Darjeeling, Sept. 30: The Tamang Buddhists in the hills is facing a severe identity crisis with a section reiterating its appeal to the community not to celebrate Hindu festivals like Dasai or Dussehra and Diwali.

In a bid to protect and promote their own religious and cultural traditions, the All-India Tamang Buddhist Association has instead appealed to all Tamangs, who are mostly Buddhists, to celebrate Lochar, which falls on February 2 next year according to the Gregorian calendar.

Dasai, as in other parts of the country, is celebrated in the hills more as an annual festival than a religious one. M.S. Bomzon, general secretary of the All-India Tamang Buddhist Association, however, feels that in the process, the identity of the Tamang as a community is fast vanishing.

“Our Losar is different from the Tibetan Galbo Losar or the Sikkimese Tola Losar. The Sikkimese Losar is celebrated a month before ours while the Tibetan usually falls a month after,” said Bomzon.

The association is also stressing on the need to promote its own language and culture. “We have our own scriptures called the Tamaik Llipi which are slightly similar to the Tibetan ones and also our own attire but sadly this is being forgotten,” he added.

The hill community, the majority of whom speak the Nepali language, is a motley combination of various sub-communities and tribes like Rais, Sherpas, Lepchas and Gurungs, having their own language, script and traditional dresses. However, most of GenX are unable to correspond and speak in their language, save for those from the rural areas. “This is exactly our motive (to revive the tradition and language) and we are confident that the Tamangs will respond to our call,” said Bomzon.

In spite of the call, many Tamang Buddhists are reluctant to toe the line of the association. In fact, among all the groups, Tamangs constitute a major chunk of the Hill community, accounting for nearly 35 per cent of the population.

Mohan Lama, a Buddhist Tamang, said: “We have been celebrating Dasai since the time of our forefathers and we can’t even think of boycotting this major festival. Many of my family members belong to other tribes and it would be absurd to boycott this festival.”

Lama is not alone in voicing resentment. Even old-timers like Manoj Tamang, a schoolteacher from Kalimpong, while admitting the need for preserving their tradition, said such thinking will only degenerate the hill community. In fact even some of the Buddhist followers of the hill community — which has traditionally never been religion conscious, celebrate Dasai in the traditional Hindu way.