Tsa Tsa memorial cones under a water powered prayer wheel in Bhutan
A spinning water prayer wheel inside the small building is run by the flowing water and the small things that are placed outside the window are the mini stupas that are kept by the relatives of people who have passed away. When a member of the family dies their relatives put these cone- like objects as a memory of the person who has passed on in his/ her life and died.
We start to see many small cones, maybe two inches high, carefully placed high in the mountains along the road. We were told that these are made from the ashes of departed souls. Researching, I find that these are called tsa-tsa (pronounced with a silent t) offerings. They are small stupa-like ("chorten-like," in the Bhutanese terminology) cones made of clay, pressed into a mold, and sometimes colored, particularly white, gold or red.
These tsa-tsa are commissioned by the bereaved family, and made by monks in special religious ceremonies that have been passed down for hundreds or thousands of years. Many are made of cremated ashes, and distributed in the high mountains and in holy spots throughout Bhutan. Tsa-tsas serve to memorialize those who have passed on. One specific benefit of the tsa-tsa is to achieve a perfect rebirth -- with perfect body, senses, limbs, and so on. When you see them you should treat them as holy objects.
Source- richardarunachala.wordpress.com
The structure at the back is a water powered prayer wheel.
This type of prayer wheel is simply a prayer wheel that is turned by flowing water. The water that is touched by the wheel is said to become blessed and carries its purifying power into all life forms in the oceans and lakes that it feeds into.
A prayer wheel is a cylindrical wheel on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather or coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit on the outside of the wheel. Also sometimes depicted are Dakinis, Protectors and very often the 8 auspicious symbols Ashtamangala. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition based on the lineage texts regarding prayer wheels, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.
The earliest recorded prayer wheels were written of by a Chinese pilgrim around 400 C.E. in Ladakh. The concept of the prayer wheel is a physical manifestation of the phrase "turning the wheel of Dharma," which describes the way in which the Buddha taught. Prayer Wheels originated from 'The School of Shakyamuni sutra, volume 3 -- pagoda and temple' which states that "those who set up the place for worship, use the knowledge to propagate the dharma to common people, should there be any man or woman who are illiterate and unable to read the sutra, they should then set up the prayer wheel to facilitate those illiterate to chant the sutra, and the effect is the same as reading the sutra".
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia located at the eastern end of the Himalayas. It is bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India. To the west, it is separated from Nepal by the Indian state of Sikkim, while further south it is separated from Bangladesh by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal. Bhutan's capital and largest city is Thimphu.
Source: wikipedia
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
