Rinchenpong is a town in

West Sikkim Gyalshing District or Geyzing District is a district of the Indian state of Sikkim. Its headquarter is Geyzing, also known as Gyalshing. The district is a favourite with trekkers due to the high elevations. Other important towns include Pelli ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is situated in West Sikkim, about 123 km west of

Gangtok Gangtok is a city, municipality, the capital and the largest populated place of the Indian state of Sikkim. It is also the headquarters of the East Sikkim district, Gangtok District. Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an e ...

, 47 km due south of

Gyalshing Gyalshing or Geyzing is a city, located in Gyalshing district or Geyzing district in the Indian state of Sikkim. It is administrative headquarter of district. The town is connected to the capital Gangtok by a metalled road. Geyzing is also con ...

, close to the village of

Kaluk Kaluk is the small village located in the Himalayan foothills of West Sikkim, near the West Sikkim capital of Gyalshing in East India. Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, is visible from Kaluk. It is one of the windiest places in Si ...

. It sits at an altitude of 5576 feet (1,700m). It is known for the Reesum Monastery and trekking routes. Near the town is the site of a historical battle between the forces of the then ''Chogyal'' (King) of Sikkim and the invading British forces. The Lepcha tribesmen used a concoction of unidentified herbs to poison the only water source, a lake (local term : ''pokhri''). As a result, more than half of the British forces were killed, which stopped the British invasion and resulted in an accord. The lake remains poisoned even to this day and is known as ''bikh-pokhri'' locally (poisoned lake). The region's local language is Nepali, Lepcha, Bhutia, Hindi and English. The area's height is 5576 ft., and postcode is 737111.

Tourism

Richenpong is a well-known tourist spot in

, because of the view of the mountain ranges seen from here. It is also a place famous for 2 of the oldest monasteries in Sikkim, Reesum Monastery and

Rinchenpong Monastery Rinchenpong Monastery is situated above the twin villages of Rinchenpong ( Richenpong) and Kaluk in West Sikkim, at a height of over in the northeastern state of Sikkim, India. This 18th century monastery is a popular tourist attraction in West ...

. Both were built around 17th to 18th century. Rinchenpong Monastery is the 3rd oldest monastery in Sikkim, starting with around 98 lamas. The monastery houses a rare Ati Buddha (Adi-Buddha) statue in the Yab-Yum position. Ati Buddha, also termed as The Primordial Buddha is said to be the true Buddha, symbolically represented as a naked Buddha in blue. In the Yab-Yum position, the Buddha is shown meditating while embracing a woman. In Buddhism it signifies the power of union of the male and female. It is even said that the 1913 Nobel laureate

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

once visited this place and wrote a poem for his book

Gitanjali __NOTOC__ ''Gitanjali'' ( bn, গীতাঞ্জলি, lit='Song offering') is a collection of poems by the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature, for the English translation, Gitanjali:''Song Offer ...

, titled

Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo "Where the mind is without fear" ( bn, চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, ''Chitto Jetha Bhoyshunno'') is a poem written by 1913 Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. It represents Tagore's vision of a ...

, later translated to English by him titled Where The Mind Is Without Fear. There is a viewpoint above Rinchen Chholing Monastery, named Rabindra Smriti Van honoured in the name of him. This viewpoint is filled with

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

and some other seasonal flowers. The tourism scene is active here since 2005 to 2006. The two of the oldest hotels here are

Hotel Norlha A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and

Hotel Rinchenpong Nest A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. It is a silent scenic place for everyone to quit from there busy life and stay for a couple of days for the refreshment. One can see the majestic view of Mount

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...

Kabru Kabru is a mountain in the Himalayas on the border of eastern Nepal and India. It is part of a ridge that extends south from Kangchenjunga and is the southernmost peak in the world. The main features of this ridge are as follows (north to sou ...

Mount Pandim Mount Pandim is a Himalayan mountain located in Sikkim, India. It has an elevation of above sea level. Pandim appears throughout the trekking trail for Goecha La, starting from Dzongri. It is also one of the prominently seen mountains from Dz ...

and

Kumbhakarna Mountain Mount Kumbhakarna or Jannu ( Limbu: ''Phoktanglungma'') is the 32nd-highest mountain in the world. It is an important western outlier of Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak. Kumbhakarna is a large and steep peak in its own right, and h ...

from here.

External links

Travel article on Rinchenpong by Rangan Datta
Hiking trails in India Cities and towns in Gyalshing district {{Sikkim-geo-stub