Did you know that Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India, is said to be the largest Buddhist monastery in the world outside of Lhasa, Tibet?
The Tawang Monastery, located in Tawang city of Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh, is the largest monastery in India. It is situated in the valley of the Tawang Chu (river), near the small town of the same name in the northwestern part of Arunachal Pradesh, in close proximity to the Chinese and Bhutanese border.
Tawang in etomological terms a compound word of 'Ta' meaning "horse", 'wang' meaning "chosen", which together forms the word 'Tawang', meaning "the location selected by horse".
Tawang Monastesry is also known in Tibetan as "Gaden Namgyal Lhatse" in which ,'Gadan' means "paradise", 'Namgyal' means "complete victory" and 'Lhatse' means "divine". which translates to "the divine paradise of complete victory."
The monastery is situated near the top of a mountain, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet (3,000 m), with a commanding view of the Tawang Chu valley, which comprises snow-capped mountains and coniferous forest. It is bounded on its southern and western flanks by steep ravines formed by streams, a narrow spur on the north and a gently sloping ground on the east. The monastery is entered from the northern direction along a sloping spur, which has alpine vegetation.
There are several legends narrated to the founding of this monastery. The most well known one says that location of the present Monastery was selected by a horse which belonged to Merag Lama Lodre Gyatso who was on a mission assigned to him by the 5th Dalai Lama to establish a Monastery. After an intense search, when he failed to locate a suitable place, he retired into a cave to offer prayers seeking divine intervention to choose the site. When he came out of the cave, he found his horse missing. He then went in search of the horse and finally found it grazing at the top of a mountain called Tana Mandekhang, which in the past was the palace of King Kala Wangpo. He took this as a divine and auspicious guidance and decided to establish the monastery at that location. Seeking the help of the local people, Mera Lama established the monastery at that location in the latter part of 1681.
Another legend relates to a female deitty painted on a thangka in the monastery which is of Palden Lhamo. This female deity is compared to the Hindu Goddess Kali.
Historically Merek Lama Lodre Gyamsto who founded the monastery in 1680–81, the 5th Dalai Lama had issued directives to the people of the area to provide him all help. To fix the perimeter of the Dzong (Fort at Tawang), the Dalai Lama had also given him a ball of yarn, the length of which was to form the limit of the monastery.Prior to the dominance of the Gelug sect of Buddhism in Tawang, the Nyingmapa or the Black Hat sect of Buddhism was dominant and this resulted in their hegemony and even hostile approach towards the founder, Merek Lama. This problem was compounded by the Drukpas of Bhutan, who also belonged to the Nyingmapa sect, who even tried to invade and take control of Tawang. Hence, when the Tawang monastery was built like a fort structure, a strategic location was chosen from the defense point of view.
In 1844, Tawang Monastery had entered into two agreements with the East India Company. One agreement, signed on 24 February, pertained to surrender by the Monpas of their right to the Karlapara Duar in return for an annual fee (posa) of Rs 5,000, and another, dated 28 May, related to the Shardukpens to abide by any order of the British administration in India in return for an annual fee of Rs 2,526 and seven annas.[12] Tawang officials used to travel almost to the plains of Assam to collect monastic contributions.
Until 1914, this region of India was under the control of Tibet. However, under the Simla Agreement of 1913-14, the area came under the control of the British Raj. Tibet gave up several hundred square miles of its territory, including the whole of the Tawang region and the monastery, to the British. This disputed territory was the bone of contention for the 1962 India China war, when China invaded India on 20 October 1962 from the northeastern border, forcing the Indian army to retreat. They had occupied Tawang, including the monastery, for six months, but did not desecrate it. China claimed that Tawang belonged to Tibet. It is one of the few monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism that have remained protected from Mao's Cultural Revolution without any damage.
Before this India-China war in 1962, in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, had fled from Tibet, and after an arduous journey, crossed into India on 31 March 1959, and had reached Tawang and taken shelter in the monastery for a few days before moving to Tezpur. He took refuge in India The Dalai Lama also visited Tawang Monastery in 2009 and 2017 which was a monumental event to the people of the region, and the abbot of the monastery greeted him with much fanfare and adulation
Monpas, also known as Menba, or Monba are the dominant sect of Tibetan Buddhism who live in Tawang. They are the followers of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. They have unique dialetical variations, customs sand customray laws , dress and food habits.
The monastery is reported to have 450 monks. It has control over 17 gompas in West Kameng district. The monastery has administrative control over two dzongs (Forts), each headed by a monk.
Tawang town where the monastery is located 448 km north-west of state capital Itanagar and about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. It is 555 kilometres (345 mi) from Guwahati and 320 kilometres (200 mi) from Tezpur in Assam
To be continued in "Tawang Monastery, Tawang- Part 2 Features"
Source. Extracts from my article in Wikipedia posted first in September 2009, and revised/upgraded to 'Good Artcile' status on August 18, 2015.
- Narasipur Char
