According to Iman Sigh Chemjong in his Brief History of Kirat Period Bijaypur, a Kiranti Pradesh called Bijapur once ran from the Trishuli River to the Teesta including Western Sikkim. It included the present day Darjeeling District and the sub division of Siliguri. Darjeeling then fell into Pallo Kirant As the decades rolled by, the kingdom broke up and the present day Darjeeling tract fell under Sikkim till it was conquered by the Gorkhas of Nepal. The Gorkhas held this tract of land for thirty years. They finally surrendered it to the Britishers after the Sigauli Treaty of 1815. There after in 1817 Darjeeling was again given back to Sikkim under the Titaliya Treaty of 1817. Sikkim held it till 1835 when Col. Loyd under suspicious circumstances got the Deed of Darjeeling Tract from the Rajah of Sikkim. Against this deed the Britishers paid an annual rent to the Rajah of Sikkim.
Kharsang, Kurseongguree and now Kurseong, connotes three different explanations. Kharsang, home of the Lepchas, for them Kurseong was the land of the White Orchids that hangs from every moss covered branch. Kurseongguree for the Gurkhas of Nepal a frontier post in the Far East and Kurseong the anglicized version of the native name by the first white colonials.
It is wrong to assume that Darjeeling and its sub division began with the advent of the colonials. The land was a very big mass of alpine forests dotted with fast flowing ravines and people did live in it but they were small in number and scattered about. Lepchas, Kirantis, and other ethnic Gorkhas did live in this land before the colonials. It was only when the Old Military Road (1839) and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1879) reached Darjeeling town that the numbers began to swell from adjoining areas and Darjeeling district as of today began. One ought not to believe solely the accounts left by white botanists or mercenaries. To cite an example, for J.T. Pearson, the Medical Officer of Darjeeling (1839) the Lepchas were useless as domestic hands while for another Captain Herbert, they were heroes equaling the ablest European. (Note on Darjeeling, J.T. Pearson).
Kurseong located at an altitude of 4,864 feet and in 26-53 north Latitude and 88-17 east Longitude as said by the eminent writer Mark Twain is the point where India ends and Central Asia begins. And Kurseong from its modern day inception has its very own rugged mongoloid spirit. It was a town by chance not by design. It forced itself on its planners. The railway authorities Under Major Lindsay, the manager of East Bengal railway had planned to extend the railway line from Jalpaiguri (there was no railway line to Siliguri) to Adlapore. From there they would run a narrow gauge railway to Panighatta and up the valley (and below Hope Town) to Darjeeling. Hope Town below present day Sonada was built in anticipation of the narrow gauge passing through it
Kurseong though small has had its fair brushes with the local and national history. The first Nepali Literary magazine ‘Chandrika’ was published from Kurseong and still is in circulation. Recently it celebrated its centenary. The first Nepali novel too came out from Kurseong from the hands of Pratiman Singh Lama. It was here in Tindharia, that Rabindranath saw the himalyan clouds that would refrain in many of his works in his later period. It was also at Giddhapahar, where Subhash Chadra Bose was interred for a brief period of time. And at Giddaphar, Junga Bahadur Rana, the founder of the Rana Dynasty of Nepal, is said to have worked incognito as a labourer during the construction of the railway track.
In the technical and engineering field, Narbhup Rai along with Padma Sunder Malla started the Faji Hydel Electric Project in 1933 and started supplying electricity to Kurseong, without British assistance or expertise. Narbhup Rai was a graduate in Electric and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, U.S.A. while Padma Sunda Malla was a product of the University of Pennsylvania. Of present times, Madhusudan Giri, the erstwhile Principal of Darjeeling Polytechnic Principal was a part of the Indian delegation that went to France to finalise the deal of the French Mirage aircrafts.
In the field of sports, it is the home of C.S. Gurung the Hockey Olympiad who was a part of the victorious Indian team at the Helsinki Olympics.
From 23rd August 2007, Kurseong has once again been pushed into the international map by the setting up of Darjeeling Himalayan Headquarters in its vicinity.
Lastly the revolution that ignited the hearts and stirred the imagination of many a Gorkhas settled in India and abroad, began in Kurseong. And if I say from Kurseong, Sikkim can be seen, very few would believe; but then on a clear day, take a pair of lens and go to the zero point at Bagora, you will see Guru Padma Sambhava smarting at your face. Such is Kurseong…
This entry was posted on September 3, 2008 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Essays, HB EXCLUSIVE, Historical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Thus Kurseong was born…
By Philip Rai, Kurseong
According to Iman Sigh Chemjong in his Brief History of Kirat Period Bijaypur, a Kiranti Pradesh called Bijapur once ran from the Trishuli River to the Teesta including Western Sikkim. It included the present day Darjeeling District and the sub division of Siliguri. Darjeeling then fell into Pallo Kirant As the decades rolled by, the kingdom broke up and the present day Darjeeling tract fell under Sikkim till it was conquered by the Gorkhas of Nepal. The Gorkhas held this tract of land for thirty years. They finally surrendered it to the Britishers after the Sigauli Treaty of 1815. There after in 1817 Darjeeling was again given back to Sikkim under the Titaliya Treaty of 1817. Sikkim held it till 1835 when Col. Loyd under suspicious circumstances got the Deed of Darjeeling Tract from the Rajah of Sikkim. Against this deed the Britishers paid an annual rent to the Rajah of Sikkim.
Kharsang, Kurseongguree and now Kurseong, connotes three different explanations. Kharsang, home of the Lepchas, for them Kurseong was the land of the White Orchids that hangs from every moss covered branch. Kurseongguree for the Gurkhas of Nepal a frontier post in the Far East and Kurseong the anglicized version of the native name by the first white colonials.
It is wrong to assume that Darjeeling and its sub division began with the advent of the colonials. The land was a very big mass of alpine forests dotted with fast flowing ravines and people did live in it but they were small in number and scattered about. Lepchas, Kirantis, and other ethnic Gorkhas did live in this land before the colonials. It was only when the Old Military Road (1839) and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (1879) reached Darjeeling town that the numbers began to swell from adjoining areas and Darjeeling district as of today began. One ought not to believe solely the accounts left by white botanists or mercenaries. To cite an example, for J.T. Pearson, the Medical Officer of Darjeeling (1839) the Lepchas were useless as domestic hands while for another Captain Herbert, they were heroes equaling the ablest European. (Note on Darjeeling, J.T. Pearson).
Kurseong located at an altitude of 4,864 feet and in 26-53 north Latitude and 88-17 east Longitude as said by the eminent writer Mark Twain is the point where India ends and Central Asia begins. And Kurseong from its modern day inception has its very own rugged mongoloid spirit. It was a town by chance not by design. It forced itself on its planners. The railway authorities Under Major Lindsay, the manager of East Bengal railway had planned to extend the railway line from Jalpaiguri (there was no railway line to Siliguri) to Adlapore. From there they would run a narrow gauge railway to Panighatta and up the valley (and below Hope Town) to Darjeeling. Hope Town below present day Sonada was built in anticipation of the narrow gauge passing through it
Kurseong though small has had its fair brushes with the local and national history. The first Nepali Literary magazine ‘Chandrika’ was published from Kurseong and still is in circulation. Recently it celebrated its centenary. The first Nepali novel too came out from Kurseong from the hands of Pratiman Singh Lama. It was here in Tindharia, that Rabindranath saw the himalyan clouds that would refrain in many of his works in his later period. It was also at Giddhapahar, where Subhash Chadra Bose was interred for a brief period of time. And at Giddaphar, Junga Bahadur Rana, the founder of the Rana Dynasty of Nepal, is said to have worked incognito as a labourer during the construction of the railway track.
In the technical and engineering field, Narbhup Rai along with Padma Sunder Malla started the Faji Hydel Electric Project in 1933 and started supplying electricity to Kurseong, without British assistance or expertise. Narbhup Rai was a graduate in Electric and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, U.S.A. while Padma Sunda Malla was a product of the University of Pennsylvania. Of present times, Madhusudan Giri, the erstwhile Principal of Darjeeling Polytechnic Principal was a part of the Indian delegation that went to France to finalise the deal of the French Mirage aircrafts.
In the field of sports, it is the home of C.S. Gurung the Hockey Olympiad who was a part of the victorious Indian team at the Helsinki Olympics.
From 23rd August 2007, Kurseong has once again been pushed into the international map by the setting up of Darjeeling Himalayan Headquarters in its vicinity.
Lastly the revolution that ignited the hearts and stirred the imagination of many a Gorkhas settled in India and abroad, began in Kurseong. And if I say from Kurseong, Sikkim can be seen, very few would believe; but then on a clear day, take a pair of lens and go to the zero point at Bagora, you will see Guru Padma Sambhava smarting at your face. Such is Kurseong…
This entry was posted on September 3, 2008 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Essays, HB EXCLUSIVE, Historical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
thank you very much for the brief