Stones of Tamga Tash

Tamga Tash means the "marked stone". There are three stones in total and they are several hundred metres apart, in the mountains 5km south of Tamga village.

The first stone reads OM MANE PADME HUM. The inscription on the stone could date from the period of the Dzungar Khanate 17-19th centuries. For this stone split in two, a Kyrgyz legend tells that a batyr once split the first Tamga-tash in two with his sword.

The inscription on the second stone is similar to that on the first Tamga-tash, but dates from an earlier period. The dimple indicates that the stone could have been known since Scythian times.

The sign OM inscribed on the third stone was certainly made during the same period as the first.

There are more stones to be discovered, the path is not on a Silk Road, so why was this place chosen as sacred?