Saspol Caves — Local services in Ladakh

Ancient caves sorrounded by fort ruins that are falling away slowly due to landslides and located at a walkable distance of 20 to 30 minutes from the centre of saspol village.The main cave has wonderful paintings that has lively expressions of several buddha flanked by helper assistants,buddha in dharma chakra posture with head scarf and colourful garments,yoga postures of buddhist version of kaala bairava,impressive floral designs and tree of people with the buddha in the centre,few animals forming the graceful picture,naked civilians with dhoti relaxing on chairs,standing buddha with apsaras in heaven and humble followers on the earth,excellent image of avalokiteswara with several heads makes you happy as they have survived for several centuries.There are two more caves where paintings have gone leaving only the colours and hazy drawings and the rest of the caves are empty.There's a new road from the village outskirts that will take you directly to the caves and the rest is...

Saspol Caves (a.k.a. Gon-Nila-Phuk Cave Temples) are situated in the hills behind Saspol, Ladakh, India, which is about 76 km from the city centre of Leh. Paintings exist in five caves, two of them extensively damaged. One of the painted caves, that have been given a coat of lime wash and red paint in the exterior is the most visited and is considered as the main cave. The paintings of Anuttarayoga Tantra (also known as Yoganiruttaratantra) in the main cave are very rare for the period of execution. These caves are under the administration of Likir Monastery. Very few early painted cave temples exist in Ladakh and these paintings date to the late 14th/15th century CE.[1] The caves, also known as Gon-Nila-Phuk Cave temples, are in danger of total collapse and were therefore listed in 2016 World Monuments Watch.[2] Rammed earth fortifications can be seen on top of the hill...

Saspol Caves are located on the northern bank of the Indus River, about 60km northwest of Leh. Beautiful rock caves on the hill behind the Saspol Village. The asphalted road seems new and you can get just under the caves by car, a marked narrow path brings you to the caves, some caves have a good access some are a bit harder so be careful. There are several caves and a few are decorated by ancient wall paintings(14th - 15th centuries). of Buddhist deities. Some of these Buddhist paintings still have some vibrant colours and are one of the few surviving specimens of cave paintings. These caves are underrated and not very touristy, in my opnion if in the area well...