Tharpa Choling Monastery

Tharpa Choling is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery on a hilltop in Kalimpong and one of the older gompas in India. Domo Geshe Rinpoche came to Kalimpong in 1906 on pilgrimage and to gather medicinal plants from India, Nepal and Bhutan, and the monastery was set up in 1912 at the request of Tibetan traders and Bhutanese notables. After his death in 1939 the senior monks asked the Tibetan government to take charge, and abbots were then appointed from the great monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Gaden.

The buildings blend Tibetan, Indian and Burmese elements. The main temple has murals of Buddhist teachings, brightly painted images and a prized set of thangka paintings, and a museum keeps old texts and objects recording a visit by the Dalai Lama. The compound also holds a Chinese temple (Ge-sar Lhagang), a Naga temple, a Mani Lhagang and other shrines, plus a garden of rare medicinal herbs used in Tibetan medicine. Young monks study Buddhism, meditation and Tibetan here.