GOLDEN TEMPLE-TIBETAN MONASTERY-COORG-KARNATAKA

         

  The Tibetan Monastery or the Tibet Camp as locally called is located around 6 kms from Kushalnagar town towards Mysore. This Tibetan settlement at Bailkoppa or Baylkuppe is the the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet. There are over 7,000 monks and students at the Tibetan monastery.After the Chinese took over Tibet, the refugees were settled at Bylkuppe near Kushalnagar and the Buddhist Monastery was re-established here in 1972. It houses over 7,000 monks and students today. 
The monastery not only attracts large number of young Tibetans seeking enlightenment and education, but also draws huge tourists from all over India and abroad.Bylakuppe Tibetan settlement camps close to each other, and has a lot of monasteries, nunneries. Most famous among them are the large educational institution Sera, the smaller Tashilunpo monastery and Namdroling monastery.

The 40 ft tall golden Buddha statues are the major attractions of Bailkoppa. The statues of Buddha, Padmasambhava, and Amitayus are the notable ones. The walls of the temples and the institutions are decorated with colorful paintings depicting gods and demons from Tibetan Buddhist mythology. The altar is decorated with flowers, candles and incense sticks.Apart from the calm and peaceful surroundings there are shopping centers near the temples where one can shop for traditional Tibetan items like costumes, statues, carpets, jewelery etc.