Thini Gompa

This gompa is one of the very few Bonpo gompas in the Annapurna circuit. Bon was a pre-Buddhist religion characterized by animistic rituals and Buddha was an alien name in Tibet. In fact, Bon was not even a religion in its organized form before the advent of Buddhism. It was only after Tibetan Buddhism started to spread in the 11th century, Bon started to take a strong hold and started practicing their religion in a more organized form. Basically, Bon became organized to tackle the popularity of Buddhism and the subsequent threat it posed. The 3 main deities of the Bon religion are Siva, Welse Nagampa and Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa. In this gompa, however, Siva is missing and the main deities include Walche Ngampa and Ngamo Yumchen. Both of them sit comfortably inside a glassed shelf. Welse Ngampa on the right is dark blue, with nine heads and eighteen arms, embraced by his consort, Ngamo Yumchen in green color. The deity on the left is Kunzang Gyalwa Dupa in white with five heads and ten arms. And there is a small statue of Padmasambhava in between. The left and right walls are painted with large eight auspicious symbols and a few religious ancestors between them.