URGYAN DZONG CAVES

Location

A group of modified natural caves or man-made rock-cut chambers (cave dwelling) used for monastic troglodyte purposes (note 1). IDENTITY: Compare –>Lama Agu Tungpa Phug (Shergol) and –>Padmasambhava Phug (Urgyan Dzong). CULTURAL HISTORY - human use: One of the "caves" at Urgyan Dzong is sacred to Padmasambhava, who is said to have meditated here. SITUATION 2009: »… Shargol [sic!]Gompa is set almost entirely into a cliffside. The site is distantly visible from the Leh - Kargil road around 5 km west of Mulbekh, but accessed by a 1.6 km unpaved road that branches off near km236. Before climbing the short, steep approach path request the key from the new Dukhang (Lowe Monastery)« (LONELY PLANET, India 2009: 296). SITUATION 1999: »Shergol« (sic!) lies 7 km (LONELY PLANET 1999: 378; LONELY PLANET, North India 2001: 395) along the road from Mulbekh (N34°23': E76°22') north-west to Kargil (N34°34': E76°06'). SITUATION 1978: At the Tibetan Buddhist monastery Urgyan Dzong, which lies at a walking distance of 3 hours from »Shergol (Lord of the Morning Star)« (HIRSCHBERG 1978: 105, 1987: 92-93). CAVE DESCRIPTION 2001: »Shergol … meaning 'Lord of the Morning Star” … has a tiny cave gompa perched half way up the steep, eastern slope of the mountain …« (LONELY PLANET, India 2001: 395).CAVE DESCRIPTION 1863: »Leaving Shergol, we entered a curious valley with rocks of concrete standing out like towers and fortifications, and on the summits of these again, airy-looking habitations with red streaks adorning them, and entered, as that at Shergol, by holes in the face of the rock. These were, or had been, the abodes of the Lamas; numbers of them now however, as well as the mud settlements at their feet, appeared in ruins, and gave no sign of habitation, beyond having about them a number of little flags stuck on long poles, which fluttered about in the breeze. According to the account of our interpreter, which had to pass from Thibetian into Hindostanee before it could clothe itself in English, the cause of this dilapidation was the state of wealth and ambition at which the Lamas had arrived, and the consequent interposition of Gulab Singh to take down their pride and ease them of a little of their wealth, both of which he accomplished in the style to which he was so partial, by slaughtering some hundreds of them and reducing their airy habitations to ruins« (KNIGHT, W H 1863 Diary: 1860 August 6). Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016

NOTE 1: There is an early photograph of the monastery in KNIGHT, E F (1893: 127) who says: »It is carved out of a honeycombed cliff, forming, with some other cliffs of the same description, a giant flight of stairs on the slope of a bleak mountain of loose stones. The Gömpa is painted white, with bands of bright colour on the projecting wooden gallery, so that it stands out distinctly against the darker rocks.« Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 28/02/2016