Told in the hills
A tigress, a cave and a fire in 1998
Bhutanese tradition says that in the 8th century Guru Rinpoche, the teacher who brought tantric Buddhism to the Himalaya, flew to this cliff on the back of a tigress. In the legend the tigress was a former queen who transformed herself to carry him from Tibet. He meditated in a cave here, the Taktsang Senge Samdup, and subdued the local demons. 'Taktsang' means tiger's lair. It is a legend, but it explains why Bhutanese consider this one of the holiest sites in the country and why pilgrims climb it in all weather.
The buildings came much later. Wikipedia records that the monastery complex around the cave was built in 1692 by the Fourth Desi, Tenzin Rabgye. On 19 April 1998 a fire broke out in the main building and destroyed much of it. Restoration under the Fourth King cost about 135 million ngultrum and was completed in 2005, using traditional methods and materials carried up the same path you will climb. So the temples you see are only about twenty years old, rebuilt faithfully on a site used for over a thousand years.
Pinned to the board
Did you know
Several scenes of Bernardo Bertolucci's 1993 film Little Buddha were shot at Rinpung Dzong in Paro.
The National Museum of Bhutan has occupied Ta Dzong, a 17th-century round watchtower above Rinpung Dzong, since 1968.
Paro is Bhutan's only international airport, and pilots land by sight between mountain ridges, which is why flights operate in daylight only.
