Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

1126 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
Late medieval · Buddhist · India

Phugtal Monastery

Zanskar, Kargil, Ladakh · 33.2684°, 77.1795°

Vajrabhairava, the wrathful form of Manjushri, worshipped at the monastery's chief initiation (Gelug order)GelugHoneycomb of cells built into a cliff face around a cave
Sacred since
1400 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
early 15th c. (Jangsem Sherap Zangpo)
Gelug

History & significance

A Gelug monastery built like a honeycomb into a cliff in remote Zanskar, founded in the early fifteenth century by Jangsem Sherap Zangpo, a disciple of Tsongkhapa, around a cave held to have sheltered sages long before. It houses about seventy monks with a monastic school, a Tibetan medical clinic and a library of rare texts.

Sthala katha — the legend

The founder's powers are said to have made a spring run from the cave, a tree grow on top of it and the cave itself grow larger.

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Related sites

Rizong Monastery
Rizong, Leh · India
1831 (Lama Tsultim Nima)
Dhankar Gompa
Dhankar, Spiti · India
12th c.

Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Gelug