Defiling the sacred Ter - Cham of Bumthang

It is exactly midnight. The temperature outside has dipped to its lowest. The sound of the cymbals and trumpets ushers in the main spectacle into the darkness. The crowd of five thousand or so juggles for better view. Out of the ancient temple door and into the dimly illuminated courtyard enveloped by the cold winter chill pours out sixteen men. Stark naked except for their faces covered with cloth pieces.

Perpetuating a century old ritual created by the saint terton Dorji Lingpa, the naked men begin the dance inspired by the great master Guru Rimpoche in rhythmic accompaniment of the concocted sounds of the cymbal, drums and the trumpets. A few old men and women seated in the front rows clasped their hands fervently praying for good merits that the ancient ritual is supposed to bestow. The cold and dark November night of the Jampel Lhakhag courtyard is only illuminated by a bon fire lit up in the center to provide a semblance of warmth to the dancers.

The shadowy crowd of midnight audience is knotted like a ball of worms twirling and jostling against each other. The jostling transforms into conspicuous pushing and pulling as each person vies for a view of the spectacle of naked men. There are cries and screams. Some are feeble of elderly, some of pain and others are simply howling for the sheer fun of it. The knot of worms gradually becomes noisy. Amongst those who braved the cold night for blessings of the ancient ritual are those who are out to defile the sanctity of the ritual.

Like the hyenas, the show stealers take the spotlight. The incessant lewd comments drown the ritual sounds of the drums and the cymbals. Despicable and vulgar remarks are directed at teasing the younger women. With each profane comment shouted out into the courtyard, a little of the ancient sacredness is rubbed off. A wrinkled hand jerks harder at the rosary as if to beat away the ugly head of the very demon that the naked dance was supposed to keep away.

Terton Dorji Lingpa was successful in subduing a band of devils that created havoc in a construction of a temple through this naked dance. Today the naked dance – the Ter Cham - itself is mercilessly at the hands of a band of ‘devils’ who jeopardize the sanctity of the ritual by creating havoc through lewd and despicably vulgar comments during the performance.

The Ter Cham must be restored to its original sanctity. It should be saved from the howling night teasers. The old, women, children and families must continue to benefit spiritually from the age old naked dance. Organizers, local government and the Bumthang community owe it to the country and to Terton Dorji Lingpa to perpetuate the Ter Cham for all times to come in its original glory and sanctity through better crowd management and better crowd policing.

Dema Lhamo

Trainer / Researcher

Institute for Management Studies (IMS)

Olakha

Bhutanese Women in Politics - barriers to participation

Here are a few stats from a study done by us (IMS):

About 50% of women who dared to contest the local election actually were elected just like their male counterparts (55%), although it is more so in the not too coveted position of a Tshogpa.

Fewer women (about 800) came forward to register (not the same as sitting for the test) for the functional literacy test. Compare this to 5000 odd men.

My analysis – women shy away from politics more than men do while for those who dared to sit and pass the test the community have been very considerate. They are elected almost like the men. I am not blaming the FLT because equal number of women cleared the test as their male counterparts.

The problem and not the root problem seem to be at the source where women comprise only about 13 percent of the male who showed and acted upon the interest to join politics by registering for the FLT. There can be non-ending perspectives, expert views and mountains of reasons proposed to say why it is so.

I will add a few. 63% of the women reported that the mother and house work prevented them from politics. That is a big chunk of women who are extremely busy cooking, washing, feeding, farming, fetching and caring from dawn to dusk. Actually working out into the night. Are they interested in political leadership? Yes they are! (50%). I do not have stats for men but my guess is around the same number for men. Rest of the women do not see themselves as leaders because they are too busy and do not see prospects where mother and house work can be adjusted.

Here are few more stats. Half the women and men actually think women are best placed in their reproductive role and as care giver in the homes. A whooping 60% of women and men think that women are weak and passive, traits that do not make one a leader!(not my opinion, but an indication discerned in the study). 52% women reported that they lacked the confidence to join politics.

What can we discern from it? We may go on gathering stats and building mountains of information. But the bottom line it seems to me is that  women have taken up roles which traditionally was suited like in the cave days men braved out of the caves to hunt and gather food fighting the wild elements and the animals. Women stayed in caring the young.

Modern Bhutan must reflect and adapt the changing situations and aspirations. Politics must reflect modernism and aspirations. It would be nice if we have 50% men and 50% women in political leadership. There are those who believe in evolution. Things are happening. Let it evolve. There are those who believe a little jolt is needed to fast track it. Therefore the quota!

Often simple solutions can resolve a complex problem. In our pursuit of THE SOLUTION – a silver bullet version, we are all arguing our energies off and have to go to bed too exhausted to think of actions! Bhutan needs to find not one but many simple solutions. By simple I mean acceptable to all expert schools of thought, one that is not jolt enough to cause a shake up but a tremor adequate to speed up the evolution.  Now that cannot be a simple solution, you say?

 Simple to execute with good thud. Take for instance the LoD initiated leadership training for 67 women who passed the FLT. 47 got elected that is almost half of those elected. Remember, only 37 % of the women who cleared the test have registered to contest. Many women did not turn up to stand for elections although certified to do so. Partly because they did not have the confidence. That was the moment they needed somebody to say “you have in you to make it through!” when many others including their husbands were saying “you do not have it to make it through”. The LoD training gave that last minute boost.

Another simple solution! For 45% of women the test centers were a little too far away. Can we test them at the nearest NFE? I don’t see why we cannot. The Tarayana “Buzip” takes up one chore off the busy mothers. May be they will not join politics but it does give them a space to adjust.

If all of us can think of these simple solutions instead of building on perspectives and expert opinions, we would come a long way. It is now time to have a “mole hill of action” out of” mountain of discussions”.

I knew you would ask that. The study surveyed 1536 of which 822 were women from all over the country.  Just saying so that you would believe the stats. Shared to contribute to the important discussion

Dzongkha - The Boomerang

Making dzongkha popular can deceptively be easier than having to meddle with the existing curriculum. Teaching subjects such as science, history, geography and social studies in dzongkha would not only impair learning of these subjects but dzongkhag language acquisition would also suffer. With proposals to make dzongkha the medium of instruction brewing in some quarters, it is once again time to listen to experts and learn from our experiences.

The Alcohol Menace – Issues, challenges and opportunities

The legendary monk who had to choose one of the three offering from a palang of alcohol, a goat and a woman, chose alcohol as it was the least sinful. But in a drunken stupor, he slaughtered the goat and also committed adultery. That is the legendary story of the three sins of alcohol.

BBS Live discussion on "Alcohol - issue, challenges and opportunities"

A live BBS TV debate will be held jointly by the BBS and the IMS under the Banner "People's Voice". The program will start at around 7 PM today, 7th April, 2011, right after the Dzongkha news and after the 8 PM in english. All are invited to watch the program

Debate on Tobacco Law -BBS Live Radio

Listen to the debate on BBS Radio on 6th April at 5:30 PM. The panalist are Norbu Wangchuk, Dr. Tandin Dorji and Lopen Phurba.

People's Voice - The Alcohol debate

Watch the live debate on Alcohol issues, challenges and opportunities on the 7th April, 2011 after the 7 PM and the 8 PM news. The People's Voice is brought to you in colloborations between the BBS and the IMS.