Alchi is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Likir tehsil, on the banks of the Indus River 70km (43.49miles) downstream from the capital Leh. Unlike the other gompas in Ladakh, Alchi is situated on lowland, not on a hilltop.
Tourism is one of the economic contributors to the union territory of Ladakh in Northern India. This union territory is located between the Karakoram mountain range to the north and the Himalayas to the south, and is situated at a height of 11,400 ft. Ladakh is composed of Leh and Kargil districts. The region contains prominent Buddhist sites and has an ecotourism industry.
Lamayuru or Yuru Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Lamayouro, Leh district, Ladakh, India. It is situated on the Srinagar-Leh highway 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of the Fotu La at a height of 3,510 metres (11,520 ft) and 19 km southwest of Khalsi.
Rizong gompa, Gelugpa or Yellow Hat Buddhist monastery is also called the Yuma Changchubling in Ladakh, India. It is situated at the top of a rocky side valley on the north side of the Indus, to the west of Alchi on the way to Lamayuru. It was established in 1831 by Lama Tsultim Nima under the Gelukpa order, at Ri-rdzong. There are 40 monks in the monastery. The monastery is also called "the paradise for meditation" and is noted for its extremely strict rules and standards. The nunnery, located about 2 km from the monastery, is called the "Jelichun Nunnery" or Chulichan (Chomoling), where, at present, 20 nuns reside. It is north of Srinagar-Leh highway & north of Mangyu temple complex.
Karsha Monastery or Karsha Gompa is a Buddhist monastery in the Padum Valley of the Zanskar region of the union territory of Ladakh in northern India. The Doda River flows past the monastery from its source at the Drang Drung Glacier of the Pensi La. It was founded by the translator Phagspa Shesrab. The monastery, also known by the name Karsha Chamspaling, was founded by Phagspa Shesrab, under the Gelugpa Order or Yellow Hats. It is 11 km north of Padum in Zanskar River valley.
Lingshed Monastery or Lingshed Gompa is a Gelugpa Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, India. It is located near Lingshet village in the Leh district. It is 84 km north of Padum. It was founded in the 1440s by Changsems Sherabs Zangpo, disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, on a monastic site previously founded by the Translator Rinchen Zangpo. The monastery has belonged to the religious estate of Ngari Rinpoche since 1779. The Jangchub Tensung Dorje Center was founded in Lingshed by Kyabje Dagom Rinpoche in 1994.
Likir Monastery or Likir Gompa (Klud-kyil) is a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, Northern India. It is located at 3700m elevation, approximately 52 kilometres (32 mi) west of Leh. It is picturesquely situated on a little hill in the valley, in Likir village near the Indus River about 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) north of the Srinigar to Leh highway. It belongs to the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism and was established in 1065 by Lama Duwang Chosje, at the command of the fifth king of Ladakh, Lhachen Gyalpo (Lha-chen-rgyal-po). It is off the Leh-Kargil Highway, 50 km west of Leh between Alchi & Basgo, 17 km west of Basgo Monastery & 21 km northeast of Alchi Monastery.
Matho Monastery, or Matho Gonpa or Mangtro Monastery or Mangtro Gonpa, from the Tibetan "mang" that means "many" and "tro" that means "happiness", is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located 26 kilometres southeast of Leh in Ladakh, northern India, on the banks of the Indus River. The village of Matho is located at the mouth of a deep gorge running out of the Zanskar Range and across the Indus. It is directly opposite Thikse Monastery.
Shey Monastery or Gompa or the Shey Palace are complex structures located on a hillock in Shey, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south of Leh in Ladakh, northern India on the Leh-Manali road. Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh in the past. It contains a huge Shakyamuni Buddha statue. It is the second largest Buddha statue in Ladakh.
Basgo Monastery, also known as Basgo or Bazgo Gompa, is a Buddhist monastery located in Basgo or Bazgo on the bank of Indus River in Leh District of Ladakh in northern India approximately 5 km west of Nimoo and 40 km east from Leh. Although the monastery was built for the Namgyal rulers in 1680, Bazgo itself was embedded in the early days of Ladakh and is frequently mentioned in the Ladakhi Chronicles when it was a political and cultural center. In the 15th century, a palace was built in Basgo.
Sani Monastery, Sa-ni-[tshog], is located next to the village of Sani where the Stod Valley broadens into the central plain of Zanskar in Ladakh, northern India. It is about 6 km to the northwest of the regional centre of Padum, a gentle two-hour walk. Like Dzongkhul Monastery, it belongs to the Drukpa Kargyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and is the only one of this order in Zanskar which has nuns. It is thought to be the oldest religious site in the whole region of Ladakh and Zanskar.
Stok Monastery or Stok Gompa is a Buddhist monastery in Stok, Leh district, Ladakh, northern India, 15 kilometres south of Leh. It was founded by Lama Lhawang Lotus in the 14th Century and has a notable library including all 108 volumes of the Kangyur. A ritual dance-mask festival is held annually.
Tholing Monastery is the oldest monastery in the Ngari Prefecture of western Tibet. It is situated in Tholing (Zanda), Zanda County, near the Indian border of Ladakh. It was built in 997 AD by Yeshe-Ö, the second King of the Guge Kingdom. In Tibetan language 'Tholing' means "hovering in the sky forever" and is reflected by the location of the monastery at an elevation of 12,400 feet (3,800 m). The complex includes three temples, the Yeshe-O Temple, the Lhakhang Karpo and the Dukhang. There are many ancient, precious, and well-preserved frescoes.
Alchi Monastery or Alchi Gompa is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, known more as a monastic complex (chos-'khor) of temples in Alchi village in the Leh District, under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council of the Ladakh Union Territory. The complex comprises four separate settlements in the Alchi village in the lower Ladakh region with monuments dated to different periods. Of these four hamlets, Alchi monastery is said to be the oldest and most famous. It is administered by the Likir Monastery. It is 60 west of Leh on Leh-Kargil Highway.
Wanla Gompa is a historic Buddhist monastery on the ridge that crowns Wanla village in Ladakh, India. Its small but impressively preserved three-storeyed Avalokitesvara temple is one of the earliest known Drigung Kagyu prayer chambers to have survived in Ladakh. Wanla is a sub-monastery of Lamayuru, which provides a caretaker monk responsible for daily rituals and for granting access to the temple. The main image features Avalokitesvara in 11-headed ("Chuchigzhel") form. It is 13 km southeast of Lamayuru Monastery.
Philip Denwood is a British Tibetologist noted for his work on traditional Tibetan arts and handicrafts, Himalayan architecture and Tibetan linguistics.
Purang-Guge kingdom was a small Western Himalayan kingdom which was founded and flourished in the 10th century in western Tibet.
The Mangyu temple complex located in the village of Mangyu, Ladakh is one of the earliest in Ladakh, India. Believed to be contemporaneous to the temples at Alchi Monastery and Sumda Chun, the earliest structures are supposed to be dating to the late 12th/early 13th century but as per the oral history and local belief the temples were established by Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo. Main temple complex comprise two early temples situated adjacent to each other and two chapels, one each on either side of the temples, that house large images of two armed and four armed Maitreya. It lies 22 22 kilometres (14 mi) southwest of Alchi Monastery.
All Ladakh Gonpa Association (ALGA) is the central organisation of the Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh, India. It aims to preserve and strengthen the monastic institutions. It was founded by the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche in 1949 and he acted as its president for 41 years, from 1949 until 1991. In 1949, the first meeting of the great monasteries was held and ten monasteries took part. All Ladakh Gonpa Association was registered in 1959 and is run by a governing body consisting of fifteen lama members belonging to all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. There are sixteen major monastic institutions with hundreds of monks in each monastery.
Sham Valley, nicknamed the "Apricot Valley", is a Himalayan valley along the Indus River and NH1 - Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway in the Sham district of the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh. The valley is located around 170 kilometres from Kargil and 180 kilometres from the Ladakh's capital Leh. The nearest airport is Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport in Leh.
