Drowa Sangmo | Gyalsa Belsa

Tibetan Folk Opera Story

Book Discussion on October 31 2026

Location: Ngatso Cafe - 39-08 63rd St, Woodside, NY 11377

Abstract

Drowa Sangmo is a tale where even the queen suffers though young and beautiful. Her children must undergo a series of hardships but realize that it is because in past lives they were negligent with their religious duties that they are suffering in the present life. Through prayer and sincere fortitute, the prince and princess become the inheritors of kingdoms sworn to the practise of Buddhism.

Gyaltsa Belsa is an interesting opera story set in the 7th century, it narrates the feats and wit of minister Gar Tongtsen in winning the princess of Nepal and China for King Songtsen Gampo of TIbet. It was also during the rule of this powerful king that Buddhism first came to Tibet.

About Tibetan Folk Opera

Ache Lhamo, or Tibetan opera, is a classical theatre that combines song, dance, drumming and cymbals, colorful masks, and storytelling, with comic and satirical interludes. It is traditionally performed outdoors on a circular stage, with the audience seated around it. Its stories come from Indian Buddhist tales, the lives of important figures, and Tibetan history.

Tradition traces its origin to the fourteenth-century yogi, engineer and saint Thangtong Gyalpo. To raise money for iron bridges across the plateau, he is said to have gathered a troupe of sisters to perform. They were revered as the "sister goddesses" (Ache Lhamo), and the name came to describe the whole art form. Some of those bridges are said to still stand today.

For October we'll read two of the best-known operas. Drowa Sangmo is the story of a dakini born into humble circumstances in the human world, full of kings, queens, fairies and demons, and it blends folklore with the arrival of Buddhism. Gyasa Belsa dramatizes the lives of the Chinese princess Gyasa (Wencheng) and the Nepali princess Belsa (Bhrikuti), the two foreign queens of Songtsen Gampo, and Buddhism's rise in Tibet. Together they show the two sides of the tradition, legend and national memory.

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