Jambay Wangchuk said that some various plans and initiatives will be undertaken to promote Lhuentse as an attractive tourist destination owing to its many sacred sites of historical importance. “We are also planning to complete the works to turn Jigme Namgyel Naktshang into a museum tentatively within a year which will further boost tourism in the locality and improve the livelihoods of the people.”
Dungkar village
The 40km Gewog Centre road from Lhuentse Dzong towards the north leads to the magnificent Jigme Namgyel Naktshang facing the Dungkar Choeje Lhakhang on the lower side of the village just a few distances away.
The Gewog has been named thus, owing to the physical shape of the land that has a definite resemblance to that of a Dungkar (conch).
Dungkar Choeje Lhakhang is the birthplace of the Wangchuk Dynasty and it is said to stand on the tip of the Dungkar-like shape of the land. Two of the famed figures in the history of Bhutan, Pila Goenpo Wangyel and Pala Gyeltshen were born in Dungkar Choeje Lhakhang.
Pila Goenpo Wangyel was born in 1782 and he later married Sonam Pelzom of Jangsa and gave birth to three sons and a daughter—their second son, Jigme Namgyel (father of the first king of Bhutan) was born in 1825, predestined to change the destiny of Bhutan forever.
The Jigme Namgyel Naktshang built by Pila Goenpo Wangyel, with its monumental physical structure, interior grandeur, and spectacular architectural design towers over the Dungkar village with tacit prominence. It was first known as Pila Naktsang, then as Khetanbi Naktsang, and as the birthplace of Jigme Namgyel, it is today known as the Jigme Namgyel Naktsang.
The gup said the visitors flock to Kurtoe to visit the Naktshangs mostly during winter and that the numbers have only been increasing over the years. I encourage Bhutanese parents to plan your family vacation to such significant places so that the future generations can better connect with our ancestral roots.
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