Tovkhon Monastery Ruins

Ondor Gegeen Zanabazar chose Tovkhon Khiid as the ideal setting for his 19th birthday. He christened it the “Land of Happy Solitude” when he constructed it in 1653. Tovkhon hermitage is located in the wooded Shiveet Ulaan Mountains in Bat-Olzii sum, 68 kilometers from Erdene Zuu.

Several temple rooms, one of which is made of wood, are located near the mountain’s summit, on a first platform. After passing through some enormous boulders to the west of these, one can observe a footprint credited to the first Bogd Gegeen, as well as a little cave where Zanabazar meditated. As one climbs higher, a second platform appears, from which a spring emerges.
As one climbs higher, a second platform appears, from which a spring emerges. Here is another cave, the Ekhiin Khevlii (Mother’s belly), which is just big enough to stand in but requires crawling to get into. The pilgrims journey into Mother Belly Cave, hoping that their sins will be washed away in the next reincarnation. From there, one can walk higher to the mountain’s summit, where an ovoo and rock known as the ‘place of Naadam’ can be found.
Ondor Gegeen Zanabazar was the first leader of the Mongol Lamaist church, and he lived a life that was rich in academic, religious, and artistic pursuits. He worked as a bronze caster, jeweler, translator, compiler, monastic founder, and inventor of a new alphabet for phonetic transcription of Mongolian, Tibetan, and Sanskrit, among other things. Tovkhon Khiid was the site of much of this labor. Travelers should be aware that women are not permitted to climb to the mountain’s summit, and the monks enforce this rule. The monastery’s restoration project was completed in 2001, restoring the temples to their former splendour.