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| {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
| | #redirect [[Karsha Monastery]] |
| {{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}
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| {{redirect|Kursha|the legendary Georgian hunting dog|Q'ursha}}
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| {{Infobox Tibetan Buddhist monastery
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| |name = Karsha Monastery
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| |image =Zanskar Kursha gompa 01.jpg
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|
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| |alt =
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| |caption = Karsha Gompa in the Padum Valley
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| |map_type = India Jammu and Kashmir
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| |coordinates = {{coord|33|32|3.78|N|76|54|25.35|E|type:landmark_region:IN-JK|display=inline,title}}
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| |map_caption = Location within India
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| |location= Pensi La, [[Padum Valley]], [[Ladakh]], [[India]]
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| |founded_by = [[Phagspa Shesrab]]
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| |founded =
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| |date_renovated =
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| |sect =[[Gelug]]
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| |lineage=
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| |dedicated_to =
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| |head_lama =
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| |no._of_monks = 100
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| |architecture =
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| |festivals= Karsha Gostor
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| |footnotes =
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| }}
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| '''Karsha Monastery''' or '''Karsha Gompa''' is a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] monastery in the Padum Valley of the [[Zanskar]] region of the union territory of [[Ladakh]] in northern [[India]]. The [[Doda River]] flows past the monastery from its source at the Drang Drung glacier of the [[Pensi La]] ({{convert|14500|ft|m}}). It was founded by the translator, Phagspa Shesrab.<ref name="bt">{{cite web|url=http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhist-monastery/ladakh/karsha.html|title=Karsha Gompa|publisher=Buddhist-temples.com|access-date=20 November 2009}}</ref><ref name=Handa>{{Cite book|last=Handa|first= Omacanda|title= Buddhist Western Himalaya: A politico-religious history|work=Kursha Monastery|page=63|access-date=2009-11-19|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R4VuovXa5YUC&pg=PA238 |publisher= Indus Publishing|year=2001|isbn=9788173871245}}</ref><ref name=human>{{cite web|url=http://princetourskashmir.com/zanskar.aspx|title=Zanskar|access-date=2009-11-20|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/68ppVcd08?url=http://princetourskashmir.com/zanskar.aspx|archive-date=1 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The monastery, also known by the name "Karsha Chamspaling’, was founded by Phagspa Shesrab, under the Gelugpa Order or the Yellow Hat Order.<ref name=Kharsha>{{cite web|url=http://www.buddhist-temples.com/buddhist-monastery/ladakh/karsha.html|title=Karsha Monastery|access-date=2009-11-20}}</ref><ref name=advent>{{cite web|url=http://www.adventurestrek.com/culture_tour.html|title=Culture tour Ladakh and Zanskar|access-date=2009-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707090257/http://www.adventurestrek.com/culture_tour.html|archive-date=7 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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| ==History==
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| Karsha is the largest and most important monastery in [[Zanskar]]. It is attributed to [[Padmasambhava]], and there are ancient rock-carvings at the site. The oldest remaining structure, an [[Avalokiteshvara]] temple, Chuk-shik-jal, contains wall paintings which seem to associate it with the era of [[Rinchen Zangpo]] (958-1055).<ref>Rizvi (1998), p. 254.</ref>
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| [[File:Zanskar Kursha gompa 03.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Details inside the Gompa]]
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| The monastery is under the control of the younger brother of the Dalai Lama. Behind his seat in the chapel is a statue of Lhaso Cho Rinpoche, which was brought from Lhasa in the 1960s and has a golden crown with carnelian and turquoise decorations.<ref>Schettler (1981), pp. 173-174.</ref> The most important festival, known as the Karsha Gustor, is held with masked cham dances on the 26th to the 29th day of the 11th Tibetan month, which is usually in January.<ref>Schettler (1981), p. 174.</ref>
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| Mons of the Khesa race were dominant in the past in the region of western [[Himalayas]]. The [[Mons]] have been [[Buddhist]] in the region from the time of the [[Kushan Empire|Kushan dynasty]], established by [[Emperor Kanishka]]. Mons are the dominant population in the village in the Zanskar valley and said to belong to an [[Aryan race]] linked to Kaniskha’s period as their features do not match with that of the local tribes or with the [[Mongols|Mongolian]]s. Mons are credited with building 30 monasteries, chortens and temples, including the Kursha Monastery in the main Zanskar valley; some of the other monasteries built by them are the: Teta, Muni, Phugtal, Pune, Burdal, Togrimo, Padum, Pipting, Tondhe, Zangla, Linshot and Sumda.<ref>Handa p.64</ref> Gelugpa monastery is another important monastery that is located in Khursha village, which has an excellent display of mural arts.<ref name=human/>
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| ==Structure==
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| The monastery, the largest monastery of Zanskar, has a number of shrines and has been embellished with exquisite paintings done by the Lama Dzadpa Dorje.<ref name="bt"/> It also houses the relics of Dorje Rinchen. 100 monks reside in this monastery. The popular festival held in the monastery precincts is called the Gustor festival, celebrated between the 26th and 29th day of the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar, when events such as the sacred masked cham dance take place.<ref name=Kharsha/> The monastery also has bone relics of Dorje Rinchen and serves as the residence of approximately 100 monks.<ref name="bt"/>
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| [[File:Zanskar Kursha gompa 02.jpg|right|thumb|250px|View of the Kursha Monastery]]
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| Other temples built close to the monastery are Thugsjechhenpoi Lhakhang and the Lhakhang Karpo.<ref name="bt"/> Other Monasteries in the vicinity are the Khagsar Monastery, Purang Monastery and Phagspa Monastery. A nunnery known as 'Dorjezong', is located at the top of the valley.<ref name="bt"/><ref name=Kharsha/> In the nunnery, a sacred image of 11-headed [[Avaloketeshvara]] is deified.
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| In the Karsha monastery there is a cloth painting, unfolded by the Lamas, which is intricately embroidered in gold and colourful threads on an orange cloth, which depicts Buddha surrounded by his tutelary deities.<ref name=Oliver>{{Cite book|last =Oliver|first=Paul|title=Shelter, sign, & symbol|work=Kharsha Monastery|page=70|access-date=2009-11-20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_xOAAAAMAAJ&q=Kharsha+Monastery|publisher=Overlook Press|year=1977|isbn=9780879510688}}</ref>
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| :"It [Karsha] was built against the craggy hillside like a massive white fortress, with deep-set, black-edged windows. From a distance, village, ''gompa'' and mountainside were fused together, . . . It was a medieval world. Lamas of all ages gossiped and giggled, lounging on the steps in front of heavy wooden doors with iron studs. In the evening sun the angles of the roof and squared lintels cast black-and-white shadows in geometrical patterns. Mastiffs still sheltering from the day's heat stretched out in shady corners squalid with ''gompa'' debris - old bones, pieces of cloth, and the odd tattered boot. Despite the midsummer warmth the old lamas' maroon cloaks were of heavy tweed. The cheeky, shaven-headed boys wore their cotton cloaks slipped off one shoulder and their yellow hats at a rakish angle. A bearskin hung above the door into the main shrine, its massive head loured from above as though it might at any minute bare its fangs.
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| :Lamas wearing red and yellow robes and brocade hats sat in lines to chant the evening prayers. Serving lamas, two to each heavy copper kettle, moved up and down pouring salt tea. Ibex heads looked down from the ceiling, and there was a banner depicting running deer, yaks and a leopard, partially hidden by dust and cobwebs. Murals illuminating scenes from the life of the Buddha glowed with rich pigments, and multicoloured ''tsampa'' and ''ghi'' offerings were displayed like exotic wedding cakes. The last rays of the sun glinted off the gold brocade in the altar cloth and off the rows of ''thankas''. Images of the Buddha, three times the size of man, stood above the altar, dominating the theatrical scene. Trumpets blasted, cymbals clashed and conch shells were blown through cupped hands, the sound escaped through the closed windows and curtained doorways into the courtyards and out across the valley."<ref>Noble (1991), pp. 101-102.</ref>
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| ===Chorten===
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| [[File:Zanskar padum Padum.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Chorten, near Padum, the Doda plain on way to Kursha gompa, Zanskar valley]]
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| A [[Chorten]] in the precincts of the Kursha monastery houses the mummified body of an incarnate lama called the Rinchen Zangpo and sealed in a wooden box with silver lining. During the Indo-Pakistan war, the silver sheet covering of the chorten was ransacked, which resulted in exposure of the wooden frame work of the reliquary. It was later refurbished and painted.<ref name=advent/><ref name=handa>{{Cite book|last=Handa|first=O. C.|title= Buddhist Monasteries of Himachal|work=Kusha Monastery|pages=231–232|access-date=2009-11-19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbeRDnz8h7oC&q=Kursha+Monastery&pg=PA231|publisher= Indus Publishing|year=2004|isbn= 9788173871702}}</ref>
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| [[Chortens]] represent not only various stages of the spiritual attainments of [[Sakyamuni Buddha]], as a memorial structure but also interns the physical body of ([[Buddha]] [[kapala]]). In the dome of the chorten, in addition to confining the mortal remains of saints and lamas, it is also said that their spiritual elements are infused in them. Chorten is identified with a perfect human body.<ref name=handa/>
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| ==Geography==
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| {| class="wikitable" style="width:30%; float:right; font-size:90%; border:2px solid orange;"
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| |+ [[Pensi La]] peak and the Zanskar river gorge
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| | style="width:40%; text-align:center;"|[[File:Pensi La-Stod.JPG|150px]]
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| | style="width:40%; text-align:center;"|[[File:Ladakh.jpg|80px]]
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| |-
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| |valign="top"| View of Pensi La peak –source of Lungtis river
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| |valign="top"| Zanskar river gorge
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| |}
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| Karsha is at the confluence of the Lungtsi river, which raises from the Lingti peak of Doda basin that forms the [[Zanskar River]]. Zanskar takes a turn at Karsha and flows in a northwesterly direction to eventually join the [[Indus River]] near Nimmu in [[Ladakh]]. Below the Khlangpu peak ({{convert|5160|m|ft}}) of the Zanskar hill range, the river flows in deep ravines near Karsha monastery. It is in this stretch of the Zanskar river in the Lungti and the Doda valleys that there is a maximum concentration of villages.<ref name=Handa/>
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| ==Visitor information==
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| It is a highly revered monastery in Khurshan village, which is {{convert|14|km|mi}}) from Padum village. The village has a market, school, a dispensary, and post and telegraph offices.<ref name=human/> Interesting information for visitors to the village is of the facilities available for river rafting in the Zanskar river; it is a five hours ride on a very rough river, in the gorge portion of the Zanskar river called the "Grand Canyon" of Asia, in freezing cold conditions. The rafting starts from Remala and ends in Karsha village near Padum ({{convert|30|km|mi}}) rafting in the river in ‘Rapids of Class II category’ considered suitable for beginners); after completing the rafting, a short walk from the camp would lead to the Karsha monastery for an evening prayer.<ref name=human/> Zanskar valley is closed from November to May due to heavy snow conditions.
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| [[Leh]] is the nearest airport; while [[Srinagar]] is also another airport that could be used.<ref name=jamyang>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamyang.org/docs/Zangskar.pdf |title=Zangskar |access-date=2009-11-20 |publisher=Jamyang Foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050223031356/http://jamyang.org/docs/Zangskar.pdf |archive-date=23 February 2005 }}</ref> Kargil ({{convert|6|km|mi}}) from Pakistan border) is at a distance of a {{convert|240|km|mi}}) from Padum, which is a further {{convert|14|km|mi}}) away from the monastery.<ref name=jamyang/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pensi_La|title=Pensi La}}</ref>
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| ==Footnotes==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| ==References==
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| * Handa, O. C. (1987). ''Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh''. Indus Publishing Co., New Delhi. {{ISBN|81-85182-03-5}}. New Edition 1996. {{ISBN|978-81-85182-03-2}}.
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| * Handa, O. C. (2005). ''Buddhist Monasteries of Himachal.'' Indus Publishing Co., New Delhi. {{ISBN|978-81-7387-170-2}}.
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| *Noble, Christina. (1991). ''At Home in the Himalayas''. Fontana, London. {{ISBN|0-00-637499-9}}.
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| * Rizvi, Janet. 1998. ''Ladakh, Crossroads of High Asia''. Oxford University Press. 1st edition 1963. 2nd revised edition 1996. 3rd impression 2001. {{ISBN|0-19-564546-4}}.
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| * Osada, Yukiyasu, Gavin Allwright and Atushi Kanamaru. (2000). ''Mapping the Tibetan World''. Reprint 2004. Kotan Publishing. Tokyo, Japan. {{ISBN|0-9701716-0-9}}.
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| * Schettler, Margaret & Rolf (1981). ''Kashmir, Ladakh & Zanskar''. Lonely Planet Publications. South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. {{ISBN|0-908086-21-0}}.
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| ==External links==
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| {{commonscat-inline}}
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| {{Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh}}
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| [[Category:Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh]]
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| [[Category:Gelug monasteries and temples]]
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| [[Category:Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples in India]]
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