MANE VILLAGE IN LAHAUL-SPITI

Lahaul-Spiti is the largest district in Himachal Pradesh. It is a very mountainous district. Many people come to enjoy its beauty.

Spiti is tehsil of Lahaul Spiti. People grow barley, potatoes, tomatoes, peas and apples in Spiti. The number of females in Spiti is larger than the number of males. Spiti has five monasteries: Tabo, Dhankhar, Kungri, Kee and Tanggit. There are also three nunneries at Pangmo, Morang, and Kungri. Every village has a different dialect and style of dress. There are many kinds of dances in Spiti. Names of the some of these dances are Kar, Tashi, Balsay and Taksor. Some villages are famous for certain dances. Mane village in known for the dance Kar. These dances are enjoyed by the enthusiastic dancers and spectators. Spiti people are very hardworking and honest.

Now I want to tell a story about Mane village. It used to be a very big village. Then a flood come and the village was divided into two parts: Mane yogma (lower) and Mane gogma (upper ). Five kilometres uphill from Mane is a lake. Due to heavy rain and hot weather melting the mountain snows, the water level of the lake increased until it overflowed, flooding Mane, causing much damage, and creating the village nala between Mane yogma and Mane gogma.

In the foreground is Mane yogma, in the distance, beyond the nala gorge, is Mane gogma.

Dhankhar Lake

My name is Dikit Yangzom. I am from Dhankhar village. Dhankhar is high on a cliff overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers. It was once the capital of Spiti. Dhankhar has two monasteries, and old one and a new monastery. The old monastery is about 800 years old.

Dhankhar village; the old monastery is on the left.

Two kilometres above my village is a big lake . Three springs fill this lake. People come from all villages and other countries to see the lake. Every year Dhankhar villagers clean the lake. The following day two Khandoma, sky dwelling goddesses, come to the lake and clean it again. If you throw a stone in the lake it will rain. The lake provides clean drinking water for my village. In the center of the lake there is a window. Nobody knows what is on the other side of this window, but in the old days, a man who did not know about this window, went for a swim in the lake. The next day pieces of his body were found in the village’s drinking water. So, now, no one goes swimming in Dhankhar Lake.  

KOMIC GONPA

Komic Gompa statues of Gautam Buddha and His two chief disciples.

My name is Chhewang Dolma. I am from Hikkam in Spiti. Near Hikkam  is the village Komic. Here is a small story about Komic gonpa. Komic gonpa's name is Tanggyut gonpa. In the past, Tanggyut gonpa was in Hikkam. About 25 years ago it moved to Komic. There are five Buddhist monasteries in Spiti: Tabo, Dhankhar, Kungri, Kee, and Tanggyut gonpa. The oldest is Tabo gonpa, which was founded 1000 years ago. There are many festivals at Tanggyut gonpa. On August 15 there is a festival called Aerdo. On this day the three village of Hikkam, Langcha, and Komic come together at Tanggyut gonpa and hold horse races for prizes. First prize is 1000 rupees, second prize 700 rupees and third prize is 500 rupees. If a house does not have a horse it is fined 500 rupees. Another festival is called "Jinje" which  is held in October. On that day the monks of Tanggyut gonpa hold Cham (religious dances).

KDM Hostel Girls visiting Komic Gonpa  June, 2012.

THE STORY OF PANGMO

 My name is Tomden Dolker. My village name is Pangmo.  I want to write a little      story about my village. In the old days, our village had two parts: one was Pangmo and another was Pangchug. One day many girls were having a party. They were wearing old ornaments and looked beautiful. Our village goddess became happy with them and turned herself into a old lady and joined the party. The girls, enjoying themselves, did not show respect for the old lady, and sent her to the last corner of the room. But one girl at the last corner asked the old lady to sit at the upper side of the room, since she was older. The girl was from Pangchug. The old lady was pleased with the girl's behaviour. Happily the old lady started dancing. But when she was dancing the girls made fun of her. Now the old lady became angry. She called the girl who had shown her respect and said, ''You go to the field named 'Jujing' and sleep under the lah (wide, shallow pots used for parching barley)." The girl did as instructed by the old lady. The next day when she woke up, she saw the whole of Pangmo village was under rocks. 

A Google Earth image of the former and present sites of Pangmo village.

In earlier days Pangmo was bigger than Kaza. At that time Kaza was a small village. People in the Pangmo were very rich and had beautiful ornaments. In their vanity, they did not respect their elders. So the people in Pangmo died. Nowadays, Pangmo is on the site of the former Pangchug. 

Free Eye Camp

On June 14th Shaptung Rinpoche, his wife and son, Tumden La and Dr. Lobsang Tsetim came to Kaza. Two years ago Shaptung Rinpoche's organization, Tibetans for a Vegetarian Society (T4VS), and Kachen Dugyal Memorial Society's Spitians for a Vegetarian Society (S4VS), performed Tsether, a Buddhist tradition in which many animals were released by their owners, for the long life of H.H. the Dalai Lama and World Peace. People of Spiti released two hundred sheep, goats, and cows.    

Dr. Lobsang Tselim examining a patient.

 Our guests wanted to thank the people of Spiti for their good work and social service. They provided a free eye camp to the people of Spiti. On  June 15th, an eye camp was held at Kee village's KDM old aged home. On June 16th an eye camp for children was held at Kaza. June 17th an eye camp was held at Tabo. During the camp, KDM Girls Hostel humanities girls took photographs and video of the camp, and the medical girls helped the doctor to distribute medicines. 18th of June an eye camp was held again at Kaza, and on June 19th eye camps were held at Komic Gompa, Langza, and Kaza Gompa. The doctor did eye checkups and distributed among the people free medicine and spectacles, About 700 people benefited from their service. 

KDM Girls Hostel girls assisting the doctor distribute medicine.

We want to thank Shaptung Rinpoche, his family, Tumden La, Dr. Lobsang Tsetim and all members of T4VS for their generosity and good works. 

KACHEN

Kachen Dugyal passed away in meditation at Kee village, Spiti in 1998. Following the directions of H.H. the Dalai Lama, on June 26, 2011 searchers from Spiti found his reincarnation in Leh, Ladakh. The boy's name was Rinchen Namgyal, son of Tsewang Norbu. On August 8 the office of the Dalai Lama sent a letter to the searchers confirming that the boy was the reincarnation of Kachen Dugyal. On September 8 the boy, with an entourage of monks and lay Buddhists, traveled from Leh to Spiti for a series of events. These included official recognition as the reincarnation of Kachen Dugyal at Kee Gompa, and becoming the student of Lochen Rinpoche Tulku. After leaving Spiti, Rinchen Namgyal went to Dharamsala where he met with H.H. the Dalai Lama, the Karmapa Lama, and other lamas and Buddhist teachers. He is currently studying at the Sera Je in Karnataka.

Kachen La with his parents in Losar village (Photo: Tanzin Angmo)

Kachan La's visit to Spiti was recorded by many videographers and photographers from Ladakh and Spiti, incuding the girls from the Kachen Dugyal Memorial Girls Hostel in Kaza. The video clips were compiled by the members of the KDM Society into a record of his visit and now exists as a 105 minute movie titled “KACHEN”.  Bhoti (Tibetan) script is used for the titles, subtitles and explanatory pages.

Kachen La’s arrival in Kee village (Photo: Norzin Lamo)

Photographs of Kachen La’s visit to Spiti taken by girls from the KDM Girls Hostel were exhibited at the hostel October, 2011,  along with the movie. The photos in this post are from that exhibit.

The movie is available from:

Tsering Norbu

Kachen Dugyal Memorial Girls Hostel

Kaza, Spiti, Lahaul-Spiti District

Himachal Pradesh, India

Kachen La (Photo: Norzin Lamo)