Tabo | |
— town — | |
|
|
Coordinates | |
Country | India |
State | Himachal Pradesh |
District(s) | Lahaul and Spiti |
Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Area |
• 3,280 metres (10,760 ft) |
Tabo is a small town in the Lahaul and Spiti district on the banks of the Spiti River in Himachal Pradesh, India. The town lies on the road between Rekong Peo and Kaza (alternative spelling: Kaja), the sub-divisional headquarters of Spiti. The town surrounds a Buddhist monastery which, according to legend, is said to be over a thousand years old. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has expressed his desire to retire to Tabo, since he maintains that the Tabo Monastery is one of the holiest. In 1996, HH the Dalai Lama conducted the Kalachakra initiation ceremony in Tabo, which coincided with the millennium anniversary celebrations of the Tabo monastery. The ceremony was attended by thousands of Buddhists from across the world.
Contents |
The village is situated at an altitude of 3,280 metres.
The temples within the monastery complex in Tabo have a plethora of wall paintings and mud statues. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) attempted to restore some paintings that were ravaged by time, but were not very successful. Photography, however, is not permitted inside the monastery.
There are a few hotels in Tabo, of which the Banjara Camps retreat is the most luxurious. The temperatures here plummet at night. There are other hotels and hostels like Tashi Gangsar, Menthok Dumra at Tabo, including the monastery's own guest houses.
Communication to the main villages around the area is by way of satellite phones and occasional goods carriers and buses that populate the road between Tabo and Kaza.
Deepak Sanan & Dhanu Swadi. 2002. Exploring Kinnaur & Spiti in the Trans-Himalaya. 2nd edition. Indus Publishing Co., New Delhi. ISBN 81-7387-131-0, pp. 147–153
|