Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj

Dharamshala lies in the Kangra Valley of Himachal Pradesh, on forested slopes beneath the Dhauladhar range. The city extends across a considerable change in elevation, from lower Dharamshala to the higher settlement of McLeod Ganj. The surrounding region includes mountain forests, agricultural valleys, tea gardens, and fields cultivated with crops such as wheat and rice.

McLeod Ganj became an important center of Tibetan religious, cultural, and administrative life after the 14th Dalai Lama entered India in 1959. The Tibetan exile administration was initially established in Mussoorie before relocating to Dharamshala in 1960. Now known as the Central Tibetan Administration, it remains based in the area. The Dalai Lama formally transferred his political authority to elected Tibetan leaders in 2011.

The Tsuglagkhang, or Main Tibetan Temple, stands beside the Dalai Lama’s residence at Thekchen Chöling in McLeod Ganj. Nearby Namgyal Monastery is the personal monastery of the Dalai Lama and an important center of Tibetan Buddhist study and practice.

Around the temple complex, practitioners follow a kora, a devotional path used to circumambulate a sacred place. The route includes prayer wheels, shrines, inscribed stones, and places where butter lamps are lit. Circumambulation is generally performed clockwise and may be accompanied by prayers, mantra recitation, or the turning of prayer wheels containing written sacred texts.

Photographed in 2016, this series documents temple interiors, prayer wheels, butter lamps, prayer flags, neighborhood streets, agricultural landscapes, tea gardens, food preparation, and communities living beneath the Dhauladhar Mountains. Together, the photographs record Dharamshala as both a center of Tibetan life in exile and a diverse Himalayan region shaped by religion, agriculture, commerce, and local traditions.