Tawang Monastery is known in Tibetan as Gaden Namgyal Lhatse, which translates to "the divine paradise of complete victory".

It belongs to the Gelug school of Vajrayana Buddhism and had a religious association with Drepung Monastery of Lhasa, which continued during the period of British rule.

Thus, the full meaning of Tawang Galdan Namgye Lhatse is "the site chosen by the horse is the divine paradise of complete victory".

It is bounded on its southern and western flanks by steep ravines formed by streams, a narrow spur on the north and a gently sloping ground on the east.

[2][3][4][5] [1] Nearby Tawang Town, named after the monastery, is well connected by road, rail and air services.

After an intense search, when he failed to locate a suitable place, he retired into a cave to offer prayers seeking divine intervention to choose the site.

He then went in search of the horse and finally found it grazing at the top of a mountain called Tana Mandekhang, which in the past was the palace of King Kala Wangpo.

[citation needed] One more legend narrated is about the goddess painted on a thangka in the monastery which is of Palden Lhamo.

To fix the perimeter of the Dzong, the Dalai Lama had also given a ball of yarn, the length of which was to form the limit of the monastery.

This problem was compounded by the Drukpas of Bhutan, who also belonged to the Nyingmapa sect, who even tried to invade and take control of Tawang.

Hence, when the Tawang monastery was built like a fort structure, a strategic location was chosen from the defense point of view.

One agreement, signed on 24 February, pertained to surrender by the Monpas of their right to the Karlapara Duar in return for an annual fee (posa) of Rs 5,000, and another, dated 28 May, related to the Shardukpens to abide by any order of the British administration in India in return for an annual fee of Rs 2,526 and seven annas.

[15][14] Tibet gave up several hundred square miles of its territory, including the whole of the Tawang region and the monastery, to the British.

Before this war, in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama had fled from Tibet, and after an arduous journey, crossed into India on 31 March 1959, and had reached Tawang and taken shelter in the monastery for a few days before moving to Tezpur.

The reasons for this are clear – the river, which flows towards the south, is eroding the toe of the slope due to the site being on the outside of the bend.

[26][27] The main entrance to the monastery, to the south of the open gate, has massive doors fitted on the northern wall.

[4][1][9][27] The monastery has a school and its own water supply facility,[9] and a centre for Buddhist cultural studies.

This step is venerated as a miracle in view of a belief among the people of the region that such an imprint on a stone slab could only be created by a divine person who was a true devotee of the monastery.

[27] Next to the Buddha image there is a silver casket that holds a special thangka of the goddess Sro Devi (Palden Lhamo), which is the guardian deity of the monastery.

It is said that it was painted with the blood drawn from the nose of the 5th Dalai Lama, which renders an ethereal "living quality" to the thanka.

It contains the scriptures of Gyetengpa, Doduipa, Mamtha, Kangyur, Tengyur and Zungdui, which have been affected due to insect attacks.

[26][23] At some stage, some of the sacred scriptures were lost and the reason was attributed to the monks of the Tsona monastery who used to visit Tawang during winter time.

Following the religious recitations, the villagers carry the scriptures on their back and circumambulate their agricultural land seeking blessings for the good yield of crops without any infestations by pests and to protect against attack by wild animals.

In the Losar festival, which marks the beginning of the Tibetan New Year, people visit the monastery and offer prayers.

The objective of the festival is to ward off evil spirits and ushering all round prosperity and happiness to the people in the ensuing year.