Gondhla

Gondhla (also called Gaṅdolā, Gandhola, Gondla, Kundlah) is a village in the Lahaul and Spiti district, Himachal Pradesh, India.

In former times, this village was the seat of the Thakurs of Gondhla, who ruled the valley of the Chandra river in Lahaul at the behest of the Rajas of Kullu.

[5] A damaged marble head of Avalokiteśvara also found here, is kept in the Guru Ghantal Monastery itself, and is claimed to date back to the time of Nagarjuna in the second century.

There is also a black stone image of the goddess Vajreśvarī Devī (Wylie: rdo rje lha mo), and a wooden statue of the Buddha said to have been installed by the monk Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055), a famous lotsawa (translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts).

In earlier times, the Thakurs of Gondhla were the regents or viceroys of the Kullu Rajas in the Tinan valley of Lahaul, a region formerly also known as the 'Rangloi ilaqa'.

Randhawa, local tradition held that the fort was built much earlier by Thakur Rattan Pal, who was believed to have migrated from Bir in Kangra to Gondhla and became the feudal lord of this area.