The Punakha Domchoe - REC · the Rangjung Kharsapani into the water. The true Rangjung Kharsapani is in Punakha dzong today, and once a year the people of Punakha remember how the

The Punakha DomchoeClass III Book 2

The Punakha DomchoeClass III Book 2

Royal Education CouncilRoyal Government of Bhutan

Paro

Published by:Royal Education CouncilRoyal Government of BhutanParo, BHUTAN

Tel: +975-8-271226Fax: +975-8-271991Website: www.rec.gov.bt

Copyright © 2017 Royal Education Council (REC)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form withoutthe permission from Royal Education Council (REC).

This book remains the property of the Ministry of Education andmust not be taken out of the school at any time.

Firs Edition 1992

New Edition 1992

Revised in 2007 by the English Curriculum Review Team Classes PP-IV

Revised 2010

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ISBN 99936-0-150-0

1

Our story begins in Tibet four hundred years ago.It ends in Bhutan today!

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2

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal was twelve whenhe became the head of Ralung Monastery in Tibet.This made him the leader of the Drukpas. He hadto look after the monastery and the RangjungKharsapani which was a special relic of the firstDrukpa leader. The man who had the relic was theleader of the Drukpas.

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3

The ruler of that part of Tibet was called the TsangDesi. He did not want Zhabdrung NgawangNamgyal to be the head lama at Ralung. Therewas a fight between the Tsang Desi’s men andthe Zhabdrung’s men.

One night the Zhabdrung hada dream. He saw a blackraven flying south. The ravenwas Pel Yeshey Gonpo a(deity) who protects Bhutan,and he told the Zhabdrung tocome to Bhutan.

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4

So in 1616 the Zhabdrung left Ralung and came toBhutan. He brought the special relic with him.

The people of Bhutan welcomed the Zhabdrung.Reprint 2020

5

When Tsang Desi heard that the Zhabdrung wasin Bhutan, he sent soldiers to kill him. TheZhabdrung began to build large Dzongs to protectBhutan. The first of these was at Simtokha.

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6

Then one day the Zhabdrung went to Punakha. Hehad a dream which told him that this was a goodplace to build another dzong.

The Zhabdrung told Palep, thearchitect, to build a dzong whichlooked like the palace in GuruRinpoche’s heaven. Palep was a veryclever man but he could not do this.

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7

So the Zhabdrung took Palep to heaven andshowed him the palace.“I want the dzong to look like this,” he said. “Makea plan of it.”

Then Palep made a plan which we can see insidePunakha dzong today.

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8

People from all over Bhutan came to build thedzong.

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9

Everyone worked hard and they builtthe dzong very quickly.

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10

Finally they put relics, books and chortens in thedzong.

The most important relic was the RangjungKharsapani which the Zhabdrung brought fromRalung.

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11

It was only the size of a rice seedbut the man who had this relic wasthe leader of the Drukpas and sothe ruler of the Tibetans wanted it.

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12

When the ruler of Tibet heard that the RangjungKharsapani was in Punakha dzong, he decided tosend his soldiers to get it.

The Tibetan soldiers came over the mount ains toPunakha and made a camp on the hill in front ofthe dzong.

The Zhabdrung watched themcome but he was not frightened.He thought of two good plans tosend them back.

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13

The first plan was to make the Tibetans thinkthat there were hundreds and hundreds ofBhutanese soldiers inside the dzong.

He told his men to go out of a doorfrom one side of the dzong, walk infront of the dzong, and come back intothe dzong by another door . They didthis for a whole morning. The Tibetansthought that a very large army wasgoing into the dzong and werefrightened!

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14

Another day the Zhabdrung told his soldiers to makemen out of straw and put old clothes on them. Then,at night, the Bhutanese soldiers put the straw menin front of the dzong.

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15

In the morning the Tibetans thought thatthe Bhutanese had come out of the dzong.

As the Tibetan horsemen rode downto the dzong the Bhutanese shotburning arrows at the straw men andset them on fire. This frightened theTibetans and made them run awayagain!

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16

The villagers wanted to help theZhabdrung. So he sent them toprotect the four sides of the dzong.

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17

At last the Zhabdrung decided to stop the fighting.He knew that the Tibetans only wanted one thing-the Rangjung Kharsapani.

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18

The next day the Zhabdrung walked to a big treebeside the river. Both the Tibetan and Bhutanesesoldiers could see him and hear him.

“It is not good that our two peoples are fighting forthis special relic,” he said.“I will throw it into the river so neither of us will haveit and we will not fight again.”

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19

Then the Zhabdrung droppedthe relic into the water.

“Oh,” cried the Tibetans. They had come to getthe relic. Now, without it, there was no need tofight. They went back to Tibet thinking that theBhutanese were very stupid.

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20

But the Zhabdrung was veryclever. He hid the true relic inthe Dzong and threw a copy ofthe Rangjung Kharsapani intothe water.

The true Rangjung Kharsapani is in Punakha dzongtoday, and once a year the people of Punakharemember how the Zhabdrung saved the relic andtheir dzong.

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So every spring Punakha townis full of Pazabs wearing redghos, black tegos and red hats.They look like brave Pazabsfrom the Zhabdrung’s time!

Each of the eight gewogs sends thirteenmen, their gup and a leader to the dzongas Pazabs. These men help us toremember the people who foughtbravely.

For two days these Pazabs camp nearthe dzong ready for the fight.

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Lots of people come from Punakha valley to seethe Domchoe. Some walk all the way from Laya.Can you see them in the crowd?

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23

On day three of the Domchoe the Pazabs go to thedzong and get a blessing. They ask their gods tolook after them in the fight.

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24

Each group of Pazabsleaves the dzong with theirleader. The leader gets onhis horse and rides throughthe crowd towards the river.His Pazabs run quicklybehind him.

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25

After the horsemen and their Pazabs leave thedzong, the Je Khenpo and the monks come out.

Everyone is very happy becausehe is going to give a blessing. It isvery important for our people to geta blessing from the Je Khenpoonce in their life in Punakha.

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26

Then the Je Khenpo slowlywalks to the same place where,long ago, the Zhabdrung threwthe copy of the RangjungKharsapani into the river.

Now the crowd is very quiet.

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27

One of the monks carries asmall basket of oranges. The JeKhenpo blesses them and then,like the Zhabdrung long ago, hethrows the oranges into the river.

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28

When the Je Khenpo throws the orangesinto the river the men and boys standingbeside the river jump in and swim towardsthe oranges. If they get an orange theytake it and keep it in their house. Theybelieve that these oranges will bring theirfamily good luck.

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29

Now the horsemen and the Pazabs return to thedzong. They are very happy because the fight isover and they dance and sing.

The Domchoe is over this year.Everyone goes home tired but happy.

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