Dharamshala: The famous Tawang Monastery in India's Arunachal Pradesh is under imminent threat of collapse following massive landslides around it. The 330-year-old monastery, also known as Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, which stands on the spur of a hill about 10,000 feet above sea level, is witnessing-massive landslide around it since Monday.
"The situation is getting worse day by day due to continued rains caused massive landslides, people are now helpless, they need emergency assistance," Tenzin, who currently living in Delhi told The Tibet Post International.
The landslide had already damaged the plantation and some electric posts around the monastery located in Twang-chu valley of Tawang district, source said. Chief minister Dorjee Khandu visited the site Friday (26 November) to assess the damage and asked the district administration and public works department to put their men and machine in place to contain further damage to the site.
The monastery, belonging to the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, was founded by Mera Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1680 in compliance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama. The monastery has a three-storey library which boasts of a collection of 400-year-old Kangyur scriptures, large collections of Sutras, commentaries (Tangyur), Buddha's teachings (Sungbhum), old books and invaluable manuscripts -- both handwritten and printed, many of them in gold.
The monastery has 65 residential buildings, currently housing about 450 monks. It controls 17 monasteries and a few nunneries in the region. The monastery is also the largest of its kind in the country and is one of the larges t monasteries in Asia. Though it has the capacity for housing about seven hundred monks, the actual number of resident monks at present is a little more than 450. This monastery is the fountain-head of the spiritual life of the people of this region.
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