Prayer flags, those special rectangles of fabric, with religious texts and images wood-block printed onto them are strung outside every temple in Leh - just as they are to be found everywhere in this region, even along the mountain ridges, to bless the countryside – and they flutter colorfully in the rarified air.
Every single centimeter of the surfaces that can be decorated bear the signs of painstaking and devoted effort – the main color is red but every other color under the sun is represented around the building, both in wall paintings and in silk hangings, and the effect is breathtakingly beautiful. Monks sit and meditate before a large picture of the Dalai Lama whose summer palace is just outside town.
You may be interested in Leh’s so-called ‘underwater’ temple, built on a lake and surrounded by water on three sides. Leh temples are famous. Temples in Leh are numerous. There are many temples in Leh. There are many Buddhist temples in this rugged part of India and you will see solid gold statues and paintings created with rock crystal-based paints amongst other precious materials. In most temples there is a huge statue of the Buddha: some are made of stone, others forged in copper and then gilded and you can even see a huge solid gold statue here. The Golden temple at Amritsar is a popular destination for visitors to Leh and is quite a sight.
A gleaming white temple in Leh ‘Stupa’, or shrine, is visible from miles around and the Tibetans are not the only Buddhists to have created places of worship here – India also permitted Japanese Buddhists to erect a temple in Leh, decorated with a huge golden Buddha, serenely ignoring the violent archers and men holding rocks above their heads that are all around him, an image that is very popular with visitors. Leh is one of several places around India where the peace sect from Japan was permitted to erect a Pagoda of Peace. Leh temples are fun. People enjoy visiting temples in Leh. |
