Pemagatshel Tshechu

When it happens

Pemagatshel Tshechu is an autumn festival, and its Gregorian dates move from year to year.

The festival is usually described as running three or four days. A thongdrel (a giant appliqué scroll image) is unfurled on the last day.

Where it happens

The tshechu (a festival honouring Guru Rinpoche) is the district’s biggest annual festival. It is held in Druk Migyur Dechen Dzong (fortress) at Denchi, the district’s new town planning area. His Holiness the Je Khenpo gave the dzong its name, and the district administration moved into it in March 2023.

The new dzong’s courtyards are described as spacious, and devotees are reported to find them more comfortable. Before it was built, the festival was held at the old Pemagatshel Dzong.

History

The area now covered by Pemagatshel and Samdrup Jongkhar was known as Dungsam, a name still used officially and locally. Dungsam was a trade route to India for the people of eastern Bhutan, and from the time of the Zhabdrung it was recognised as one of Bhutan’s four gateways. One tradition holds that the name refers to three conch-shaped hills around Pemagatshel (dung, conch; sam, three).

Until 1970 the district was known as Dungsam Khoi Dung. That year Dudjom Rinpoche visited and gave it the name Pemagatshel, “the blissful land of the lotus”. The hills around the valley of the old dzong, with Redingla Goenpa to the west, Kher Goenpa to the north, Yongla Goenpa to the east and Dungkar Goenpa to the south, were described as resembling a lotus in full bloom.

The old dzong was built after Pemagatshel became a dzongkhag (district). The tshechu was instituted in 1984. Druk Migyur Dechen Dzong was built between 2012 and 2023, on a budget of 610 million ngultrum from the Government of India.

The tshechu is often described as the district’s youngest major cham (sacred masked dance) stage. Older cham are kept in village temples: at Khar Kadam Lhakhang in Khar, monks of Dungkhar Ugyen Choeling Goenpa and Khar villagers perform Tshepamay and Kagay. These cham are said to come from Pema Lingpa’s treasures and to have been performed for nearly 450 years. The Guru Tshengye (the eight manifestations of Guru Rinpoche) is among the cham performed at Khar Kadam Lhakhang. Another account from Khar links them to four treasure revealers, Pema Lingpa among them.

Being there

Pemagatshel lies off the national highway between Samdrup Jongkhar and Trashigang. The road to Pemagatshel leaves the highway at the Tshelingore junction.

The old dzong is more than 20 km from Denchi, so check that your plans take you to the new dzong at Denchi.

Yongla Goenpa, the district’s best-known monastery, is about a half-hour drive up from Tshelingore. It holds its own Yongla Phurpai Drubchen in September, separate from the tshechu.