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Religious and Architectural Highlight

The main assembly hall known as Dukhang has a massive statue of Lord Buddha, which is the largest statue of India. The inner wall of Dukhang is adorned with beautiful murals of Lord Buddha. There are many paintings which describe the beauty of the monastery with a huge library which contains valuable old scriptures like the Kangyur and Tengyur. There are 400 monks serving as a centre for their spiritual life. The traditional Buddhist architectural style with distinctive yellow roofed monk homes.

Cultural and historical significance

Tawang is the birth place of the 6th Dalai Lama Tsayang Gyatso. It is the meeting point for the traders from Bhutan, Tibet, Arunachal Pradesh. Under the direction of the 5th Dalai Lama Tawang monastery was founded by Merak Lama Loder Gyatso in 1681. The word Tawang is derived from the Tibetan word in which "Ta" means "horse" and "wang" means "chosen". It is a great example of Mahayana Buddhism. It is situated at an elevation of over 10,000 feet in Tawang valley, with three-story high monastery enclosed by 925 ft. It has a long compound wall which consists of 65 residential buildings, library houses, valuable old scriptures, mainly Kangyur and Tengyur. 

In the monastery they educated young monks about moral values and plays a crucial role in preserving Buddhist text, values and learning. Tawang culture is characterized by Tibetan and Buddhist people among the indigenous Monpa people who are known for their agriculture, handcrafted and unique traditions. 

People And society

The dominant ethnic group in Tawang are Monpa known for their simple life style with unique traditions, they speak Monpa language.

In Tawang middle son of Buddhist family is expected to become monk which explain the high number of monks in Tawang monastery. Hinduism is also practices in some part of region.

Art and crafts

Monpa people are skilled artisans famous for their handmade wood craving, panting, carpet making, weaving and make paper for their local tree call sukso tree.

Religious Texts

A printed press in Tawang monastery prints religion text on locally made paper using wooden blocks.

Festival and celebration

• Losar is the new year celebration festival signifying their culture.
• Torgya is a monastery festival held in January.

And other festivals like Choekhor, Dukpa Tse-she and Saka Dawa are also celebrated.

Food and Tea

Tawang is highly influenced by Chinese cooking traditions with popular dishes like momo and thukpas. Monpas people consume butter tea (sueja) and also brew alcoholic beverages called chang made from grains like rice, maize, barley and millets.

Language

In Tawang they speak Tibetan language as the majority people are Tibetan and Buddhist.
Other languages like Hindi and English are also spoken.

Geography Area of Tawang

Tawang is located in the western part of Arunachal Pradesh near to the Himalayan Mountain at an altitude of 30000 meter. It shares the border with Tibet (to the North) and Bhutan (to the South West) and its roles as the meeting point for the traders. The monastery is surrounded by the mountain ranges.

Adventure and Nature

Tawang is known for its breath-taking landscape including snow-capped peaks, lakes like Madhuri Lake and verdant forests. It offers adventure tracking, hiking at Gorichen Peak and exploring hight altitude passes like Sela Pass and the border Bumla Pass. Other experiences are the natural beauty of Nuranang Fall and the historical significance of the Tawang War Memorial and Jaswant Garh.

Tawang is situated at the Verdant forests in the Himalayas, offering rich habitat for diverse wildlife. Bumla Pass a site of breathtaking nature beauty serving as a border with China. Sela Pass is one of the highest passes in India offering spectacular views.

Visitors information

• Best time to visit:
  From March to October, it's a best time to visit the place. As it's the season of spring and monsoon weather will be favourable at this time.
• Permit:
  Inner line permit is required to visit Arunachal Pradesh and if you want to visit the side of Arunachal Pradesh you have to apply permit two weeks ago. You can apply it online by searching place called Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, you will get the within two weeks of application.

You can visit Tawang by airways or railway. But there is no airport in Tawang so you have to take a flight till assam. The nearest airport of Tawang is Tezpur Airport Assam. And distance between Tezpur and Tawang is 320 km.

You can book hotel online or offline. There are many beautiful places on the way of Tawang, you can hire taxes or can rent a bike.

Firstly, you can visit Tawang monastery which is the largest monastery in India after that you can visit tawang markets, then Tawang War Memorial which is dedicated to the Indo-China soldiers who fought a war in 1962. After that you can visit sela pass which is located in 13700 ft high altitude. The distance between Tawang and sela pass is 75 km.

To Reach

Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati and Salonbari Airport in Tezpur are the two nearest Airport from Tawang . Tawang is well connected by Assam State Transport Corporation buses and private services. If you book a cab or reserve a car it would take around 4 to 5 hours to reach Tawang from Tezpur by road. The nearest major railway station is at Naharlagun, which is connected to major cities. Rangapara Railway Station is the nearest rail head to Tawang, at a distance of 383 km.