Sikkim is no state in 1200.
Its valleys are the country of the Lepcha (Rong, 'the people of the ravine'), who on the Sikkim page hold the Teesta valleys, part of Ilam, the Har and Ammo Chu valleys of south-west Bhutan, and the east up to the Chumbi valley; the Limbu are in the west. The Lepcha are divided into clans (putsho), each honouring its own sacred lake and mountain peak (en Wikipedia, Lepcha people), and most keep an older nature religion of the Mun. Legend gives them a first king, Thekung Adek, who unites the tribes in the seventh century, and another, Pano Gaeboo Achyok; neither is dated.
The Bhutia settlement from the north (the page's tradition of Guru Tashi of the Minyak house, who settles in Chumbi in the thirteenth century) and the Chogyal of 1642 are later. Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the southern Lepcha country, are on the Northern India sheet.
Who holds it
- Name
- not known; legend names Thekung Adek (seventh century, en Wikipedia, History of Sikkim) and Pano Gaeboo Achyok (undated, en Wikipedia, Lepcha people)
- Title
- Lepcha clan headmen (panu)
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Both pages call these figures legendary or undated; no Lepcha chief of 1200 is named.
What it holds
Allies and rivals
The Limbu on the west; the Mon valleys of Bhutan and the Chumbi valley on the east and north.
How things stand that morning
Lepcha clans under their own headmen; no chief of the year named.
Wealth
No source we could open gives figures; the usual base is estates and serfs, herds, pass tolls, trade in salt, wool, tea and barley, and the gifts of patrons.
Military
No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.
Customs
Mun (animist) religion with Buddhism over it; clan structure with sacred lakes and peaks; patrilineal, largely endogamous (en Wikipedia, Lepcha people).
Assemblies
not described.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1201 to 1300 (the 13th century; century only)Guru Tashi, a prince of the Minyak house of Kham, settles in the Chumbi valley and begins the line that leads to the Sikkim kings (tradition).Depends on: The most popular account on the Sikkim page; no year given. Stopped by: None applies in 1200.
- 1642The first Chogyal of Sikkim is crowned at Yuksom.Depends on: The line of Guru Tashi's descendants and Lhatsun Chenpo's mission. Stopped by: Not applicable in 1200.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Two Wikipedia pages, largely tradition. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.
On the map: Sub-district polygon; Darjeeling and Kalimpong are not drawn here.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.