Buddhist Sites

Delhi

Ashokan Rock Edict – Delhi

In the year 262 BC, having been on the throne for eight years, the emperor Ashoka raised a great army and moved against the independent…

Jammu & Kashmir

Ladakh – An Introduction

In the far north of India set within the Himalayas lies Ladakh. Known as “Little Tibet”, it is a land of dramatic landscapes and mystical Buddhist…

Return to Lamayuru

Lamayuru has a mystique quite unlike any other Ladaki monastery. For me it’s probably the spectacular setting that instills this feeling, remote and isolated, and…

Phyang Gompa

Phyang Gompa lies 13km west of Leh, standing on a crag overlooking the village of the same name, and accessed via a 4km long straight…

Return to Chemde Gompa

My previous visit to Chemde Gompa last year was a mixed experience. Without doubt it is in one of the post picturesque settings imaginable, with its…

Tak Tok (Thag-Thok) Gompa

Thag-Thok (also spelled Tak Tok, or Thak Thok) is a relatively small monastery just beyond Saki, about 50km east of Leh. Visiting it could be…

Return to Basgo

Last year during my first visit to the Ladakh region I was totally captivated by Basgo. It was without doubt my favourite location for a…

Jokhang Gompa

Jokhang Gompa is a large modern gompa just around the corner from Leh’s Main Bazaar. It”s also the location of the Ladakhi Buddhist Association, a conservative…

Matho Gompa

Matho is certainly off the popular tourist trail and rarely sees any visitors. Nestled high up on a crag on the far side of the…

Wanla Gompa

Wanla Gompa is an ancient and historic monastery believed to date back 1,000 years to the time of Richen Zangpo, who was one of the greatest…

Rizong Gompa

Rizong is one of Ladakh’s newest and most isolated Gompas. Founded in 1833, there are no settlements nearby and the monastery enforces a very strict…

Mangyu Gompa

Mangyu Gompa is one of Ladakh’s most historic monasteries, but is often one that is overlooked by those visiting the region and exploring the sites…

Soma Gompa

Soma Gompa is the easiest to find of the four temples that are considered part of the Leh palace complex. It sits just below the…

Guru Lhakhang

Guru Lakhang is one of four temples that are considered part of the Leh palace complex in Ladakh. It is probably the hardest to reach…

Chenrezig Lhakhang

The Leh palace complex includes four temples that reside just below the palace itself, running along the ridge that overlooks the crumbling old town. Access…

Temisgam Gompa

Located 57 miles from Leh and 2 miles off the highway from Nura, Temisgang was once a capital of western Ladakh. There’s little to suggest…

Namgyal Tsemo Gompa – Leh

Located high up on the crest of a ridge overlooking Leh Palace, the imposing red building of Namgyal Tsemo Gompa can be seen from just…

Spitok Gompa

Spitok Gompa is perhaps one of the most beautifully sited monasteries in the whole of Ladakh, possibly only bettered by Chemde Gompa. Despite being located…

Shanti Stupa

Built by the ‘Peace Sect’, an association of Japanese Buddhists, the Shanti Stupa crowns a hill on the western edge of the Leh valley. A…

Hemis Festival 2015 – Day 2

Having attended Day 1 of the Hemis Festival I was a little unsure what to expect from the second day. I arrived early again, and it…

Hemis Festival 2015 – Day 1

According to the Tibetan calendar, the great annual festivals held in the villages of Ladakh takes place in winter, with the exception of thseshu held…

Saspol Caves – Ladakh

Ladakh contains some amazing monuments of Tibetan medieval culture, perhaps the most famous and most visited among them being the temple complex at Alchi. But with…

Thikse Gompa

Thikse is 19km from Leh, and was my second stop on my tour of Gompas south of the town. My gompa hopping list for the…

Diskit Gompa

Diskit monastery dates back to the 15th century and is Nubra’s most historic monument. Situated 150m above the village, the zig-zag road up passes by…

Samstanling Gompa

Samstanling Monastery lies between the villages of Kyagar and Sumur in the Nubra Valley. The monastery was founded in 1841 by Lama Tsultrim Nima, and is currently home…

Basgo

Basgo is 40km from Leh and well worth paying a visit, particularly in the evening light when the orange-red tint of the rocks look their best…

Likir Gompa

Likir lies 53km from Leh, and is a must visit gompa if you’re in the region in order to see its colossal open-air Maitreya (Future…

Alchi Gompa

Alchi, 69km from Leh, is in a class of it’s own when it comes to temples. Sited unusually on flat ground. The 12th century shrines,…

Lamayuru Gompa

Lamayuru is 125km north from Leh, and formed the final destination of my second day excursion from the town, “gompa hopping”. The itinerary for the…

Hemis Gompa

Despite it’s remote location, 43km from Leh, Hemis Gompa is Ladakh’s most famous and most frequently visited monastery. It’s famous for it’s mask dance festival…

Chemde Gompa

Chemde lies 45km south of Leh. Nestled on a pyramidal hill, the approach to the monastery will get every photographer itching to get out and…

Stakna Gompa

Stakna is another hilltop monastery 25km from Leh, built in 1580. I attempted to access it from Hemis, but unfortunately the road was not great…

Shey Gompa

I set aside a day to tour the Gompas that lie alongside the Indus river running south from Leh. This made for a perfect day…

Madhya Pradesh

Sanchi – Remaining Monuments

In total there are 50 monuments within the Sanchi complex, each structure regardless of its form was numbered from 1 to 50 by Sir John…

Sanchi – Stupa 3

Situated less than 50m to the north of Stupa 1, Stupa 3 is the first monument you will pass having entered the Sanchi complex. Although…

Sanchi – Stupa 2

Sanchi Stupa 2 has a wonderful setting, located next to a man made pond/tank with open views to the west. This stupa is somewhat detached…

Sanchi – Stupa 1

Sanchi is unique in having the most perfect and well preserved stupas anywhere in India, with monuments spanning from the 3rd century B.C. to the…

Heliodorus Pillar – Vidisha

The Heliodorus Pillar is a column that was erected on the outskirts of Vidisha in central India in about 113 B.C. and is considered to…

Maharashtra

Parvati Cave – Pune

Ask any Punekar what is the oldest surviving structure in Pune city, and they are likely to respond with Pataleshwar Caves. Situated on Jangli Maharaj…

Bhamchandra Caves – Bhamboli

Bhamchandra Caves are a set of rock-cut excavations located near Bhamboli, 40 km north of Pune in Maharashtra. There are six caves in total at…

Bhandara Caves – Induri

Bhandara Caves are a small set of modest Buddhist excavations located on Bhandara Hill near Induri, 36 km north-west of Pune in Maharashtra.

Ghoradeshwar Caves

Also known as Ghorawadi, Ghorawdeshwar and Shelarwadi Caves, Ghoradeshwar Caves are a small group of rock-cut excavations about 32 km north-west of Pune, close to…

Kanheri Caves – Mumbai

Located deep within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, Kanheri Caves are a group of 109 Buddhist rock-cut monuments dating from the 1st -…

In Search Of The Elephanta Stupa

Elephanta Island is home to one of the finest rock-cut temples in India, and any visitor to this small island of great scenic beauty is…

Mahakali Caves – Mumbai

The Mahakali Caves, also known as the Kondivite or Kondivita Caves, are a series of rock-cut shrines 5km south-east of Jogeshwari Caves in Mumbai, dating…

Jogeshwari Caves – Mumbai

Jogeshwari Caves in the Andheri district of Mumbai are amongst the earliest rock-cut cave temples built by Hindus in India. Dated to 520 – 550…

Mandapeshwar Caves – Mumbai

Located near Mount Poinsur in the Borivali suburb of Mumbai, Mandapeshwar Caves is an 6th – 8th century rock cut shrine dedicated to Shiva.

Bhimashankar Caves

The Junnar region in Maharashtra has the largest number of rock-cut caves in India, numbering over 200 independent excavations and spread over the four hills. All…

Bhutalinga Caves

The Junnar region in Maharashtra has the largest number of rock-cut caves in India, numbering over 200 independent excavations and spread over the four hills.…

Kondana Caves

Excavated out of solid rock some 2,100 years ago, Kondana Caves are a group of 16 Buddhist caves situated 33 km north of Lonavala and…

Amba-Ambika Caves

The Junnar region in Maharashtra has the largest number of rock-cut caves in India, numbering over 200 independent excavations and spread over the four hills. All…

Lenyadri Caves

The Junnar region in Maharashtra has the largest number of rock-cut caves in India, numbering over 200 independent excavations and spread over the four hills. All…

Tulja Lena Caves

Having explored the better known rock-cut caves near Pune (Bhaja, Bedse and Karla), I decided to take a day excursion to Junnar (90 km from…

Bedse Caves

The small group of Buddhist excavations at Bedse (alternatively known as Bedsa), completes the trilogy of caves along with Karla and Bhaja that can be…

Bhaja Caves

Bhaja Caves (or Bhaje Caves) are a group of 22 rock cut caves dating back to the 2nd century BC,  located near Lonavala, Maharashtra. The caves are 400…

Karla Caves

The enormous 1st century chaitya cave at Karla is also known as Karli and Karle. It’s considered to be the best preserved rock cut Buddhist…

Ellora Caves

Ellora Caves are 18 miles North-West of Aurandabad, so unlike Ajanta caves you won’t have such an early start in order to get there for…

Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves are located about 100km north east of Aurangabad, it takes about two hours to drive there from the city. If possible try…

Odisha

Lalitagiri Buddhist Complex – Odisha

Located 85 km north-east of Bhubaneswar, the Lalitagiri Buddhist Complex completes the triad of ancient Buddhist sites along with Ratnagiri and Udayagiri. Declared a protected…

Udayagiri Buddhist Complex – Odisha

Located 95 km north-east of Bhubaneswar, Udayagiri is the largest Buddhist complex in Odisha and together with Ratnagiri and Lalitgiri forms the “Diamond Triangle” of…

Ratnagiri Archaeological Museum

Located a short distance from the entrance to the Ratnagiri Buddhist Archaeological Site (but not accessible from inside the site), the ASI museum was opened…

Kuruma Buddhist Archaeological Site

The ancient Buddhist archaeological site of Kuruma is situated just 6.5 km from the famous Sun Temple at Konark in the district of Puri. Set…

Uttar Pradesh

Shechen Stupa – Sarnath

Shechen Stupa is located 250m north of the ancient Chaukhandi Stupa, on Rishpattan Road in Sarnath. A plaque outside the small gated enclosure states :…

Vishwa Shanti Stupa – Sarnath

Vishwa Shanti Stupa is located approximately 900m south-east of the main Buddhist complex at Sarnath, and I believe is associated with the adjacent Japanese Temple,…

Chinese Temple – Sarnath

One of the joys of spending a day at Sarnath is the amount of variety that is on offer. Whilst most of the visitors probably…

Mulagandha Kuti Vihara – Sarnath

Mulagandha Kuti Vihara is located 400m east of the main entrance to the ancient Buddhist complex at Sarnath. Completed and opened in November 1931, this…

Chaukhandi Stupa – Sarnath

Located 600m south of the main Sarnath Buddhist Complex, Chaukhandi Stupa is a lofty brick built structure curiously crowned with an octagonal tower. The name…

Sarnath Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum at Sarnath is the ASI’s oldest site museum, and is one of the most important in India. Plans to build a museum…