Kejia Monastery

Kejia Monastery – An Overview

Kejia Monastery is located on the bank of Peacock River and at the foot of a mountain, 19 kilometers from Burang County of Nagri area in Tibet. It is a small monastery, renovated after the Chinese Culture Revolution but is quite famous in the Nagri area. Kejia Monastery is close to the Nepal, on the southern slope of Himalaya Mountain, with temperate climate and charming landscapes. There is a flood land and some red reeds in front of the Monastery. Near the Monastery is the beautiful Kejia Village, which looks like a haven of peace and happiness.

Kejia Monastery – Origin of its Name

There are two viewpoints in terms of the origin of Kejia Monastery's name. The first one goes that it got its name because of the village's name-Kejia Village in which it is located. The second point of view is that the monastery was built by the King Keshu in Guge Kingdom period, and so both the village and the monastery are named as Kejia.

Kejia Monastery – A Beautiful Legend

Kejia Monastery means "settlement" in Tibetan. When the monastery was built cannot be found out. It is said that the residents living around Gar, an area near the present Shiquanhe Town, were good at building Buddhist statues. One day they finished founding a statue of Kwan-yin and were delivering it to another place. When they passed the Peacock River, the carriage was stuck by a rock. No matter how hard they tried, they could not move the stone and thus they failed to forge ahead. Finally they stopped at this place and built a monastery there and named it Kejia Monastery.

Kejia Monastery – Attractions

It is said that King Keshu believed in Buddhism. So he spent a lot of money on making a statue of Manjusri Bodhisattva. The statue was made by craftsmen coming from Nepal and Kashmir, and thus is full of exotic flavors. Kejia Monastery is near Nepal. Many Buddhists from Nepal and India come to the monastery to worship the Buddha. Thus the whole monastery has some exotic atmosphere. The monastery seemed out of repair and old, but it still appears simple and primitive, which makes it attractive to tourists.

Kejia Monastery – Best Time to Visit

January 12th of the Tibetan lunar calendar in each year is the anniversary of Kejia Monastery. There are some performances there. So you can appreciate these performances on this day.