Drametse Lhakhang

Drametse, the peak with no enemy has a monastery resting on the shoulder of steep slope, and is eighteen Kilometers ride from the junction of Monggar-Trashigang highway. The sixteenth century monastery houses the relic stupa (Kudung) of Jetsun Ratna Dharma alias Ani Chorten Zangmo who is to the date acknowledged as the essence of hundred thousand sky-walkers. She was also known by the name ‘Ache Rinchen’ in the writings of Terton Padma Lingpa. The Ruby Rosary; activities of three incarnation lines of Padma Lingpa, which was published in the year 2011 reads that Ani Chorten Zangmo was born to Dungsey Tenzin Choegyal, the son of Gyalsey Sangdak, and so unquestionably was the great granddaughter of Terton Padma Lingpa. The famed hagiographical works of 3^rd Pema Lingpa, Kunkhyen Tsultim Dorje, and the wooden block entreaty of Ani Chorten Zangmo also support the claim. 

She was married to Yeshe Gyalpo from Sumthrang Choeje but having been sick and tired of the cyclic existence, she renounced her family whom she thought were the obstacle to the enlightenment. The other version says that she fled from Bumthang to escape the repeated marriage proposal from the son of Chhokhor Deb (chieftain) Kunthhub. Her brother Chung Kunga Nyingpo and a small number of attendants escorted her during the escape to eastern region of Bhutan. On reaching at Aja-Nye the shell trumpet when blown gave a trifling sound and thereafter the place was named as ‘Dungkhar Choeling’.  The caravan of aforesaid travelers then reached at Brahmitse, the peak which shelters the tribal community of Tawang. In line to the predestination, it was at Brahmitse, the present-day hermitage at Drupchhu where the shell trumpet produced melodious sound. The place from then on became to be known as ‘Drametse’, which literally means the peak with no enemy; a state of total freedom of distraction to pursue dharma.

After a decade and three years of mediation at Drupchu Goenpa, Ani Chorten Zangmo and Chung Kunga Nyingpo established Thechog Namdrol Ugyen Choeling Lhakhang at Drametse in 1511 AD. The oral history says that during the groundwork of the Lhakhang, Ani Chorten Zangmo through her wisdom eye saw a human size caterpillar under a big stone. After eons of suffering under such hell and due to ripening of good Karma, Ani Chorten Zangmo liberated the worm by conducting bonfire ritual. The Lhakhang having been consecrated became the place of worship where thousand petals of Peling tradition blossomed. During the late 16^th century, Chung Kunga Nyingpo’s son Tenzin Jurmey Dorje and grandson Kencho Tenzin extended it into three storey monastery representing three bodies of a Buddha; Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. The upmost floor has the chapel of Pekar, the chief spirit all the Gyalpo class, and in a different chamber has the five sisters of long life. The middle floor has shrine of Palden Lhamo, Tsuimar, Hayagriva, Zhabdrung, and a room of Sutra & Tantra. The ground floor has Guru Rinpoche’s statue and snow lion throne of His Holiness Lhalung Sungtrul Rinpoche, the 11^th Padma Lingpa.

The riches of the monastery include relic stupa (Kudung) of Ani Chorten Zangmo, horn of a horse, the crystal bottle with water said to calculate apocalypse, golden vajra, sacred oyster, Astadasahasrika-prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines) inscribed with golden ink,  and skull (kapala) of Dakini with self-arisen syllables ‘Om Ah Hung’, etc. History of the Dakini kapala dates back to the eighth century. The queen mother had her last breath during the labour but the child was found alive when about to cremate. She was raised by the monkeys, and even developed webbed hands and feet indicating the enlightened characteristic. She was known by the name Sakya Devi and was Guru Rinpoche’s first consort from Nepal. After having received the secret and sacred initiations from Guru Rinpoche at Pharping, she remained as yogini until her nirvana. Her Kapala (skull) was at that time concealed as a treasure at Samye only to be unearthed by Terton Padma Lingpa. This treasure Kapala was later received by Ani Chorten Zangmo as a share of birthright from Tamzhing Choeje and was carried to Drametse during her escape.  

After Ani Chorten Zangmo passed away into small rainbow body, her son (from the marriage with Yeshe Gyalpo at early age) Dhungsey Choewang Dargay started ‘Drametse Choeje’ which blessed with the birth of two successive incarnations of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel; Zhabdrung Jigme Norbu (1831-1861) and Zhabdrung Jigme Chogyal (1862-1904). Prior to the two incarnations, Zhabdrung Jigme Drakpa (1791-1830) was also said to be born at Drametse but his lineage from Drametse Choeje is yet to be known. The Choeje however was ended with Choeje Tenzin as the last heir.

The monastery is also renowned for the origin of twenty one chaptered drum dance of Drametse (Drametse Ngacham), one of the UNESCO’s ‘Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible World Heritage of Humanity’. The orchestra of this mask dance is made of sixteen dancers wearing different masks of real and mythical animals; snow lion, garuda, dragon, yak, leopard, goat, snake, raven, horse, owl, stag, pig, dog, bear, tiger, and ox. In one of the visions of Chung Kunga Nyingpo, the drum dance was initially performed by celestial beings to welcome him at ‘Copper-Coloured Palace’ of Guru Rinpoche. Chung Kunga Nyingpo passed down the choreography of this drum dance at Drametse and in so doing gave it the name ‘Drametse Ngacham’.

There are countless riches, colours, and legends at Drametse which if put on paper would take days and months, so why not stopover at Drametse and walk around to experience its richness? The 5^th, 6^th and 10^th lunar months are the Grade ‘A’ holiday time for you will be able to witness Trelda Tshechu (honouring ceremony of Guru Rinpoche’s Birthday), Tordok (The burning of evil effigy for good harvest and wellbeing of the community), and Kangso Chhenmo (bonfire rituals during the festival eve)  respectively. 

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My Days in the Land of Snowman (Yeti)

“If you happen to travel in Kheng, one of the remotest hamlets in the east where the tales of snowman (Yeti) is headline, forget not to be equipped with hammer and crowbar which not necessarily mean to be used as self defense weapon against the mystic beast but to clear the stones obstructing your way to that virgin land. It’s just a travel guide to all those travelling in those lands of snowman.  It took me many days for Facebooking this post not because that I was in queue for my turn to have it be approved by Mark Zuckerberg but it’s because of the fresh art of air networking who has forgotten the soil. In search of it, I had a tough battle waving my cell phone to and fro from the peaks which are far above the ground and roofed by thick clouds alike that realm in Avatar.

Fig: Breaking Boulders To Clear Road 

By now, I’m in no doubt that the person reading this article has got the clear picture of it for I’ve been making an effort in the earlier paragraph to introduce the atmosphere of the place chosen as my subject. So, let me ride you in the land of snowman by the vehicle of my words. The journey began from warm broadleaved woods of Lingmithang, Mongar, in the early noon. I removed my top, opened the glass of a pickup truck, and sipped every fall of water from the bottle to battle against the burning midday sun. Someone familiar to the place would say that my statement of the day as ‘burning’ is an exaggeration but for me it was a day in Sahara desert since for years I’m living in a place with height not less than 2000 meter above the sea level. So, if a yak is brought in lowlands she has no option than to shave her hairs. 

Allow me not sidetrack my topic, and say that before the downpour we arrived at the raised grounds of cool broadleaved jungle. As a technical person, I was not pleased to see the road in some places with alignment more than 8 degree but nevertheless it was not for the first and will not be the last to travel through such roads for there would be state of affairs in many places that force in engineering such alignments. With tons of goods mainly salts and beverage, our pickup truck had a hard-hitting climb through the steep road, and the condition went downhill with the start of drizzle from the blue. All of sudden, he the driver had no picking then to put on the brakes in the middle of climbing only to find that half the road is covered by mud and boulders. Clearing the way did not help as he lost the pickup of the motion, and the more he short of to the clutch, the more smell it gave. Having the clutch pad worn-out, we had to dial for help and then in the hours of darkness shift ourselves to another pickup truck. It was sickly sweet to have ourselves buried from the downpour by blue tarpaulin. I heard the pullets, smelled the drinks and feel the arctic hands of my mates in search of things they dropped in the dark, but didn’t know where I was. At last the long bumpy journey ended when the clock stroke 12:30 AM. It was start of a new date during which we closed our eyes only to wake up late in the morning.

Fig: Beautiful Silambi Hamlet

Daybreak was not good with heavy downpour, so we called off our program. Two of us, me and my host Ranger went to the inn as to have ourselves warmed from the frosty weather. Those goods which I saw on the shelf inside the inn took days to reach their destination in the past years but now with roads being linked, I can free myself from paying extra prices for the beers we had. But every plus has its shortcoming, and the road here could be misused to break the virgin woods of those tall peaks in very illegal style. The snowman which the men of that soil gossip to have cried at nightfall, if are true, may die out if the woods are harvested in titanic amount. Let me not put in writing on about snowman because in upcoming days I’m going to write a detail story on it, and for now I’m just introducing no more than the place.  

The place of my paper is most of the time in cloud and rain. Those days in the cloud gave me a strong push for to tweet the most famed Bhutanese lyrics ‘SAMO GI JABLEY EPP CHE EPP CHE…’ which, if translated means ‘hiding from behind the clouds’ but as I mentioned earlier the problem is with the slow internet service. The more days, the more drinks I may take because of wet and frosty day and therefore tried every best of myself to finish the survey the very next day. In the third day, I packed my gears, waved my hand and rode back in the same pickup truck to Mongar.

Fig: My survey crew members hiding from rain inside the cowshed

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Drametse

After staying for almost a year in Drametse, now I know where I live. During the sunset, we cannot close the eyes to streams of frosty wind as the place is sited at brow of hill and there are not many woods to serve as windbreak. Being a rural area, the small marketplace shutdowns in the early hour as the local businessmen do not anticipate the downpour of nocturnal shoppers since there is no nightspot for the natives to hangout like in heart of capital, Thimphu. 

After the earthquake on 21/09/09, many shopkeepers with no choice live in temporary huts as their conventional two storey buildings were severely damaged during the time. However, it is one of the developed villages in the east with accessibility to elementary amenities like communication networks, broadband internet service, electricity, Banking facility from BDBL, ambulance service, Early Learning Center, and more. The curvy road running uphill will make travelers remember the ride through Darjeeling highway. The only difference is that the road of the former is unpaved, and though only 18 km in length, the minimum time span of the expedition would be an hour.

Environmentally, Drametse is unhealthy with very less tree cover due to steep gradient, sandy infertile soils, inadequate water supply, and heavy biotic pressures from both man and livestock. Therefore, it was in 1997 that government of Bhutan established community forest in Dozam (southern region of Drametse) so to implement participatory forestry management programme, and thereby documenting it to be the first such community based forest in the country. Though the forest condition is improving with such initiatives, the communities however extract house building timbers from distant places like Gyelposhing or from Kalapang due to immature timber stands in Drametse.

Historically, Drametse is one of the sacred sites of Peling tradition and its temple was consecrated in the year 1511 by Ani Chorten Zangmo, the granddaughter of Rigzin Padma Lingpa. Beside other relics and religious manuscript, it has stupa in which the body of Ani Chorten Zangmo was obscured.  In addition, the very famous ‘Drametse Ngacham’, meaning ‘Mask dance of drum from Drametse’ was recognized by UNESCO as Intangible World Heritage and thereby adding more colour in its culture. Today, Drametse is the seat of renowned Buddhist master His Eminence Sungtrul Rinpoche, Jigdrel Kuenzang Pema Dorje, the 11^th speech emanation of Rigzin Padma Lingpa. So, I am fortunate that I live in a place where emanation of such great beings exists.

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A Day in Wangduephodrang Farm

An extension agent ought to work in changing livelihood of farmers. Hence, to understand the lifestyle of a farmer, I was sent to work under a host family for about a month in one of the rural areas of Wangduephodrang District during my training period (March, 2011). It was often the most memorable part of any trainee’s college year for the reason that we tackled loads of thorny challenges while doing the work assigned by our host family. In college one has no other vital roles and responsibilities other than the studies, but in the farm there are lots of contractual obligations to be performed. A farmer gets engaged in several works in a single day so as to sustain their livelihood. During the occasion, I had seen a trainee be a milkman, a cowboy, a woodcutter, and lot more to study the incredible diversity within farming. 

College students assigned to build kitchen by a host family 

Potato plantation day would serve as a mere example of what a day in the farm might entail. The day started with a cup of tea. When I mention about the tea it do not mean that there was someone to wake me up with a cup of tea aside my bed. I still remember the day where I woke up when the sirens of alarm clock broke the silence of the dawn. Then I stumbled downstairs to get my face cleansed with water. Only after that I joined the host family to have a cup of tea. During the crack of dawn, Aum Yanka, the host mother went to feed the cattle. She walked me towards the cowshed with a bucket of food stuff. The cattle were fed with porridge like food. The two cows were milked by Aum Yanka and I was near her to note down the milk yield. At that particular instant I thought how could be my life if I were a milkman by profession. Before I was totally lost in the fantasy I heard Aum Yanka calling me to untie the calve. Ap Kinley, the host father cooked breakfast for the family. Sooner after the food was eaten, Agay Dengo, the oldest of the family took the cattle away from the village for grazing. Herding cattle was my routine assigned job but at that particular day I have joined the family to plant potato.

        Gelekha farm in Wangduephodrang

In the field, Aum Yanka sprinkled manure and Ap Kinley followed her to till the soil with power tiller. The steep gradient of the field leaves the use of other contemporary farm machinery out of question. But human hands and oxen cannot measure up to the challenge. Therefore, they somehow manage to use small machine like power tiller. I was instructed to be extra careful while sowing the seed. Chado, son of the host family was behind me to cover the sown seed with spade. Minute seemed to strike like a day and hour passed like a month for the reason that the farm works are easier said than done. 

I struggled to work in the field until the sun plunged down into west horizon. Though the work was incomplete, Ap Kinley decided to continue it in the next day. No sooner the rest was declared I have to rush into the forest to get back the cattle. Aum Yanka was ready with a kettle of tea for me when I returned home. It was six o’clock in the evening and I was incredibly tired. I couldn’t imagine what other seasons on the farm were like.

Dinner was served before I manage time to wash my body. Out here in the village, dinner was eaten in the early hours but I have no other alternative than joining them. I thought that I need some time to get myself adapted to their routine. After the dinner I sat near the fire to scribble down the daily report in my diary. Only at that moment I was reminded that I am no more a farmer but a trainee who was struggling in other's village to gain some practical knowledge on farming system. 

On the bed, I recollected upon my day. I was pleased to see that my host family truly operated together as a family with dedication and cooperation during the work hour. Each member had played a dynamic role allowing the potato plantation work to run smoothly. I was now equipped with some skills and knowledge to operate the farm. I now have an idea of how difficult a day on the farm is. Keeping such memories in my heart, I as a forestry extension agent would serve the farmers with full dedication.

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