TRAVEL FEATURE - INDIA LEIGH WILKINS
WITH A LITTLE MORE UNDERSTANDING
Sometime around a thousand years ago , a crow dropped a lantern of Lama Barawa . It fell upon a rocky outcrop , forming an S-bend in the Tsarap River , the Drukpa-Kagyud Buddhists took this as a sign , forming the core for a fortress like Gompa .
The ‘ monastery ’ atop the rock started construction around the 13th century , the Drukpa or ‘ Red Hat Sect ’, laboured over the task , a work of heroic effort with little natural materials in what was , and still is , regarded as one of the most remote regions of India . Four hundred years taken to complete what is now witnessed , the Bardan Gompa . Lama Deva Gyasto , son of the Padum king , made it his life to complete the religious base , fitting that Padum is just 12 kilometres to the north . It ’ s an area festooned with religious temples , shrines , and iconology . Impossible locations searching for something amongst the mountains .
Within the shadows of the Dukhang ( hall ), a monk bangs a drum and chants mantras . It ’ s other worldly , different to our western ears , yet somehow comforting , welcoming , amongst the harshness of the Himalayan high deserts .
“ Ssshhh ,” a finger had been placed to one of my travelling partners lips . She ’ d been here for considerable time , sat within the courtyard , listening , not understanding , though appreciating the experience . My other companion seemed stunned , he sat against a wall , content with what was occurring .
The previous day we had ridden from Jispa , our home of two nights . The road following the Bhaga river as good as any , it ’ s the Manali-Leh Highway . We ’ d discounted Leh a few days earlier , deciding to take a less ridden path . The Barsi Bridge was our turning point , we wouldn ’ t take in the Baralacha La , this had been visited the previous day that
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