Dongkhung Nima, patriarch of Lhoen Drokpas, passes away

ANNA BALIKCI DENJONGPA
GANGTOK, 19 Feb: Today, Sunday, was the funeral of Dongkhung Nima (born Wood Rat year 1924-5), the grand old patriarch of the Lhoen Drokpas [the “Southern Yak-herders”], the Tibetan yak herders who have grazed their yaks on the Sikkim side of the border with Tibet in North Sikkim for generations. At 88 years of age, he was the oldest of the Lhoen Drokpas in Sikkim. The Lhoen Drokpas are a group of 12 families who graze their sheep and yak in the Tsho Lhamo-Guru Dongmar area in winter and in the Lasher-Phalung area in summer, six months on each side.
Dongkhung Nima spent his life in the cold desert of the Tso Lhamo-Guru Dongmar region above Lachen, weathering severe winter conditions at altitudes above 5000 meters while, until recently, taking care of his 700 sheep and 300 yak.
His was one of the harshest lifestyles known to mankind. In the old days, he used to trade up to Gyantse before the border closed in 1962. Most of the Drokpas still living in the region are his sons, daughters, nephews or are somewhat related to him. Dongkhung Nima will be remembered as the grand old man of Dongkhung, who, even in mid-winter, sickness and old age, consistently refused to leave the vast and magnificent expanses of his home, the cold desert of Tso Lhamo.
May his soul rest in peace.