As dawn breaks, the sun edges over the expansive jagged
mountains of Ladakh – a remote Buddhist ex-kingdom in the Indian
Himalayas bordering Tibet – to reveal a world where time appears to have
stood still.
The chant of monks in a centuries-old monastery can be heard
in the distance. Villagers slowly emerge from whitewashed stone
cottages to tend to their wheat and barley fields, and ready their goats
to search for pasture.
Complete with its picture-perfect temples precariously
perched atop rocky mountain outcrops, giant shrines and mantra-engraved
walls, Ladakh’s age-old Tibetan Buddhist way of life appears almost
untouched by modernity.
Until, that is, you hear the energetic yells of scores of
young women, clad in sweatpants and trainers. Fanned out in front of a
majestic white temple-like structure, they stretch, lunge, jump, kick
and punch on the orders of nuns.
Meet the Kung Fu nuns – women from an age-old Buddhist sect
who are using their martial arts expertise to challenge gender roles in
this conservative culture and teach women self-defense, as reports of
rapes rise in India.
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