Bylakuppe: The Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery (the Golden Temple) at Bylakuppe in Periyapatna Taluk is back in every tourist’s itinerary and every day, a minimum of 500 to 700 tourists visit here to spend some time inside the impressive architecture, landscapes of splendid colours and also a serene spiritual environment.

The Golden Temple was thrown open to tourists on Mar. 3 to coincide with the Losar (Tibetan New Year) celebrations after being closed for more than two years due to the COVID pandemic and its subsequent waves.

Bylakuppe Tibetan settlement on the border of Mysuru-Kodagu — home to over 43,000 Tibetans — its monasteries and the Golden Temple were among the first to declare closure soon after the killer virus surfaced.

Though the other places of worship and the Tibetan settlement per se opened after the thinning out of the first wave and again shut for the second wave, the Golden Temple was not opened and it has opened only now after the third wave petered out and the entire population above 18 years of age have been vaccinated with double doses. The senior citizens and those with comorbidities have received a booster shot.

The majority of the tourists who come to the Golden Temple are from cities like Mysuru and Bengaluru. While it is a two-hour drive from Mysuru, the ease of access provided by the work-in-progress 10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway has only made the crowds from Bengaluru reach Bylakuppe speedily in a hassle-free way. Last weekend, the Golden Temple had over 3,000 visitors in two days as the IT crowd from Bengaluru came here for a break. A group of tourists from Bengaluru told Star of Mysore that they wanted to see the Golden Temple and other monasteries for a long time but COVID had played a spoilsport.

“We drove from Bengaluru only now as we did not get a chance to come here for 2 years due to lockdowns and weekend curfews. We love the peace here and finally, we have been able to come here. It is a real luxury to be here and we have a great epitome of Buddhist religion in the form of Golden Temple,” said two women tourists who wanted to be anonymous.

The statues of Sakyamuni Buddha or Gauthama Buddha flanked by Guru Padmasambhava to his right and Amitayus to the left are awe-inspiring, they added. Apart from tourists from Bengaluru, hundreds of people come from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and even far off places like New Delhi. For those tourists who come to Mysuru from Kerala, Bylakuppe is a must-visit destination after they have visited tourist attractions like Mysore Palace, Zoo and KRS Dam.

Losar celebrations have not yet concluded though officially it has ended. A festive atmosphere still prevails in Bylakuppe and hundreds of devotees including senior Monks and their disciples are coming to Golden Temple from other Buddhist monasteries from Dharamshala and other places.