Prakhar | |
|---|---|
| Country |  Bhutan |
| District | Bumthang District |
Prakhar is a village in the Bumthang District of Bhutan. Located within the Chhume valley in Central Bhutan, the village is notable for its annual festivals and architecture, including a 16th-century temple and palace known as the Prakhar Ngatsang.
Prakhar is located within the Kingdom of Bhutan. The village falls under the administration of the Bumthang District, one of the 20 Dzongkhags which make up Bhutan. [1] Parkar was at one point part of the Kingdom of Bumthang, which controlled much of the modern-day district of the same name. [2]
The village has existed since at least the 16th century. Due to Prakhar's location near the meeting of two mountain streams, the village became a hub for commerce in the sparsely populated Chhume valley. Several stone homes were built, and over the centuries these became the primary structures used by the town. [1] [3]
In the 16th century, a man known as Tenpe Nyima reportedly received a vision telling him to build a temple in the Chummei valley. Nyima, who was the grandson of the Buddhist saint Pema Lingpa, noted that his vision had specified that the temple should be built at a place where two streams met by a black road; this description led to Nyima beginning to build a three-story temple in Parkhar, a small village that matched the one he had seen in his dream. According to legend, Nyima worked on his temple during the day, and yet construction mysteriously continued during the night. Local villagers reported that white monkeys were seen building the temple during the night, leading to the temple being named the Prakhar Ngatshang, or "Palace of the White Monkeys". [1]
The modern-day Prakhar Ngatshang is made up of two buildings. The original, 16th century temple built by Nyima is known as the Zha khakhang, and contains art depicting Pema Lingpa. In the 1930s, a second, larger and more extravagant temple was built by one the local rulers of the valley, Dasho Gonpo Dorji. Dorji was himself a descendant of both Nyima and Lingpa. [3] The building he built is known as the ngatshang and contains two temples. [1] [3]
Nyimalung Monastery, which is located near the village, was also built by Dorji in the 1930s. [1] [4]
Bumthang District is one of the 20 dzongkhag (districts) comprising Bhutan. It is the most historic dzongkhag if the number of ancient temples and sacred sites is counted. Bumthang consists of the four mountain valleys of Ura, Chumey, Tang and Choekhor ("Bumthang"), although occasionally the entire district is referred to as Bumthang Valley.
Pema Lingpa or Padma Lingpa was a Bhutanese saint and siddha of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is considered a terchen or "preeminent tertön" and is considered to be foremost of the "Five Tertön Kings". In the history of the Nyingma school in Bhutan, Pema Lingpa is second only in importance to Padmasambhava.
Tamzhing Lhündrup Monastery in Bumthang District in central Bhutan is a Nyingma gompa in Bhutan. Its temple and monastery are remarkable for their direct connection to the Bhutanese tertön and saint, Pema Lingpa (1450-1521) and his tulkus. It is now the seat of Sungtrul Rinpoche, the current speech incarnation of Pema Lingpa.
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Gangteng Monastery, also known as Gangtey Gonpa or Gangtey Monastery, is a monastery of Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, the main seat of the Pema Lingpa tradition, located in the Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. The monastery, also known by the Gangten village that surrounds it, is in the Phobjikha Valley where winter visitors – the black-necked cranes – visit central Bhutan to roost, circling the monastery three times on arrival and repeating this circling when returning to Tibet. The monastery's history traces to the early 17th century and back to the prophecies made by the terton Pema Lingpa in the late 15th century.
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Sumthrang Lhakhang is located in Ura Gewog, Bumthang district in central Bhutan. It is one of the earliest religious establishments in central Bhutan and probably the first center for the practice of Vajrakilaya teachings in Bhutan. It was founded around 1200 CE by practitioner of Vajrakilaya teachings from the Nyö Clan called Nyöton Thrulzhik Chöjé. Nyöton was a scion of the Nyö lineage in the 18th generation and is the son of Nyö Gyelwa Lhanangpa Sangay Raychen alis Zejid Pel (1164-1224). However, according to the oral history, it is established by Gyelwa Lhanangpa. Nevertheless, since its establishment, the temple has been a vibrant center of religious and cultural life and served as a source of religious culture and traditions for most of the central and some parts of eastern Bhutan. Sumthrang, thus, is a very important religious, cultural and historical center in Bhutan’s history.In addition, descendants from its lineage include Pema Lingpa and hence the Wangchuck Royal family. As one of the earliest religious centers in the country, it houses some of Bhutan’s oldest and most sacred relics.
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The Kingdom of Bumthang was one of several small kingdoms within the territory of modern Bhutan before the first consolidation under Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1616. After initial consolidation, the Bumthang Kingdom became Bumthang Province, one of the nine Provinces of Bhutan. The region was roughly analogous to modern-day Bumthang District. It was again consolidated into the modern Kingdom of Bhutan in 1907.
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