The Buddha's Kingdom
High in the Himalayas, on a barren plateau, stands a unique and virtually unknown Kingdom, where authority rests with the monks in the monastery of Hemmis. Here the powerful Regent Lama , Douk Tchass Rinpoche , and his monks, numbering over 500, hold sway over the peasant people of the country.
The peasants' life is hard. unremitting; their only escape from back-breaking labour is to be accepted as a novitiate monk. Every peasant family hopes that one son at least will be accepted in babyhood into the monastery in this way. Once a year at the annual Festival of Hemmis sacred dances are performed. Then the people stream up the hillsides to the monastery to feast their eyes on the colours and the intricate movements of the dancers.
Commentary written and narrated by PRAKASH MIRCHANDANI
A film by, PATRICIA and ETIENNE VERHAEGEN Presented for BBCtv and DAWN A. SWERLING Series editors MICHAEL ANDREWS and ANTHONY ISAACS