India history and geography

Source: Mandala Texts: Shazam Cham: The Stag Dance

Drolwa (སྒྲོལ་བ་) refers to the ritual of “liberation”.—The culture of stag dance is common in many other parts of the Himalayas. In Tibet, the dance is often performed by a single dancer, who wears a large stag mask and heavy silk robe, and performs the ritual of ‘liberation’ (སྒྲོལ་བ་). While the Shazam dance in Bhutan also carries the same symbolism of Tantric practice of ‘liberation’ of demonic forces and consecration of the space, it has only four dancers, who do not openly carry out the act of ‘liberation’ or ‘ritual killing’.

The ritual of ‘liberation’ (drolwa) is one of the most esoteric and powerful practices of Vajrayāna Buddhism, which combines the altruism of Mahāyāna Buddhism to rescue all sentient beings from suffering and negative states of the mind and the exceptional expedient methods of secret Tantras to do so. It even advocates using violent and terrifying methods out of ruthless compassion in order to tame unruly beings. Thus, in a ritual of ‘liberation’, the Tantric master takes up a terrifying form externally to subjugate demonic forces and transform the negative energy into a positive one. Through the ritual, the consciousness of the target is said to be miraculously liberated while its ordinary personality is destroyed.

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The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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