India tourism. Shanti stupa in winter Leh, Ladakh. India vacations

"Stupa" in Sanskrit is "a pile of stones or Earth", in Tibetan it is pronounced "choten" (or chorten). This is a religious building in Buddhism. Initially, stupas served as a storage place for Buddhist relics - the remains of realized masters, their personal belongings, and in pre-Buddhist times tombstones were erected in the form of stupas over the graves of Indian kings. Later, stupas were erected as monuments in honor of various significant events.

Ladakh is a region in the Himalayas, historically and geographically close to Tibet. It is part of India and occupies 2/3 of the territory of the most northern state of Jamu and Kashmir. This mysterious country, which is called the "last stronghold" of Buddhism, for almost 900 years was cut off from the outside world and only in 1994 was opened to the public. In the VIII-IX century, Ladakh was part of the Tibetan empire, after the collapse of which it was separated into an independent kingdom. In the heyday, the regions of western Tibet (Guge) were subordinate to him, important trade routes and routes of pilgrims to Kailash passed here. Ladakh is bordered by Tibet, their culture and nature are almost identical. Buddhism plays a leading role in the social life of local people, numerous monasteries are scattered throughout the region and are located in incredible and hard-to-reach places - on the edge of gorges, on high slopes, in solitary valleys.

Leh is the main city of the region, the capital of the Himalayan principality of Ladakh. He served as the most important point on the Great Silk Road; here caravans from Central Asia, Tibet, Kashmir and Northern India met and wandering monks rested. Here are the magnificent temples where sacred texts are kept and pilgrims stop. This is a remote mountainous country, where lifestyle and culture are quite different from the rest of India.

The snow-white Shanti stupa (Peace Pagoda), is widely known. It stands atop a hill in the western part of the city. Build a stupa is not so easy. They are built under the spiritual guidance of an advanced Buddhist lama with the involvement of a group of strong practicing Buddhists who start work only after passing special spiritual practices.

The Shanti stupa in Leh, the capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, was built by Ladakians together with the Japanese in 1991. Its construction is dedicated to the 2500th anniversary of Buddhism. Shanti is a concept in Hinduism and Buddhism, meaning a state of peace, harmony, peace. There are colorful bas-reliefs around the perimeter of Shanti stupa.

Coming out of the plane and seeing the huge mountains for the first time, you simply refuse to understand that all this is real, that you and even the town where you flew are so small before the gigantic works of wildlife. Most of the visitors are either climbers aiming at a specific mountain peak (there are many offices here that organize hiking ascents, rafting down mountain rivers, car excursions), either researchers or pilgrims, or artists and photographers.

India can be called the most important center of cultural values of human civilization. The traditions and customs of many nations, both natively inhabiting the country and those who came from outside, intertwined in a fanciful way for several millennia, created in this country an amazing cultural layer. Indian culture is a mixture of customs and traditions that came from different historical eras. Modern India has a large variety of both cultural and religious, which is excellent in different parts of the country. However, this country has retained an amazing national identity.

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