With young lamas increasingly seen sipping fizzy drinks and queueing up for movies, Buddhist scholars in India's remote frontier state of Sikkim are worried that their faith is being eroded by Western-style consumerism.
"Many old Buddhist traditions and rituals are being lost with the passage of time. We are apprehensive about our faith becoming diluted," said Tashi Densepa, director of the Institute of Tibetology in Gangtok, the picturesque state capital of Sikkim.
"The social changes sweeping across the world have had their impact on the pure and traditional forms of Buddhism," he told AFP.
Movies and colas aside, orthodox lamas lament that celibacy, which is not mandatory for Buddhist monks but which has been widely followed by generations of lamas, is increasingly being ignored in Sikkim.
Sikkim's Buddhists, who follow Tibetan god king the Dalai Lama and have monasteries across this former British protectorate, constitute 28 percent of Sikkim's 545,000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Hindus.
The Institute of Tibetology is trying to keep alive the religion in its purest form, said Densepa.
"It is sad that some important rituals have virtually died. We are trying our best to collect and document all old rituals and scriptures for posterity," he added.
"Very soon we shall be transferring most of the rare texts onto compact discs for our future generations to read and learn."
Young Tenzin Chopel, a student of Buddhism, spends most of his time at the institute browsing through heaps of books and rare scriptures to hone his spiritual knowledge.
"We have heard about some old religious practices which were being performed in the past. But today not too many of the religious gurus know those old rituals," Chopel said.
The institute is encouraging scholars to carry out research on the religion, language, and history of Tibet, including in Sikkim.
"Many foreign scholars and practitioners of Buddhism have been visiting the institute to carry out research and for better understanding of the religion with the help of books and other materials available in our vast library here," the director said.
Sikkim is home to the fabled "silk route," which became popular among both religious travellers and traders after Tibetan price Phuntsog Namgyal was crowned Sikkim's ruler in 1642.
British forces led by Francis Younghusband also used the route for their 1904 invasion of Tibet, leaving behind footprints of English lifestyle in pockets of Sikkim.
Monks said there was also a general fear that lamas are becoming more Westernised and are being diverted from the strict routine of the monasteries.
"Economic considerations are preventing many of the monks becoming full time lamas as it is difficult to earn a living by performing rituals alone," said P. Namgyal, a young monk.
"I am learning religion but at the same time I will try to study another vocation so that I can eke out a living in the future."
Sikkim is one of India's "Seven Sisters" far-eastern states but has so far shielded itself from tribal and ethnic insurgencies raging in the other six.
In 1975, its inhabitants in a referendum decided to turn away from China and merge with India.