Jigjhed at Komic 15
Photo essaySelected
photographs.
People, places
& the natural world.
Based in Chamba
Himachal Pradesh, India
Masked dancers cross a sunlit courtyard. Monks play cymbals, drums and horns. Around them, the community gathers to watch.
At Komic Monastery in Spiti, the gathering brings religious practice into a shared space of movement, music and attention. Known as Tangyud and belonging to the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the monastery stands among the dry hills of the valley.
Komic’s annual Jig-je ritual is devoted to prayers and offerings intended to avert obstacles and create favourable conditions for Dharma practice. Its focus is Vajrabhairava, also known as Yamantaka, associated with the wisdom of Manjushri.
These photographs, made in October 2023, record the gathering through dancers and musicians, spectators on the balconies, embroidered robes, a page of Tibetan script and the outdoor fire ceremony. They hold both the scale of the courtyard and the small gestures within it: a hand on an instrument, a lifted step, a face beside a mask.
Festival context: Gompa, Tibetan Monastery Services ↗ · Monastery context: D’source, IDC IIT Bombay ↗
A dancer in a horned black mask, yellow ribbons and blue floral robes holds a white skull-topped staff in Komic’s courtyard, with spectators and dry hills behind.
A row of monks in red ceremonial hats and yellow robes plays cymbals and drums. One monk’s face is in focus, with turquoise drums to the right.
Spectators sit and stand on two levels around a pale green monastery courtyard, with sunlight and deep shadows crossing the walls.
Two performers wearing gold-colored face masks and maroon robes face one another with short striped sticks, while musicians and spectators watch around the courtyard.
Close side view of a dancer beneath a broad red ceremonial hat, wearing embroidered black and gold robes, with the monastery softly blurred behind.
A horned masked performer holds a bowl near a monk playing a wind instrument, with other monks in red and yellow robes seated behind.
Two elaborately dressed dancers with broad ceremonial hats extend their red sleeves in an open courtyard bordered by spectators and a bare hillside.
Two masked dancers lift their legs during a courtyard dance. Their patterned robes and ribbons move in sunlight, with spectators lining the balcony.
Seen between two seated monks in the foreground, a masked dancer lifts one leg beyond two long metal horns, with mountains and a crowd in the distance.
Close view of a monk’s face and hands as he plays an ornate wind instrument, with maroon robes and gold fabric in warm light.
Close-up of a dark blue ceremonial mask with wide eyes, visible teeth and small skull shapes above it. An embroidered robe and a diagonal ceremonial prop fill the foreground.
A spectator seen from behind holds a narrow page of Tibetan script beside another person wrapped in maroon fabric.
A monk in gold robes and a tall red hat speaks into a microphone in the courtyard, framed by blurred dancers’ costumes and mountains behind.
Young spectators stand close together beside a gold-colored face mask in the foreground, with a person in a red hoodie to the right.
A tall orange flame rises from brushwood, surrounded by monks and spectators outdoors beneath bare hills and a deep blue sky.
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