Trongsa Dzong

Trongsa Dzong

The Trongsa Dzong was the ancestral home of the ruling dynasty. It is also the district administration office of the Trongsa district. It was built in 1648 A.D. The landscape around Trongsa is spectacular, and for miles on end the Dzong seems to tease you so that you wonder if you will ever reach it. Backing on to the mountain and built on several levels, the Dzong fits narrowly on a spur that sticks out into the gorge of the Mangde River and overlooks the routes south and west. The view from the Dzong extends for many kilometers and in former times nothing could escape the vigilance of its watchmen. Furthermore, the Dzong is built in such a way that in the old days, no matter what direction a traveler came from, he was obliged to pass by the Dzong. This helped to augment its importance as it thus had complete control over all east-west traffic. The Ta-Dzong, an ancient Watch Tower of the Trongsa Dzong is located on top of a steep hill about 1 km beyond the Trongsa Dzong. The watch tower displays many interesting armors used by the Bhutanese soldiers during the olden days.

5. Trongsa

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Trongsa is the most central district of Bhutan and the geographic center of Bhutan is located within it. Trongsa Dzongkhag is located in the heart of the country. It covers an area of about 1807 km², with elevation ranging from 800 meters to 4,800 meters above sea level with a total population of about 13,428. It shares boundaries with Bumthang Dzongkhag to the northeast, Wangdiphodrang Dzongkhag to the west and Zhemgang Dzongkhag to the south. Yongzin Ngagi Wangchuk who was guided, in a vision, by the guardian deity, Palden Lhamo, to go to a place in the central Bhutan which resembled a bow and which was in food grains (mang-dru) where the name Mangdue has its origin, arrived in Trongsa in 1541 where he took residence in the village of Yueli. One night while he was meditating his attention was drawn by a flicker of light, resembling that of butter lamp burning in the open air, at the spot where the present day Goenkhang of the Trongsa Dzong is located. In 1543, he established a small Tshamkhang (meditation quarter) in the sacred spot and meditated there. He soon attracted a number of disciples who built their own meditation unit around the main Tshamkhang. The cluster of newly built meditation quarters appeared to the people of Yueli above like a new village and hence they called it “Trongsa” meaning “new village.”