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Prayer flags hang in a circular pattern blowing with the wind.
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Prayer flags are colorful, rectangular cloths found strung along mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas to bless the surrounding area. Traditionally flags are printed with texts and images. Old prayer flags are replaced with new ones yearly on the Tibetan New Year. Symbols and mantras on prayer flags
are sacred, treated with respect. They should not be placed on the ground or used as clothing. Old prayer flags should be burned. Now, different styles of prayer flags can be seen all across the Ladakh region. Lamayuru is a Tibetan Buddhist Gompa in Kargil District, Western Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
It is situated on the Srinagar - Kargil - Leh road 15km. east of the the Fatu La pass, at a height of 3510m. It was founded by the Indian scholar Mahasiddhacarya Naropa in the 11th century, after spending many years meditating, Lamayuru is the largest and oldest gompa in Ladakh with a population of around 150 permament resident monks. It has, in the past, housed up to 400 monks, many of which are now based in gompas in surrounding villages. Lamayuru is host to two yearly masked dance festivals, in the second and fifth months of the Tibetan lunar calendar, when all the monks from these surrounding gompas gather together to pray.
Jammu and Kashmir is the northern-most state of India, located mostly in the Himalayan Mountains. It shares a border with Himachal Pradesh to the south, Pakistan to the west and People's Republic of China to the north and the east. Jammu and Kashmir has three divisions: Jammu, Vale of Kashmir and Ladakh. Srinagar is its summer capital and Jammu its winter capital. |
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© imagesofasia 2007 |
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