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Gompa Tour: Alchi

Gompa Tour: Alchi

On of the best reasons for visiting Alchi is the drive out there. This starts in a humorous fashion, with oa serrieos ofu PWsD road-signstrung out along the airport road. ‘Dozing is injurious to health’ informs one. ‘Accidents are prohibited on this road!’ warns another. ‘I wiil miss you—scome again’ pleads a third. Beyond the …

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Summary : The ancient monastery of Alchi, built during the 11th century, is recognized as a major artistic site and has recently been declared a World Heritage Site under the UNESCO programme.

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On of the best reasons for visiting Alchi is the drive out there. This starts in a humorous fashion, with oa serrieos ofu PWsD road-signstrung out along the airport road. ‘Dozing is injurious to health’ informs one. ‘Accidents are prohibited on this road!’ warns another. ‘I wiil miss you—scome again’ pleads a third. Beyond the airport, past more massive mani walls,all sign of civilisation suddenly drop away and you’re driving through a flat, moonscape. The thin, straight road cuts through bleak, scorched terrain relieved only by low ochre hills (left) and snow-caped mountains (right). Dead ahead, there’s absolutely nothing. About an hour out of Leh, look out (lef for the wide Zanskar river flowing down into the Indus. The confluence of these two mighty rivers is spectacular.

A little further on, you’ll pass Nimmu, a large stack of mountains with an ancient city and an army camp at its base. Then you reach Saspol, a smaal oasiss of grpenery in the midle arid plain. The orchards of saspol provide most opf theo delilcious apricot jam found in Leh. There’s a couple of travellers lodges here—Green View Guest House (good food) and Tourist Bungal galow (clean rooms, expensive food); also a modest fort and some interesting cave dwellings. Saspol is a popular base from which to discover Alchi and Likir gompas, which are situated 5 km (3 miles) on either side of it.

The ancient monastery of Alchi, built during the 11th century, is recognised as a major artistic site and has recently been declared a World Heritage Site under the UNESCO programme. Dedicated to the great Buddhist interpreter Rinchen Zang-po, who had come to Ladakh from Tibet in the late 11th century during an interlude in Kashmir-Tibet relations, it is now primarily important as a place of pilgrimage. Its heyday came after 1337, when Islam strengthened its position in Kashmir and Rinchen’s ascetics fled their homeland, armed with their artistic skill, and went to ladakh.

They painted the walls of Alchi in fabulous miniature frescoes. The painting of thousand Buddhas’ (actually 1000 representations of Shakyamuni Buddha) inside the main in chamber is a true example of the influence of Indian miniature painting on ladakhi art. Some of Alchi’s tantric paintings, however, lean more towards the art appreciate them, and the 11th-century mandala walls, you’ll need a powerful flashlight.

If Alchi is famous for its ancient large Bodhisattva images and wall-paintings, then nearby Rizong is most notable for its ‘lady monks’ (nuns). Founded in 1829, this sprawling seven-storey gompa is built on a sheer rock face and looks out on a stunning landscape. It has an interesting library, lots of old thangkas, and some amazing wall-paintings. If staying overnight, men sleep in the gompa, and women join the nuns in the associated Julichen nunnery. As a woman traveller, you won’t be allowed inside the gompa itself after 4 pm. And nobody is allowed to smoke, drink alcohol or eat meat past the gateway chorten.

Back past Saspol, you’ll come to the great Likir Gompa, a multi-storeyed edifice in white. Founded in the 11th century, the original monastery was destroyed by fire and the present one (often compared to the Potala in Lhasa) dates from the 18th century. A large community of 150 yellow-cap lamas study at Likir’s famous school, and the best time to arrive is 4 to 6 pm, when prayers take place. Of the three or four rooms on view to the public, the oldest one has a triumvirate of giant clay statues of Buddha. Likir is to statues what Aichi is to paintings, and the small village below the gompa is home to some of Ladakh’s most distinctive indigenous crafts. If staying overnight at the monastery, you can enjoy fantastic dawn views from the open roofs.

The scenery on the drive home from Likir is uniformly beautiful. There are often phenomenal sunsets, which throw a strange, surreal glow over the ‘Death Valley’ terrain, transforming it into a land of fairies and giants. Some of the rock formations are straight out of Lord of the Rings—in places, it’s as though some leviathan of yore has taken the mountain in both hands, and squeezed it together like a crumpled blanket. Looming Tolkienesque cliffs, multi-coloured plateaus, and vast, empty plains vie for attention.

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