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Bylakuppe Tibetan Monastery at Kushal nagar, Coorg

Bylakuppe is the Tibetan Refugee resettlement, location of "Lugsum Samdupling" (established in 1961) and "Dickyi Larsoe" (established in 1969), in the west of Mysore district. The nearest town is Kushalnagar in Kodagu in the State of Karnataka. It is a refugee resettlement, a gesture of a kindness shown by the then Government of India which is now divided into two settlement.The Golden Temple in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, is a home for thousands of Tibetans living in exile and a
center for Tibetan Buddhism in South India.

Bylakuppe Tibetan Monastrey
The Tibetian refugees make up a population of about 10,000. It consists of a number of small camps/agricultural settlements close to each other, and has a number of monasteries, nunneries and temples in all the major Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Most notable among them are the large educational monastic institution Sera, the smaller Tashilunpo monastery (both in the Gelukpa tradition) and Namdroling monastery (in the Nyingma tradition). The spectacular Golden Temple which is also a major tourist spot in the area.

Bylakuppe the largest and the cream of the Tibetan settlement, where the modern Tibetan culture could be seen abundantly with the huge monastery, needs a special permit for the foreigner. For the special pass, it would take approximately 2 to 3 months to be cleared from the Indian Home ministry. So if you happen to like this wonderful place, we might need to work out the special pass as soon as possible. The best thing about the pass is valid for a year. So once we have the pass, we can visit this place anytime of the year.

The most famous monastery among these is the Namdroling Monastery, popularly known as the Golden Temple. In the main building, one can see three huge statues,all arrayed with gold cladding, with Buddha displayed in the center, flanked by Guru Rinpoche on the left and Buddha Amitayus on the right. The walls are adorned with a lot of beautiful frescos. Fascinatingly, this is a 'living' monastery and one can see the monks go about their daily lives here.

Golden Temple is the main tourist attraction in Bylakuppe. Stepping inside the temple feels like walking into another world, and the noisy streets of South India suddenly seem to be very far away. Three beautiful golden Buddha statues each of 40 Feet namely Padmasambhava, Buddha and Amitayus look down at visitors above the altar.

Best Time to Visit:
Tibetan New Year is celebrated in February/March
Sagadawa the holy festival is celebrated in May/June
Buddha Jayanthi in June.
Dalai Lama's birthday on July 6

Distance: Mysore (82), Bengaluru (220), Mangalore (172), Mandya (122), Chennai (585), Hassan (80), Mercera (36), Kasaragod (145).
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