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About Tawang Town
Tawang (Tibetan: རྟ་དབང་, Wylie: Rta-dbang) is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It lies on NH-13 section of Trans-Arunachal Highway. The town was once the headquarter of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into the Tawang district and the West Kameng district. Tawang continues as the headquarters of the former.
From the Wikipedia article Tawang (this version), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Travel tips from other travellers: Tawang Town on Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0).
History
Tawang is inhabited by the Monpa people. From 500 BC to 600 AD a kingdom known as Lhomon or Monyul ruled the area. The Monyul kingdom was later absorbed into the control of neighbouring Bhutan and Tibet.
The Tawang Monastery was founded by the Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1681 in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, and has a legend surrounding its name. Ta means "horse" and wang means "chosen". So, the word Tawang means "chosen by horse". As per legend, the monastery is believed to have been chosen by a horse owned by Mera Lama Lodre Gyatso. The sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was born in Tawang.
Tawang was historically a part of Tibet. During the 1914 Simla Conference, Tibet and British India signed an agreement delineating their common boundary in the Assam Himalaya region, which came to be known as the McMahon Line. By this agreement, Tibet relinquished several hundred square miles of its territory, including Tawang, to the British. The agreement was not recognized by China. According to Tsering Shakya, the British records show that the Tibetans regarded the border agreed in 1914 as being conditional upon China accepting the Simla Convention. Since the British were unable to get China's acceptance, the Tibetans regarded the MacMahon line "invalid".
From the History section of Tawang on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map of Tawang Town
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Getting there and nearby towns
- Dirāng 54 km southeast, about 54 min by car
- Bomdila 71 km southeast, about 1 h 15 min by car
- Rupa 73 km southeast, about 1 h 15 min by car
Drive times are estimates from straight-line distance, not routes.
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Sources and licences
- GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): population, coordinates, regions and time zone
- Wikidata (CC0 1.0): elevation, founding date, time zone, website
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0): overview and history text
Page built November 3, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us or suggest a place.