Himalayan Times (1954)

Eight

'GAEBU ACHOOK, THE
LORD OF TAMSANG"

(Continued from page 6)

■expected to kill a man
with every arrow. Besides
the large conscription, the
aged men and women,
boys and girls, and mo-
thers wjth babes all came
out boldly to help him-
So with the help and
assistance of these vast
people, firstly 'he built
the fort of ' Tamsang Gri",
as his capital, as it .is
now pronounced 'Damsang
•Gurrhi' about '8 miles away
to the north from Kalim-
pong now in ruins. Then
■he built . another fort
:named 4 Fyung Gri", just
•on the top of a hillock,
■over • 6th mile, Peshoke
,Road on Darjeeling side.
The third fort, was built
near ' Rung Po and named
it ".8avorig Dang Gri".
From. this fort, he mar-
ched boldly against the
Tibetan king of Sikkim,
and- said to met him
near the present town of
Pakynng, in Sikkim. When
the two armies were drawn
up for • battle, Gaebu
Aohook told his soldiers,
"now I have brought you
to the threshing floor, let
me see how you can
dar ee" meaning, I have
brought you to- the battle
field, let me see how
bravely you can fight. As
he shouted out his com-
mand to oharge, the Lep-
«ha soldiers drew out
their awords and arrows

in a twinkling, and raising
the loud shrill cry of
"Aya-Ho-Ho, Aya-Ho-Ho!"
which was their war cry,
the shout with which the
Lepohas always began
battle, foil upon their
enemies. A great battle
was fought and they slew
a very great number of
enemies; the remainder of
the Tibetan army fled to
all directions seeing the
huge number slain by the
Lepcba soldiers. He re-
gained the village and
the strong fort of ' Pak-
yung Gri"-, making this
fort as his headquarters,
Gaebu Achook again attac-
ked the enemies, defeated
them in several combat?,
chased them almost enti-
rely back to "Tumlong
Gri" the then capital of
Sikkim. The Tibetan king
finding himself no match
against Gaebu Achook and
his army, established a
trf Aty with him promising
that henceforth, he wctdd
not treat, torture and exer-
cise much severity upt n
his country men, and also
would not come over to
Kalimpong and Darjeeling
Bide, crossing river 'Rong-
Nyu' and 'Hong-Bet' as
they are now pronounced
Teesta and Rungeet. Thus
he returned triumphantly
back to "Tamsang Gri",
his capital.

Now he intended to
drive the Bhutanese out
of Kalimpong and so after
a thorough survey of the

November 21, 1954

strategic places, he built
the fort of "Daling Gri",
as it is now pronounced
Dalim Gurrhi", which is
about 36 miles away to
the east from Kalimpong
now in ruins, and he pla-
ced a large garrison. It
was built upon a large,
lofty and deep precipitious
rocky hill, having lofty
rocks on the one hand,
and on the other deep
precipices, overhanging the
raging river "Chel". It
was a, perfectly secured
fort, almost inaccesible as
no one could attack except
from the front, and by a
very difficult path. When
the Bhutanese learnt about
Gaebu Achook's plan, they
attacked upon the foit
and it is said that when
the Bhutanet>e wtre attac-
king from the narrow front,
the Lepcha soldiers above,
killed swarms and swarms
of the Bhutanese armies,
merely by rolling down
heavy a lories and by shoo-
ting down poisonous ar-
rows over their heads.
From here, Gaebu Achook,
fought many a combats
with the Bhutanese army,
defeated tjht m, cbasc d them
almost entirely out of
Kalimpong, regained the
villages and lands of which
they had possessed th> ni-
sei ves, and regained for a
time the complete freedom
of the country. He even
marched into Bhutan and
laid many villages waste,

{Continued- on page 10)