GHOOM MONASTERY

The Yiga Choeling monastery, which is popularly known as the Ghoom monastery — a name it has earned owing to its location in Ghoom — is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery to have been built in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Perched at a height of 2,438 m, it was built way back in 1850.
Apart from its lovely aura, there are many things that the Ghoom monastery is famous for. These include the 15-foot-high Maitreya Buddha statue that stands in its main shrine hall. It is made out of clay brought specially from Tibet. The lamps that are lit in front of this grand statue stay unextinguished throughout the year. On its right are three statues representing the past, present and future incarnations of Lord Buddha. On either side of the main altar are huge book shelves containing holy Buddhist texts. This rich repository consists of the esteemed Kangyur and Tengyur comprising 102 and 213 volumes of the commentary and philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism. Not only this, the monastery houses Tibetan translations of famed Sanskrit literary works such as Meghadoot by Kalidasa, Nagamandala by Sriharsa and NyayaKrit by Dharmakriti, among others.
In addition to this literary wealth is exquisite artistry in the form of religious thangka paintings and depictions of images of Bodhisattvas that adorn the monastery’s walls. They are placed in a symmetrical manner for visitors to understand the basics of Buddhist philosophy. The nearest major town is Darjeeling, 6 km away.