Sankar Monastery | Sankar Gompa | Ladakh

It is stated that the Lama at Spituk Monastery is affiliated with the one at Sankar Gompa. There is a 2-kilometre walk between Sankar Monastery and Leh, which tourists may easily do. The Sankar Monastery is a Gelukpa monastery, which belongs to the sect of Buddhism.

The official inhabitant of this Gompa is the head sect of Ladakh Kushok Bakul. Only a handful of the regular occupants of the Gompa are yellow-hat lamas, who belong to the yellow-hat sect. The construction of Sankar Monastery was completed about 90 years ago, and they are sharing grounds with a temple that is almost 500 years old.

Massive stone walls surround the Sankar Gompa. On the Gompa’s assembly hall wall is a portrait of the Gompa’s former head lama, Küshök Bakula Rinpoche, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 88.

On either side of the entryway is a large mural depicting portraits of the four cardinal directions’ four guardians. Next to the entrance’s front Verandah, a “Wheel of Life” is displayed by a lama. Various images of the Buddha decorate the walls of the Gompa. Avalokitesvara has 11 heads and 1,000 arms shown on the right side of the throne.