Leh Celebrates Dosmoche Festival with traditional zeal
Leh: Dosmoche Festival this year as usual was celebrated with religious and traditional zeal in parts of Leh district in UT of Ladakh.
Scores of devotees and general public assembled in the respective monasteries for the celebrations.
Dosmoche is a Buddhist festival celebrated in Ladakh Union Territory.
It is celebrated in Leh, Likir and Diskit monasteries. It is the last festival of New Year Celebrations, the other one is Losar.
The two-day Dosmoche festival is a gazetted holiday for Leh district and Zanskar Sub Division.
Dosmoche is also known as the “Festival of Scapegoat” and is one of Ladakh’s most popular prayer festivals.
It is said that Dosmoche was started by the rulers of Ladakh, and this festival was started during kingdom of King Lhachen Gongdup/ Lha-chen-Dnos-grub around 1295–1320.
He fought two battles with invaders from Nyungti (Kullu of Himachal Pradesh) to inhibit the exterminatory forces of the battles. Sacred mask dances, known as Cham dance, are carried out in the courtyard of the old chapel, below the gates of the Leh Palace.
Lamas are drawn from different monasteries from across Ladakh on a rotation basis for this festival.
This festival is also celebrated to purify the town from evil spirits.
