Lamayuru

Lamayuru, on the Srinagar–Leh highway in Ladakh, is famous for its ancient monastery and its strange, eroded “Moonland” landscape. The area has been inhabited for centuries by farming and herding communities who used the narrow valley and terraces along the Wanla stream, while the higher hills became sites for meditation caves and fortifications.

According to tradition, Lamayuru was originally the site of a lake, which a great teacher is said to have miraculously drained to make space for a monastery—an echo of the real geological erosion that created its soft, moon-like badlands. The monastery itself is usually dated to around the 10th–11th centuries, making it one of the oldest Buddhist centres in Ladakh. It became associated with the Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and served as an important religious hub on the old caravan route between Kashmir and central Ladakh.

Over time, Lamayuru grew into a sizeable monastic estate with resident monks, satellite shrines and annual masked-dance festivals (chams) that drew villagers from surrounding valleys. Politically, it fell under the Ladakhi kings and later the Dogra-ruled state of Jammu & Kashmir, but remained relatively remote. Today, Lamayuru is a key stop for travellers, combining dramatic geology, cliffside gompa architecture and very early Himalayan Buddhist history in one compact site.