Of God and nature - Pang Lhabsol festival across Sikkim

Soumik Dutta | NT

Bengaluru: The tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim in India’s Northeast boasts of breath-taking natural beauty and biodiversity hotspots.

It also has India’s highest mountain peak, Mount Khangchendzonga, also the third highest peak in the world.

While the rest of the world is too busy exploiting natural resources, Sikkim has retained some of the most unique cultural and Buddhist religious traditions offering obeisance to Mother Nature, from its days of being an independent Buddhist kingdom.

One such festival is Pang Lhabsol festival celebrated across Sikkim in different monasteries. Mount Khangchendzonga, revered in Sikkim as the chief guardian deity, is worshiped on Pang Lhabsol.

The Dzonga deity was ordained by a Buddhist Guru to protect the people blessing the land with rainfall; good harvest and keeping away natural calamities, in their turn people were to make humble entreaties to the deity.

The day also commemorates the signing of a blood brotherhood between the Lepchas and Bhutia communities of Sikkim, under the watchful eyes of Mount Khangchendzonga.

Devotees offered fruits and other edibles in Monastery. This festival is unique to Sikkim and commemorates the consecration of Mount Khangchendzonga as the guardian deity of Sikkim.

It is believed that the mountain god played an active role in introducing Buddhism into this former kingdom. According to a handwritten biography by Lhatsun Chenpo, the chief propagator of Buddhism in Sikkim, it was divine visions sent by the mountain god which guided him to Demajong (the hidden valley of rice, as Sikkim is referred to by the Bhutias).

During this day, the mountain god is invoked and prayed upon at Pang Lhabsol to continue protecting Sikkim.

Three main dances include an opening dance by little monks, Pangtoed Cham or Victory dance by masked laymen and finally another masked dance by monks representing Mt Khangchendzonga wearing a red mask and Yeshe Gonpo represented by a monk wearing a blue mask.

The devotees offered khadas (scarfs) to both representing guardian deities. Pang Lhabsol is one of the major annual festivals of Sikkim and its people. The festival pays homage to all the guardian deities and protectors of Sikkim.

The festival falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to the Tibetan Calendar. It usually occurs in the month of August or September. During the festival, Dzonga (the representation of Mount Khangchendzonga), Gonpo (Mahakaal) and Dragpo Deshi (the guardian of the four directions) are venerated and worshipped.

The festival was introduced and popularised by the third Chogyal (ruler) of Sikkim, Chakdor Namgyal. The festival is marked by gaiety and celebrations including the stunning spectacle that is the Chham dance.

A popular warrior dance, the ‘Pangtoed chaam’ or the ritualistic masked dances are usually organised as part of a bigger festival and performed by the monks of the Tibetan Buddhism order.

Wearing elaborate masks and colourful costumes, the performers represent various characters, broadly divided into good and bad, the divine and the devil.

The dancers engage in elaborate movements to the accompaniment of traditional musical instruments, including trumpets, drums and cymbals. The chaam dances are known to bring good luck to the viewers too.

For the records, mountaineers who attempt to climb Mount Khangchendzonga (albeit a very difficult peak to climb like K2), have to give a written undertaking to the government of Sikkim that they would stop six feet from the Mount Khangchendzonga peak summit, as a mark of respect to the deity