TAWANG MONASTERY

TAWANG MONASTERY

Tawang monastery is located in small town Tawang in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh and it is the 2^nd largest monastery after the Potala palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

Tawang monastery is known as “Tawang Galden Namgey Lhatse”. Ta means Horse, Wang means Chosen so, literally tawang means chosen by horse.  Galden means Paradise, Namgey means Celestial and Lhatse means Divine. All together it means “ Site chosen by the horse is the celestial divine paradise”.

It was founded by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1680-1681 in accordance to the wishes of the 5^th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. Monastery belongs to the Gelug school of Mahayana Buddhism and had a religious association with Drepung monastery of Lhasa in Tibet.

Monastery is three stories high and is bounded by 282 mtrs long compound wall, with in the complex there are 65 residential buildings. The library of the monastery has valuable old scriptures and idols.

Monastery is situated at the top of the mountain, at an elevation of about 10,000 ft. with view of the Tawang river valley, which comprises snow capped mountains and coniferous forest. Monastery is bounded by steep ravines on Southern and Western flanks, Narrow spur on Northern flank and gently sloping ground on Eastern flank.

Monastery is entered from the Northern direction along the sloping spur and through alpine vegetations. The monastery is built like a large mansion and is three storied with a large assemble hall, ten other functional structures and with 65 residential quarters for students, Lamas and monks. The monastery has a school and its own water supply facility and a centre for Buddhist cultural studies.

The rituals and dances are performed at the ground floor. The walls of the monastery also have a profusion of thangkas of Buddhist deities and saints. Curtains are suspended over the balcony and these are painted with Buddhist symbols. Within the precincts of the monastery there are residential buildings to accommodate about 700 monks, which now houses 450 monks.

On the walls of the front porch on the ground floor is a footprint on a stone slab. It is said that this footprint belongs to a resident of the monastery, who was a water carrier, known as chitenpa. This footprint is venerated as a miracle in view of a belief among the people of the region that such an imprint on a stone slab could only be created by a divine person who was a true devotee of the monastery.

The main temple or Dukhang is to the west of the entry gate. Du means assembly and Khang means building. It was built in 1860-1861. A large Idol of Buddha of 18 feet high is deified; it is gilded and decorated and it is in a lotus position. This image is on the Northern face of the assembly hall and is installed over a platform and its head extends up to the first floor. Next to Buddha idol there is a silver casket which holds a special thangka of the goddess Sro Devi, which is the guardian deity of the monastery. It is said that it was painted with the blood drawn from the nose of 5^th Dalai Lama. This thangka image is also known as Dri Devi, was donated to the monastery by the 5^th Dalai Lama. The main temple was renovated in traditional Buddhist architectural style in 2002 and has been exquisitely decorated with paintings, murals, carvings, sculptures etc.