The famous Tawang Monestry located at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh was founded by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in the year 1680-81. The name Tawang means Chosen Horse. It is also known in another Tibetan name known as Galden Namgey Lhatse, which means a true name within a celestial paradise in a clear night. It is cosidered to be the second largest monastery in asia after the first one in Tibet.

The monastery stands on the spur of a hill, about 10,000 feet above sea level and has ravines in the south and west, narrow ridge on the north and gradual slope on the east. It is about 925 feet long and the height varies from about ten to twenty feet. It offers a commanding and picturesque view of the Tawang-chu valley. From a distance it appears like a fort as if guarding the votaries in the wide valley below.The approach to the monastery is from the north along the ridge. Just near the entrance to the monastery there is a building housing the dung-gyur mani from where the water is fetched for use in the monastery.

A colossal richly gilded statue of Lord Buddha occupies the middle of the northern side .To the south of its is the kakaling, the entrance gate. The kakaling is a hut-like structure with its two lateral walls made of staone. It serves as a gate. After passing through the kakaling there is a big gate further south which is without any door. There are two slits in the wall to see out through all along the outer side of the eastern wall connecting this gate with the kakaling. The most imposing building of the monastery is the assembly hall known as Dukhang. It is a three-storied building standing on thenorthern side of the court and houses the template and the Labrang (The establishment of the Abbot.). It is said that the yarn given by the Vth Dalai Lama to Merak Lama enclosed the area bounded by the four walls. The entire eastern half of the monastery is covered with sixty residential quarter's called (Sha/Hut) for housing the resident monks.

Though it has the capacity for housing about seven hundred monks, the actual number of resident lamas (monks) at present is a little more than 450. Each of these dormitories has been constructed by a group of villagers on voluntary basis. In addition to the Tawang monastery, the town has a Handicrafts Center, which was started to promote the small-scale industries for local handicrafts. It also houses the Parkhang library: a collection of the 400-year-old Kangyurs which consists of 110 volumes with 400-500 pages in each bundle in addition to invaluable manuscripts. Other large collections include the Sutras, Tangym, Sungbhum, old books and other manuscripts, both handwritten and printed, many of them in gold. The collection has a total of 850 bundles.

This monastery is the fountain-head of the spiritual life of the people of this region. In brief, this monastery is simply awe-inspiring and majestic in its appearance and grandeur. A visit of Tawang Monastery is most spiritually refreshing experience.

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