Matho Nagrang: Best Leh Plans

The Spectacle

It’s a sight you’re not likely to see very often, nor likely to forget very easily. As the monks don beautifully painted masks and swirl around in their regal costumes – all a blaze of rich silks and velvet – you cannot help but get lost in their tales. As you watch, hypnotised, more and more costumed dancers will flow into the courtyard to the lilting tunes of music transporting you into a world of myths, legends, heroes and demons. This grand spectacle takes place each year at the Matho monastery in Leh, the only Sankya Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, on the occasion of the Tibetan New Year, usually celebrated in March.

Monks don beautifully painted masks and swirl around in their regal costumes on the occasion of Matho Nagrang.

Drawing hundreds of visitors, both national and international, to the village of Matho, off the regular tourist track, the festival is a celebration of Tibetan and Buddhist cultures and traditions. While the masked monks and their dramatic personifications are a great hit with visitors, the main attractions of the festival are the two oracles and their unbelievable feats. These oracles are actually monks, known as Rongstan, who usually begin their preparation for this day months in advance with austere fasting and penance, purifying their body and soul. On the day of the festival, they enter the courtyard and then go into a trance, said to be brought on due to their possession by oracles. They could climb up the monastery ramparts blindfolded or cut themselves with knives during this time. They also make predictions for the monastery as well as individuals who may have questions for them.

The Scenery

The Matho Nagrang festival is usually a great time to visit the wild beauty of Leh, Ladakh. Often referred to as the Last Shangri la and Little Tibet, Leh’s stark and stunning beauty arises out of its stony mountain ranges, its clear as sapphire lakes, its Buddhist monasteries and the beauty of its people. Having become a popular tourist destination, Leh is on the one hand a typically welcoming and tourist friendly destination with a smattering of souvenir and coffee shops and restaurants, which sell everything from pizza to papdi; on the other hand there is a part of Leh that still retains the ethereal charm of the days gone by – a time which comes into sharp focus as you set eyes on the crumbling mud and timber palaces on the mighty slopes of the Himalayas.

The festival is a colourful celebration of Tibetan and Buddhist cultures and traditions.

And The Sights

The place most tourists head for first is the Leh Palace, the former residence of the royal family of the Kingdom of Ladakh. Inspired by the Patola Palace in Tibet, this 17^th century palace offers stunning views of Leh and the surrounding Zanskar mountain range. The palace is now a treasure trove of arts and artifacts ranging from locally styled jewellery, Thangka paintings, crowns and even ceremonial dresses, housed in the Palace Museum and open for visitors.

Another interesting place worth visiting is the Stok Palace or Stok Monastery, which once housed the Ladakhi royal family. Its library’s collection of Tibetan and Buddhist literature is enviable. Other sites worth visiting include the Zanskar Fort, the War Memorial and the Victory Tower.

There are also several beautiful and often difficult trekking trails, which can leave you dizzy and breathless and are not for the faint hearted or weak bodied.