Tawang Monastery, Tawang Arunachal Pradesh built like a large mansion with 65 residential quarters for students, Lamas and monks.

Tawang Monastery, Tawang- Part 2 Features

Did you know that the Tawang Monastery, Tawang Arunachal Pradesh, built like a large mansion, is triple storied with a large assembly hall, ten other functional structures and with 65 residential quarters for students, Lamas and monks.?

The Tawang Monastery, in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, founded by Merek Lama Lodre Gyamsto in 1680–81, has a Dukhang ('Du' meaning "assembly" and 'Khang' meaning "building" that was built in 1860–61. A large image of Buddha of 18 feet (5.5 m) height is deified; it is gilded and decorated, and 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 the Buddha image there is a silver casket that holds a special thangka painting of the goddess Sro Devi (Palden Lhamo), which is the guardian deity of the monastery. It is said that it was painted with the blood drawn from the nose of the 5th Dalai Lama, which renders an ethereal "living quality" to the thanka. This thangka image, also known as Dri Devi, was donated to the monastery by the 5th Dalai Lama.   

The Monastery as originally built in 1681, and renovated in 2002, in the traditional Buddhist architectural style, a very large mansion, is triple storied with a large assembly hall, ten other functional structures and with 65 residential quarters for students, Lamas and monks. It has been exquisitely decorated with paintings, murals, carvings, sculptures and so forth.

At the entrance to the monastery there is colourful gate structure, known as the Kakaling, which is built in the shape of a "hut-like structure", with side walls built of stone masonry. The roof of the Kakaling features mandalas, while the interior walls have murals of divinities and saints painted on them. A distinctive mural, the ninth mural from the southwest west corner of the southern wall, is of Ningmecahn, the protector deity of the Bon religion, who is considered the guardian deity of the Tawang region. 

The main entrance to the monastery, to the south of the open gate, has massive doors fitted on the northern wall. This outer wall is 925 feet (282 m) in length, with heights varying from about 10–20 feet (3.0–6.1 m). According to a legend, the 5th Dalai Lama had given a roll of thread to be bound around the walls of the monastery to denote the extent to which the monastery should be built.

The ground floor of the monastery is where ritual dances are performed. 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. The abbot of the monastery resides in a house located near the gate at the southeastern corner of the monastery. 

A notable feature on the wall of the front porch on the ground floor is a footprint on a stone slab. This step of a water carrier who served the monastery for a very long period 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 monastery has a printing press for printing religious books using paper made locally. Wooden blocks are used for printing. The entire second floor houses the library. It contains the scriptures of Gyetengpa, Doduipa, Mamtha, Kangyur, Tengyur and Zungdui. The printed sets are in 101 volumes. One handwritten set has 131 volumes and the other 125 volumes; the letters of these 125 books are washed in gold. 

Monpas, who belong to the Gelug sect, are the dominant sect of the Kameng region. According to a past custom, in a family of three sons, the middle son was conscripted to the monastery and in a family of two sons the youngest son was inducted into the monastery.

The main Monpa festivals held in the monastery are the Choksar, Losar, Ajilamu, and Torgya. Torgya, also known as Tawang-Torgya, is an annual festival that is exclusively held in the monastery. It is held according to the Buddhist calendar days of 28th to 30th of Dawachukchipa, which corresponds to 10 to 12 January of the Gregorian calendar, and is a Monpa celebration. During the three-day festival, dances performed by artists in colorful costumes and masks are held in the courtyard; Each dance represents a myth and costumes and masks represent animal forms such as cows, tigers, sheep, monkeys and so forth. 

Tawang town in Tawnag district, where the Tawang Monastery is located, had a population of 11,202 as of the 2011 census. 

Located on the northern most end of NH 13 of Trans-Arunachal Highway network, Tawang is 447.5 kilometres (278.1 mi) from state capital Itanagar. Sela Tunnel through Sela Pass is an under-construction road tunnel project to ensure all-weather connectivity between Guwahati in Assam and Tawang town. The proposed 166 km long Bhalukpong-Tawang railway link from the existing Bhalukpong railway station to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh being undertaken as the national project will boost tourism and enhance the national security with faster movement of troops. Tawang Air Force Station has an already functional heliport.

Tawang is in the News, as of date, as in Yangste area near Tawang sector near the LOC there has been an encounter on December 9 2022 between Indian soldiers and Chinese soldiers which has reportedly caused minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides.

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

Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India, is to be the largest Buddhist monastery in the world outside of Lhasa, Tibet

Tawang Monastery, Tawang - Part 1 Geography, History and legends 

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