The Sikkimese language, also called Sikkimese Tibetan, Bhutia, Dranjongke (Tibetan: འབྲས་ལྗོངས་སྐད་, Wylie: 'bras-ljongs-skad), Dranjoke, Denjongka, Denzongpeke, and Denzongke, belongs to the Southern Tibetan language family. It is spoken by the Bhutia (Denzongpa) nationality in Sikkim. Sikkimese people refer to their own language as Dranjongke and their homeland as Denzong (Tibetan: འབྲས་ལྗོངས་, Wylie: 'bras-ljongs; "Valley of Rice").

Sikkimese is written using Tibetan script, which it inherited from Classical Tibetan. Sikkimese phonology and lexicon differ markedly from Classical Tibetan, however. SIL thus describes the Sikkimese writing system as "Bodhi style." According to SIL, 68% of Sikkimese Bhutia were literate in the Tibetan script in 2001.

Speakers of Sikkimese can understand some Dzongkha, with a lexical similarity of 65% between the two languages. By comparison, Standard Tibetan, however, is only 42% lexically similar. Sikkimese has also been influenced to some degree by the neighboring Yolmowa and Tamang languages.

Sikkimese people inhabit the Indian state of Sikkim. The indigenous peoples of Sikkim consist of the Lepcha, Limbu, migrating from Tibet, Bhutias, descendants of Buddhists who arrived from Nepal in 15th century, who migrated from the Kham district of Tibet in the 14th century, and Nepali, descendants of Hindus who arrived from Nepal in the 19th century. The current population is approximately 13% Lepcha, 16% Bhutias and 67% Nepali.

The dominant language is Nepali, but other languages include Bhutia, Dzongkha, Groma, Gurung, Kafle, Lepcha, Limbu, Magar, Majhi, Majhwar, Nepal Bhasa, Rai, Sherpa, Sunuwar, Tamang, Thulung, Tibetan, and Yakha..

Hinduism is the majority religion in Sikkim, with 60.9% of the population adhering to the religion . Buddhism forms a large minority with 28.1% of the population following the religion . Christians form 6.7% of the population , consisting mostly of people of Lepcha origin, converted to the faith after British missionaries came in the 19th century. Mosques in downtown Gangtok and Mangan also serve the Muslim population, which numbers at 1.4% of the population .

The term Naga people (Burmese: နာဂ, Hindi: नागा) refers to a conglomeration of several tribes inhabiting the North Eastern part of India and north-western Burma. The tribes have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority ethnic group in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Nagaland. Some of the prominent Naga tribes are Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Lotha, Pochury, Phom, Poumai, Rengma, Sangtam, Sema (Sumi), Mao (Memai), Yimchunger, Zeliang.

There are 16 officially recognized tribes in the Nagaland state of India. The other Naga tribes can be found in the contiguous adjoining states of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and across the border in Burma. Some of these tribes are: Zeme, Liangmai, Mao (Memai), Nocte, Phom, Pochuri, Poumai Naga, Rongmei, Tangsa, Tutsa, and Wancho

The Naga tribes practised headhunting and preserved the heads of enemies as trophies before the 19th century.