Wanla Monastery

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title: "Wanla Monastery" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buddhist-monasteries-in-ladakh", "tibetan-buddhist-monasteries-and-temples-in-india", "drikung-kagyu-monasteries-and-temples"] description: "Historic Buddhist Monastery in India" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanla_Monastery" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Historic Buddhist Monastery in India ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Tibetan Buddhist monastery"]

Field	Value
name	Wanla Monastery
image	Wanla Gompa 02.jpg
map_type	India Ladakh
coordinates
map_caption	Location within India
location	Wanla, Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India
founded_by	Rinchen Sangpo (disputed)
sect	Drigung Kagyu
::

|name =Wanla Monastery |image =Wanla Gompa 02.jpg |image size = |alt = |caption = |map_type = India Ladakh |coordinates = |map_caption = Location within India |location=Wanla, Zanskar, Kargil district, Ladakh, India |founded_by =Rinchen Sangpo (disputed) |sect =Drigung Kagyu |dedicated_to = |head_lama = |architecture = |festivals= |footnotes = Wanla Gompa is a historic Buddhist monastery on the ridge that crowns Wanla village in Ladakh, India. Its small but impressively preserved three-storeyed Avalokitesvara temple is one of the earliest known Drigung Kagyu prayer chambers to have survived in Ladakh. Wanla is a sub-monastery of Lamayuru, which provides a caretaker monk responsible for daily rituals and for granting access to the temple. The main image features Avalokitesvara in 11-headed ("Chuchigzhel") form. It is 13 km southeast of Lamayuru Monastery.

Along with a 1980s side building the monastery sits within the sparse remnants of a medieval castle whose construction is mentioned in Ladakhi chronicles as being by the Ladakhi King Lhachen Ngaglug (lHa-chen Ngag-lug), i.e. probably in the 12th century. The monastery was added in the heart of the castle in the 14th century. This timing adds to academic interest in Wanla since, as some writers have described, this was "an otherwise completely obscure period of Ladakh's history between the foundation of the Alchi group of monuments, the latest of which are to be attributed to the early 13th century, and the establishment of the Ladakhi kingdom in the early 15th century".

The temple is currently being restored by the Achi Association.

References

Neuwirth, Holger & Auer, Carmen (Hrsg.) „The Three Storied Temple of Wanla", Buddhist Architecture in the Western Himalayas, Band 2, Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz, 2015, 205 S.,

References

1. [http://www.rinpoche.com/stories/zangpo.htm Rinchen Zangpo]
2. [http://www.achiassociation.org/Wanla/WanlaIntro.html Wanla Introduction]
3. [http://www.achiassociation.org/Wanla/WanlaIntDescr.html Detailed description of the interior]
4. [http://www.achiassociation.org/Wanla/WanlaIntro.html Wanla Introduction by Christian Luczanits]
5. [http://www.achiassociation.org/association/achiass.html Achi Association website]

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