Bhraka Gompa

This is a mystical looking gompa that rests high on top of a ridge, overlooking the village of Bhraka. It is white in color with hints of red and what a gompa it is! A 10 minutes' walk will get you there and once you are in you will see a whole new world and the time will wind 500 years back. The Kagyu gompa is believed to be at least 500 years old and comprises three main buildings. The monastery consists of a main temple of the usual rectangular shape with a three-storied temple and the 'Defenders' Room' built separately higher up the mountain side. One of the main feature of the main temple is the hundred or so terracotta images that line the walls and include the 39 figures of the Kagyu-pa hierarchy including Marpa and Milarepa, his disciple. They are all about two feet high and although individually of no artistic merit, together are of great historical importance. The main temple is dark, mysterious and powerfully atmospheric. Then there's the Defenders' room. The main images in the 'Defenders' Room' above are those of Ma-ning, four-armed Mahakala and the 'Great Goddess' (dpal- ldan lha-mo). Thereafter you ascend a steep slope to enter the three storied temple above also known as "Chorten". A shrine containing a large image of the Maitreya Buddha will welcome you to the Chorten. The walls are painted with the Five Buddhas and numerous small buddhas. On the floor above, which is entered by climbing round the back of the building, there is a second and a far smaller temple containing an image of eleven-headed Avalokitesvara. The walls are painted with the Five Buddhas, Avalokiteshvara (four-armed), Buddhas of the six spheres and the goddesses of the offerings. The little top-shrine contains an image of the Amitabha Buddha. There is so much to observe in this gompa and from the scale of things it is clear that this place has seen an age when there were a lot more monks in the gompa. This gompa was founded by the second lama son of the fifth Ghale king of Ngawal. The Buddhist renaissance in Tibet introduced Kagyupa order into a mostly Bonpo and Nyingmapa settlement in the 11th century. Through the Ghale connection, Kagyupa found its way into Nyeshang valley and eventually into Bhraka. This explains the Kagyu gompa in Bhraka and its importance. Bhraka Gompa is open from 7 am to 10 am and 1 pm to 5 pm.