Chemrey Monastery, Ladakh

Many monasteries in Ladakh were plundered by invaders over the centuries. The one at Chemde, or Chemrey stayed safe. How? A tale worth telling.

Seems the Mongols laid siege on Chemde in the late 17th century. He was outnumbered but that didn’t stop the head lama from outsmarting the outsiders. From afar, he shot the Mongol king’s tea cup with a rifle. Stunned, the king thought Goddess Kali ruled over the gompa and he made peace with the monks. A temple to Kali stands at the base of the hill on which Chemde nestles.

[Click on the image for a larger view]

Stagsang Respa founded this impressive gompa, Hemis’ most important branch. King Sengye Namgyal asked him to make gompas at Leh, Basgo and Chemde after Hemis but he refused to make one at Basgo (already had one) or Leh (too crowded, too noisy). Gompas are places of solitude, of meditational retreats, and Chemde was suitable.

While at the gompa, don’t miss its museum. On display are dresses worn by Mongol and Ladakhi rulers, weapons their armies used, cooking utensils, holy symbols, seals, money, storage bags and texts belonging to royalty and monks. It is one of the rare monastery museums where you can take photographs. This might change soon though.

Read more such anecdotes and experiences from Ladakh in Ajay Jain’s new book, Postcards from Ladakh.

His muse was a vulture’s nest. In the 13th century, Buddhist sage Gyalwa Gotsangpa (his name means ‘vulture’ [Got] ‘nest’ [Tsang]!) zeroed in on a lofty, secluded, secure location for Hemis Gompa, now Ladakh’s most revered monastery. Nestled amid towering mountains, it assured its monks of uninterrupted solitude.

Hemis, as seen today, was founded in the 1630s by Kushok Shambhu Nath (the first Stagsang Respa) under King Sengye Namgyal’s patronage. After 1730, Stagsang’s third incarnation, Gyalsey Rinpoche added shrines, stupas, scriptures and murals. He also founded the popular Hemis Festival.

Hemis may not look as imposing as the multi-storeyed Thiksey and Chemde gompas but the surrounding mountains give it an air of dignity. It is the headquarters of Buddhism’s Drukpa lineage, which most Ladakhis follow.

Ladakh’s largest monastery, Hemis has over 500 resident lamas, aged five to 80 years. With land endowments going back centuries, Hemis could well be the region’s richest landlord after the government. The royal family’s head is still its chief patron, though he longer contributes much. Hemis is quite influential in the region in many ways; non-Ladakhis cannot buy property in Ladakh without approval from Hemis.

Even religion needs resources and power to flourish.