ladakh:- Roof top of the world

Life at 11000 feet

High
Laddakhi
Arial view
Ladakh leh gateway
Leh capital city of Ladakh
Leh palace
Beauty of ladakh
Hanupata river
Ladakh scenic beauty
Athirapally falls in ladakh
 THE LAND OF GOMPAS

As you drive into Leh and after the odyssey of a long drive, comes a fairy-tale
ending. A fort, a palace and a monastery stand out against the sky, amidst an
avenue of poplars. This is Leh. The journey has just begun. As the Buddhists
say:`When you are ready, the teacher will appear
 The Gompas ‘Monasteries’

❚ Like many other religious

establishments all over the world,  the
gompas too have been gifted lands,
by the ex-rulers of Ladakh. It is  from
these lands and public donations that
the gompas  derive their income. 
Cultivation on gompa land is done by
the labourers and not by the lamas,
for ploughing by lamas is considered
inauspicious.

It  is  believed that in the olden days the

gompas stood  on  the trading  route  to
Tibet and offered sanctuary to  travelers 
and traders. All  the  thirteen  important
gompas of  Ladakh  celebrate  their annual 
festivals in winter,  except the Hemis
Gompa which celebrates  it  in June or July,
lasting three  days.  Ladakhis  gather
enthusiastically  for  these gay festivals
and witness  folk  and religious masked
dances.
 Likir Gompa
King  Lachhen Gyalpo built this gompa in the
11th  century.  From Leh,  on the way to
Saspol there is a road diverting to the right.
About 5 km from the crossing of this road lies
Likir.  It has 120 lamas.  The  temple has
many Buddha images of clay  in  different
postures. The wall paintings of Likir are
about a 1000-year-old. Likir is famous for its
earthen pots,  which are in great demand.
These  pots are sturdy,  plain and beautiful. 
The pot makers  of Likir have been making
their wares for hundreds of years.
The gompa school has about 30 pupils who
learn three languages besides Ladakhi: Hindi
and English, as these are the national
languages of India, and Tibetan for religious
purposes. The pupils, some of whom will be
selected as lamas, live part of the time in the
monastery and part of the time with their
parents. Likir's head lama, a younger brother
of the Dalai Lama, is married (against the
rule of the sect) and is permanently absent
from the gompa.
 Lamayuru Gompa
Apart from Alchi & Likir,  this is the oldest gompa of Ladakh. On the Srinagar-Leh road,  after crossing the
highest pass of  Fatu, there  is  a  sharp turn signaling the descent  into  the  Indus valley.  As  soon  as 
one comes around this turn one  beholds  a strange  looking valley on top of which the imposing building 
of Lamayuru gompa is clearly visible.  It brings to mind the  palace
depicted in James Hamilton's novel `The Lost  Horizon   of Shangrilla'.
In  Lamayuru, caves have been dug out in the  mountains.  For centuries  the  lamas have been living in
these  caves.  In  some instances,  the  chomos  have  also been  using  these  caves  as habitation. Some
of these caves are still inhabited. The king  of Ladakh  invited  the great Buddhist monk of Tibet  named
 Rinchen Zangpo, who established 108 gompas in western Tibet & Ladakh. One of  these is Lamayuru,
which had one central temple & four  other temples at its Four Corners. The central temple thrived, but
 the corner temples were gradually neglected & turned into ruins.
Thikse Gompa

This  gompa  is situated about 19 kms away from from 
Leh on  Leh-Manali road.  It stands on a hilltop in the 
desert and is visible from  a  distance.  The houses of 
the lamas are situated  on  the slopes of the hill.  The 
gompa  is  especially  interesting  from   the  point   of  
view  of  its  architectural  beauty.   There   are   several 
temples  in this gompa containing images,  stupas and  
wall paintings. The wall paintings of the main temple 
are exquisite.
Shankar Gompa
❚
Sankar Gompa is a subsidiary of Spitok gompa,
having the same head lama. Sankar is easily
visited on foot from Leh, lying as it does in Leh's
suburbs. About 25 lamas of the yellow-hat sect
are attached to Sankar but only a few live here
permanently. Thus, it is only open to the public
from 7 to 10 am and from 5 to 7 pm. Sankar
gompa is about 90 years old but is located on the
site of a small temple that was built about 500
years ago.

❚ From the street one enters the gompa's front

yard. To the right are a few steps climbing up to
the double doors that open onto the Dukhang or
main assembly hall. The entrance porch has
paintings of the Guardians of the Four Directions
on either side of the entry door. On the left wall
of the veranda is a "Wheel of Life" held by
Yama, the deity that determines a person's
future fate after death. The wall on the right
depicts the Old Man of Long Life.
 Spituk Gompa
About  7km  from  Leh  on    the  right    bank    of  the  river 
Indus,  this  gompa   is    visible  from  afar,  standing  quite 
prominently  on   the  top  of  a  mountain.   A  new  temple 
has been  built here  and   the old one renovated. There 
are some fine "thankas" in this gompa. 
The  main  temple  contains many icons of the  Buddha.  
There  is temple of Mahakal that is about 900 years old. 
This temple was built  by  King  Takspa  Bung  .  It  has  
a  images  of  Mahakal (yamantak) & others. The  awe-
inspiring image of Mahakal has 35 arms on each side. It 
has  8   legs  on   one  side.  The  face  of  the  Mahakal  is 
covered   throughout   the  year  &  is  shown  to  spectators 
only  at  the  annual  function  in   the  month   of   January. 
The  walls  of  the  temple   are   decorated   with  beautiful 
 paintings.  One  of  the  wall  paintings  has  human 
 skeletons on it.  In  this  temple there is a collection  of 
 16   ancient  masks  of  different  animals,  gods 
& goddesses. The temple also has a collection of antique 
arms.
In   a   room   adjacent  to  Mahakal's   chamber,   a   big  
curtain   is  stretched  between  two  long  poles.  People 
attach their photographs & currency to the cloth for the 
fulfillment of their wishes. 
 ZANSKAR

A self contained multi-day river adventure down the spectacular and scenic Zanskar
river gorge. The trip takes you down the extremely desolate, remote and sheer Zanskar
gorge with walls rising a few thousand feet out of the river bed, culminating on the
mighty Indus river. This, combined with hikes and visits to various gompas in the Ladakh
and Zanskar region makes this a fascinating trip to the last and truly lost horizon of our
shrinking planet - Zanskar, "the land of white copper". This run through Grade III/IV
rapids enhances the experience of journeying down this otherwise untrekkable gorge.
Festivals
❚ Most festivals in Ladakh are religious and
take place at the gompas. Unfortunately
for the tourist, most of these festivals
occur in the winter months. Ladakhi
winter is extremely harsh and most
social activities like weddings, visiting
friends and family, indoor handicraft
work and participating in religious
festivals is postponed till the summers.
❚ Traditionally, only Hemis gompa held a
big summer festival but in 1983, Thiksey
gompa held its festival in the summer
for the first time. In addition to the
religious festivals, there are small
harvest thanksgiving festivals in the
autumn. In 1983, Leh held its first
Tourist Festival, in the first week of
August.
Tse-chu Festival
❚ Tse-chu (literally”day
ten”) are annual
religious bhutanese
festivals held in each
district of bhutan on
tenth day of a month
of the lunar tibetian
calender.
Willow Tree
❚ Willows are the trees
mostly found in
ladakh.willows all
have abundant watery
bark,sap which is
heavily charged with
salicylic acid.
Apricot blossoming in spring
❚ Apricot is a small tree
8-12m tall, these
leaves ovate, 5-9cm
long and4-8cm
wide.These flowers
are 2-4.5cm diameter
Wild asses or kiangs
Threshing barley using yaks
Barley is mostly used in
ladakh. Ladakh is famous
for the food
thukpa(tibetian
dumplings) which is
made from barley
Marmot
❚ Marmots are generally
large ground squirrels.
They typically live in
burrows .They
hibernate in winter.
Two humped bactrian camels
Indian soldiers in jammu