© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Phodong Monastery – Sikkim, INDIA

The Kagyed Mahakala Chaam (dance of the Great Protector) is performed by monks on the same days across a few Kagyupa monasteries in Sikkim, Ladakh and Nepal in honour of the Mahakala after seven days and night of rigorous reading of the Buddhism scriptures Ya Yig and the Chaam Yig of 400 pages each.

Dedicated to Yinshey Gonpo, monasteries are said to have hosted the Kagyed Mahakala Chaam for more than 275 years with the dance steps  purported to have been choreographed by the first Karmapa, Dusun Khyenpa, based on his ability of seeing deity and its unique characteristics.

The dancers, especially the Chaampons (main dancers), undergo general meditation since the eight month, which intensify for seven days just before the main Kagyed Mahakala Chaam day. Similarly, the goma (red faced mask) dancers also meditate with the Shawa Chaam (stag dance) dancers simultaneously with the reading of Gonpo pecha, Dacha pecha, Purcha pecha and Lingthi pecha.

Whilst the chaam dance ritual are almost virtually identical across the 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dorjee Lopon (single black hat dance) and Shanag (black hat dance) is unique to the Kagyupa sect. In the Dorjee Lopon, the thunderbolt religious master dances alone by carrying the Dorjee (thunderbolt) and Thilbu (sacred bell) in his right and left hands respectively. The specialty of the Shanag (black hat) is that it is not only heavy but also miraculous; as soon as the monk dancer puts on the black hat, he is supposed to be in that particular manifestation, and talks or acts or dances according to that manifestation.

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Behind the scene and on-the-road story upload HERE {warning: just rants by me}