Shey Palace and Gompa
On a quest to see palaces of the lost Kingdom of Ladakh, we reached Shey Palace. It is about 15 Km from Leh and lies on the Leh-Manali road. The Palace locates on the top of a hillock overlooking the Shey village and a sandy trail connects the palace with the highway. There are numerous prayer wheels along the trail which suggest the existence of a monastery inside the erstwhile royal palace.
Shakyamuni Buddha at Shey Monastery
Shey Palace
Prayer Wheels along the trail to Shey Palace
We went up; it was only a few minutes’ walk and an easy trail. We also climbed few stairs and reached the 17th century built Shey Palace! Well, the entry to the Palace was after the payment of a nominal entry fees of Rs.20/- per person.
Shey Palace
FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY – The village ‘Shey’ was the old capital of the upper Ladakh. The present structures or ruins are not the remains of old capital ‘Shey’ but of the new capital of Namgyal Dynasty. It was the 5th king of Ladakh, Sengge Namgyal (1616-1642), who built the Leh Palace (to read about Leh Palace click here). His son Deldan Namgyal, the 6th King of Ladakh, in the memory of his father built the Shey Palace and the Shrine in 1655. It was used as a summer palace by the royal families. However, in 1834 the royal families abandoned the Shey Palace and Leh Palace due to invasion of Ladakh by Dorga forces of General Zorawar Singh and moved to Stok Palace which locates about 13Km from Shey Palace. Presently the Palace is a historical monument and is maintained and managed by the Archeological Survey of India.
Balcony of the Palace
The protruding balconies of Shey Palace are magnificent to give you a feel like a King while standing there and posing for a camera shot! In the extreme right of the palace we saw white chortens which add beauty to the splendid view of Shey. The Palace has the largest Namgyal Chorten (victory stupa) in Ladakh, the top of which is made of pure gold.
White Chortens in the east of Shey Palace
A Structure of Shey Palace
Victory Stupa
We strolled around the palace. An uneven narrow path took us close to fortress most of which are now in ruins. A post of sentry still stands tall around the ruined fortress.
Ruins of fortress above the palace
A post of sentry
We came back to see the monastery of the palace which is very popular for the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. The king who built the Shey Palace also built a monastery adjacent to it, which is known as “Shey Monastery”. We entered inside the monastery. Seeing the golden image of Shakyamuni inside, we got mesmerized. The magic spell begun and I started capturing the moments in my camera.
7.5m tall image of Lord Buddha
This golden image of seated Lord Buddha, as per Archeological Survey of India, is 7.5m high and was made of copper and brass plated with gold, silver studded with gems and precious stones. Perhaps this statue of Shakyamuni Buddha is the only image of its kind in Ladakh!
Stok Palace – the home of royal family!
Stok Palace
The last palace of the King of Ladakh, Stock Palace, became the royal residence since Ladakh lost to General Zorawar Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. The last king of Ladakh Tshepal Namgyal was dethroned by the General of Rajput ruler Maharaja Gulab Singh and exiled to Stock Palace. In 1846 Ladakh came under Dogra rule and was incorporated into the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Stok Palace is the home of King’s heirs and is open to the visitors.
The distance of Stok Palace from Leh town is 14 Km and it locates at 13 Km away from Shey Palace. As we reached there, we saw a cafeteria before the entry gate of the Palace.
Entry to the Palace, cafeteria on the right
A counter at the entry gate was selling ticket at Rs.50/- per person. Ticket was for entry into the Stok Palace Museum which opens for the visitor from May to October and remains open from 8hrs to 19hrs. The palace encircles two sides of the courtyard which situates at the entry point and the cafeteria occupies the other two sides. The roof top sitting place of cafeteria offers a splendid view to its visitors.
The Palace
Courtyard and rooftop of the cafeteria
We entered into the Palace. It has another small courtyard inside. The walls of the palace are decorated with local sheep’s stuffed head.
Stairs lead to inside the palace
We reached to a small courtyard inside
A display in the courtyard
The upper floors of the palace house museum and monastery. While in the palace, you may come across with members of royal family. I did! It was for informing that photography inside the museum is not allowed! The rooms of the palace open to the visitors are the king’s room, queen’s room, palace gompa and a room that displays a Ladakhi Kitchen. Among all, the best I found was the royal Ladakhi Kitchen. It is the traditional kitchen of royal family which displays utensils, ceramics, clay pots and clay stoves with chimney. Dining area inside the kitchen is beautifully decorated with low height tables. It’s a no photography zone! A staff of the palace was with the visitors to discourage photography inside. But there are some parts of the palace where you can take photographs.
Some of my photographs from the Palace are here:
This Palanquin carried the last queen of Stok ‘Gylmo Diskit Wangmo’ all the way from Lahaul to Ladakh after she was married
An old wooden Prayer Wheel
This was used to carry wine!
It was my great experience to visit these royal palaces in Ladakh. By PALACE what comes primarily to our mind is a grand royal residence which is made in timeless elegance. But the palaces of Ladakh are not of such kind, yet they stand high to show their presence in the glorious past of a kingdom that lost in time!
Prayer Stones at Shey Palace
I will come back soon with a post on some other places of interest in Leh. Till then-
Julley!
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ladakh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namgyal_dynasty_of_Ladakh#List_of_kings_and_period_of_reign
Dear Anupam
I liked the way you have presented the two palaces of Leh. The pictures are awesome.
Thanks.
Regards
Thank you Uday for your kind words :-)
Nice series of travel stories with great imagery. Very informative and inspiring !
Coming that from you is great. I know you VJ! Often I visit your blog. I like your photography very much! Thanks for the encouragement :-)
I read the complete blog from starting. Wonderful and adventurous post
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I am glad to know that you have following the series. Thank for your kind words, Neeraj! :-)
magnificent photos and interesting description
Thank you SilentSoul for your continuous support :-)
In that remote land, how they preserve structures this old is difficult to understand. Thank you Anupam for the detailed, guided, step-by-step log.
I am guessing that you would have had a good conversation with the Royal family.
Dear Nandan,
If you zoom the pictures you will see the structures closely. You will find, they were made of mud mortars and stones. As it is a rain shadow region, the maintenance may not be a great issue.
Thanks for appreciating the post and the series.
Nice brother, you give good knowledge about shey palace, your blog is helpful for thouse travellers who went to go ladakh trip
https://theworldflow.com/shey-monastery/