Lamayuru Monastery

This is the oldest of the major gompas situated on or near the Indus and is believed to have been the sacred site for the pre-Buddhist religion known as Bon. Built in the 10th century, the monastery is spectacularly located on an eroded mass of rock below towering mountains, on the Srinagar-Kargil road, 15 kms east of Fatu La Pass, and 127 west of Leh. It is inhabited by about 200 permanent resident monks and has even housed up to 400 monks.

Originally founded as a Kadam-pa establishment, it was subsequently offered to the Dri-gung-pa monastic order by Jamyang Namgyal, the Ladakhi king in the mid-16th century. It is now the principal monastery of the Dri-gung-pa order.

This original gompa destroyed and restored several times, however, several collections of tangkhas, carpets, statues and frescoes have escaped plunder and remain in the gompa for viewing.

Lamayuru is host to two annual mask dance festivals, in the 2nd and 5th months of the Tibetn lunar calendar.