Ancient monasteries of the Spiti Valley

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We spent the next day winding through the stark grandeur of the valley, passing many people improving the roads, including again sadly many women with tiny children beside them. At one stage even Sanju was holding his breath as he drove over a very nasty patch of road made from very loose shale. We know when it's going to be bad now - he prays and the road before is lined with prayer flags for luck. Our evening stop that night was in the small village of Tabo (3050metres) which was founded in 996. It is the oldest Buddhist establishment in this part of the world. Since it opened to tourism the town is rapidly modernizing, with bitumened streets and restaurants and guest houses starting to spring up everywhere. We saw old photos of the town and it is much larger than it was not so long ago. Hopefully the fact that Nako is now heritage listed will prevent it turning into a village full of guest houses. Tabo is on the edge of the Spiti River and is separated from the river by a helipad - there I guess for medical emergencies etc. All the original houses are made from mud and the monastery, around which the village developed, is constructed from mud bricks painted a caramel colour. The houses have flat roofs,edged with piles of dry wood and brush. The windows of the houses are painted black and surrounded by blue paint. It is surrounded by green fields
The monastery houses 60 monks but the day we were there most were further up the road in Kaza as the Dalai Lama was teaching there for the next 3 days. After that he was visiting the monastery at Dankar and Tabo. In Tabo he was to bless a recently constructed chorten that had been built in the grounds of the new monastery. What few monks were left in town were hanging new unfaded prayer flags and rows of the Buddhist flag along the streets. The rest had been busy painting the building the Dalai Lama was going to sleep in, and polishing the gold on the chorten, which was sparkling in the sun!
The old monastery grounds had many chortens of various sizes scattered around the main monastery buildings. We were able to enter only two of the monastery buildings and the walls within them were totally covered with murals, still in very good condition for the most part. There were some cracks and peeling mainly around the door and windows which are not totally weatherproof. At one stage the murals had been coated with a layer of gold dust - this could be seen in some areas but most had come away. We could only look at the murals by torchlight. As well there were dozens of wooden religious statues, many of them were of bare breasted ladies. When they painted the murals the mud walls were coated with lime and yak skin glue, polished vigorously, then covered in animal fat and ghee, before being painted with vegetable dye paints. The dyes were mixes with milk and urine to make the paint. It's amazing that the colours are still so vivid though I guess the lack of natural light would have protected them. The chambers are still used regularly for prayers but the newer monastery is used more regularly now in order to preserve the original structures. We later climbed the hill behind the monastery to look at murals in caves where the monks used to meditate but couldn't find the monk 'on duty' to let us in. There was no entrance fee to see the monastery but you were expected to buy something from one of the souvenir stalls set up outside the main gate. Later Jerry and I decided to go for a walk down to the river which turned out to be a mistake as once we got behind the fence - long solid wall of mud bricks - we found out that the area was the town toilets - it was putrid! Sometimes you feel that India is one big public toilet - I don't even notice the rows of men urinating against walls anymore - but I'm still confused as to where the women go! At least a lot of the time you have the smell of spices or incense to help disguise the small of urine....
There were a lot of young Israeli backpackers in Tabo and we were to see groups of them for the rest of our trip in this area. India is their prime travel destination when they finish their conscription - they told us that it's cheap and there is a lot of cannabis growing freely.
Next morning we were up early and after the standard 'Western' breakfast of eggs and partly cooked toast (dry bread) were in the jeep and headed to just down the road to Dankar Monastery. Or should I say up the mountain as it was a very steep 8 klm up. I loved Dankar - particularly our first sighting of it! It is perched on top of an overhang and is in danger of falling off as the foundations are crumbling. They are trying desperately to save it but it will take a large amount of money. Dankar village is very tiny and the only accommodation is in the new monastery guest house. Again as the Dalai Lama was visiting everybody was busily hanging prayer flags and painting walls. The monastery is no where near as old as Tabo at only 16th century and was a fort monastery and a jail at one stage. The view from the grounds of the monastery was amazing - 360* - we could see far down the Spiti Valley in both directions and the rest of the view was of rows of multi coloured mountains with snow capped peaks. I was only allowed to see the outside of the monastery and one of the temples, again covered in murals and lined with prayer books. Again all by torchlight though there were some candle burning inside. Jerry was able to go into a tiny temple in which women weren't allowed - I did see through the door and the whole room wasn't much bigger than our bathroom. You couldn't stand up in it. The room was guarded by a grotesque stuffed sheep with orange horns. We were very impressed by this monastery - to drive up the montain and to see it looming in front of you was a great experience. On the drive back down we passed many backpackers walking up - they had a long hot walk - as no buses went up the steep road. Hopefully they weren't planning on staying the night as there were no rooms available. Five kilometres up the road Sanju turned off for yet another side trip, this time up the Pin Valley, to the tiny village of Mudh - population 155, which had just opened to tourism. As there was no accommadation available along the main road we were hoping to spend the next 2 nights there., before heading to Kaza the day after the Dalai Lama left - leaving availability in the hotels again.

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Comments

[Ritesh]

Hi I read your blogs about shimla-spiti journey........its really interesting.....i think you enjoyed this trip a lot..........

[Dhiraj Singh]

Mummy at Gheun
I took the same route to Spiti valley when I did the trip on my bike in 2009 and it was an amazing experience. I totally fell in love with Tabo, Komic and Dhankar monastery. The monastery at Lahlung is also one that I can't forget. I also visited to see the Mummy of a monk in Gheun which is in sitting position. It is close to 600 yrs old with hair still intact. It was an unbelievable experience of my life. Hardly a few websites talk about it but I was lucky enough to travel with IncredibleSpiti team and they especially included this in our itinerary. After this I also met the guy, Anuj Singh ( a photographer by profession and loves to ride), who was the first to photograph it. Wonderful journey and wonderful stories.....cheers