Mountain Masquerade: The Hemis Festival of Ladakh

Ladakh is a high, dry land of monasteries, and the biggest of one of them all is called Hemis. Situated just outside Leh, the capital, this nearly 400-year-old temple hosts a lavish festival every year in June or July—the exact date varies, adherent as it is to a local calendar, but the reason for the celebration remains a constant: Padmasambhava, the 8th-century Indian guru who brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.