Hemis Gompa - Kashmir Mela - Buddhism

back to : home page


Concealed in a deep ravine of the world, you come across the Hemis Gompa (Hemis monastery) round the mountain. The festival of Hemis Gompa brings families of Ladakhis close together as they begin arriving from all over the valley. Their ornate festival clothing reveals a Tibetan, rather than Indian, heritage.

Bright cummerbunds on the quilted coats adorn the men who are on their way to the mela. Many women wear the perak, an elaborate headdress with woven strips of beads and turquoise, silver dangles, and upright ears of braided yak hair.

Each family carries a savovar of yak-butter tea, and a canister of tsampa, a roasted barley flour.

back to : home page



The dances are accompanied by discordant sounds of brass trumpets that are three meters (10 feet) long. The lamas (monks) get transformed into demons and gods.

Horned devil-masks and padded brocade outfits come to life as they play out the scriptured battles between good and evil spirits. Lamas with red-robes and tall tufted hats bang on drums and crash symbols together as others gyrate and leap to fight off demons.

This two-day festival depicts a dance-homage to the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava .The festival is the largest and best of the Tibetan Buddhist gompa festivals in Ladakh. The lamas themselves offer contradictory explanations as to the meanings of the dances.

back to : home page