Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains
Buddhism at India's Eastern Frontier
Arunachal Pradesh, India's northeasternmost state, is dominated spiritually by Tawang Monastery — founded in 1680-81, the largest Buddhist monastery in India and the second-largest in the world after Lhasa's Potala Palace. Its Gelug lineage connects directly to the Dalai Lamas, and it served as a critical waypoint during the 14th Dalai Lama's 1959 flight from Tibet.
Parshuram Kund, a remote sacred lake in Lohit district, draws tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims each Makar Sankranti for a ritual bath believed to wash away even the gravest sin — a genuinely difficult pilgrimage through Arunachal's mountainous terrain that has preserved an atmosphere of authentic, unspoiled devotion.
8Major pilgrimage sites
TawangIndia's largest monastery
450+Resident monks at Tawang
