

The Deputy Minister
also witness- a dramatic
performance on the 14th
mst. where he.addressed a
mass meeting. A sum of lis.
250/- was granted by him
for the mairitainance of
the - hall.' .• .

On the • morning of
15th Oct. Sri Wangdi met
the representative of School
and Budhist Association
of Tindharia, - and held
discussion with them about
•their welfare and the.ways
and means of improvement
of the institutions.

Next - he inspected the
Junior High- School.where
he. was warmly received
by the students .and the
sjhool scouts gave him a
Guard of Honour.' Hetfe
he granted a sun1 of Rs. ■
150/: to be equally dis-
bursed among six mentioua
and deservi.ng poor, 'stu-
dents.
. {Continued oit page 10)

mentary film depicting'
. Lepcha's Folk ' life, songs '
and darces- will be best
way both' to popularize
and preserve this national
heritage,