Torgya

Torgya is an annual monastic festival held over three days at Tawang Monastery, India's largest, high in the Buddhist Monpa country of western Arunachal. Monks perform the sacred cham — masked, costumed ritual dances that dramatise the triumph of good over evil and are believed to protect the people from misfortune and drive out the demons of the coming year.

Falling in the depths of the Himalayan winter, it draws Monpa villagers from across the district in their finest dress, and is one of the most atmospheric religious spectacles in the Northeast, set against snow peaks and the great white walls of the monastery.