Sikkim's own histories tell that in the seventeenth century three Tibetan lamas of the Nyingma school travelled into Sikkim from different directions: Lhatsun Chenpo from the north, and two others from the west and south. They met at Yuksom, and the place took its name from that meeting.
Guru Padmasambhava was said to have foretold that a man from the east named Phuntsog would rule the land. The lamas sent messengers east and found Phuntsog Namgyal, a descendant of a Tibetan prince, near Gangtok. In 1642 they crowned him at Yuksom as the first Chogyal, the righteous king, beginning a dynasty that lasted until 1975.
The coronation is remembered at Norbugang, where a stone throne stands under a tall pine, with a chorten nearby said to hold earth and water from across Sikkim. A footprint in the stone is shown as that of Lhatsun Chenpo. The water of Kathok Lake, a short walk away, is still used in state and royal rituals.
Yuksom remained the capital until 1670, when the court moved to Rabdentse near Pelling. The village slipped back into quiet farming life until trekkers began passing through on their way to Dzongri in the twentieth century.
Sources
- Yuksom (Wikipedia)
- Phuntsog Namgyal (Wikipedia)
- Told locally in Yuksom
Legends are retold differently from village to village. Where a story is told locally rather than written down, we say so.
