Rgyal Monastery

It is 2 km off Kargil – Leh national highway near Wakha Village. Wakha Village is near Mulbekh (famous for Buddha statue on Kargil – Leh national highway). It is a tiny monastery maintained by the local villagers.

I visited the Monastery on 8th June 2019 late in the morning; but the Monastery was locked and the key was not available. I was told that the villagers go to the fields for work and hence, key was not available. On the next day morning, I visited the Monastery again  early in the morning and a villager volunteered to open the Monastery. I am grateful to my driver Mr. Maqsood Ali [from Kargil] to facilitate the visit.

The Monastery is visible above the residences of villagers:




Existence of a prayer wheel was a sign of nearness to a Buddhist monastery.


The Monastery was visible at cliff of a hill.



I passed through a typical Ladakhi Buddhist village.



The cliff's [housing Monastery] view from behind:


 Prayer flags signaled nearness to the Monastery.



Donation box was kept out of the Monastery.


The entrance was within the rocks:


Following are the views from the entrance of the Monastery:



The whitewashed areas appeared to be holy sites in the vicinity.


The path [to the Monastery] appeared to be mysterious.


Inside views of the tiny monastery:






Rgyal is more of a temple than a monastery.

Comments

  1. TreklineOctober 22, 2021 at 10:51 PM

    In first pic, upper portion of monastery seemed to be jutting out with no support. Unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SachinOctober 23, 2021 at 5:02 AM

      These remote monasteries are mostly locked. I had faced disappointment a number of times in Ladakh. In this case, I could visit it twice as it was near the national highway.

      Delete
    2. SachinOctober 23, 2021 at 5:11 AM

      Shergol Monastery was closed when I visited twice. The outside vies is impressive. Please have a look:
      https://cavemonasteries.blogspot.com/2020/12/shergol-monastery.html

      Delete

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