But what of the hidden treasures we were talking about? These are certainly present in the form of the National Museum and National Archives, a project led by the in-exile Tibetean Parliament. The museum contains a plethora of images, artefacts and texts from the early days of the Tibetean Buddhism movement. The Archives also contain artefacts of a similar nature along with ancient documents and doctrines teaching the Buddha’s way of life. 

The Library is also the base for the National Manuscripts Mission, an initiative by the Indian Government to store all sacred texts from all walks of spirituality, right at the Library. 

Learning being an essential aspect of the Library, there are various academic departments within the library. The library’s language center undertakes language courses for both Tibetean nationals and those who seek to learn the intricate language. In addition, students from other parts of the country also have access to research material, archival material and cultural study material. There are over 150,000 literary works in total in the entire library! One of the rarest manuscripts that resides within the library is an 8000 verse sutra on wisdom and perfection, that was handwritten in the 12th century. 

Altogether, an extremely vital destination for all those that seek the spiritual. The Library is a must visit when staying at our resort in Dharamshala, and since it’s only an hour’s drive away from our resort in Dharamshala, do take an afternoon off and spend time learning as the students, monks and the Riponche himself once did!