Hemis Festival -Ladakh-birth anniversary - Padmasambhava

Event Profile

Start Date
    12-Jul-2009     End Date : 13-Jul-2009
Venue :     Hemis Gompa, Ladakh
City :     Ladakh     Country: India


The Hemis Festival is held every year in the Hemis Monastery, the biggest Buddhist monastery of Ladakh. It is celebrated on the tenth day of lunar month in the Tibetan calendar.

The festival is celebrated in the commemoration of the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava. During the festival, the Lamas gather around the central flagpole in the courtyard of the monastery and perform mask dances and sacred plays. Their performances are accompanied by the music from drums, cymbals and long horns.

The Hemis Festival of Ladakh is associated with a legend. The founder of Tibetan Buddhism, Guru Padmasambhava fought with fiends for the safety of the local people. Marking the victory of good over the evil, monks perform the sacred mask dances. When these performances come to an end, an idol made of dough is destroyed by the leader of black hat dancers. The destroyed pieces of the figure are then spread in four directions.

The programme of Hemis Festival is supervised by the head lama. After this, there is also a devil dance that acts as an important part of the social entertainment of the Ladakh people. Other major attraction of the Hemis festival includes a colourful fair displaying some of the most exquisite handicrafts of the Ladakh region.

However, what takes the cake is the display of the two-story high ' Thanka' of the monastery. The Thanka is beautifully embroidered with pearls and semi-precious stones, and depicts Guru Padmasambhava. It is put on display only once in twelve years and one has to wait for a long time to have a glimpse of the Thanka.

Images -masked dances at the Hemis Monastery.
Himis Gompa--Hemis Gompa was built in 1630 and houses monks of the Brokpa or Red Hat sect. where I saw beautiful frescoes (paintings) on the walls and the largest Thangka painting in Ladakh, which is over 12 m in length. The Hemis Gompa is famous for its annual Tse Chu Festival held in June-July, which is characterized by colorful masked dances.