The Lepchas are an indigenous people living in Sikkim who call themselves as Rong, derived from the Lepcha word Rongkup or Rumkup meaning ‘the children of snowy peak/ the children of God’. The Kanchenjunga is revered by the Lepchas and they have known it as Konchen Kongchlo, the ‘original big stone’ from where they have originated. Thus, stones have been a necessary part of Lepcha traditional community since time immemorial and they have the culture of erecting stones on different occasions. Such erected upright stones are known as longtsaoks, derived from the Lepcha words, long meaning stone and tsaok meaning hard as well as known as megaliths in archaeology. This culture of longtsaoks among the Lepchas for generations show resemblance with the megalithic culture practiced by numerous communities of the world including the Karbis of Assam, the Khasis of Meghalaya, many Naga communities of Manipur and Nagaland, the Hrussos of Arunachal Pradesh as well as the Mizos of Mizoram among others. For the Lepchas, the longtsaoks are sacred symbols associated with some important events and erected as markers to commemorate those special occasions. The divinity of these stones lies in every act of venerating, worshipping and invoking the gods, in appeasing the devils and demons as well as in sanctifying the worldly acts of the Lepchas. These longtsaoks are either standing as single stone or in clusters of three, seven or more stones. This can be found in the contemporary Lepcha society in celebration of festivals and events like Lho Rum Faat where a longtsaok is erected and worshipped as Konchen Kongchlo even though there are numerous challenges faced by the community like the influence of other religion. Through this paper, an attempt would be made to understand the tradition of megalithic culture among the Lepchas from an ethno-archaeological perspective.
