PLACES OF INTEREST

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                                                                      PLACES OF INTEREST

PLACES OF INTEREST:-

GURU GHANTAL MONASTERY

This monastery is situated on a hill above the Tupchiling village at the confluence of the rivers Chandra and Bhaga. This gompa was founded by Padma Sambhava and is more than 800 years old. The most important feature of this monastery is that its idols are made of wood which is different from the idols of other monasteries made of clay. The Guru Ghantal white marble head was installed by its founder, but now the same is kept under lock and key for fear of theft. This monastery has idols of Guru Padma Sambhava, Brijeshwari Devi and several other lamas. On the 15th lunar day (mid June) a festival called Ghantal was celebrated at which the visiting lamas and Thakurs used to feast for one day. The festival is no longer celebrated.  Here is one black stone statue of a goddess identified as kali in the innermost chamber which tells us that it is venerated by Hindus also like Trilokinath temple at Udaipur.                                                                                                                                               

SHASHUR MONASTERY:  Sha-shur in the locally means in the blue pines. This is rightly remarked as good patches of bluepine can still be seen around the monastery.This gompa was founded in the 17th C. AD by Lama Deva Gyatsho of Zangskar who was a missionary of Nawang Namgyal, the king of Bhutan. The lamas of the gompa are of the Drugpa sect (red hat sect). Namgyal founded this sect and the name originated from Dug which in the Bhoti language means Bhutan. Before Deva Gyatsho renovated the present monastery, there existed a small gompa. Deva Gyatsho stayed at the monastery till his death. When he was being cremated, this is said, his heart did not burn and was enclosed in a black image of Gyatsho. A statue of Namgyal is also present in the gompa. This gompa has the biggest Thanka paintings, over fifteen feet, and invaluable wall paintings depicting all the 84 siddhas of Buddhism. In the month of June/July Chham is performed in the monastery which is the most popular Chham in this area.

KARDANG

Village Kardang which was once the capital of Lahaul has the most popular and the biggest monastery of the area. The monastery is situated on the left bank of the river Bhaga just above the village of Kardang. This was founded about 900 years ago and stood in ruins uptill 1912 when Lama Norbu of Kardang renovated it.This monastery houses the largest number of lamas and chomos. The library of the gompa is one of the biggest containing full volumes of Kangyur and Tangyur. Since the monastery belongs to the Red Hat sect the regimen is not very strict. Nuns and monks enjoy equality. Lamas can marry and generally they stay with their families during summers to work in the fields. In winters they return to the gompa for meditation.

TAYUL

This gompa above the village of Satingri has the biggest statue of Padma Sambhava and his two manifestations as Singhmukha and Vajravarahi. The statue is 12 feet tall. This gompa houses full library of Kangyur. Thankas in the gompa depict various episodes from the life of lord Buddha.Tayul gompa written in Tibetan as Ta - Yul means chosen place. It is one of the oldest Dugpa sect monasteries in Lahaul. One Dugpa lama, Serzang Rinchen of Khan region of Tibet, founded this monastery in the beginning of the 17th C.    

GHEMUR

This place is situated at a distance of 18 kms from Keylong. In the month of July lamas perform devil dance in this gompa. The place is easily accessible and very beautiful.

TRILOKINATH TEMPLE

It is a unique temple where Hindus and Buddhists worship. In the month of August every year, a festival named Pori is celebrated here for two days. In this festival followers of both religions gather to offer prayer. This Shiva temple was transformed into a Buddhist shrine by Padma Sanbhava. There is an image of Avalokiteshwara- Trilokinath, which can not be earlier than the 12th century. In the centre of the compound one can still see the Nandi Bull of Lord Shiva. There is also a drain in a wall of the temple at the level of the platform in the sanctorum which was probably built at the time of construction to drain out the water or milk which was poured over the Shiva.

MARKULA DEVI TEMPLE:                                                                                                                                This temple is situated at Udaipur,sub division of lahoul.This temple is one of the best example of wood carving. Local population believes this temple to be the work of the master craftsman who built the famous Hidimba Temple at Manali for Bahadur Singh of Kullu. There is striking similarity between many figures and other details of the later wood carvings to the relief's of the Hidimba Devi Temple. The temple is most richly, elaborately and intricately carved. The niches of the door jambs have been carved into complicated gables of late Kashmiri style.The selection of episodes for carving in this temple  from the Ramayana and Mahabharata is typical to this style .

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