The history of the Helambu region (Yol-mo) is closely related to the history of the spread of Tibetan Buddhism. This valley was considered as one of the "hidden valleys" found by the Tibetan lama Rachansakya Bzanpo. However, long before him, the famous Tibetan yogin and magician Milarepa had been meditating for a long time in one of the caves in this sacred valley.
The "hidden valleys", located in various, often very inaccessible places in the Himalayas, are considered to be the places where the most enlightened people and powerful lamas live.
According to legend, once a terrible epidemic began in the Kathmandu Valley. The royal astrologer predicted that only a holy lama called the "Sun Lion" would be able to stop the spread of the disease. The king invited Lama Surya Senge from Helambu. When the lama was on his way to meet the king, the sick, whom he passed by, began to scream - it was the demons who had seized their bodies screaming in terror.
Lama Surya Senge performed the necessary rituals and the epidemic ended. As a reward, the lama received a hundred horses from the king. But after consulting his wife, he asked to exchange these horses for a piece of land in Helambu. The king agreed and granted the lama a place called Langri Gyasa. Surya Senge built a monastery on this land, but it was destroyed by a lightning strike and a powerful hail. The saddened lama wanted to leave for Tibet, but the locals persuaded him to stay. To choose another site for the monastery, the lama threw his stick. In the place where the stick stuck into the ground, the lama built a new monastery, which still exists today. And the stick stuck into the ground turned into a fir.
Today Helambu is inhabited mainly by Sherpas who came from Tibet to the territory of modern Nepal about 500 years ago.
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