I spent a few days in McLeodganj or Upper Dharamsala in November, walking on its narrow roads and gazing at the mountains, trees, birds and Tibetan Buddhists. Being the home of HH Dalai Lama, you see Buddhist Monks and Buddhist symbols in every corner of McLeodGanj. Before I arrived at Dharamsala, I had made plenty of plans about places to see and things to photograph. I was getting a feeling that my three days would be so packed that I will hardly manage to get the feel of the place. But there was a sudden change the moment I arrived in town. I kept my camera away and spent most of my time in Dharamsala walking in the beautiful hills, often aimlessly and randomly. I did not find the need for a schedule. I did not find the need to go see all things that must be seen. I did not wish to get busy with the camera. I simply let the days pass from moment to moment and spent most of my time walking in the hills. Only on my last day in McLeodganj did I spend a few hours taking pictures. Here are some of the images of the Buddhist world in Dharamsala captures in those few hours.
Prayers wheels on the way to Dalai Lama Temple in Dharamsala
Prayer wheels – handheld ones.
Prayer flags fluttering near Dalai Lama Temple
A stupa or chorten with prayer flags in the background
A Buddhist Monk carving mani stones. Mani stones are tablets bearing the sacred mantra – Om Mani Padmehum
A mani stone
Devout Buddhists prostrating at the Dalailama Temple
A monk on the streets of McLeodganj
Finally.. an elderly lady with rosaries in hand, walking on the circumambulation path around Dalailama Temple
Mani stones are tablets with the sacred mantra ‘Om Mani Padmehum’ carved on them. If you travel in the Himalayan regions like Ladakh and northern parts of Himachal Pradesh where Buddhism is widely practiced, you will find these stones in every corner – outside the monasteries, in the villages, along the roads and next to sacred places. For a long time I wanted to see people working on making these tablets. I happened to witness it during my recent visit to Dharamsala.
These monks were chipping on the rocks along the circumambulation path around Dalai Lama Temple. I loved the way these two monks executed their work. Even for a second, they never seemed to think of it as hard work. Along with their tools, they had a small bottle of water and a flask that perhaps contained some tea, which indicated that they were planning to spend a long time working with the rocks. The young monk’s job was to just sit and give company to the old man while he chiseled the rock. They yapped continuously as the old man slowly chipped on the rock. Occasionally, when other monks came along the circumambulation path, they would stop by to chatter but never stayed too long to disturb their work. The old man seemed to know his job and made it look effortless. He seemed to be enjoying every moment of his task.
I watched them at work for some time until they decided to end their morning session. We did not speak any common language, so the communication between us was limited. The old man, full of compassion in his eyes like only an elderly monk could have, occasionally looked at me and smiled genially. At some point, I took a few picture of him at work. He continued working while I was shooting but once I was done, he summoned me, asked me to show the pictures and laughed heartily after seeing his photographs. He was such a cheerful person, the few minutes I spent with him put me in an elevated mood for rest of the day.
On the morning of July 4th, there was a visible excitement outside Korzok Monastery. People moved back forth in anticipation of an exciting day. The place was full of people who had come from pastures located near the village. Women moved around in excitement, wearing best of their traditional attire and jewelry and excitedly talking to old friends whom they were meeting after a long time. The lamas walked back and forth or worked on the last touches for the festival day. Some were getting the costumes out, some were preparing the masks and a few were taking out the musical instruments. It promised to be an exciting day.
Korzok Monastery and the mountain slopes of changthang
It was the day of Korzok Gustor Festival at the most popular monastery in Changthang region. The monastery’s affiliation was not limited to Korzok Village alone but extended to many changspa nomadic groups who wandered the plateau looking for grasslands to feed their animals. It was a day when most of these nomads would come together to witness the celebrations.
Getting ready..
The festival perhaps begins early in the morning as lamas perform long rituals in the prayer hall. I had been hoping to catch these rituals but despite asking many people including a few lamas, it seemed impossible to get the schedule of activities during the two-day festival. I would get a different answer each time I asked someone, and worse, I would get different answers when we asked the same person second time. What was left for us was to hang out at the monastery the whole day and hope not to miss anything.
watching the performance
We did miss the prayers but not the cham-dances, the most attended and perhaps the most important part of the two day festival. The whole village and the nomad population squeezes itself to the tennis-court sized courtyard to watch the lamas dance. In the past decade or so, addition of an equal number of tourists coming in to witness the show meant you had to arrive really early to look for a good place to watch the happenings without any obstructions.
Dung chen, the long trumpets
The festival began with a sudden eruption of sound from dung-chens (very long trumpets) as the head lama walked into the courtyard and conducted a short ritual. Lamas came out one after the other and performed the slow cham-dances synchronized to the sound of drilbu (bells) and nga (drums).
cham dance performance
On the second day, the celebration began by bringing in a few animals to the monastery. The pack included two horses and several goats, later joined by a well fed yak that instantly gained my respect, thanks to its size. It was time to worship these animals that had worked hard through the year to help the Ladahis make their living. The animals were cheered by changspa men as well as the lamas. Lamas applied butter on their forehead and threw a maroon paste on their body. This is a land where perhaps everything is sacred, not just animals but even beer. So it was time to shake a beer bottle and sprinkle on the animals. Shaken by the cold and scared by the noise, the horses got jumpy and the goats were shivering. The horses tried to run and then started fighting between each other, but the lamas quickly herded them out of the monastery and ended their agony. However, no one tried to mess up with the lone giant yak later; it had a size the automatically gets everyone’s obeisance.
It was time for the cham-dances. The monks danced without the masks on the first day and repeated the performance wearing masks on day two. The masks came in various shapes – of demons, of strange creatures like cows with canines and of forms that can beat anyone’s imagination. The dances began slow and easy as the monks took deliberate steps circling around the flagpole at the center of the courtyard. The pace improved slowly with the progress in the dance and concluded with sudden and swift moves that were more suitable to the wild demon-like cover on their faces.
cham dance performance
While all this serious work with calculated beats and synchronized steps went on at the center of the courtyard, there was a masked man walking around with a whip scaring children and anyone who was likely to get scared. Some people laughed at him and pushed him away while he managed to push a few himself. He went to a corner full or tourists, showed the whip, shook his head and demanded them to part with money. A few obliged with small bills and others let out a nervous laughter. He tried the same with a Ladakhi girl later and got beaten up by her in response. These people of Ladakh never take anything seriously, not even the religious rituals. At the same time, Ladakhis are deeply religious and Buddhism defines a great deal of their everyday life.
That evening, we were walking on the lake shore enjoying the quiet, cloudy evening, watching small waves hit the grassy shoreline. Tso Moriri’s shore is among the most beautiful places I have seen in Ladakh. To one side of me was a vast blue lake flanked by tall peaks with just a little bit of snow dotting their tips. On this side of the lake was a green stretch of grassland, a spectacle rarely seen in the barren landscape of Ladakh. The scale and grandeur of the lake and mountains seemed to have an ability calm the mind and instill peace, letting the million things that haunt in the head disappear for a moment.
Tso Moriri Lake
As we walked slowly along the shore letting the cool breeze of the cloudy day caress us, I heard some voices coming from the village. A small procession had begun from the monastery, with a lama holding a fire leading the way and the entire village walking behind him. We joined them quickly as they gathered just outside the village. A mask—the kind that is used during the cham dances—was put on fire as the villagers stood in a circle and watched the smoke go up. It marked the end of the festival, symbolizing burning of all evil that had accumulated in the past one year.
