Pachem
Dance of Heroes

A Vision at Zangdo Peldri

More than once in his life as a treasure revealer, Pema Lingpa (1450–1521) experienced the divine palace of Guru Rinpoche, known as Zangdo Peldri. In his pure visions, he encountered many different sacred dances, performed in both wrathful and peaceful forms, and was fascinated by what he witnessed. Those performances are known today as the Pachem — the Dance of Heroes and Heroines.

The dancers' faces are visible throughout — Pachem is performed without masks, one of only a small number of Cham dances in Bhutan to be. Instead of masks, dancers wear beautiful crowns adorned with the five syllables of the five Buddha families — or, for the dakinis among them, the five dakini syllables. The syllables are Om, Hum, Tram, Hri, and Ah; the dakini forms carry Mum, Lam, Mam, Pam, and Tam in their place.

A Farewell and a Welcome

Tradition holds that these dances were first performed on the Gungthangla Pass in Tibet, at the moment of Guru Rinpoche's own departure to the south-west continent, where he travelled to protect the rakshas — demonic spirits in need of taming. The Pachem is understood as both a farewell dance and a welcome dance for Guru Rinpoche at once: the same choreography marking both his leaving and, in the ritual logic of the performance, his return.

Because of this dual character, the Pachem is performed on one of two specific occasions: during a deity-invocation ceremony, or when welcoming enlightened guests. During the supplication prayer to Guru Rinpoche, it takes place inside prayer halls and temples as a gesture inviting and welcoming Guru Rinpoche and his entourage into the space.

Where to See the Pachem

The Pachem appears at Tshechu festivals across Bhutan, often within invocation ceremonies or as a welcoming performance rather than as a standalone item in the printed festival programme — your guide will identify when it begins and explain its place within the wider sequence of the day. Because dancers perform unmasked, with visible faces beneath the five-syllable crowns, it offers one of the more intimate visual contrasts to the wrathful masked Cham that dominate much of a festival's programme.