Last year I have
visited Shari Pangkha monastery, which is located on a hilltop. It was around
one hour drive through a rough feeder road from my wife house at Gase Tsho Wom.
On reaching the monastery the place was found to be so scenic and can view
three gewogs Gase Tsho Gom, Tsho Wom and Nahi from there.
There were few
monks who took care of us serving tea and taking around the monastery.
Unfortunately the monastery Lam was not there as he went to attend Melam Chenpo
at Rajir, India. My effort to write
on this sacred monastery went in vain as no monks there could explain however
you try to dig them.
Drubthob Sonam
Gyeltshen built Gase Shari Pangkha Lhakhang, sometime during the time of
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. The Drubthob remained low profile as he spent most
of his life ascetic.
It is evident that
many drubthobs and gomchens had meditated at Shari Pangkha in those days as
several ruins of hermitages are still seen within the vicinity of the main
Lhakhang.
The monastery hosts
the chamber of the local deity, Gase Bumrip. Unlike most local deities, Gase
Bumrip looks serene, peaceful and nonviolent. He puts on a cowboy like hat and
mounts on a white horse and a horseman named Leki Phuntsho leads the horse.
According to oral
reference, Gase Bumrip was a just, fair and compassionate deity and he would
sympathize with poor and humble people whenever rich and powerful dominated
them. In those days, like anywhere else, Gaselo also had the tradition of
masters and slaves and often-cruel masters abused their slaves with extreme
discrimination and manhandling. Often, the masters without their consent would
slaughter pigs and cattle owned and raised by the slaves and they would only be
given bones, horns and skins in reward.
One fine day it so happened
that the slaves and the masters had a rare moment to play ‘degor’ against each
for the very first time at Gase Khamina. Usually, slaves were not even allowed
to cross their shadows, forget playing games together. The masters undermined
the slaves. The team of masters invited Gase Bumrip, the local deity to side
with them. They offered ritual cakes and other offerings to appease the deity.
The slaves offered nothing, as they were not allowed to. However, as the game
began, the slaves defeated the masters straight in all three games and taught
them a huge lesson that human beings were all equal and he treated them so.
Leki Phuntsho, the horseman of Gase Bumrip as it appears to be with the statues
now, was believed to have been vanished on that day from the playground and
later divinations from astrologers and shamans traced, he was hand-picked by
Gase Bumrip as his horseman. It was also believed that Leki Phuntsho, one of
the players of the slaves’ team was handpicked on purpose to pass on a message
to the masters that he disliked the discriminating behaviors of the cruel
masters.
Since then it was
believed that the masters had relatively become mild towards their slaves.
Practise of slavery existed until the third King of Bhutan officially abolished
serfdom in 1958.
The present
monastery was built by Dasho Passang Dorji and carried out a grand investiture
ceremony. On entering the monastery one can see many images of the ceremony on
a notice board.
If you happened o
be at Gaselo, please visit the sacred monastery.
Reference courtesy:
Dasho Gaseb Kinley Wangchuk.
