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Hemis Monastery is a Himalayan Buddhist monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Lineage, in Hemis, Ladakh, India. Situated 45 km from Leh, the monastery was re-established in 1672 by the Ladakhi king Sengge Namgyal. The annual Hemis festival honouring Padmasambhava is held in early June.
History
Hemis Monastery existed before the 11th century. Naropa, the pupil of the yogi Tilopa, and teacher of the translator Marpa is connected with this monastery. A translation was made by A. Grünwedel of Naropa's biography that was found in Hemis monastery.
In this manuscript Naropa (or Naro) meets the "dark blue" Tilopa (or Tillo), a tantric master, who gives Naropa 12 "great" and 12 "small" tasks to do in order to enlighten him to the inherent emptiness/illusoriness of all things. Naropa is depicted as the "abbott of Nalanda" (F. Wilhelm, Prüfung und Initiation im Buche Pausya und in der Biographie des Naropa, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 70), the university-monastery in today's Bihar, India, that flourished until the sacking by Turkish and Afghan Muslim forces. This sacking must have been the driving force behind Naropa's peregrination in the direction of Hemis. After Naropa and Tilopa met in Hemis they travelled back in the direction of a certain monastery in the now no longer existing kingdom of Magadha, called Otantra which has been identified as today's Odantapuri. Naropa is considered the founding father of the Kagyu-lineage of the Himalayan esoteric Buddhism. Hence Hemis is the main seat of the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism.
Celebration
On this particular day, a ritual is followed. People on this festival mask themselves, and sing and dance. The main highlight of the Hemis festival is the unique masked dance performed by Lamas. The dance performance depicted this festival's central theme of victory of good over evil. The Lamas gather around the central flagpole. This flagpole is located in the monastery's courtyard, where the singing and dance performances along with plays take place. One of Ladakh's oldest carnivals is the Hemis festival. This festival is organised in the monastery, which is 300-year-old and also is Ladakh's richest monastery.
All the activities during the Hemis Festival take place at the Hemis Gompa, which is the centre. This Hemis Gompa is Ladakh's largest and most affluent Buddhist monastery. This festival brings in a lot of colours in the city as the masks and costumes have vibrant and bright colours. The masks are brilliantly coloured. The costumes of the dance performers are also very eccentric and luxuriant. This colourful atmosphere brings an all new charm to the festiva
Kashmir is the crown state of India. It is rich in culture and diversity. Although it is known for Islamic culture, Kashmir also has a fair population of Hindus, who celebrate their festivals with much joy and ado. Along with celebrating national festivals like Diwali and Holi, Kashmir has its own local festivals. These are conducted by the local groups and people irrespective of their religious views take part in them. Some of these festivals like the Hemis festival is treated as national holiday to ensure everyone takes part in it. Such is the importance of festivals to bring people together. In this article, we shall explore some of the popular festivals in Kashmir.
