Daramdin: Where Faith and Folklore Meet

IN DARAMDIN, ANCIENT LEPCHA MYTHS AND FORESTED TRAILS CONVERGE, CREATING A VILLAGE WHERE MEMORY, FAITH, AND LANDSCAPE COEXIST SEAMLESSLY

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On my last morning in Sikkim, I met an old man sitting by the roadside in Daramdin, watching the mist drift over the hills.

When I asked about the flatlands below, he smiled and said, “That's where our people once tried to build a stairway to heaven.” He spoke of the Lepchas, who stacked clay pots one over another until the tower almost touched the sky, only for a misheard word to bring it crashing down. Some say the fallen pots formed the three ridges now called Maney Bhanzyang, Kaizalay Bhanzyang, and Reling Bhanzyang.