Dhankar Monastery

Monasteries in Spiti impress you with their unique location—almost hanging on the tip of a peak and overlooking beautiful valleys. It always intrigued me as to how monks chose such a place to build such monasteries. How did they reach these summits when there were no roads to take them to even the base of the hill and with rivers flowing all around. Dhankar Monastery, located at a height of almost 3900 feet, is one of the finest examples of such monasteries in Spiti Valley. A serpentine road now takes you to the base of the monastery and with a flight of few steps you will find yourself standing in an ancient space where monks have prayed for centuries—uninterrupted. Dhankar Monastery was a part of a fort, in fact the word Dhankar itself means fort in local language. It was the capital of Spiti Valley during 17th CE. The monastery is presently in a fragile condition, and not more than 20 people are allowed inside at a time, though I wonder if more than 20 visitors ever come together here. On the roof of the monastery, only 3 people are allowed at a time. From the monastery you can trek to Dhankar Lake that is situated even higher than the monastery. The view from the small windows that are located right above the cliff is spectacular.