The Great Kalachakra Tent: A Temple in Fabric

The tent that housed the Kalachakra initiation ceremony in Amaravati in 2006 was unlike any ever made in India. It was masterminded by late Temba Chöphel, Norbulingka’s thangka and appliqué master, and inspired from the tents erected in Tibet, particularly the ones used to receive the 14th Dalai Lama when he arrived in Lhasa from Amdo.

A temple in fabric, the Amaravati tent stood on a metal frame complete with a pagoda-like structure on top. It had rooms, and was decorated with all the trappings reserved for temples; skirting, pillar hangings and multiple brocade ornaments, to name a few. The work began a year prior to the event with a wooden model of the tent, and all the elements for the tent made at Norbulingka by our skilled applique artists under the supervision of our last master Tenchoe la, Finally, it was transported across India, and assembled at the teaching site with final works carried out at the teaching site.