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The bare hills around Tabo
have been swept into uneven ridges by the winds and melting snow.
Weather-beaten and mottled with loose boulders, in a long boat shaped
valley, these hills hold a tiny hamlet, which is home to about 400
people.
Tabo is the largest of all the monastic complexes in Spiti.
When the kingdom of Guge
rose in Western Tibet after the assassination of Lang Darma because he
rejected Buddhism, it encompassed the present day tracts of Spiti,
Lahaul, Zanskar and upper Kinnaur. Tholling was the capital of Guge and
its Gompa, monastery is still held in high reverence. Appropriately, the
Tabo Gompa or Chos-khor as it is sometimes called, comes next in
veneration.
The year 996 A. D. is accepted as year of Tabo's construction. The great
translator and teacher, Rinchensang po is regarded to be the founder of
Tabo. The 1996, Kal Chakra ceremony of the monastery attracted people
not only from the neighboring countries but also as far as Europe and
America. His Holiness the Dalai Lama conducted the ceremony considered a
rite of initiation, rejuvenation and time of prayers for peace in a
troubled world.
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