Dharmasala, March 3 – After starting off the new Tibetan Water Sheep Year 2130 in customary prayer and meditation Monday, the Dalai Lama quickly switched to glad rags and swayed to the music of India’s leading rock band, Parikrama.
Organised by Amit Saigal, managing director of Indian rock magazine Rock Street Journal, the concert was to welcome the Tibetan new year, known as “Losar”, and to focus attention on the Tibetan cause.
“We are here to show our solidarity with the Tibetan people and their cause. The Tibetan cause is also our cause and we will continue to support Tibet,” said group leader Nitin Malik.
Two other rock groups, Envision and Mrigya, plus a host of smaller local bands also performed at the new year’s bash in Dharamasala, where the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government-in-exile is headquartered.
The Dalai Lama greeted Tibetans on the occasion of the new year and thanked the concert organisers and the bands who had performed for the Tibetan cause for free. Among other songs performed by Parikrama was Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.
“I liked the song”, the Dalai Lama said to a band member. Prior to the Losar celebrations, the accumulated sins of the past year are driven out through ritual undertaken by each family.
Houses are thoroughly cleaned and are often newly whitewashed. Prayer flags and curtains are replaced. “Khapse”, a special snack, along with fruits and sweets are placed on the family altars as a symbol of offering to the deities.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an abortive uprising in 1959 and established a government-in-exile in India.
China, which has occupied Tibet since 1951, has been accused of trying to wipe out its Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
