Sikkimese are people who inhabit the Indian state of Sikkim. The dominance ethnic diversity of Sikkim is represented by 'Lho-Mon-Tsong-Tsum' that identifies origin of three races since seventeenth century. The term 'Lho' refers to Bhutias means south who migrated from southern Tibet, the term 'Mon' refers to Lepchas lived in lower eastern Himalayas and the term 'Tsong' refers to Limbus another tribe of Sikkim. Sikkim is also home to the majority ethnic Nepalis people which include tribes such as Limbu, Chhetri, Gurung, Thakuri, Newar, Magar, Tamang, KiratRai, Kami, Sarki, Sunuwar, Shresthas, Hyolmo, Damai and Sherpa. However, Nepalis started to inhabited in Sikkim since the nineteenth century and later the presence of people from Mainland India.
Tribes
Tribes like the Magars were present in Sikkim as early as the Lepchas and their early habitats were mentioned in a manuscript by the Maharaja Tashi Namgyal. The current population is approximately 13% Lepcha,16% Bhutias, and 61% Nepalis. The most widely accepted origin theory of the name Sikkim is that it is a combination of two Limbu words: su, which means "new" and khyim, which means "country" or "home".
Language
is the lingua franca of Sikkim while Bhutia and Lepcha are spoken in certain areas. Languages like Gurung,Limbu, Rai, Magar, Majhi, Majhwar, Newar, Sherpa, Sunuwar, Tamang, Thulung, and Yakha are caste or tribal language of people belonging to Nepali ethnicity and majority of them speak Nepali language as their mother tongue.Tibetan is spoken by some Tibetan people and is understood by Bhutia people who have Tibetan ancestry.
Religion
, which accounts for 28.1 percent of the population, is Sikkim's second-largest, yet most prominent religion. Prior to Sikkim's becoming a part of the Indian Union, Vajrayana Buddhism was the state religion under the Chogyal. Sikkim has 75 Buddhist monasteries, the oldest dating back to the 1700s. The public and visual aesthetics of Sikkim are executed in shades of Vajrayana Buddhism and Buddhism plays a significant role in public life, even among Sikkim's majority Nepali Hindu population.. Hinduism has been the state's major religion since the arrival of the Nepali Hindu population; an estimated 57.75 percent of the total population are now adherents of the religion. There exist many Hindu temples. Kirateshwar Mahadev TempleKirati people is very popular, since it consists of the chardham altogether. Christians in Sikkim are mostly descendants of Lepcha people who were converted by British missionaries in the late 19th century, and constitute around 10 per cent of the population. As of 2014, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Sikkim is the largest Christian denomination in Sikkim. Other religious minorities include Muslims and Jains, who each account for roughly one per cent of the population. The traditional religion of the native Lepcha people is Mun, an animist practice which co-exists alongside Buddhism and Christianity.
