Dharamsala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama will open the 14th Shoton Festival, an annual celebration of Tibetan Opera (Lhamo) to be held at Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, beginning 4 March.
The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts is organising the festival.
During the festival, TIPA and opera associations from Tibetan communities from all over India, including Tibetan Homes Foundation Mussoorie, Norgyeling Tibetan settlement, Bhandara, Doeguling, Mundgod, Bylakuppee settlement, will stage different opera performances.
This year’s opera attractions will be Chungpo Dhonyoe Dhondup, Prince Drimeh Kunden, Nangsa Woebum, Jowo Je Palden Atisha, and Prince Norsang.
The 14th Tibetan opera festival will conclude on 9 March.
As envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts has been playing an important role in the preservation and development of all aspects of culture and traditions of Tibet, including, traditional Tibetan opera.
Following is “The origins of Shoton festival” posted on the official website of TIPA
Origins of Shoton Festival
Tracing the historical account of Tibet, there exists two theories, which explain the origins of Shoton festival. According to the first – in India, Lord Buddha initiated the practice of monks going on a summer retreat. When Buddhism flourished in Tibet, this practice was believed to have adopted by many monasteries in Tibet. The monks of Drepung monasteries in Tibet go into summer retreat on the 15th day of the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar. These ‘Disciplinary Monks’ were replaced on the 30th day of the same month. This particular occasion is known as Drepung Shoton.
The other origin of the Shoton is concerned with Jamyang Choje Tashi Palden, the main disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, who was born on the 6th day of the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar (Earth-Sheep year) at Samye. In Wood-Sheep year, 1415, Jamyang Choje saw many auspicious signs in dreams when he lived in Ne’u. Later Je Tsongkhapa met Jamyang Choje personally and advised him to build a religious institution for the propagation of his own traditional Sutra Tantra and for the benefits of others. Moreover, Je Tsongkhapa laid the foundation stone for the institution.
Je Tsongkhapa gave an auspicious conch shell taken from Gokpari Hill and prophesied that the institution would become extremely famous. In the year 1416, Namkha Sangpo, the District commissionaire of Ne’u Dzong gave a generous contribution and Drepung monastery was thus constructed. The opening ceremony of Drepung monastery was held at same time as the summer retreat and it was the time when all the nomadic people have plentiful stocks of dairy products. The curd, being white in color, represents auspiciousness (in Tibetan, curd is sho and festival is ton). During the Drepung ceremony, they served the sho to all the monks. Therefore, this particular day is called Shoton.
It can be seen then, that the evolution of the name Shoton is derived from these two historical events surrounding the Drepung monastery; the first surviving through the network of oral history, the second more factual and supported by written accounts. However, both explanations of the word Shoton are equally accepted.
The reason for changing the Drepung Shoton into the Tibetan Shoton stems from the occurance of instability resulting from events in 1959, when the Chinese destroyed not only Drepung Shoton, but most other aspects of the Tibetan culture and tradition as well. The name “Tibetan Shoton” reflects the fact that Shoton is a part of the entire Tibetan Culture not just a feature of a single monastery.
