Alchi Monastery topographic conditions, only two survived, one of them the esteemed scholar and translator Rinchen Zangpo who established Buddhist activity in the Ladakh region and other areas of India including Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. During his sojourn there, he also went to the neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Zangpo became known by the epithet "Lohtsawa" or the "Great Translator"; he is credited with building 108 monasteries in the trans-Himalayan region in his quest to disseminate Buddhism. He institutionalized Buddhism in the region; these monasteries are considered the mainstay of Vajrayana of Tibetan Buddhism (also known as Lamaism). Zangpo engaged
1929 Tuvan coup d'état Union (USSR) and the Mongolian People's Republic. The population, numbering roughly 300,000 at the time and largely nomadic, adhered mainly to Tibetan Buddhism ("Lamaism") and Tengrism and lived under feudal conditions. Its first Prime Minister was Donduk Kuular, a Buddhist monk. Formally independent, the country (which suffered continuous political unrest and several anti-Bolshevik rebellions) was viewed abroad as a Soviet satellite state. Despite this Prime Minister Donduk enacted distinctly non-Soviet policies, heavily leaning towards theocracy in opposition to the state atheism of the contemporary USSR. In 1928 a law was passed making Lamaism the official state religion and legally restricting