Description
Mustang-Demon’s Lair
The salt caravans coming from Tibet crossed Mustang’s clay hills for centuries.
During these long hauls, local legends got weaved and they seeped through into the people’s minds. The stories about the local demons that terrorized the inhabitants, destroying their crops, and drying their fountains abound in Mustang. The demon made his lair in these places and from here he controlled an army of malevolent spirits that created havoc all over. But the strong Buddhist belief of the local kings found a way to get rid of them in fierce battles whose traces could be seen even nowadays.
…From Sambyochen begin to blossom the legends about the local demons. The tradition says that here was seen the demon Balmo who took the shape of a village girl and left wandering the neighboring villages. The demon made his lair about three villages up, near Tsarang, in Lo Gyekar.
The story goes that Padma Sambhava, Guru Rimpoche, the legendary hero of Tibet followed and challenged the demon close to Ghami, a village about two more hours from Sambyochen. In the ensuing battle, Padma Sambhava slew the demon and chopped his body apart. The traces of the violent bloodshed could be seen even nowadays on the bizarre rock formations that are located outside of Ghami that were splashed in red by the demon’s blood.
After that deadly combat, Guru Rimpoche laid Balmo’s intestines on the ground at the entrance of the village and on top of it built the longest Mani wall in Nepal, a two-meter high wall of over 120 meters. A Mani wall is built out of polished stones inscribed with the mantra of Avalokinteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, “Om Mani Padme Hum” which means “Praise the jewel in the lotus” a reference to Buddha’s immaculate birth out of the lotus flower growing out of muddy waters.
Besides, the legends say, Padma Sambhava built two chortens on the road to Dhakmar and took all the demon’s organs and sealed them inside these chortens. The Mustang’s chortens are built around a large sphere, symbolizing water, placed on a painted cubic pedestal, symbolizing the earth. On top of it, supported on pillars, is a shaky roof pierced by a conic peak formed by 13 discs representing the steps toward illumination, associated symbolically with fire.
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