Celebrating Saga Dawa in Ladakh

“It’s a perfect day for celebration. Even the weather is lovely,” said Pema Rinchen, a daily wage worker on road construction sites here in Leh district.

A resident of Hanle (also spelt Anlay) village in Ladakh, 42-year-old Rinchen is referring to Saga Dawa, an important festival in the Tibetan calendar. It is celebrated by Buddhists in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. 

“Earlier, every hamlet used to celebrate Saga Dawa in their respective areas. But this year [2022], six hamlets came together," says 44-year-old Sonam Dorje, a resident of Naga hamlet who works at the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle. After two years of restricted celebrations during the Covid-19 pandemic, the hamlets of Punguk, Khuldo, Naga, Shado, Bhok, and Zhingsoma came together to celebrate. These sparsely populated hamlets are a part of Hanle village which has a population of 1,879 persons (Census 2011).

Celebrated by the Mahayana sect of Buddhists, Saga Dawa, also called Saka Dawa, is observed on the 15th day of the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. In the year 2022, it fell in the month of June. In the Tibetan language, ‘saga’ is the number four and ‘dawa’ is month. The month of Saga Dawa is known as the ‘month of merits’ – good deeds performed during this period are said to be rewarded many times over. The festival commemorates the Buddha and marks his birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana, or complete nirvana.

A large majority of the population – roughly 66 per cent in Leh district of Ladakh – are Buddhists (Census 2011). Ladakh became a union territory in October 2019. Much of eastern and central Ladakh’s population is of Tibetan origin and many festivals are celebrated at Buddhist monasteries in the area.

On Saga Dawa, Tibetan Buddhists spend the day visiting monasteries and temples, giving alms to the poor and chanting mantras.

Pastoral nomadic communities like the Changpas of Hanle River Valley in eastern Ladakh who follow Buddhism, attach great significance to Saga Dawa. This reporter visited Hanle River Valley about 270 kilometres south-east of Leh district's headquarters in the summer of 2022 to witness the festival. A scenic and rugged territory near the India-China border, the valley is marked by vast stretches of empty land, snaking rivers and towering mountains all around. It is part of the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary.

It’s 8 a.m. on festival day and at the local monastery in Hanle village, the procession is about to begin. Dorje, head of the festival’s organising committee is leading the procession that is carrying the Buddha’s statue. By 8:30 a.m. the premises are packed with devotees from the village and participating hamlets. Women are dressed in traditional long gowns known as sulma and hats called nelen.

Sonam Dorje and his friends hoist the Buddha out of the gompa (monastery) and place the statue on top of a matador van. The vehicle is covered with festive prayer flags and resembles a colourful chariot. The convoy of approximately 50 people makes its way in cars and vans towards the Hanle monastery, a 17th-century site associated with the Drukpa Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism.

At the monastery in Hanle, Buddhist spiritual teachers or lamas wearing red caps greet the convoy. As the devotees enter the premises, the sound of their voices echo through the premises. "We expect more devotees to join the festivities,” says Pema Dolma a resident of Hanle, in his mid-40s. 

The celebrations get underway with the beating of drums and blowing of trumpets. The procession is off. Some are holding Buddhist scriptures wrapped in a yellow cloth.

The procession descends down a steep slope with lamas leading from the front. They circle the sanctuary within the monastery. The crowd then breaks up into a group of lamas and another of devotees and piles into two matador vehicles. They will now drive along the hamlets of Khuldo, Shado, Punguk, Bhok and end up at Naga.

At Khuldo the devotees are greeted with buns, cold drinks and salt tea. At Punguk, the lamas and devotees circle the nearest mountain and walk along streams and grasslands under a bright blue sky.

When we reach the village of Naga, lama Jigmet Doshal greets us saying, “How do you find the day? It is lovely, isn't it? This is also known as the month of merit. We must study more to understand the philosophies hidden behind the holy books.”