Hemis Monastery is located in the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir. It is 45 km away from the major city Leh. You can reach this monastery via a motorable road. In Ladakh, it is one of the most famous monasteries and biggest monastic institutions. This monastery is placed on a mountain. The Indus river is on its western side. It belongs to the Dugpa Kargyutpa. The monastery has a large number of paintings, which are exhibit during the Hemis festival. In the region of Himalayas, this monastery has more than two hundred branches and has more than a thousand monks. It is very amazing and exciting experience for the tourists to visit this monastery. The surrounding is very beautiful, which make your trip memorable.
This monastery is one of the wealthiest monasteries of India. The two parts of the monastery are assembly hall and another is the Temple. The assembly hall is Dukhang and the temple is called as Tshogkhang. The large court of the assembly is also best to visit. It is used to celebrate all the functions. This monastery has a large collection of ancient’s things. There are many things that make the visitors surprise. There is a copper statue of Budha, weapons, gold and silver collection of stupas. The festivals are celebrated by Cham and Masked Dance.
The walls have beautiful and colorful paintings of Buddhist Kalachakra in the Verandah. Near the monastery, there is the highest altitude national park Hemis. The visitors visit this park to enjoy the wildlife. There are also many wild animals like Snow Leopard.
The best time to visit this monastery is on days of festivals. In the month of June or July, the festivals are held for 2 days every year. There is also staying option and food for the tourists in the monastery. There is also an option for homestay locally.
