Ajo Garpo, Sikkim’s unique stone carver

S Balakrishnan
Rows and rows of Buddha images and sacred Buddhist mantras inscribed on stone tablets! This was the most enticing sight at Tashiding. I was attending the annual ‘Bumchu’ (Sacred Water) ceremony at Tashiding Gompa (Monastery) in West Sikkim in 1984 and these rows of colourful tablets attracted me very much. As I was exploring the Gompa’s surroundings, I saw in one corner a man creating one such a tablet. Unperturbed by the curious and pious pilgrims who watched him, the stone carver quietly continued his job as if doing penance. For a few minutes I stood there watching him inscribe, clicked two snaps and moved on silently.  He was not distracted even by the shutter sound. What a dedication! I would have loved to interact with him about his work; but besides being an introvert I was also a novice in Sikkim; have not completed even one year of living in the State, have not picked up the local language Nepali. So I helplessly moved on to the next attraction, the mortal one – the mela (fair) that had sprung up for the Bumchu festival. Well, then & there I forgot everything about the stone carver.
I thought he was also a part of the Bumchu mela – coming there every year just during the Bumchu ceremony to carve and sell his stone plaques. But the information about him trickled in 38 years later in 2022 when my memoir on the 1984 Bumchu ceremony appeared in Gangtok’s English daily ‘Sikkim Express’. Along with my reminiscence, the Daily had carried a photo of the stone carver taken by me then and had also mentioned his name as Ajo Garpo. I was so excited but was saddened to learn later that he had already passed away. It was cancer that had taken him away. I wonder if the cause was the dust while carving the stone tablets. As a solace, the Daily gave me a link to watch a documentary on him -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcpdoecr5hg    
The documentary gives an interesting insight into the life and art work of the unique stone carver of Sikkim. Kunchok Lodroe alias Ajo Garbo, as he was popularly known, had spent nearly 50 years of his life  carving Buddhist images and the sacred six-syllable ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’ mantra on stone tablets at Tashiding Monastery, one of Sikkim’s sacred monasteries. Having spent 50 years carving the ‘Mani’ mantra, he was popularly known as ‘Mani Stone Carver’. Hailing from Tibet, he was working as a road labourer in Sikkim. His encounter with the Holy Lama Trushy Rinpoche changed Ajo Garpo’s life as Mani Stone Carver and the landscape of Tashiding as well! Garpo explains this interesting encounter in the short film – It was Garpo’s turn to cook for his group of road workers. The oil in the vessel caught fire due to overheating; scared, Garpo kicks the flaming vessel which rolls and comes across the path of the Rinpoche. The Holy Lama stops Garpo from pouring water on the fire and performs a ritual dance before the fire. The vessel melts and turns into a metal ball. The Rinpoche then asks Garpo to reach Tashiding where both would meet later. Ajo Garpo was interested in stone carving from a young age. He readily obeyed Rinpoche’s wish and started carving these tablets at Tashiding. It is believed that carving one such tablet equals one lakh prostrations. What is the use of wealth? Garpo ponders in the video; it is only one’s deeds – good & bad - that count after death.
Many people have helped him bring the stone blocks from near and far. First he cleans them, rubs them to smoothen, applies the background colour and then starts etching/chiseling the lines. Then the work is given the finishing touch of painting with bright colours. He has carved countless such tablets. A 5x4 tablet with Buddha image on one side and mantras on the other took him 45 days to finish. Fifteen people carried the block from Dodam, he recounts. There are tablets done in honour of people who have passed away; there is even one in honour of a pet cow of a Lamini (nun). A few tablets are special as they carry the Mani mantra on one side and Buddha’s image on the other side.
Ajo Garpo’s daily life began at 3 AM, he tells in the video. After prayers and breakfast, he leaves for the carving shed by 6 AM. After 6 hours of continuous carving, it is lunch time at 12 noon. Then again the carving would continue till 7 or even 8 PM. He would go to bed at 11PM, only to get up at 3 AM after just 4 hours of sleep! He jokingly says that he would eat whatever was served by his wife Nakum Bhutia. No complaints, as this would only lead to arguments and hatred. As per scriptures, the best virtue is to control hatred, he philosophies! He has carved a mug out of bamboo which he shows proudly in the short.
Ajo Garpo recounts interesting legends surrounding the sacred Tashiding site and Guru Rimpoche’s connection with it and his miracles there. He recalls legends about a dried up lake, about each & every stone there, including a conch-shaped natural stone. Thanks to Namgyal Institute of Tibetology (NIT), Gangtok, the oral history about Tashiding has been recorded along with the life & art work of Ajo Garpo, the Mani Stone Carver.  The film was financed by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.  The documentary ends with the cremation of Ajo Garpo’s body on his passing away on 31st October 2015.
I was so tempted to swindle one tablet each of Buddha and the mantra, but their weight prevented me from doing so. It is said that many of those tablets have been lost/damaged. I did find the difference during my revisit to Tashiding in 2014 and I very much regretted my wavering in 1984! I could not find Ajo Garpo in 2014; maybe he was already unwell due to cancer.
Garpo shows a sapling of the Bodhi (peepal) tree that he had brought from Bodh Gaya and planted in Tashiding. Hope it has grown into a big tree and its leaves sing the praise of the great soul Ajo Garpo, the Mani Stone Carver of Sikkim!
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