Place · Buddhist monastery · India
Diskit Monastery, Nubra Valley
Also known as Diskit Monastery, Diskit Monastery — Nubra, Maitreya of Diskit, Nubra, Nubra Valley
The Diskit Monastery at Diskit in Nubra Valley, Leh district, Ladakh, at 3,100 metres — the oldest and largest Buddhist monastery in the Nubra Valley, founded in the 14-century by Lama Sherab Zangpo, a disciple of Tsongkhapa (founder of the Gelug school). The 32-metre seated Maitreya Buddha statue (completed 2010 under the direction of the Dalai Lama) faces Pakistan across the Nubra-Shyok confluence — a symbolic gesture of Buddhist peace facing the Line of Control. The statue is the second-tallest Maitreya in India after Thiksey (which has a 15-metre version). The monastery holds about 100 monks. The annual Dosmoche festival each February-March features masked dances. The monastery is a key stop on the Nubra Valley Buddhist circuit, together with Hundar sand dunes and Panamik hot springs.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 34.598, 77.539
Connections (2)
- Companion in the same setHemis Monastery, Ladakh
Diskit in Nubra and Hemis in the Indus valley are Ladakh's oldest and richest gompas, separated by the Khardung La. Diskit's thirty-two-metre Maitreya, added in 2010, faces down the Shyok toward Pakistan and was consecrated with the stated aim of preventing further war in the valley. Hemis sits in a side valley invisible from the Indus road, which is why it was never plundered and became the richest monastery in Ladakh.
- Route adjacencyKhardung La
Khardung La is the only motorable pass between the Leh valley and the Nubra valley, 39 kilometres north of Leh across the Ladakh Range. The Diskit Monastery and the Nubra sites all sit on the road descending from the pass to the Shyok confluence — the pass is Nubra's one connection to the rest of Ladakh, and every historical caravan from Leh to Yarkand crossed it. The 32-metre Maitreya at Diskit faces the pass's northern descent.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Diskit Monastery”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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