Thimphu, the capital city of Bhutan is a valley on the west
bank of Wang Chhu. In 1961 the capital was shifted from Punakha to here. Thimphu
is the pampered child of proud parents who doesn’t like to get up early. Although
the offices start by sharp 9 o’ clock, most of the shops and restaurants remain
closed until 10 – a phenomenon that was received with utter bewilderment by us.
I would kill to become the residence of a place like Thimphu where nobody would
ask me to move my limbs before 10 in the morning. S and I are both hardcore
gluttons and we were both feeling ravenous. So instead of sitting on the
windowpane enjoying a morning view of the city, we decided to haul our bottoms
and go out to find a nice place to have breakfast. S was complaining about a
large regiment of dogs that apparently barked all night on the street just underneath
our room and ruined his sleep. However when it comes to dogs we both are
surprisingly quick forgiver and soon found ourselves admiring and wooing the
last night’s culprits.
Wherever we travel to, I do a thorough research about the
place beforehand – including the best places to eat there. When we discovered
that all the famous breakfast joints on our list were either closed or could
not be located, we felt slightly disheartened. Time was also running out as our
driver, Kenchen was supposed to pick us up by 10 for our extensive Thimphu
tour. Then I saw it. Just where the Norzim Lam took a right turn from the four
point crossing, a small staircase brushed past one of those expensive hotels
where Bhutan’s ‘250 dollars’ (a nickname for the foreigners that we invented)
check in, I saw the red signboard and a hint of a small gateway leading towards
it. The name of Swiss Bakery of Thimphu did not come up in any of the ‘where to
eat in Bhutan’ articles that I went through. Again the imprecision of others
worked out in my favour. Swiss Bakery surprised me with its picturesque interior and the best Swiss roll that we both had ever had till date.
Our day trip started with a visit to the National Memorial
Chorten – built in the memory of the third Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck in
1974. A humongous stupa built with the backdrop of a mountain surrounded valley of
Thimphu.
Our next stop was the Buddha Dordenma, a humongous 169 ft tall
statue of Shakyamuni Buddha sitting in Padmasana with a smile on his face that I
reckoned to be ruefully sarcastic with a touch of indifference– which was not
surprising given the condition of the mankind. Looking at the Thimphu city with
a bird’s eye view he was probably observing the fact that since his day of
enlightenment the stupid, self-destructive petty humans hadn’t learned anything
at all and rather heading for an inevitable fall. The project Buddha’s
projected cost is more than $100 million. Apparently, it fulfils the prophesy
of an ancient yogi Sonam Zangpo who visioned a large statue of either Guru
Rinpoche or Buddha would be built in the region. Even Guru Rinpoche himself
predicted the same phenomenon in one of his terma or the hidden treasures that
dates back to eighth century. The idol and the temple built under it had been
finished, but the surrounding area was still under construction. People of Bhutan
are apparently very proud of this great project. I told Kenchen that I had a
feeling that someday this Buddha idol would be construed as the Eiffel Tower of
Thimphu – a signature point of the city visually accessible from anywhere of the city.
The view from the Buddha point was exquisite. We could spot
the entire valley of Thimphu from up there – it looked like a vast, miniature
version of the life sized city itself. I could spot the Simtokha Dzong on a hilltop. We
saw the Tashichho Dzong, the administrative headquarter of Thimphu and the
Royal Palace. A football match was going on at the Changlimithang stadium – the
players looked like small insects buzzing over a piece of green field. Changlimithang
stadium was built in 1974 to commemorate the great victory of the first Druk
Gyalpo Ugyen Wangchuck in 1885 battle that was held on the sports ground. We stood
there for a while basking in a false sense of all seeing omnipotence.
On our way we went to a small nunnery that no other tourist
was going in. By now Kenchen had comprehended the focus of my enthusiasm and was
trying his best not to disappoint me. Thangtong Dewachen Dupthop Nunnery was
established 1976 by Dupthop Jadrel and named after Thangtong Gyalpo, a great
Buddhist yogi and blacksmith of fourteenth century who happened to be a pioneer
in civil engineering. He was known as Chakzampa or the ‘iron chain maker’ and
the founder of the Iron Chain lineage Shangpa Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Three identical puppies playing on the yard welcomed us with much enthusiasm. Inside
the temple was a large idol of of Thangtong Gyalpo. After having a brief
conversation with one of the young nuns I realised that the monastery was
unique in one aspect – it follows Shangpa Kagyu as well as Nyingma sect of
Buddhism.
Tashichho Dzong opens for the tourist from 5 o’ clock in the
evening for an hour only so we headed for the other Dzong in the city which chronologically
is much senior to the former one. Dzongs are a unique characteristic of Bhutan which
are basically administrative headquarters as well as monasteries. Simtokha
Zabdhon Phodrang Dzong means ‘The Palace of the Profound Meaning of Secret
Mantras’ in Dzongkha – the official language of Bhutan. Simtokha was the first
Dzong of Bhutan, built in 1629 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal – a man to whom Bhutan
owes the most.
Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was born in 1594 at the Ralung
monastery of Tibet in the Drukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was enthroned
as the prince of the Drukpa seat and the estate of Ralung. However, in the wake
of a war between Drukpa and its contemporary rival sect, Karma Kagyu, Ngawang
Namgyal fled Tibet in 1616 to establish his new base in Bhutan. And he built
Cheri monastery in Thimphu. Later in 1629 he built Simtokha Dzong and started pacifying
all other rival sects of Bhutan. Eventually he unified the entire Bhutan and established
Drukpa Kagyu as the state religion of Bhutan which holds until this day. Although
he allowed the oldest Nyingma sect of Vajrayana Buddhism to continue in some
parts of Bhutan and this sect can still be found in today’s Bhutan. A huge
portion of his life, Zhabdrung spent to protect Bhutan from Tibetan invasion as
well as from internal turmoil. After his death in 1651, the penlops or the local
governors of Bhuatn kept his demise a secret for the next 54 years – in a
desperate attempt to keep the internal stability of Bhutan intact. Later they
came up with the ingenious idea of splitting the incarnation of Zhabdrung into
three categories to avoid any further trouble – mind incarnation, body
incarnation and speech incarnation.
However Bhutan remained troubled with the issue of
succession for the next few centuries and it wasn’t until the beginning of the
twentieth century Bhutan finally found its new monarchic lineage in Ugyen
Wangchuck, the penlop of Trongsa province – the first Druk Gyalpo or the Dragon
King of Bhutan. The lineage of Zhabdrung still continues today and their history
is veiled with the rumours of conspiracy, murder and power struggle. Significantly,
the four queens of the fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singe Wangchuck are the
descendents of the mind and speech incarnations of Zhabdrung Rinpoche.
From the oldest Dzong of Bhutan we headed for the oldest
temple of Bhutan – Changankha Lakhang. Established in twelfth century by Lama
Phajo Drukgom Shigpo it houses Chenrezig, an eleven headed, thousand armed
manifestation of Avalokiteshvara (The Buddha of Compassion) as its main deity. As
I have mentioned earlier that Bhutan owes its Buddhist origin to Tibet. Everything
came from Tibet here. Even the official language of Bhutan, Dzongha is
originated from Tibetan. And here, at the Changagankha Lakhang Bhutan’s Tiebtan
connection is once again evident. Chenrezig is the patron deity of Tibet. It says
that he made a vow to free Tibetan people from their violent ways and help them
achieve Nirvana. The Tibetans claim their descent from Chenrezig. His Holiness
the Dalai Lama is none other than the reincarnation of Chenrezig himself. However
to the locales, Changangkha Lakhang’s significance lies elsewhere. The temple
is the home for Tamdrin – the protector deity of the children. Parents bring their
newborns to seek the blessings of Tamdrin. In Tibetan texts Tamdrin is considered
to be the wrathful Hayagriva – an extremely wrathful deity that purifies
sentient beings and cures all diseases. He is the wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara.
S is not a spiritual man himself so I had gone alone to visit the temple. The moment I lifted the curtain of the main temple it felt like I was transported back to another time - a simpler time when people would believe in mystical, tantrik deities and the miracles performed by them. A time when people were modern enough to conjugate carnal pleasure with spiritual attainment. A time when women weren't considered to be as gateway to hell but the compulsory other half to achieve Nirvana. The chorus of the monks chanting ancient mantras combined with heavy smell of burning incense created a mystical ambience inside the prayer hall.
The traces of the aromatic coffee and Swiss roll were long
gone from our stomach and now it was time for lunch. We wanted to have Bhutanese
lunch and hence chose the most popular destination – The Folk Heritage Museum
Restaurant. The museum was closed anyway so concentrated on the food. From the wooden interior to the overall ambience the place was oozing
a homely but royal Bhutanese vibe that made the experience more savoury.
However the best part of the day was yet to come.
To be continued
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