Buddha's eyrie

While we were admiring the fantastic snow-clad landscapes of Spiti and chasing Leopards, Ibexes and Red Foxes in the valleys and on the towering cliffs around the village of Kibbar, we almost missed an ancient historic site which looks over the road going from Kaza to Kibbar. 

The Key (or Kee) Monastery - reputed to be more than a 1000 years old was founded by the sage Dromtön.  It can thus successfully compete for the honor of being the Oldest monastery in India with the Hemis monastery in Ladakh (also said to have been founded in the 11th century). 

Surprisingly, for an establishment that was set up to promote peace and harmony, the Key monastery has a rather violent past, almost like that of a mighty fort which kings may fight over for its strategic value!

For example, in the 14th century it was destroyed by armies of the Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism (aided by the Mongols) because Key belonged to the Gelugpa sect. In the 17th century the Mongols came back again and sacked the monastery during the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama. Then in the early 19th century it got caught in the cross fire between the kingdoms of Kulu and Ladakh and then a decade later it was raveged by the armies of the Dogra kings and shortly thereafter the Sikh armies sacked it.

But its followers must have been especially persistent and devoted. They kept rebuilding it again and again - even through its destruction by fire (1840) and a massive earthquake in 1975. 

Perhaps because of this turbulent past, its architecture resembles a fortress more than that of a temple! Walls thicker than your forearm's length, underground caverns (which are today used as meditation rooms), ramparts from which one can keep a watchful eye over the surrounding territory.

But with all that, it is a house of devotion and prayers. It is said to contain intact some of oldest written religious documents of Tibetan Buddhism. We saw row upon row of these documents on shelves running from the floor to the ceiling in some of the rooms. Only the most holy and revered members of the order can access them. And there are ceremonial readings from time to time.  Walls in several rooms also have fascinating old murals - how they survived the tumultuous past (if they did), I don't know. But according to the kind monk who showed us around, while some are knew a few of them are quite old. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed indoors, so we could only record these with our eyes. 

But most  fascinating of all is the location of the monastery - on the tip of a cliff that dominates the Spiti river and surrounding flatlands ringed by tall Gleaming white snow-clad peaks piercing the sky! The panorama that unfolds when you look out from the ramparts is spell binding. 

Here are some more photos - of  the surroundings.