Located 45 km from Leh, the Hemis Monastery is nestled in the desert mountains of Ladakh.
The presiding deity at the monastery is Lord Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche. He was born in the 8th century on the 10th day of the Tibetan lunar month and the Hemis Festival is a colourful celebration of his birth anniversary. The festival usually falls around the month of June or July. This year it was held on July 3 and 4.
The celebrations include cham dance performances by the Buddhist monks at the monastery. The monks wear traditional Tibetan attire and face masks as they enact retellings of mythological tales of compassion and Enlightenment.
These photographs capture scenes from the dance rehearsals at the monastery during my time there. The monks carried on with their practice even as it rained, slowly and surely building up the rhythm and discipline of a well oiled performance.
Groups of young monks danced around the entire length of the monastery’s grounds while the older ones supervised the rehearsal, or read prayers in the background.
Newly-inducted child monks also made an appearance at the rehearsals but remained happy spectators for the most part.
Garima Gargis a Delhi-based journalist and photographer