Dhankar Gompa

Dhankar Gompa
Dhankar Gompa
Religion
AffiliationTibetan Buddhism
SectGelug
LeadershipThe Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Location
LocationHimachal Pradesh, India
CountryIndia
Dhankar Gompa is located in Himachal Pradesh
Dhankar Gompa
Location within India
Geographic coordinates32°05′26″N 78°12′43″E / 32.09056°N 78.21194°E / 32.09056; 78.21194
Architecture
StyleTibetan Architecture
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Dhankar Gompa Gate
Prayer flags in Dhankar

Dhankar Gompa (also Dankhar, Drangkhar or Dhangkar Gompa; Brang-mkhar or Grang-mkhar) is a village and also a Gompa, a Buddhist temple in the district of Lahaul and Spiti in India. It is situated at an elevation of 3,894 metres (12,774 feet) in the Spiti Valley above Dhankar Village, between the towns of Kaza and Tabo. 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 in Spiti, and Thiksey, Likir and Rangdum monasteries in Ladakh, was built as a fort monastery on the Central Tibetan pattern. It was reported to have had 90 monks in 1855.[1]

  1. ^ Handa (1987), pp. 131, 149.