Gates With Three Chortens On Top

These come pretty close to the kanis that you see along the trekking trails. Kanis are basically gateways to a village which has a chorten (stupa) on top. But there are some gates that have three chortens on top. Just like the kanis these gates are entrance gates too (or exit gate based on which route you take to a village). There are usually three chortens with three different colors. Of the three chortens, the middle one is white, accompanied by black and red. In some cases, you may even see a white chorten accompanied by black and yellow. These three chortens are collectively called Risum Gonbo. Risum Gonbo basically represents containment of evil forest spirits by the good gods and carries great importance in the villages near forests. Each color in the Risum Gonbo represents a different god. The white color represents 'Kunjo Sunbo', the red represents 'Tsen' and the black represents 'Dui'. Therefore just like the Kanis they are there to keep away the bad spirits from the village settlement.