AP RADAP | THE PRINCIPAL DEITY OF SHAA VALLEY

Popularly known as Shaa gi Radap, the folks of Wangdue also revere him by the other colloquial names like Ap Radap or Agay Radap. He is one of the important tutelary deities in Bhutan who vowed to serve Guru Rinpoche in his dharmic mission. Following Guru, he had also served Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo, Yongzin Ngagi Wangchuk and later Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. He continues to serve Buddha Dharma in Bhutan, says Leytshog Lobey Kudroe, Chimi. 

As opposed to what we generally believe, Lobey Chimi says, "Radap is not a mere territorial deity for Shaa people. He is one of the important protective deities for the entire country." Which I believe is true, especially when armed forces and Desuups passing from Tencholing military centre customarily seek refuge in Ap Radap for his dexterity and protection. 

 

A year ago, as the new statue of Ap Radap ascended to the central altar of Rada Nyekhang, I penned down a few lines that I heard of Ap Radap and Rada Nyekhang. 

It is believed that Ap Radap possesses sharp premonition and can forecast both goods and mishaps in one's life. According to the ballad of Pemi Tshewang Tashi, the deity conveyed a strong cautionary omen that the battalion would lose should they try to engage with the armies of Bjakar Dzongpoen Pema Tenzin. But the soldiers of Dzongpoen Andruk Nim, led by his Zimpoen Tshewang Tashi, did not heed. The premonition came true and it was Waterloo for both Tshewang Tashi and his battalion. Actually, 'Rada' is not the deity's original name. His real name is Dorji Draktsen. Upon arrival in Bhutan from Tibet, 'Rada' became a popular derivative name from what he pointed out at his nyekhang in Sha Khotokha. He said his nyekhang looks like a goat (ra). In other words, it meant ར་འདྲ or 'like a goat'. That being said, this information can be contested by wordings in ngoensel (prayer) where the choice of spelling is རྭ་བྲག and not ར་འདྲ I'm yet to figure out the etymological difference between the two. According to an oral literature, he was invited to Bhutan by Mondey Phurba who was said to be an emanation of Chana Dorji. Dorji Draktsen or Radap was also his guardian deity and when the deity had some troubles in Tibet, Phurba lured him to travel with him to Bhutan where he promised to offer him a beautiful nyekhang. However, when he actually landed in Shaa Khotokha, currently referred to as Radagang, he was initially not so impressed. Ap Radap has four manifestations and of the four, two prominent figures are the King and the monk. The two others are military generals. Ap Radap also has a Tshome Gyem (mermaid) for consort. Altogether, they are a team of five. That is why, Ap Radap is considered a powerful deity. The old Rada nyekhang at Gangtey thangka was constructed by Wangzop Sigay from Shaa.

Reporter Phurba Lhamo of Kuensel interviewed Lobey Lhatu (Principal of Bajo Lhakhang) and published the following information on the deity's early life:- ...Early stories of Ap Rada date back to when he was born as the king of the Nagas in an ocean. Upon receiving monk vows from the Buddha, he was born in Zhingkham Yoe Dhang Dhenpa (shining paradise). After his death, he was then reborn as Sangay Yoesung, becoming the lama king. During this form, he happened to have cursed those who criticised him during his reign, which led to him to live countless lives in hell. Later he was born as the youngest son of the Masang Puendhuen (Seven Siblings), born from the cross marriage of God and Naga. He was named Nangpo Drulchen (Gigantic Black snake). The mother Naga, (Lumo), out of unconditional love and affection, gave him the Jewel called Norbu Samphel, which is why Radap is considered to be rich and could even bless people with wealth. Later, upon administration of a religious institution as a Geshey, he accidentally killed one of his follower monks. This led to him being born as a cliff deity (Draktshen) at a Ta Na cliff in Shangyul. There, Lopen Pema Thoethreng gave him blessings, oral transmissions and was purified with holy water. With Chabdro and Genyen Gi Dhompa, he was named Dorji Draktsen. He was also made responsible for upholding the teaching of the Dharma. A brief 'soelkha' (petition prayer) to Ap Radap for the devotees: སྲིད་གསུམ་དྲེགས་པ་ཀུན་གྱི་སྡེ་དཔོན་ཆེ།། མི་ཟད་དྲག་ཤུལ་ཆེན་པོའི་སྟོབས་འཆང་བ།། དགྲ་ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་ལྷ་བཙན་ར་བྲག་པ།། འཁོར་དང་བཅས་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།།