Gandhola Monastery

Gandhola Monastery is about before Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, India on the road from Manali, Himachal Pradesh. It is located on a hill above Tupchiling Village at the sacred junction of the Chandra and Bhaga rivers, which together form the Chandrabhaga or Chenab River. The village is at 3,160 m and is famous for its 7-storey tower fort.HistoryThe monastery is said to have been founded by Padmasambhava in the 8th century. It is now connected with the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, but its history long precedes the formation of that sect. According to local tradition and also the terma, the Padma bka'i thang, discovered in 1326 in the Yarlung Valley by Urgyan Lingpa, the site was associated with Padmasambhava. But the site was a Buddhist establishment even earlier than that:A chased copper goblet dated to the first century BCE was found here in 1857 by a Major Hay and is considered to be evidence of Buddhist monks' cells being located in a cave monastery at that time. The frieze on the vase denotes a chariot procession and is considered one of the oldest examples of metalwork to be decorated in this way in India. Known as the Kulu Vase, it is now kept in the British Museum. A damaged marble head of Avalokiteśvara also found here, is kept in the Guru Ghantal Monastery itself, and is claimed to date back to the time of Nagarjuna in the second century. This seems to be the only monastery in the region other than Sani Monastery in Zanskar which has a history which is claimed to go back to the era of the Kushan Empire.