Kissing the Lion 

This is a view of Stakna Gompa (monastery) which lies on the right bank of the Singge Khababbs River (Indus) at a distance of approximately 25 km from Leh, the capital of Ladakh in the Himalayan hills.
Here people call the Indus River, Sênggê Zangbo, the "Lion River" in Tibetan.
Beginning at the heights of the world with glaciers on the Tibetan plateau the mythic river will flow through the entire length of Pakistan before merging into the Arabian Sea near Karachi.
The name, “Stakna” literally means “tiger's nose”.
The monastery was so named because it was built on a hill, which is shaped just like a tiger's nose.
There is so much of poetry in this lunar landscape, from here the Tiger’s nose is simply kissing the Lion River...


Stakna Monastery owes its inception to Chosje Jamyang Palkar, the great scholar saint of Bhutan.
It formed a part of the many religious estates offered by the Dharmaraja Jamyang Namgial to the saint, around 1580 AD.
About thirty monks live there in residence and belong to the Drukpa school.
The successive reincarnation of the Stakna Tulku act as the incubents of the monastery and they continue to fulfill the fine responsability of upholding the teachings of the Drugpa order.