Thiksey Monastery, a photo from Jammu and Kashmir, North

Photographer's Note

This is the quintessential photo of the Thicksey Monastery in Ladakh, India. Monastery is at the top of the hillock and you can also see white structures called "Chorten" that are used to store the ashes of the high profile monks.

Situated at an altitude of 3600 m above sea level, the monastery of Thiksey is situated about 20 km far from the town of Leh (capital of Ladakh) and ranks among the most important monasteries in Ladakh. It is the seat of Tiksey Rinpoche, the main leader of the Gelug School in Ladakh.

HISTORY: It is believed that in the early 15th century, Tsongkhapa, the founder of the reformed Gelug School, sent six of his disciples to remote regions of Tibet to spread the teachings of the new school. Palden Sangpo, Sherab's disciple founded the Thiksey monastery a few kms away from Stagmo near the River Indus on a sacred hill above a village of the same name.

About a hundred monks live here. Ngawang Champa Tenzin, born in 1943, places a great emphasis on preservation of the traditional ways of running the monastery and continues to teach both monks and lay villagers. A former member of Indian Parliament, he has helped greatly towards establishing the village school called Lamsang, which is one of the prestigious Ladakhi Lamdon schools. Thiksey is one of the finest examples of Ladakhi architecture. This Gompa is situated on the top of the hill and forms part of Gelukpa order. The 12-storey monastery complex contains numerous stupas, statues, thankas, wall paintings, swords and a large pillar engraved with the Buddha's teachings apart from the sacred shrines and other precious objects to be seen.

leonorkuhn, caliane, weswang, capthaddock, Emile, amol, aloyho, sayzey, PJE, Guntram, everlasting, cam, PLD_images, riclopes, ewasting has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

leonorkuhn (16237) 2005-08-23 13:12

Good shot, Sarju. Very impressive architecture. Good composition and beautiful colours. Thanks for sharing.
Greetings,
Leonor

t0mmm1 (5442) 2005-08-23 13:13

Hi Sarju,
what a wonderful land is it. For sure I'll go here some day.
I have very good feeling looking at this picture.

caliane (610) 2005-08-23 13:20

Very interesting note Sarju!
I like the different archtecture of this place, the contsrat of the colors with the sky. It is also impressive the altitude of the place!
Cheers!
Caliane

capthaddock (28790) 2005-08-23 21:20

Hi Sarju - you beat me to it, I have a nearly identical one, wonderful perspective, the architecture has a strong mystical tibetan feel.

dvlazar (6662) 2005-08-23 22:27

I love the perspective in this shot. Very impressive and slightly foreboding.

Emile (20352) 2005-08-23 23:32

Impressive picture Sarju.
Very well composed, nice colours and contrasts. Very good note. Interesting place.
Thank you for sharing.

aloyho (6798) 2005-08-24 2:03

Hi Sarju,
You have selected an effective POV to portray this majestic monastery. The inclusion of the tree on the left is smart as it mimic the slope and provide very good contrast to make the scene interesting and lively. The repetition of the structures along the hill slope and the windows is rhythmic and seems to echo the chimes of prayers in session. Well done!! Have a nice day.

PixelTerror (0) 2005-08-24 4:01

Hi Sarju,
Again a remote and nice place you let us discover here, and the nice bottom up angle makes it more impressive, the overexposed clouds would be a bit tricky to correct I guess, but I did a small WS for the easier post scan corrections.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

[workshop] [compare] +

cessy (13647) 2005-08-24 5:32

very nice capture of this monastery, Sarju
excellent angle and composition
beautiful sky backdrop
I think the workshop of Jean Yves is useful

weswang (18247) 2005-08-24 9:45

Hi Sarju, It must be very hard to get to this remote place and to live there in a place with the high attitude. You have well depicted the living condition there: they do have power supply; and there are no driveways lead to the houses. A nice view of the pyramid style building along the hill. I like the nice look up angle provided in this picture. Nice contrast and good composition.

sayzey (2358) 2005-08-24 17:16

Hey Sarju, an impressive view indeed! Very nice architecture too, however the photo coudl be better technically. It loos blurry and a bit noisy in the sky.

Perhaps running the sky through neat image and sharpening the ground woudl help?

Otherwise good capture : )

PJE (20758) 2005-08-24 17:39

Thanks for all the info here Sarju. And a very interesting photo indeed. Cheers to you.

cam (9043) 2005-08-31 21:18

Bonsoir Sarju.
De retour en quelque sorte,j'ai été très occupé récemment.
Tu nous fait découvrir un autre très bel endroit de ton pays avec une belle perspective.
Jean-Yves a fait un miracle dans le WS.

Back again after a very busy period.
Through you,we are discovering many interresting places from your country.I like the perspective you are offering us.

Good work.
How was your summer?
I am getting ready to go back to the mont-Albert area in the Gaspesia park,this time in the fall(see my winter photo from there)

Take care, Charles

PLD_images (7149) 2005-09-07 7:27

What an impressive place Sarju!
Great text to explain this beautifull place that we are looking at. Well chosen point of view for this photo.

Amitiés - Paul

Angshu (56760) 2006-06-12 3:46

Wonderful shot Sarju...I like the way how you've shown us the majesty of the monastry. The colours are great & a decent scan quality (I'm learning the hard way how difficult it is to get a good quality from a scan)..a very informative note too
Regards
Angshu
PS Was wondering how come your N.American shots get more critiques than your Indian shots? I find these shots of India to be much more appealing, except perhaps the quality due to scan

riclopes (35577) 2006-06-26 6:14

Olá Sarju,
Now that the summer holidays are arriving, I dream with exotic trips to attractive hidden places, like this one. The way the buildings are hanged on the rocky mountain allways impresse me and there's also a nice repetition effect of the façades that provide an interesting pattern on this unique urban landscape. I like that cloud over the top and the inclusion of this detail in foreground. The WS of Jean Yves enhance nicely the image.
Thanks a lot and take care.
Um abraço amigo,
Ricardo

ewasting (762) 2006-07-19 3:36 [Comment]