More of Bhutan

It has been 3 days since I came here and still have not ventured out. I needed to give time to my body to adjust to altitude sickness !
There are many things that catch your attention. Its those simple things which you ordinarily miss in the busy stream of your life. Birds, beautiful flowers, prayer flags which all seem so mundane and simple.

Unfortunately, the day we decided to go out was not good as the sky would become cloudy by afternoon.
Yet, who would'nt get a smile, seeing these roadside blooms?

flowers in bloom on roadside

National Memorial Chorten:
Chorten means a stupa. This memorial was built in the memory of the third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchhuck.

People circumambulate the chorten clockwise and then pay their respects to the late king.

                                        Paying obeisance to the late King                   giant prayer wheels                                                     

People also whirl prayer wheels at the entrance because the more you spin the wheel, more merits you gain. People sit near the prayer wheel sometimes spinning it as much as possible.

Buddha Point :

This 53 meter Buddha steel statue, still under construction, sits on top of a hill called Kuensel Phodrang. It is a joint project between Bhutan, Singapore, Thailand and China. It affords a majestic view of the valley and is visible from any point in Thimphu.
Buddha sits on lotus in padmasan (lotus) pose. In one hand, Buddha holds a pot of life or elixir and near his feet is the dorji. I would soon be writing about dorji in some detail in my next post.

Beneath the pedestal where Lord Buddha sits will be a place where 100 thousand (1 lakh ) statues of Buddha will be installed when completed.

A view of Thimphu valley

Changangkha Lhakhang:

This is one of the oldest temples in Thimphu valley built in 12th century. You climb the steps and reach the temple. The outer path has a series of black and gold prayer wheels.

This temple is meant for new borns and young children, that is why you see plenty of parents come with their new born or young to seek blessings from the protective deity, Tamdrin, housed in the main chapel along with Avalokiteshwara, the Buddha of Compassion. As no photography is permitted inside the main chapel, I could not take any.

Prayer wheels in the path around the chapel

going round with a prayer wheel and prayer beads

On looking carefully behind the prayer wheels, I was able to see black tablets.  I took only three pictures.

 Guru Zhabdrung                             Lord Buddha                          Tamdrin        

Guru Zhabdrung is reverred as he brought Buddhism to Bhutan and Tamdrin is the diety for children. Only children born in Thimphu visit this place to be blessed by the diety. It is believed that children who get nightmares or have disturbed sleep are given the Ara which has been blessed from this place. Ara is a traditional Bhutanese drink made from rice. It is also produced for religious purposes. This blessed drink miraculously cures children of all the ailments.

Takin reserve :

It comes as a great surprise to me that such a beautiful country can be having an unattractive animal like takin as its national animal. But, it is associated with religion and mythology.

The story goes back many centuries, when Lama Drukma Kunley visited this place and people asked him to perform a miracle. He asked for a cow and goat to eat. After having finished eating, he assembled the head of goat and body of cow and commanded it to rise. Takin was born!

board giving the details of Takin

Though these animals graze in the meadows and one may occasionally see them but the best place to see takins is to visit the Takin reserve in Thimphu. Takins are herbivores and mainly eat bamboo though at the reserve they were given soaked black gram to eat. They are an endangered species but fortunately for them, their body parts do not have any significant value so are not in much demand by the poachers.

As with animals under captivity, we need to make sure that we do not tease or feed the animals. One sees these boards throughout the fence.

girl on a loom

We went upwards and came to a place on right where we saw a girl weaving silk and cotton scarves. The colors were pretty and cheaper than market. Our friends bought a couple of cotton scarves.

Buddha Park:
There is a quiet park opposite the stadium on the opposite end of the vegetable market. It is a perfect place for contemplation and to be on your own.

river flowing alongside the park

Tashicho Dzong:
Dzong means a type of fortress. This dzong houses His Majesty's office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of home and cutural Affairs, Cabinet Secretariat in one half and monastery in the other half.

Tashichodzong

View from above near the Nunnery

One special feature I came to know is that only important buildings as the Royal Palace, the Parliament, Dzong, Supreme Court, High Court can have golden roofs. Other buildings can have a green or blue color but not gold.

Supreme Court under construction

Supreme Court has been funded by India and has recently been inaugurated during the visit of Indian Prime Minister.

Folk dances:
Bhutan has many folk dances. I could see just a few.

The mask dance

This dance called Drametse nga cham is the most popular dance form. It is performed by male dancers in wooden mask on most of the festivals.  The dance is accompanied by cymbals and drums.

Layab

The above dance form called Layab or the dance of the nomads is performed by nomadic herders of western Bhutan. They wear a dress made of hand-woven yak hair and have bamboo hats on their head.

Religious mask dance

The above dance form Shazam Cham is performed as a opening dance during all religious festivals in Bhutan.

Thrung thrung

The dance of black-necked crane is perfomed by women during black-necked crane festival. 

Thangka :
Thang means flat and ka means painting.

Thangka in our hotel room 

These are paintings made on flat surface mainly on silk or cotton which can easily be rolled when not in use. These are based on the life of Buddha and are an important teaching aid. The above painting is a Mandala thangka painting.
Apart from Bhutan these paintings are also made in Tibet and Nepal.

Every country has its own beliefs and rituals. I plan to write about it in my next post so keep reading :)