Zhemgang Tshechu
Festival

Lama Zhang & the Kheng Region

Lama Zhang Dorje Drakpa — The Saint of Zhemgang

In 1163 AD, a Tibetan scholar-sage named Lama Zhang Dorje Drakpa arrived in the area now known as Zhemgang and built a small hermitage on a ridge above the Mangde Chhu river. Lam Zhang — as he is known locally — was a renowned master of the Drukpa Kagyu school of Buddhism, and his arrival in this remote valley of south-central Bhutan marked the beginning of one of the most significant Buddhist presences in the region. He settled at the hermitage for many years and is considered the greatest Buddhist saint to have lived in present-day Zhemgang.

The story of Lam Zhang is not simply one of peaceful contemplation. He was later killed in the nearby village of Trong — a death that is considered so inauspicious that the village is believed cursed to this day because of the assassination. Yet his legacy endured: a gold-plated six-inch statue of Lam Zhang kept in the Goenkhang of Zhemgang Dzong survived two separate fires that destroyed the dzong itself over the centuries. The statue and the Goenkhang it inhabits are the oldest sacred objects at the site.

In 1655, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel’s forces built a formal dzong on the site of Lam Zhang’s hermitage — specifically to symbolise the unification of the three divisions of the Kheng region: Upper Kheng (Chikhor), Middle Kheng (Namkor), and Lower Kheng (Tamachok). The ancient name Khenrig Namsung — “three divisions of Kheng” — captures this political and spiritual act of unification. When Zhemgang became a separate district in 1963, the Third King renovated the dzong and established the monastic body in 1966. The dzong’s official name, Druk Dechen Yangtse, was given at this time.

The Zhemgang Tshechu — Festival of Kheng

The Zhemgang Tshechu was first held in 1975 — making it one of the more recently established Tshechus in Bhutan, instituted after the district’s modern administrative identity was firmly in place. It is held in spring (March or April) and runs for three days. The programme follows the standard Tshechu structure: Cham mask dances by the monks of the Zhemgang monastic body, interspersed with Atsara clown performances, with the Guru Rinpoche Thongdrel unfurled on the final day. What is specifically distinctive about the Zhemgang Tshechu is the folk song and dance programme alongside the formal Cham — regional folk traditions of the Kheng community that are specific to this valley and cannot be heard elsewhere.

Zhemgang’s Biodiversity

Zhemgang district is one of the most biodiverse in Bhutan. The district forms part of the wildlife corridor connecting Royal Manas National Park (to the southeast) with Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park and Thrumshingla National Park. This corridor is home to 22 endangered species, including the Golden Langur — a striking primate found only in this narrow geographic corridor between Bhutan and Assam, nowhere else on earth. Other species include Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, gaur, and over 300 bird species.

The town of Panbang, 12km south of Zhemgang, borders Royal Manas National Park and is the base for jungle safaris, river rafting on the Mangde Chhu, and Golden Langur tracking. A heritage trail from Trong to Gompong Chorten, inaugurated in November 2024, revives an ancient route linking Upper Kheng to Zhemgang town — an ideal day’s walk through the spring forest around the festival period.

Getting to Zhemgang

Zhemgang is approximately 6 hours by road from Thimphu, or about 3 hours from Trongsa. The road from Trongsa descends through extraordinary scenery — from the highland conifer forests around Trongsa Dzong down through subtropical broadleaf forest to the Mangde Chhu gorge. There is no airport in Zhemgang district. Most visitors combine the Zhemgang Tshechu with time in Trongsa and, for those with more days, the Bumthang valleys and Royal Manas National Park.