Dumtseg Lhakhang is located in Paro. It is walkable from Main Town Paro. It is on the way to Paro Museum. It is just a 10-minute walk from Paro town. You need to cross the Paro river. The temple is notable as it is in the form of a Chorten, it is unique in Bhutan.
The Dumtseg Lhakhang was built by the saint Thangtong Gyalpo to subdue a “serpentine force” that was hidden at the foundation of the Chorten. One legend says that Lhakhang was built on the head of a demoness. A Bhutanese source says it was built on the nose of a hill that looks like a frog in order to counteract earth-owning spirit and powerful naga spirit. It is said that the hill, by which Dumtseg Lhakhang was built, is a black snake moving downwards.
The Dumgtseg Lhakhang was built in 1421 by Thangtong Gyalpo, the great lama of Tibet. He is remembered in Bhutan as an Iron bridge builder for building eight iron bridges in Bhutan. The reason for building the Lhakhang in Chorten form is because it is said to destroy demons in order to preach Buddhism.
In 1841, the 25th Je Khenpo, Sherab Gyeltsen restored the temple with the aid of local villagers. You can see donors names carving ton tree trunks that form the columns of the ground floor.
The Lhakhang is seen as a mandala with three floors. The three floors represent hell, earth, and heaven. It is in the shape of a Chorten with a white tower on top. It is a unique structure not seen in Bhutan.
The Dumtseg Lhakhang has many steep ladders to reach different levels of the Lhakhang. Got a huge collection of Buddhist paintings and iconography. The ground floor has Five Buddhas of Meditation and forms of Avalokiteshvara, Guru Rinpoche, and Thangton Gyelpo.
The 2nd floor is devoted to wrathful protectors and the animal-headed deities. The deceased face on their journey through the bardo, the transition between death and rebirth.
On the third floor of Dumtseg Lhakang are Tantric deities. Depicted on the exterior wall are Cakrasamvara, Hevajra, Kalacakra, Guhyasamaja, Vajrabhairava, Vajravarahi, Hayagriva, and Mahamaya. This is the five-deity mandala of the Shangpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. On the inside wall are depictions of the 84 Indian saints and Tibetan saints such as Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa.
You can find an older temple on the east of Dumtseg Lhakhang, known as the Jangtsa Palnang Lhakhang built in the 7th century by the Tibetan Emperor Songtsen Gampo.