Sunglung

My name is Tanzin Palkit. My village is Sunglung.  At one time, Sunglung had only one house. Then a man came from nearby Lhalung and built another house. Once a wolf entered the house and killed many goats.

A view of Sunglung from the Lhalung road.

In front of my house there is a “Shukpa tree”.  A Shupka tree has a good fragrance. If we make it dirty, it will cause sores on people’s skin. In Sunglung there is a village god that is both for Sunglung and Lhalung. The village god is represented by a "lato" of stone, horns and branches. When People invite the village god they make an offering of wine toward the village god's lato. The lato is situated on a small house. There is a deep cave above my house. It was once occupied by the local god's priest, who the god would at times possess. When the priest was possessed the people of the villages could communicate with the local god through the priest. People in Sunglung light a lamp before tilling and ploughing the fields. They do this for a better crop. In earlier days there was lack of water in the village though Lingti River flows below the village. This river is smaller than it used to be. There was a water wheel used for making sattu, barley flour. People from Lhalung and Rama also came to Sunglung to make sattu. 

 A STORY ABOUT LARA          

My name is Nawang Chhodon and I am from Lara. I am writing a story about my village that I was told as a child. This is a very old story. 


In olden days Lara used to be a big  village. Above the village there was a lake. One year the people of Lara failed to do the puja in Komik Tanggyut Gompa. And, they also did not return items belonging to the monastery. Soon after the lake suddenly burst and all the houses in Lara were washed away except one. People now call that house “Takto” which means “like a rock”.

Takto house in Lara.

Teacher Tanzin Dawa exploring Takto house.

In olden days Lara had 100 houses. At that time it was called “Lara Gyatong” (Gya=100). Now Lara has 14 houses. I do not know whether the story is true, but this is what I was told.

A view of Lara from Takto House.