The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The usually deserted town of Lhamoizingkha was filled with people and a buzz of activities as the community witnessed the Bhagat Satta Puran Puja on 17 December.
Gewog Gup Sherup Gyeltshen said “this ceremony is conducted for the first time in gewog and it’s for the wellbeing of people and country.”
The ceremony, ‘Bhagat Satta Puran Puja’ will be conducted in Shiva Mandir the only sacred temple for Hindu devotees.
Meanwhile the Gup is in doubt whether they can continue conducting such Puja as it is said to be one of the expensive ceremony.
“The Puja requires more than 15 pandits and the village hardly have that quantity of pandits,” said Gup Sherup.
The villagers in the gewog prepared in advance for the annual ceremony presided over by eminent Pandit Nerola.
Gewog residents pitched makeshift tents, constructed temporary rooms, kitchen and toilets and completed all preparatory works by 16 December.
The event is organized by the gewog community and all the expenses are shared among villagers.
“It was villagers who put up the proposal to the gewog office to organize such an event,” said the Gup. Therefore the amount is being collected from villagers while range of amount is left to them.
Gewog gup said that devotees from other regions will be provided with free lodging facilities as they have constructed temporary huts roofed with tarpaulin.
Apart from lodging facilities, the devotees will be provided with free meal in a dining hall in southern Bhutanese custom.
Since the ceremony is conducted for the first time the cost estimation is not drawn but around Nu 0.5mn budget is allotted for the ceremony.
For the convenience of devotees the place chosen for the ceremony is near the highway and for health and safety Basic Health Unit (BHU) is just 300 meters from Shiva Mandir.
With regards to the security arrangement, Gup said that there are volunteers who will be on night patrolling and even police officials will be there to monitor.
For the cleanliness of the campus the community had fixed dustbins where it is needed. The Gup said “they will be using steel plates and cups to serve food so that there won’t be much waste disposed”.
Meanwhile People in the gewog are excited about the event as they can see two benefits from it.
One of the officials from Department of Roads (DoR) under the works and human settlement ministry (MoWHS) said “after long time I will be able to see the hustle and bustle of the town and get blessings from eminent pandits”.
The Bhagat Satta Puran being held for the first time in Lhamoizingkha is a good initiatives deserved to be appreciated. However the quote of the TB saying “It was villagers who put up the proposal to the gewog office to organize such an event,” said the Gup. Therefore the amount is being collected from villagers while range of amount is left to them” is not true. The compulsory donation of minimum Nu. 500/- per family and minimum 10kg of rice who have paddy fields was forced upon the villagers. The amount may not seem high if you have good job or business, but for majority poor villagers who cannot even afford decent living or manage proper school uniform for their children, the compulsory donation was indeed a burden. It should have been left upto villagers to donate how much they can afford, and the ceremony should have been conducted within the purview of available budget.
Government of Bhutan should allow for the christian to be perform nation wide prayer for the long life of His Majesty and Royal family and for the whole nation