Zakri-dhunga Rhododendron Tourism Festival 2016

April 13-15, 2016

Venue: Maneybung Dentam, West Sikkim

Jhakri-dhunga village is known to be one of the farthest and the remotest villages towards the western side of Sikkim. The word ‘Jhakri’ means Faith-healer and ‘Dhunga’ means stone.

An age old legend is associated with this place which explains why this village acquired the name of ‘Jhakri- dhunga’. At the top of the village, there lies a huge round shaped rock which is regarded as the Guardian Deity of the village. The wild faith-healers (Ban- Jkakris) used to come from the jungle nearby and stay there for days together, beating the drums. This beating of drums would bring good fortune and prosperity to the village. The old folks of the locality still narrate the story of hearing the sound of drum-beating deep inside the huge rock.

There is yet another reason, probably due to which the village must have acquired its name. The ‘Dhunga’, if seen from a distance, look like a set of traditional drum and the drum-stick used by the Jhakris.

The village is famous for organically grown potatos as well as tis pleasant and serine weather condition. A visit to this place would be a delicacy and a life-time experience to the tourists coming from busy cities of Indian mainland as well as abroad.