The Divine Stones of Singay Thang ༼སེང་གེ་ཐང་གི་གནས་རྡོ༽

རྟ་ཕག་མགོན་པ།

Two hours to the  north of Trongsa Chhoekhor Rabtentse Dzong, Tafa Goenpa ༼རྟ་ཕག་དགོན་པ༽ is renowned meditation centre for Trongsa Rabdey. As we have etymologies for most names of the places, the name of the meditation centre is derived from its religious significance attached with its topography. Since the whole ridge on which it is situated is holy site dedicated to and blessed by Hayagriva ༼རྟ་མགྲིན༽ who is wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara and Dakini Vajaravarahi ༼རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ༽ who is wrathful form of ༼རྡོ་རྗེ་རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ༽Vajrayogini, the place is named after their divine names. The Goenpa has her religious as well historical marvel to those who pursue the subject seriously but that is topic for another story.

Top Edge of Singay Thang

Around one and half hours north-west to Tafa Goenpa, walking past marshy land, bent rhododendron trees, and dwarf bamboo plants that may even hide our friends who is just a meter away among its leaves, an alpine meadow/grassland opens itself, wide, welcoming and surprising. This place is called Singay Thang and it is around 3300-3400mts above the sea level. Breezing our way through the grassland blanketed with unique brand of foliage and flowering plants for around 10 minutes, our attention is unforgivingly drawn by spectacular presence of group of peculiar rocks. Our often told maxim has it that all rocks, trees and streams are holy in nature. Among the rocks at Singay Thang, a head of lion and boar stands out to tell their story. (Okay, now you have two stories.)

Lion’s Head ༼སེང་མགོ༽

Lion's Head

The name Singay Thang ༼སེང་གེ་ཐང་༽ is undoubtedly derived from the imposing presence of Lion’s Head in centre of the grassland. Lion’s head, in actuality, is said, not just to be a head but a self-sinking giant figure of lion with only head remaining above the ground. Like sinking steps of Jampa Lhakang, it is believed to be teller of time and precursor of unfortunate times. Thus, in coming millennium sinking of lion’s head into the ground is foretold.
As I head, decades ago, when Trongsa Chhoekhor Rabtense Dzong was center of political power, a generous effort was made to dig up and transport the lion’s figure to Trongsa Dzong for preservation. I believe this was done in consideration of its historical significance and its aesthetic potential. When the ambitious plan of digging up and transporting it to Trongsa Dzong could not be achieved, a wooden replica was curved and placed in Trongsa Dzong. However, this could be another myth from our rumour mill although a lion figure curved from wood can be still seen at Trongsa Dzong.
Boar's Head ༼ཕག་མགོ༽

Boar's Head

Next to the mighty head of majestic lion, a portable head of meek yet obnoxious boar takes her chance to amaze us with her detestable prowess. If the legends are true, I believe it is true, the presence of boar head has caused enough trouble to locals dwelling in villages below Singay Thang but people have ingeniously learned to live in peace with it. Villages below (in far vicinity of) Singay Thang are Karshong, Gagar, Semji, and Yoeling (just to mention for story’s sake). It is said that wild boards roaming around this place will roam and feed in the direction of boar’s head of Singay Tang. If the boar’s head of Singay Tang is facing Karshong, wild boars will roam and harm crops of Karshong and if it is facing Semji, wild boars will head towards Semji for feeding. Basically, boar's head at Singay Thang is Boar Positioning System (BPS), an ancient form of GPS for  the wild boars roaming around these villages. Interestingly, when the harmful activities of boars increased in particular village, the villagers hiked to Singay Thang and turned the head of boar away from their village, towards other villages of-course. There was an exciting competing going on in past among the villages, especially during summer. Currently, with electric fence guarding off the wild boars, may be, the boar head of Singay Thang hopefully finds some solace.

View of Gangkar Punsum from Singay Thang

The two story of Singay Tang ends here but I cannot end this article without describing the fascinating topographic sites around it. The wide grassland of Singay Thang comes to abrupt end at the sheer precipice with unnerving height few minutes away from the two animal figures. The cliff top is dotted with threadbare flags fluttering in perpetual will. The cliff top and Singay Thang generally offers wholesome view of all places around it. On clear day, one can have stunning view of Gangkhar Puensum (The Virgin Peak of Bhutan), palace of Ap Muktshen (Deity of Trongsa), Jowo Dungshing, the half brother of Ap Muktshen (Black Mountain), lower Mangdue valley, Trongsa Dzong, Mangdephu (The Birth place of Gangtay Trulku), Jongthang, Bemji and near by areas. In one phrase, the beauty one enjoys from this place is irrefutable and undeniable. It simply takes us away.

View of Village from Singay Thang

From Singay Thang one can continue pilgrimage around Tafa Goenpa which takes around a day to complete including the visit to Singay Thang.

If you read this article and aspire to pay a visit, be cautious of three things.
1. The Lha Thso ༼བླ་མཚོ༽ of Tafa Goenpa's deity doesn’t enjoy shouting and loud noises at the place. If you do not obey, he could beat you with heavy rain, unpredictable weather, and thick clouds that can easily send you in wrong direction.
2. The place is favorite spot of tigers. You would have probably heard of nuisance caused by tiger in Trongsa. Recently, forest division of Trongsa took initiative to plant fodder for deer and other animals to feed so that tigers can roam around this area, away from domestic animals. So, we never know…
3. Visit the place with guide. Without proper sense of direction and knowledge of path, one can easily get lost.

Recollection from story narrated by Lopen Tshering

Photo Courtesy: Mr. Gyeltshen Dorji, Mrs. Kinley Yangden, and Mr. Kinley Rinchen