Sumda Chun

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Sumda Chun
The temple at Sumda Chun - verso
Coordinates: 34°8′0.93″N 77°9′2.73″E / 34.1335917°N 77.1507583°E / 34.1335917; 77.1507583

Temple at Sumda Chun, an early Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastery is located in the Sumda Chun village, on northwest edge of Leh in Himalayas in Ladakh, India.

The temple at Sumda Chun is under the management of Hemis Monastery that appoints monks for conducting daily rituals and takes care of any major intervention in the temple. Temple which was originally part of a Gompa that existed at Sumda Chun has been attributed to the period of Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo (957-1055),^[1] and is believed to be one of the three temples founded by him in one night along with those at Alchi Monastery and Mangyu. This faith of the Buddhists puts this temple at a very important status thereby placing it in the Sumda-Mangyu-Alchi pilgrimage track that the pilgrims try to do in a single day.^[2] Sumda Chun village is at a height of 3500 metres from the sea level and is accessible by road since 2019. Sumda Chun village lived in darkness till August 2017 with no electricity before the village and monastery were electrified by Global Himalayan Expedition team in August 2017. The population of about 120 people staying in the village also contributes an active part in the day by day activities of the temple in the form of offerings to the temple and manpower for its maintenance.

The temple is listed as one of the 100 most endangered sites in World Monument Funds 2006 Watch List