Spituk Monastery

Spituk in Tibetan means exemplary. When the translator Lotsewa Rinchen Zangpo visited here, he predicted the rising of an exemplary religious community at the place where Spituk Monastery stands today. And that’s the story behind its name. The monastery was founded in the 11th century by Lama Od-de under the Red Hat sect, though later in 15th century, it was taken over by the Yellow Hat sect.

Every year a festival, known as Spituk Gustor, is held at the monastery on 27th to 29th days of the eleventh month of Tibetan calendar, which mostly falls in the month of January. During the festival, a giant statue of Vajrabhairva is unveiled for public viewing, which on other days is kept in the Mahakal Temple, higher up on the hill on which the monastery is built. The monastery also has a Temple of Tara or Dolma Lhakhang which has a statue of the female Bodhisattva Tara. Spituk Monastery, which is at a distance of 8 km from Leh, houses around 100 monks. It also has three branch monasteries—Stok, Sankar and Saboo—the monks of which together celebrate Gustor at Spituk.