In
the insurmountable heights of Spiti, lies the Buddhist
gompa, monastery of Tabo. It was the Tibetan year of
the Fire Ape and the founder was the great teacher Rinchensang
Po, also known as Mahaguru Ratnabhadra. With its exquisite
murals and stucco images, Tabo is often called 'The
Ajanta of the Himalayas'. Tabo is located at a height
of 3050 metres in the magnificently isolated Spiti valley
in Himachal Pradesh. With breathtaking murals and stucco
images, Tabo is often called 'The Ajanta of the Himalayas'.
And here is the art that above all, is born of religion
and deep faith. A small community of sixty monks resides
here. The monastery has clay statues of the Buddha painted
in the Kashmiri style. The main temple, Tsug Lhakang
was at the centre of the whole complex. The centre of
this temple was also the center of the compound along
the east-west axis, having its major statue, Saravid
Vairochana, placed in the central spot not only of its
surrounding 32 statues in a perfect three-dimensional
mandala around him - and therefore of the temple - but
also of the whole complex.