Gangtok, Sikkim - again

Got back to Gangtok this morning, and this afternoon took a ride out to Rumtek Monastary.

According to the LP, Rumtek is the "official sea of the Gyalwa KArnapa, the spiritual leader of the Kagyu (Black Hat) sect". Apparently, the current incumbent (the 17th) is waiting in Dharmshala for the Indian authorities to give him permission to take up his seat. There is some delay, as the Indian authorities want to try and avoid any grief with the Chinese.

The Monastary complex is about an hour from Gangtok. First of all I went and had a look around the main temple/ Gompa. There were the usual statues of Buddha & dignitaries. ALong the rail in front of the statues were little brass bowls, filled with offerings. Most of these offerings appeared to be gaudily wrapped, commercially prepared biscuits- the equivalent of a Penguin or- heaven forbid- a Wagon Wheel. This is probably why, when you see statues of the Buddha, he's always a little on the rotund side.

There's a warren of little passages and buildings around the temple. There was some drumming and chanting coming from somewhere, and I walked through them to try and find out what it was. Eventually, I came to this greasy looking blue and red curtain, hung over a doorway. When I pushed it aside and went in, I was in a small, dark room, with walls covered in religious paintings, all done out in dark colours. Hung on the wall closest to the doorway were various animal skins: they'd been dried and fried, and almost felt like cardboard. One was a leopard skin. I couldn't recognise the others in their current incarnation.

There were three large statues, in large display cases, facing me, and agan they had the requisite offerings in bowls, which were ranged in front of a row of softly hued lightbulbs.

To my right sat two monks, one chanting and the other drumming. When they'd stopped, I got chatting to them- it was apparently some highly eminent being's birthday today, and their efforts had all been for him. They pointed out the statues, and explained that they were for protection- not sure whose or from what, as their English, although better than my tibetan, was heavily accented, so had trouble understanding a lot of what they said, and was too shy to keep asking them to repeat themselves.

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