|
Goenpas,
Monasteries & Lhakhangs
|
 |
Bhutan's
Festivals |
|
|
Bhutan's
Festivals |
|
|
 |
|
Paro:
The legend of Dongkola
|
 |
Almost
every lhakhang (monastery) in the country is steeped in stories
of myth and legend.
 |
| One
among many stories surrounding the Dongkola lhakhang in Paro is that nothing
can be stolen from the monastery.
The
monastery founded by the speech incarnation of Terton (treasure revealer)
Pema Lingpa stands on the highest peak between Paro and Thimphu. |
|
The
Dongkola Lhakhang
| Legend
has it that one night, a long time ago, a thief tried to steal a throe
(bronze vessel) from the lhakhang. "The thief has picked the vessel at
midnight," said the lhakhang caretaker Tenzin. "But he couldn't carry it
very far."
It
is believed that the thief had been circumambulating a chorten below the
lhakhang for the whole night but was under the impression that he had got
away with the vessel. |
|
 |
"As
dawn broke he realised that he was still near the lhakhang and fearing
that somebody would notice him he tried to drop the vessel," said caretaker
Tenzin.
"But
his right hand was stuck on the vessel and when he heard the caretaker
wake up, he severed his hand."
The
vessel was recovered from below the chorten and the severed hand kept in
the lhakhang. Today the hand has become a part of the lhakhang's relics.
Nobody knows when it happened but village elders believe that the hand
must be about 300 years old. It is wrapped in leather and kept in the goenkhang
(inner chapel) of the lhakhang.
According
to villagers, the lhakhang was under the care of a few choeps (local monks)
and was attacked by thieves many times in the past. "The lhakhang is isolated
and not many people visit it except during religious functions," said a
village elder from Jamdo, a village at the foothill of the lhakhang.
Villagers
also say that a Phurb (cup) stolen from the monastery one night had miraculously
returned to the lhakhang the next morning. "It is believed that a thief
can never be successful in stealing anything from the monastery," said
Nima, a village elder from Paro.
Dongkola
is about a six-hour walk from the nearest road head from Thimphu and four
hours walk from Shaba in Paro. A lam and 12 monks look after the lhakhang.
 |
| Contributed
by Ugyen Penjore, Kuensel 2006 |
| Information on Bhutan |
|
|
