Tholung Monastery treasures shifted to safer location, security posted

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS OFFICIALS REACH THOLUNG
GANGTOK, 22 Oct: A team of officials from the Ecclesiastical Affairs Department flew to Tholung Monastery in Upper Dzongu on 19 October and had the sacred relics and articles housed there shifted to a safer location. A detail of three police guards has also been posted at the monastery and the Department has assured that “our treasure is safely kept and guarded by police personnel”.
The Tholung Monastery, which houses relics belonging to Lhatsun Chenpo [including his handwritten autobiography] dating back to the 17th Century, was severely damaged in the 18 September Earthquake and although Gonpa committee members had moved the relics to the first floor and had been guarding the monastery themselves along with Home Guard personnel, they had been awaiting concerned officials to reinforce the conservation and security issues.
An Ecclesiastical Affairs Department press release issued by the Joint Director, S. Gyatso, informs that although information about the extent of damage at the monastery was communicated to it by Gonpa committee members, the Department could not send an official team to the monastery since the road connectivity was lost and the trek to the monastery still fraught with dangers.
The release also informs that following the earthquake, despite the lost roads, Gonpa Committee members had made their way through the jungle and reached the monastery.
With the roads in the area still not near restoration, the Department “having seen no alternative”, sent an official team to Tholung on a Pawan Hans helicopter on 19 October, the release informs. The team comprised of Joint Director S Gyatso, Inspector J Kunga and staff Daulat Rai.
When the team arrived at the monastery, three police guards led by Dawa Tshering Lepcha, Ecclesiastical chowkidar Palden and three Gonpa Committee members, along with monks were already present there. Together, they shifted all the sacred articles [housed in two steel almirahs] to the monastic school building. The next day, 18 Treasure Boxes were shifted to the monastic school from the monastery.
The Gonpa Committee members were also requested to shift the rest of the articles and texts at the monastery to any safer place and set up a temporary altar so that routine prayers could continue. For these tasks, the Department provided funds through the DC North.
The release adds that reconstruction work will be taken up on the basis of the estimate prepared by the technical department as soon as possible. Before that can happen though, the road connectivity to Tholung will have to be restored, the release adds.
About the condition of the monastery, the Department informs Tholung was among the worst affected areas and that the structure was on the verge of collapse. All walls on the ground floor have collapsed and the columns bear major cracks, it is informed. Even the monastery’s kitchen and the monks’ storehouses have collapsed with the Yabring [the Butter lamp hall] severely damaged.
The department has also put on record that access to the Tholung Monastery was made possible due to help extended by the Tourism Department and the Chief Secretary as guided by the Chief Minister.