Mongar (Dzongkha: མོང་སྒར) is a town and the seat of Mongar District in eastern Bhutan.[1] The population of Mongar Dzongkhag in 2022 was estimated at 36,383, comprising 17,498 males and 18,886 females. It included 10,084 residing in urban centres of Mongar, Gyalpoizhing, Lingmithang, Kidheykhar, Drametse and Yadi towns. The rural population across 17 Gewogs was of 26,299.[2] Mongar is on the road from Thimphu to Trashigang. It is one of the oldest educational hubs of the country. It has a regional hospital and a good standard hotel, among other facilities. The important Yagang Lhakhang monastery is on the outskirts of the town.[citation needed] The post code for Mongar post office is 43001.[3] The ruins of Zhongar Dzong are located on the outskirts of Mongar.[4] The Dzong has been in ruins since 1889.[4]

View of Mongar town
Regional Referral Hospital, Mongar
rainbow at Losel Yangchenling Nunnery

Pilgrimage གནས་སྐོར།

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Entering Mongar district is a door to a multi-destination pilgrimage sites brimming for Buddhist devotees. Thousands of devotees across the country comes here for the purpose of pilgrimage and sigh-seeing holy places.

Sacred Aja Ney and Aja-Ugyen Draphu-Sheridzong Trail

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The renowned Aja Ney་(ཨ་རྒྱ་གནས།) is located at an altitude of more than 3,500 meters under Sherimuhung Gewog. The most sacred are the 100 imprints of the sacred syllable “Ah” on the rock-cave left by Guru Rinpoche besides numerous other sacred sites. The Nye also has a medicinal spring which the locals believe can cure 18 diseases besides a nearby pool called Awa Chhu (now known as Uma Chuu). It is said to remove defilements in a person. It takes a minimum of three days to complete a pilgrimage to all the sacred sites.[5]

 
Mesmerizing Aja Ney
 
First snowfall at Losel Yangchenling Nunnery in 2022.

Losel Yangchenling Nunnery

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Losel Yangchenling Nunnery (བློ་གསལ་དབྱངས་ཅན་གླིང་བཙུན་མའི་བཤད་གྲྭ།) started construction in 2011, costing Nu 65 million, with the nuns taking up residence in 2016. It's new three-storey hostel houses more than 90 nuns.[6]

More than 40 nuns from Losel Yangchenling Nunnery went to Thimphu in order to recite Droelma Bum at the National Memorial Chorten. It took 10 days and was concluded on 10th day of the lunar calendar, the Saga Dawa which is considered significant according to Buddhism. It was held mainly to pay tribute to His Majesty the Fifth King for his benevolent dedication to the Bhutanese people during Covid 19 Pandemic.[7]

Climate

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Mongar features a dry-winter humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa).

Climate data for Mongar, 1996–2018
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 16.6
(61.9)
19.0
(66.2)
21.9
(71.4)
23.8
(74.8)
25.3
(77.5)
26.6
(79.9)
26.7
(80.1)
27.3
(81.1)
26.2
(79.2)
24.4
(75.9)
20.8
(69.4)
17.8
(64.0)
23.0
(73.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 5.8
(42.4)
7.5
(45.5)
10.6
(51.1)
13.2
(55.8)
15.3
(59.5)
17.6
(63.7)
18.1
(64.6)
18.1
(64.6)
17.1
(62.8)
13.6
(56.5)
9.9
(49.8)
7.2
(45.0)
12.8
(55.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 6.0
(0.24)
10.8
(0.43)
37.7
(1.48)
77.6
(3.06)
92.4
(3.64)
132.9
(5.23)
191.5
(7.54)
159.9
(6.30)
109.0
(4.29)
72.7
(2.86)
3.0
(0.12)
3.8
(0.15)
897.3
(35.34)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 0.9 1.6 5.4 9.0 9.7 13.1 16.8 14.4 10.4 4.4 0.9 0.8 87.4
Source: World Meteorological Organization[8]

References

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  1. ^ National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
  2. ^ "About District". www.mongar.gov.bt. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  3. ^ Bhutan Post post codes list http://www.bhutanpost.bt/documents/postcodes.pdf Archived 2017-12-26 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Dzongs of Bhutan: fortresses of the Dragon kingdom (2. ed.). Thimphu: Bhutan Times. 2008. p. 93. ISBN 978-99936-705-2-0.
  5. ^ Newspaper, Bhutan's Daily. "Mesmerizing Mongar: the seven valleys of temples built by sky-dancers, healing pools and of a world heritage dance of drums from Bhutan". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  6. ^ "Dorji Lopen consecrates Losel Yangchenling Anim Shedra in Monggar". BBSCL. 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  7. ^ Newspaper, Bhutan's Daily. "Picture story". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 2024-07-19.
  8. ^ "World Weather Information Service". World Meteorological Organization – Mongar. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
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