The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Thimphu, Thimphu · 27.4733°, 89.6283°
One of Thimphu's oldest temples, set on a ridge above the city and founded in the 13th or 14th century by Nyima, a son of Phajo Drugom Zhigpo who brought the Drukpa Kagyu teachings to Bhutan. Its bronze Avalokiteshvara is the main image, and the protector Genyen Domtsangpa is invoked as the birth deity of children born at the national referral hospital below.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
Some hold that the bronze Avalokiteshvara arose of itself rather than being carved, while others credit a Newar master craftsman working at the time the temple was built.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Drukpa Kagyu (Phajo lineage)
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