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Located in Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang Monastery is 400 years old. It’s the largest monastery in India, and the second largest in the world. The monastery is in a small town called Tawang. Its compound wall is 924 feet long; it’s a poor man’s Great Wall of China.

Beautiful and Peaceful
The monastery has an old library, inside which you can find ancient Buddhist scriptures. The founder was Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso. The monastery is on the top of the mountain, so you’d have to climb up. The valley of the Tawang River is home to this monastery.

The first thing I liked about the place was its vastness. Rooms were so big that I could hear my voice echoing. The second thing I liked was the assembly hall because it was large beyond reason. There are sixty-five residential quarters for lamas and neophytes. The main temple is inside the monastery, known as Dukhang or assembly building, the main temple was built in 1860-61.

There’s an eighteen feet tall Buddha statue in the temple, in a lotus position that has spiritual significance. The Buddha idol is on the northern side of the assembly hall. Its head reaches beyond the first floor. The monastery shows the conventional buddhist architectural style.

Here’re few other details about the place; nearly seven hundred monks live in the monastery and ritual dances are performed on the ground floor. There are books in the library, which are almost 100 years old. There’s a printing press, which prints books on Buddhism using paper and wooden blocks. A school, a water supply facility and an esoteric center for Buddhist cultural studies can be found here.

Some of the most popular festivals are Choksar, Losar, Ajilamu, and Torgya. All these festivities have religious significance. We stayed here for two nights and three days. We participated in the Dasara festival; I was lucky to win a cup set in a lottery. Maybe frivolous to some in monetary terms, but to me, receiving the gift from the monks was a special moment. I was chosen randomly through a lottery. The monastery organizes it for tourists.

Other than Tawang Monastery, Shonga-Tser Lake and Bumla Pass are two nearby tourist places.

I can help you if you need road direction. The Tawang town can be accessed by road vehicles, rail and airlines. The nearest rail head Bhalukpong is 280 kilometres from Tawang by road. The nearest airport is Tezpur and its distance from Tawang is 350 kilometers.