Pang Lhabsol

Among the Buddhist festivals celebrated in Sikkim, Panglhabsol is one of the biggest and is elaborated at State level. It falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month according to Tibetan Calendar i.e. around August-September annually. It is the Lepchas who first started the tradition of worshipping their native place Sikkim along with Mount Khanchanjunga for their safety and prosperity. Mount Khanchanjunga is considered by Lepchas as their creator and accorded it the status of a God. It was only in the eight century that this tradition began to be celebrated as a state festival with the name of Panglhabsol after the Tantrik Mahaguru Padmasambhav (Guru Rempochay) visited Sikkim and blessed them. The main attraction of this festival is the mask dance performed by lamas in Gangtok's Chuklakhang Gumpa and other religions dances and songs. in other gumpas, caves and places of worship and at Kabi Lunchok, a historical place where a truce of brotherhood was signed between the first Lepcha Couple Thekuntek and Nawkungdal and Khwa Bhumsha, the prince of Kham Ninayak of Tibet in the thirteenth century.

In the second half of the eighth century before his sojourn to Sikkim, Guru Padmashamvhab was invited to Tibet by Thishong Deechen, the grandson of the Tibetan King Songtshen Gyamtsho. He was invited because, the construction of Shamyeh Gumpa at Tibet was greatly hampered due to the interference and intervention of evil spirits and the king was facing a grave problem, Guru Padmashamvab came to Tibet and drove away the evil spirits by using his tantrik mantra in no time and the gumpa was completed. After that, Guru Padmashamvab came to Sikkim and showered blessing not only upon the Sikkimese people but also made Sikkim a precious and blessed land by secretly hiding holy scriptures and many other precious religious items at different secret places. This the Guru did, because, he knew that in course of time the religion would face a set back and degradation due -to growing infidelity and avarice in human nature and attitude and as a consequence they have to bear the wrath' of natural calamities, then the religions minded persons would take refuge in this land and search for those valuable items which would come to their good use in rescuing them from such a choatic state and help them in establishing the supremacy of religion again.

Not only that, with the use of his tantrik knowledge Guru Padmashamvab brought under his control Gonga Pawa Hungri, Tanma, gigantic devi Aushad, different genies that ruled the water world and land and various other powerful spirits and made all of them to take an oath in favour of the people. He not only brought these demons and spirits under his control but also conferred upon them the status of God and Goddess and appointed them as the guardians of those hidden items with the sole responsibility of safeguarding them. It is because of this facts that these guardian Gods and Goddesses are paid due veneration annually. Guru Padmashamvab also foretold the need of worshipping those gods and goddesses who provided the people with timely rainfall for good harvest and saved them from natural calamities, and opined that, in doing so by the people of Sikkim the state would always head towards spiritual and material prosperity

According to Lepcha's traditional belief, Thikong, who possessed super-natural power was a bungthing of great mystical power because he was blessed by a God called Tamsang Thing. Bungthing Thekong, who also possessed supernatural power, was a descendent of bungthing Thikong in his thirty second generation. In thirteen century AD, Thekong concluded a bond of brotherhood with the Tibetan crown prince Khay Bhumsa of Kham Ninayak at Kabilunchok, a place, near Gangtok. "Khay Bhumsa" meaning possessing the strength of one lakh people was so named because the crown prince Khay Bhumsa lifted gigantic pillars and erected them single handed by at the time of construction of Sakya Gumpa in Tibet which, otherwise, would have been done by not less than one lakh people at a time. Seeing this heroic task and being greatly impressed by his enormous strength, King Sakya married his daughter Choma Guru with him, who after marriage, settled in Chumbi Pass.

Years passed but they could not begate any offspring. So after seeking permission of lamas, Khay Bhumsha and his wife Chomo Guru decided to come to God incarnated Thekong Tek and his wife Neukong Dal who were residing at a place called Singding in Sikkim to be blessed for progenation. Consequently three sons were born to them. After the birth of their first son they took the baby to Thekong Tek and Neukong Dal to express their profound thanks and gratitude to them and this which made the Lepcha leader and his wife very happy.

In order to continue this friendship and fellow feeling among the Lepchas and the Tibetans, Khay Bhumsha and Thekong Tek signed an agreement and took the oath of their blood to honour their agreement. Thekong Tek erected nine stone slabs on the ground facing Mount Kanchanjunga at Kabilunchok and tied animal intestines around those nine stone slabs and dipped their feet in the blood of animal collected in a container promising to adhere to their agreement of friendship or else, suffer the curse _ of blood if they dishonoured it. As witnesses of this historical event sacred Mount Kanchanjunga and the different deities and genies aboding there upon were ceremoniously invoked and taken into consideration. This oath taking ceremony was called Panglhabsol and with the passage of time assumed the status of an important festival.

    Based upon this historical fact, the guardian Parvat Kanchanjunga and the deities residing there upon are worshipped in all gumpas and places of worship on the day of this festival. The day being a Government holiday, all avail the opportunity to offer their prayer and enjoy the dance performed by lamas. "Kayushabina Lungchok" which in Lepcha means lithe stones erected by smearing our blood "literally means a place where promise was made and Kabi Lunchok is the name of that place.