Prayer flags in tall and neat rows flutter, as if impatient to unfold the myriad sights behind them. Whitewashed houses of a uniform architecture mark the landscape. The elderly and the young sit on platforms along the shade of trees, spinning prayer-wheels, lost in meditation. A breeze adds to the surrealism of the Buddhist domains along Tibet’s Himalayan ranges.
Welcome to Chandragiri. Or, Little Tibet—as it is known. Tucked in the serene Eastern Ghats, the Phunktoskling settlement in downstate Orissa’s Gajapati district is home to a generation of Tibetans who fled their land following the 1959 Chinese invasion. They were placed at Padmasambhava Mahavihara here by the Indian government in 1963. Today, even Southeast Asia doesn’t have a larger living Buddhist Monastery. The road winds up to Jiranga, a few km from Chandragiri. An imposing structure emerges atop a hillock, lending an astral aura to the surroundings.
As we enter the monastery gate, a football lands at our feet with a thud. A skinny eight-year-old in a maroon robe runs in yelling for the pass. Chikna Radher, he introduces himself, from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. “I’ve been here since over a year,” he says, as he leads us to Khenpo Rinpoche Pema, the head teacher and deputy of Geytrul Jigme Rinpoche, the High Lama of the institution.
The sprawling concrete courtyard to the main temple gives view to the majesty of the monument. On two sides are long rows of two-storeyed hostels. The main temple stands in stark authority. The over 80-foot-high monastery with five storeys, built in Atanpuri style of Nalandan architecture, was inaugurated early last year by the Dalai Lama.
Inside the main temple lies a huge meditation hall with a 21-foot Buddha statue at the centre with 17-foot statues of Lords Padmasambhava and Avalokitesavara by his side. The inner walls glow in the brightness of murals depicting symbols of Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhist traditions.
The Mahavihara is an extension of the Rigon Thupten Mindroling monastery founded by Namkha Drimed Rinpoche in 1968. His heir Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche began work in 2004, and it was completed in five years at a cost of Rs 7 crore. Named after Orissa-born saint Padmasambhava, who introduced Buddhism in Tibet in the 7th century, the monastery now offers education to around 230 monks.
“The monastery,” says Khenpo Pema, “has risen in prominence across the country and even abroad. Students come in from places as far as Nepal, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.” The daily rituals being with prayers, classes, discourses and end with prayers in the evening. “We have classes from 1 to 8 for enlightening the monks in philosophical foundations of Buddhist Sutras and tantric techniques, painting, astrology and Tibetan medicine, etc. After completing their learning, they can stay back for life or go ahead spreading their knowledge among their community.”
Mostly, a child is brought here on the belief that he holds special spiritual inclination and powers within him. Parents initiate their children into monkhood. “My parents—both construction workers—believed I was different and brought me here,” says Sagar (16), who was brought here from Nepal. He is into Class IV now.
The annual calendar of the monastery holds a slew of magnificent events from the three-day Gutor Puja to Hayagriva Mahasadhana Puja by Namkha Dimred Rinpoche and the five-day Drupchod Puja, which includes the popular masked dance performed by monks representing the cycle of death and rebirth. It’s otherwise wrapped in laxity by authorities. Enlisted it is as a tourist site by the State Tourism, but nothing has been done to improve road conditions. What’s a six-hour drive from capital Bhubaneswar takes almost double the time.