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A well-known masked dance lasting several hours features the murder of the
evil king Lang-dar-mar. The history of Tibet records that Ral-pa-cen, who ruled from 815
to 835 A.D., was a great religious king to uphold the Buddhist faith. He founded many
monasteries and looked to the Indian Buddhism as the only faith of the right type and
propagated it through the media of art and literature. In 817 A.D. Buddhism was severely
attacked by the evil king Lang-dar-mar who was Ral-pa- cen's elder brother. The Buddhist
followers were persecuted. Later his opponents murdered the king Rat-pa-cen and the
‘evil king’ seized the power.
The process of persecution continued until 836
A.D. when one of the Buddhist followers murdered Lang-dar-mar. The mystery play is also
staged by the Red Hats to mark birthday of Padmasambhava, the apostle of Tantric Buddhism,
on the tenth day of the fifth month of Tibetan calendar. The lamas who dance in this
mystery play make some recitation inside the temple in a strictly ritual manner before
they actually come on the inner courtyard of the monastery for the performance.
Sissu and other fairs : Sissu is a common fair
celebrated all over the Buddhist Himalayas. Its main attraction -is always a masked dance
but because it is a part of monastic rituals, it is always staged inside the monastery on
the attached courtyard. The fair is celebrated on different dates at different places. At
Sussur Gompa (monastery) it is held in June, at Gemur Gompa in July and at Mani Gompa of
Gondhla in August. Apart from the Sissu fair there are also a number of other fairs in
Lahaul featuring masked dance. Phagli, also called Kunh, is a fair of Pattan Valley, which
is held on amavasa, the first day of the dark half of the month of February
(Magh-Phalgun).
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