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Question 34 of 136 · Monuments & Religious Places
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The Tawang Monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in India, is located in:

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Answer: Option A — Arunachal Pradesh

Detailed Solution

The Tawang Monastery is located in the town of Tawang, in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh, at an altitude of about 3,000 metres.

About the Tawang Monastery:

  • Its full name is "Galden Namgyal Lhatse", meaning "celestial paradise in a clear night".
  • It was founded in 1680-81 by Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso, in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso.
  • It belongs to the Gelug (Gelugpa or "Yellow Hat") school of Tibetan Buddhism, the school of the Dalai Lama.
  • It is the largest Buddhist monastery in India and is often described as the second-largest in the world, after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
  • It is a three-storeyed building surrounded by a long wall, and it houses several hundred monks.
  • It has a huge gilded statue of the Buddha, about 8 metres high, and a large library with old manuscripts and scriptures.
  • It is famous for the "Torgya" festival, held every year in winter, in which monks perform masked dances to drive away evil spirits.
  • The 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was born in 1683 at Urgelling, near Tawang.
  • In 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to India and entered through the Tawang area; he stayed at the monastery for some time.

About Tawang:

  • It is close to the borders of Bhutan and China (Tibet).
  • During the 1962 India-China War, Tawang was occupied by Chinese forces, who later withdrew.
  • The Sela Pass (about 4,170 metres) and the Sela Tunnel (opened in 2024) connect Tawang with the rest of Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Madhuri Lake (Sangetsar Tso) and Nuranang Falls are nearby attractions.

Other famous monasteries:

  • Rumtek Monastery (Sikkim): seat of the Karma Kagyu school.
  • Hemis and Thiksey Monasteries (Ladakh).
  • Key Monastery (Spiti, Himachal Pradesh).
  • Namdroling Monastery (Bylakuppe, Karnataka): a large Tibetan settlement.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Sikkim has the Rumtek and Pemayangtse monasteries.
  • ✗Ladakh has the Hemis and Thiksey monasteries.
  • ✗Himachal Pradesh has the Key and Tabo monasteries.

Quick tip

Remember: Tawang Monastery (Galden Namgyal Lhatse) = Arunachal Pradesh (founded 1680-81 by Merak Lama at the wish of the 5th Dalai Lama; Gelugpa; largest in India; 6th Dalai Lama born nearby).

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Monuments & Religious Places — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Monuments & Religious Places, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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