Dhankar Gompa is a Gompa

Gompa

Gompa and ling are Buddhist ecclesiastical fortifications of learning, lineage and sadhana , located in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Bhutan...

, a Buddhist temple in the district of Lahaul and Spiti in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is situated at an elevation of 3,894 metres (12,774 feet) in the Spiti Valley between the towns of Kaza and Tabo

Tabo, Himachal Pradesh

Tabo is a small town in the Lahaul and Spiti district on the banks of the Spiti River in Himachal Pradesh, India. The town lies on the road between Rekong Peo and Kaza , the sub-divisional headquarters of Spiti. The town surrounds a Buddhist monastery which, according to legend, is said to be over...

. The complex is built on a 1000-foot (300-metre) high spur overlooking the confluence of the Spiti and Pin Rivers - one of the world's most spectacular settings for a gompa. Dhang or dang means cliff, and kar or khar means fort. Hence Dhangkar means fort on a cliff.

Dhankar, like Key Monastery and Tangyud Monastery

Tangyud Monastery

The Tangyud Monastery or Sa-skya-gong-mig Gompa at Hikim/Komic, Spiti, Himachel Pradesh, India, is built like a fortified castle on the edge of a deep canyon, with massive slanted mud walls and battlements with vertical red ochre and white vertical stripes which make them look much taller than...

 in Spiti, and Thiktse, Likir

Likir

Likir is a small town located in Ladakh, which is part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It is perhaps most famous for the nearby Klu-kkhyil Gompa. The Likir Monastery was first built in the 11th century and was rebuilt in the 18th century, and currently has a gold-covered Buddha...

 and Rangdum

Rangdum

Rangdum is in a valley situated 3,657 m above the sea level, in an isolated region of the Suru valley in the Ladakh region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in Northern India. On one side are the colorful hills while on the other side are rocky mountains and glaciers, notably Drang-drung.Rangdum...

 monasteries in Ladakh

Ladakh

Ladakh is a region of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost state of the Republic of India. It lies between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan and Tibetan descent...

, was built as a fort monastery on the Central Tibetan pattern. It was reported to have had 90 monks in 1855.

Overview

Below the Gompa lies the small village of Shichilling which contains the new Dhankar Monastery, home to about 150 monks belonging to the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beyond the surrounding harsh, lunar landscape, notable sights at Dhankar Gompa include a statue of Vairochana (Dhayan Buddha) consisting of 4 figures seated back to back in addition to various crumbling thangka

Thangka

A "Thangka," also known as "Tangka", "Thanka" or "Tanka" is a Tibetan silk painting with embroidery, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, famous scene, or mandala of some sort. The thankga is not a flat creation like an oil painting or acrylic painting...

s.

There is a small museum in the gompa. In 2006, World Monuments Fund

World Monuments Fund

World Monuments Fund is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training....

 selected Dhankar gompa as one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world. A nonprofit group, Dhangkar Initiative, is attempting to organize its conservation.

Dhankar is approachable by a motorable road, good for small vehicles only, that branches off for Dhankar from the main Kaza-Samdu road at a point around 24 km from Kaza. The branch road is 8 km in length up to Dhankar.

History

Dhankar was the traditional capital of the Spiti Valley Kingdom during the 17th century and has some features dating back to the 12th century. It was the seat of the early rulers of Spiti, the Nonos, who had the right to cultivate the government lands nearby and were required to keep the fort in repair. They also dispensed justice to the people and were noted for their harsh penalties until the British replaced them.

The monastery is also referred to as Lha-'od-pai-dgon-pa:

"Lha-'od seems to be the local pronunciation of Zla-'od, the name of a famous lama who was born in 1121, according to the Reu-mig. Zla-'od-pa would then mean "a follower of Zla-'od." He is apparently the founder or renovator of the monastery which now belongs to the Gelugpa order. The monks assert that it was not only of earlier origin than the Tabo

Tabo

Tabo may refer to:* Tabo, Himachal Pradesh* Tabo Monastery in the town of Tabo, India* Tabo Creek, Lafayette County, Missouri* Manahowic Creek / Tabo Creek in Saint Mary's County, Maryland...

monastery, but also earlier than Srong-btsan-sgam-po. They have, however, nothing to show of any really ancient relics. They explain this fact by stating that the monastery was plundered many times, lastly during the Dōgrā war,...."