The legend of Lamayuru...

The second day of our stay in Leh was spent traveling to three of the oldest monasteries in Leh. We traveled to Lamayuru, Alchi and Likir. 

These three monasteries lie en route to Kargil and are a fair distance from Leh. They are also some of the lest visited places in the tourist circuit since most tourists seem to prefer skipping monasteries. But in my opinion, it is nice to visit them to get a feel of the culture. It also gave us some breathtaking views of some of the oldest paintings which are relics from the earliest phases of Buddhist spread. It was also a wonderful opportunity for us to interact with the locals and to learn from the monks themselves. Since these monasteries were not crowded, we could ask the monks about detailed histories, customs etc and they would happily chat with us.

At a 3 hour drive from Leh, Lamayuru is one of the largest and oldest gompas in Ladakh, with a population of around 150 permanent monks resident.

The story goes that the Indian scholar Mahasiddhacarya Naropa (956-1041 CE) caused a lake which filled the valley to dry up and founded Lamayuru Monastery. The oldest surviving building at Lamayuru is a temple called Seng-ge-sgang, at the southern end of the Lamayuru rock, which is attributed to the famous builder-monk Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055 CE).

What will stay with me :

- Those dozens of statues of Buddha with different hand gestures and mudras.
- The scrolls of those hand written ancient Buddhist text safely stowed away in those wooden boxes.
- Our hunt for the lion temple and the beautiful paintings in it. They were fading and badly in need of restoration but I am happy we saw them for what they were.
- The Dzo (hybrid between a cow and a yak, i believe) who was circumambulating the monastery... it was a funny and a memorable sight.
- The mud houses that were built into the hillsides so much so that they appeared to be a part of it. Houses that seemed to be on a tether - almost suicidal.. ;)
- And our brief glimpse of moon-place.