Life at 11000 feet High

Laddakhi
 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.
 HEMIS GOMPA
The Hemis Gompa was built in 1620 by the king-architect Singe Namgyal who was a great patron of
Buddhism, This  is  the biggest gompa of Ladakh.  It is situated 44 kms from Leh on the Leh-Manali
 road. For a visit to this place one has to travel 8 kms via Karu, after crossing the river Indus. Hemis
Gompa  is  not visible from the road.  There are several  temples here,  which contain stupas and
precious images made of gold. The art  pieces  glitter with precious stones.  There is  a  valuable store 
of thankas in this gompa including the biggest in  Ladakh. It is displayed once in eleven years and the
next display will be in  1992. However, they were soon to be in a  pitiable plight for Zorawar Singh had
reached the Hemis Gompa after  plundering  and destroying the other gompas on his  route. The 
manager of the Hemis Gompa skillfully saved his monastery  by surrendering before any more damage
could be done.  In 1956,  the chief lama of the gompa disappeared never to be seen again. His absence
led to the deterioration of the condition of the Hemis Gompa.  A twelve-year-old lama was enthroned in
1976.

The  lamas of Ladakh respect other religions also. In this  gompa important  posts like that of the motbir
(manager) were given  to Kadir  Sheikh  and  Akhon Abdul Hussain  who  were  Muslims.  The kitchen of
this gompa is unique. There is a huge vessel of copper whose diameter is 12 m, capable of cooking rice
or thuppa for 500 people at a time. Buddhist visitors donate money to the kitchen.

There  is is a courtyard in front of the gompa which is 60 m long and 18 m wide. In this courtyard four
long poles are stuck in the ground  at  equal distances and four different  banners  fly  atop these  poles. 
A big worn-out thanka is hung in front of the temple, on which the picture of Chapgon Gyalshas, the
founder of the Hemis Gompa, is painted. Three-fourths of the area of the courtyard  is  left for religious
dances.  The rest of  the  place  is normally full of spectators on such occasions.
 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.
 Alchi Gompa

About a 1000 years back, Rinchen Zangpo built this gompa. It  is  about  70 kms away from Leh.  The village 
of  Saspol is situated on the right side of the Indus river and across this, on the  left  bank of the river,  is
Alchi.  Between Saspol & Alchi there  is no bridge. A bridge has been built about 2-3 kms  down the  river,
which is negotiable, by vehicles.  The main  temple  of Alchi is comparatively small.  The central pavilion is 3
m long, 3  m  wide & 6 m high.  Several clay images have been  placed  on three  walls.  On one of its walls
thousands of mini-pictures  of the Buddha have been painted.  Wooden statues have been placed at the gate. 
On the right side stands the statue of Avalokiteshwar, which  has a thousand arms.  The head of an ibex with
four horns, instead  of  the usual two hangs here.  The ibex was  shot  by  a soldier & presented to the gompa.
The  Alchi temple has three images as high as three floors of the building  & they stand in a very narrow
space.  They are made  of clay  & painted with different colors.  There are  thousands  of mini-pictures of the
Buddha on the walls of the third temple.

  It was situated near Thikse,  about 14 kms  away from Leh.

This  age-old  gompa is in bad shape now.  The walls  have  been disfigured  by rainwater seeping through
cracks in the roof  and many wall paintings have been spoilt.  The gompa has no resources to maintain itself
 Shey Gompa

The oldest palace of Ladakh is located at Shey.  Which is situated at a distance of 16 km on the Leh-Manali road. 
King Lhachen Smal Gigun built this palace. The Shey Gompa is situated on a hillock, and  there  is a 7. 5m high
Buddha image in this  temple.  King Deldan Namgyal, son of King Singhye Namgyal, built this temple in A.D.1655
in memory of his father.  The statue of the Buddha is made of  copper,  platted with gold,  and is the  biggest  metal
statue of its kind in Ladakh. A lamp with butter burns in front of the statue throughout the year.

A  Nepalese sculpture named Sanga Zargar Wanduk was  commissioned to  make  this statue.  Three Ladakhi
craftsmen- Paldana  Shering Gyaso,  Gamani Jal Shring & Nakbiri-assisted him. The castings of the  statue  were
made in Leh at a place called  Zanstin  Palace. Zans means copper & tin means to hammer.  Actually the copper for
this  statue  was hammered into plates on a big rock.  For  this, copper  was  collected  from Lingshet &  other
 villages  of  the Zanskar area. More than 5 kg of gold was used for platting. This huge  statue was built in Zanstil
Palace in parts &  then  transported the Shey temple, where they were assembled and installed.
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.
 How to get there
 By Flight :
 From Delhi & Srinagar - Indian Airlines &
Jet airways.

 By Road :
 Srinagar to Leh via Kargil ( 2-3 days)
 Manali to Leh (2 - 3 Days)
 These are the most beautiful & breathtaking
road journey’ on the worlds highest road,
crossing passes as high as 15000 ft & even
more..
 Government run busses ply on these roads,
or else you can hire taxi / jeeps or maybe
ride your own way on motor-cycles.
 Visits in & around Leh
 TREKS AROUND LEH :

 Alchi-Lamayuru Trek ( 5 days)

 Markha valley trek (11 days)

 Hemis Darcha via Rupshu (9 days)

 Manali to Leh via Hemis (17 days)

 Manali to Leh via Lamayurur ( 18 Days) Excursions around Leh :

Zanskar valley
 Temisgram Trek (Likir) (5 Days)
Nubra valley - the highest road of the world passes through .

Tsomiriri Lake - a place ready to shock you out of your world.

The following can be traveled to by jeeps / private vehicles, we

need permits to visit Nubra & Tsomiriri Lake with requirement of
minimum 4 pax.
 Sanskriti tour the indian way
Please contact :

Tarun Raikhy
Sanskriti Tours

91 11 6146620
91 98101 29536
tarun@sanskritiworld.com