March 27, 2012 by anilrajput

Hemis Gompa, Leh , Ladakh

Hemis Gompa in Hemis town 40 km from Leh city , it is a famous monastery founded by King Senge Nampar Gyalva in 1672 AD , every year in the month of July a colorful festival is held in the compound attended by not only the locals but people from all over the world. Hemis gompa is also believed to have been established in 1630 by Lama Tagstang Raspa and built by Palden Sara under the patronage of King Sengge Namgyal on a site previously sanctified by the construction of a cave hermitage dating from the 12th century. This monastery is the oldest one in the area belonging to the Kargyu school .

Hemis Gompa main compound

This two-day festival depicts a dance-homage to the birth anniversary of Lord Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche. The festival is the largest and biggest of the Tibetan Buddhist Gompa festivals in Ladakh. It is celebrated across three days from the 9th to the 11th day of the fifth month of the lunar Tibetan calendar, vibrant and endless dances are accompanied by discordant sounds of cymbals, large-pan drums, small trumpets and large size wind instruments . The lamas get transformed into demons and gods , bang on drums and crash symbols together as others gyrate and leap to fight off demons.

Hemis information display at entrance

The predominantly practiced religion in Ladakh is the Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is based on the eighth tenet of the concept of the eight fold part as propagated by Lord Buddha. This form of Buddhism stresses on meditation and concentration. One of the most innovative concepts introduced by the Mahayanists is that of the bodhisattvas.
As one enters the courtyard, to the right are two large temples up small flight of stone steps. The fronts have a wooden verandah of Kashmiri style, rising two storeys. As one faces them, the temple on the left is the Tshogs-khang and on the right is the Dukhang. The Dukhang contains the throne of the Rimpoche and seating areas for the lamas. Tall wooden pillars rise in the center to a square cupola with windows that supply light to the throne. The walls also have paintings of Sakyamuni (the Historical Buddha) with the blue hair, other Buddha figures and paintings of Tantric deities such as Hevajra and Samvara. In the Tshogs-khang is a large gilded statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha with blue hair surrounded by several silver chortens decorated with semi-precious stones. In front of the Buddha is a throne made of painted and lacquered wood, a present from the former Maharaja of Kashmir to a former Incarnate Lama of Hemis

Pehar Gyalpo the protective Deity of Hemis

Pehar Gyalpo, revered as the protective deity of Hemis. It is said that Pehar was once the lord protector of Sam-Yas monastery and a monk from there by hiding the spirit of this deity inside a cymbal had brought it to Hemis. Each day sacred rituals are performed to evoke Pehar’s blessings.
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September 30, 2011 by rkgoel

A memorable trip to Ajanta & Ellora Caves

Before our visit to Aurangabad (the capital of Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb during his long sojourn in Deccan), Maharashtra during the first week of August 2011, the very name of Ajanta & Ellora caves would conjure an image of grand statues of Lord Buddha and his disciples, cut into gigantic hills. A google search before the visit informed me that Ajanta Caves are among 15 sites in India which are included in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites (Ellora being another).

The Ajanta Caves

From Aurangabad where we based ourselves, Ajanta is a two-hour comfortable journey by road. Spread around a horse-shoe shaped mountain range, there are 29 caves in all, carved from 2nd century BC onwards upto 7th century AD . While few of them are chaitya-grihas (meditation halls), the rest are monasteries (resting places for the monks).
These caves remained hidden from human eyes for some 1100 years and were accidentally discovered in AD 1819 during an expedition by British soldiers in nearby mountains. On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to one of the cave temples (Cave No. 9) deep within the tangled undergrowth. Shortly after this discovery, the Ajanta Caves became renowned for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, historic artwork, and long-forgotten history. All paintings show heavy religious influence and centre around Buddha , Bodhisattvas (enlightened beings), incidents from the life of Buddha and the Jatakas (Buddhist literature).
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The Ellora Caves

The Ellora caves are located at a distance of 30 km from Aurangabad. There are 34 caves here and unlike Ajanta where only Buddhist caves are carved, at Ellora, three major religions i.e. Buddhism , Jainism and Hinduism are represented- starting with the Buddhist caves, you move on to the Hindu caves and finally to Jain caves. These caves were carved from 6th century AD to 12th century AD . Ellora is justly world-famous for the largest single monolithic excavation in the world, the great Kailasa (Cave 16).
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The Best Time

The visit to these caves is enjoyed maximum during monsoon , when every stream is filled with rainwater and the entire surroundings are lush green. We were indeed lucky to be there during height of monsoon this year and the monsoons surely made the environment very pleasant throughout our stay.

Shirdi

PS. While at Aurangabad, also take-out time to visit Shirdi which is some 100 km away. It is a two-hour drive from Aurangabad. If you are pressed for time, avoid the festival days and the weekends when crowds are much larger. We were lucky to be there on a Friday and it took just about 30 minutes of waiting before we were ushered into the sanctum sanctorum.

About the Author

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[author_image timthumb=’on’]wp-content/uploads/sites/2/authors/rajinder-goel.jpg[/author_image]

Rajinder Goel is based in Delhi Graduate from Pant Nagar University in Civil Engineering, presently working with Steel Authority of India as Deputy General Manager – Projects and he has a keen interest in travelling and study of old architectures.

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May 10, 2011 by anilrajput

Shanti Stupa, A Beautiful White Buddhist Chorten in Leh, India

History

A white dome Stupa (Chorten) built on a Changspa, a steep hill, opposite the Leh Palace different in architecture from the Ladhakhi style gives a magnificent view at sunrise and sunset, it looks more beautiful at night illuminated in the white light. It was built by the Ladakh and Japanese Buddhists, Ladakhis offered voluntary labor, construction started in 1983 and it was inaugurated in August 1991 by His Holiness The Dalai Lama. It was built to promote world peace and prosperty and to commemorate the 2500 years of Buddhism.

[quote]The Bright Shanti Stupa at Leh[/quote]

Structure

It is built as a two level structure, a flight of stairs leads to the first level where a Dharmchakra (as in white strip of Indian national flag) with two deer on each side, features a central image of Lord Buddha in golden colour sitting on a platform turning the Dharmchakra wheel, the second level depicting the birth of Buddha, defeating of devils in meditation and death of Buddha along with many small images of meditating Buddha, all embossed in vibrant colours.

[quote]Various depictions of Lord Buddha’s life[/quote]

Location

Shanti Stupa is situated at a height of 4267 meters overlooking the Leh city, it gives a panaoromic view of surrounding snow capped mountains and the Leh city.

[quote]Shanti Stupa under the BIG bright cloudy Sky[/quote]