Sankar Gompa, Ladakh (Leh), Jammu & Kashmir India

Across 3 kms of barley fields North of Leh on the edge of the Khardung La Pass enroute to the Nubra Valley is Sankar Gompa – a 30-minute trek from Leh city centre. You can’t miss the two-storeyed catchy complex and its multi-coloured fluttering prayer flags among the stone walls of farmhouses from afar.

108 volumes of Buddha’s teaching and images of the Three Buddhas – Sakyamuni, the present Buddha and the Maitreya (the future Buddha) are seen on the front porch of the Gompa which is its claim to fame. You enter the Gompa from the front yard where a flight of stairs leads to the Gompa. The paintings of the ‘Guardian of the Four Quarters of Heaven’ adorn the Entrance of the Gompa on either sides of the entry door. The left-side wall of the Verandah has a painting of ‘The Wheel of Life’ being held by Yama - the deity who controls a person s fate after death. And the right-side wall illustrates ‘The Old Man of Long Life’. The main entrance opens into the main hall or the ‘Du Khang’ with high ceiling and opposite the entrance is the Royal Throne of the Chief Lama.

Colourful sculptures made of butter and barley stand on one side of the Throne and on the other side is a statue of Avalokitesvara with 1,000 arms and eleven heads. The central theme of this Gompa is ‘guarding’ which is depicted in the form of sculptures, frescos, murals and statues. On either sides of the throne are doorways that lead to a Chapel in the adjoining room which houses an image of Tsong-kha-pa – the founder of the Gelukpa Sect of Buddhism.

In the same premises is a smaller courtyard with the Tibetan calendar and murals on its inner walls which portray the correct way of ‘Lama-living’. Within this courtyard is the ‘Dukar Lha-khang’ – a small temple of God Dukar which houses her towering turquoise embedded statue with 1000 arms and 1000 heads. The local women devotees give bracelets as offering to this God.

One floor up is the resting chambers of the Chief Lamas and other Lamas, Gompa Library and the terrace of the Gompa from where the Namgyal Tsemo Hill is visible.