Ralang Monastery

INDIA, Sikkim

The monastery belongs to the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and is one of the oldest monasteries in Sikkim. It is said that the Ninth Karmapa performed the blessing for the Fourth Chogyal on his return from pilgrimage. The Karmapa threw grains from his residence in Tsurphu Monastery in Tibet and where the grains fell became the site of Ralang Monastery. The monastery underwent reconstruction from 1975 to 1981. In 1995, a new monastery was built by the Twelfth Gyaltsab Rinpoche and named Palchen Choeling Monastic Institute.
The four-story building is surmounted by a pavilion with a golden hip-and-gable roof and three stupas on the ridge. The upper part of every story contains a red ocher band decorated with golden circles. There are eaves on the second and fourth stories. The center of the front eaves is decorated with a Dharma wheel flanked by two deer. A veranda surrounds the first story, and the third story has a wide balcony with a large golden victory banner at each corner. Inside, the monastery is lined with beautiful scroll paintings and murals. A large golden statue of the Buddha sits on a lotus throne. The altar is filled with butter and wax sculptures. In the center of the courtyard there is a pillar whose capital consists of an imitation square pyramidal roof surmounted by a flaming finial.