One might have witnessed many monasteries in one’s life time, but the beauty of Tawang Monastery of Arunachal Pradesh is beyond comparison. Take a glance at this monastery and you will realize why it is the second largest monasteries in Asia. The beautiful cloud capped mountain ranges of Himalayas, with the Buddhist monastery is a delight to human eyes.
Situated 3500 meters above the sea level, it is definitely an unexplored paradise on earth. Every locality in this district with a sight of the tranquil lakes, rivers and the numerous high water falls reflects the color of blue sky and at times the hovering clouds overhead gives a very heart touching experience as it presents an panoramic picture.
Tawang district is approximately 2085 sq km and the birth of Tawang monestry is said to date back to 1960-61 AD. It is also popularly known as Galden Namgyal Lhatse. Today, more than 700 monks are receiving education and accommodation in this monastery.The assembly hall of the Tawang Monastery is known as Dukhang. The inside decoration of this hall is done with colorful splashes of colors and murals of divine Buddhist monks. A gigantic statue of Buddha is standing in the middle north side of the courtyard which is about 26 ft high which is followed by a three storied building that occupies the western side of the monastery court which is the library of the monks. The library have valuable old scriptures mainly Kanjur and Tanjur numbering 850 bundles.
Besides, Tawang Monastery, there are many other places near Tawang that one can visit. There are beautiful lakes around Tawang. One is Pankang Teng Tso lake. It is a beautiful natural site and provide tourist a lucky chance for deep communion with nature. Sangetser lake and Banggachang lake other two lakes where visitors can communicate with the nature.
There are two major religious festivals of the Monpas viz “Losar” and “Torgya”. Losar is the clebration of new year. Torgya, on the other hand is a monastic festival which is celebrated by the Monpa tribe at the Tawang district. This festival is celebrated to commemorate the god for a good luck in the coming year and to drive out all the evil spirits and keep all the natural calamities and disasters away from the village. The festival continues for three days. The festival starts with high spirit on the 28th day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar which coincides with the last week of January. The main event of the Torgya is a sacred choreographed dance called Chham that continues for all the three days.
Months of October to April are the best time for visits. It is not quite busy to reach the Tawang Monastery as there is neither any railway station nor a airport located in Tawang. The only way is to avail a bus or other vehicle from Tezpur in Sonitpur district of Assam.