Day 7 29th April A day at Lamayuru Monastery observing the visit of a local religious leader

Photo above - traditional costume at Lamayuru monastery for the visit of a local religious leader.

Lamayuru in winter

Another night of -8c , but I was sunbathing on the balcony overlooking the village at 6.30am, all be it with 3 layers on!

The people who live in these villages have to be really hardy. In the villages in this area the roads are closed for 3 or 4 months every year in the winter due to snow, so the village is completely cut off from December to March. This means that they have to earn enough, and store enough supplies, in the other months to survive the year. The village is entirely dependant on agriculture: wheat, barley, cattle and sheep. There is no movement in or out of the village, and the schools shut for the whole period as there is no heating, and possibly no teachers if they live in another village. The children though do get some instruction from the community in agricultural techniques and also play sports like ice hockey (very popular here) and archery.

Lamayuru monastery

After a late breakfast we walked up to the monastery to look around. Lamayuru Monastery is the oldest Monastery in the Central Ladakh Region. Belonging to the Ka-gyü-pa order, it has always been very active and powerful. In the 13th century, it was the main contender against the Sakya Monastery for supremacy throughout Tibet, whise borders at that time covered this area. The focal point of this monastery is a cave where the great Indian Saint Marpa is said to have meditated.

Surprise visit (to us) of local religious leader

The plan was to make a short visit here then go and see some other local villages, however as we neared the monastery it became clear they were getting ready for something special, hanging flags out, lots of people dressed in traditional costume. Turns out the Lama for the region Rangdol Nima Rimpochay is visiting at 11am so the place is a hive of activity. We decided to hang around and watch how things develop.

They had a large open space covered over as protection from the sun, lots of carpets laid down to sit on, a speaker system installed, posters on the wall, some musicians etc. as the time approached more and more people were arriving, almost exclusively in their traditional dress or that of monks and nuns. There was colour everywhere. Some had a traditional tall hat that sits at the back of the head, some had hats adorned with flowers, these are the Drokpa people. There were young and old there.

The Lama arrives

As 11am approached those with traditional costume on started lining the way from the entrance to welcome the Lama, all holding the tradional welcome scarf. His entrance was preceded by drummer and horn players, then the great man followed with his entourage including one man with a colourful sun umbrella to protect from the intense high altitude sun. The snake of people went into the monastery first, and most people went back to the temporary hall to wait for the Lama, and to listen to a speaker who had been talking for about two hours on some subject we were unaware of.

Then finally, again preceded by drums and horns the Lama was ushered into the hall where he would deliver some messages to his followers. At this point we left to walk back to the hotel for something to eat. After chilling for an hour, we walked back up to the monastery to see what was happening, in the hope that there may be some dancing and music.

A second visit

When we got there, it was still thronging with people and the Lama was delivering his teachings. They had also started serving free food in an area below the monastery. Later The band started up and lots of people in traditional dress went down to the front to perform a dance in honour of the lama. After this was finished we decided to retire back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, we leave Lamayuru to travel approximately 50 miles to the village of Dah. This is where the Drokpa people live, some of which we saw today, distinctive because they wear a lot of flowers in their hats amongst other things.