RELIGION

 The inhabitants of Lahoul are a mixture of many races. There are many religions in Lahoul. The two dominant religions are Hinduism and Buddhism. There is an admixture of these religions. They consider all worship places as of equal importance to both Hindus and Budhists. We will try to trace short history of prevailing religions in the area.

 HINDUISM: In the atmosphere of great snow capped peaks and mountains, the inhabitants sought protection for their survival and created mountain gods. Earlier the simplest symbol of Siva worship was by an upright stick in the center of round base of pebbles. We can also view Siva's trident, placed ever an ornamental skull. It also represented the mountain peaks such as Gepang of Lahoul. It is more prevalent in pattan valley. Hindus contain the favorite divinity of Mahadev. Both male and female gods i.e, Shiva and Durga are worshiped by the people all over the region. Besides this, there are many animistic deities in shape of caves, trees etc. There are tribal deities like Geypang and Dabla are most popular. Other deities are Tangyur, Mipusha and Kyuling sall. The deity is crowned with silver umbrella and carried by two or three men on their shoulders followed by men. These deities are called 'sad' or 'sadmas'. Besides all these, every home possesses its own family deity represented by a stone slab or pillar.

BUDDHISM: During Ashoka, the area came under the influence of Buddhism, in the third century B.C., But it caught hold of the people, only when Padmasambhava toured this area in 9th century. ''OM..MANE..PADME..HUM'' is a sacred utterance. Its repetition washes away all sins. As the men wakes up in the morning, he repeats the mantra, when he is telling over his beads. He inscribes them on copper or silver wheel and spins the sacred words round and round in the clockwise direction. He paints them on a small or large drum and makes the drum rotate on its axis. He carves them on a stone slab and leaves them to mingle with the chorus of a thousand other slab. He prints them on a piece of cloth and let it flatter in the wind, so that with every flatter his prayer goes up to heaven. Four Buddhist sects represented in this region are well known. Nyingmapa, supposed to be introduced by the sage Padmasambhava in the 8th century in Tibet. Kagyudpa sect is followed by the lamas of Gemur, Tyul, Bokar Shashur, Kardang, Peukar and Guru Gantal gompas. Shakya sect is followed by the lamas of only one group of Spiti. Gelugpa or the reformed sect is followed by the lamas of Othang gompa. The followers of this sect wear yellow caps and are known as yellow sect also.

It has also been observed that Hindus join the monasteries and Buddhists visit the temples,  thus bringing in the happy blending of both the religion without hurting each other. Guru Gantal monastery and Trilokinath temple are those shrines where joint Hindu- Buddhist worship used to be conducted and is still venerated by both.