Khinmey Gompa

Arunachal Pradesh


This beautiful monastery in a tiny village east of Tawang (9km by vehicle, 6km on foot) is well worth a visit. Its current head, the Thegtse Rinpoche, is the 14th reincarnation of the guru who founded it in 1440. The main prayer hall is covered with fantastic, brightly coloured murals of hundreds of deities and presided over by the fierce-looking Buddhist sage Padmasambhava, flanked by his Indian and Tibetan wives.

A large statue of the Medicine Buddha sits on top of a pavilion of prayer wheels in the grounds. You could walk to Khinmey from Urgelling Gompa (a total of 8km from central Tawang), then ask one of the monks to call you a taxi back to town (₹300).


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