Yangri Monastery

Yangri Monastery

2001.59.15.2.1 (Film negative)

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Key Information

Photographer

Hugh E. Richardson

Collection

Hugh Richardson

Date of Photo

1948

Region

East Kyichu Valley Region > Yangri

Accession number

2001.59.15.2.1

Image Dimensions

55 x 55 mm

Yangri monastery (yang ri dgon) an important Trigunpa ('bri gung pa) monastery in the valley of the Shorungchu, a tributary of the Kyichu river to the east of Lhasa. The main temple (lha khang chen po) may be seen on the right of the complex and the tower used to display a ceremonial religious banner to the left of it. The single storey outer building at the front housed the monks' quarters and storerooms. There is a rocky mountain in the background and cultivated fields in the foreground.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative film nitrate

Date Acquired

Donated August 2001

Donated by

The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson

Expedition

Richardson's 1948 tour of the East Kyichu Valley

Previous Catologue Number

Negative Album 9 No.2

Published

‘High Peaks, Pure Earth’, Hugh Richardson, London, Serindia Publications, 1998 [view list of illustrations]

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative album (slip cover) - 'Drikhung. Chongye. etc.' in Richardson's hand in white. (Yellow spine label) 'DRIKHUNG. CHONGYE. KOTSHAL. RGYAMA. Ganden 1948'. (Cover) - '9 DRIKHUNG. CHONGYE. YARLUNG. GYAMA. GANDEN' [KC 15/5/2006]

Manual Catalogues -


Manual Catalogues - Notes in negative index - Folio 2. 'do' [YANG RI DGON] [KC 15/5/2006]

'

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Richardson's Handlist, Negative book no 9, 'Drikhung, Chongye etc. [nos] 1-3. 'Yang ri dgon-pa. A monastery of the 'Bri-khung Bka' rgyud-pa (Drikhung Kagyu pa) sect: some 65 miles N.E. of Lhasa. see Khyyen-brtse's Guide to the Holy Places of Central Tibet p.111. note 115.' [KC 15/5/2006]

Research publication - High Peaks, Pure Earth , H. E. Richardson, London, Serindia Publications, 1998, plate 49. "Yang-ri Ggon." [KC 10/11/2006]

Other Information - Setting


Other Information - Setting: See Mkhen-brtse's Guide to the Holy places of Central Tibet , Serie Orinetale Roma XVI, Alfonsa Ferrari (Luciano Petech), Rome, Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1958, p.111. note 115. "Yan ri dgon lies some 6 miles from 'Bri gun rdson gsar up the Zon ron c'u on the left bank. The river here runs in quite a deep gorge near the dgon pa, but is out of sight. It is said to have been founded by 'P'rin las bzan po ... It contains some 500 monks and appears to be very rich. There are many mc'od rten of 'Bri gun Lamas, liberally covered in gold. ... [note by] H[ugh]. R[ichardson]." [KC 15/5/2006]

Other Information - Setting


Other Information - Setting: Huge Richardson, High Peaks, Pure Earth , London. SerindiaPublications. 1998. p. 308, "Four miles up its [the Sho rong chu valley] stood the great 'Bri-gung-pa monastery of Yang-ri Dgon (1948) dating from the fifteenth century. The massive redpainted lha-khang chen-po, topped by a band of white masonry, with one of crimson brushwood above it, was entered past a line of mchod-rten, through a gateway in the west side of of a long rectangular single-storeyed white wall, pierced by the windows of monks' cells and storerooms, which surrounded the whole monastery. On its south side rose a tall, broad white tower used for the display of the gos-sku , a ceremonial religious banner. ... " [KC 15/5/2006]

Other Information - Richardson visted the monastery in 1948 and wrote a brief description it in High Peaks, Pure Earth , London, Serindia Publications, 1998, p. 308. The monastery dates back to 15th Century. Richardson's description of wall paintings and structure of the monastery is one of the few surviving descriptions of the place. The monastery no longer exists and the surrounding building were destroyed in 1966. [TS 25/4/2005] [KC 15/5/2006]

Other Information - Dates


Other Information - Dates: The contact print of this image is part of a group made from 6x6 negatives that share the same batch development number [585 printed in black ink]. All of the contact prints processed in this batch seem to have been taken during or around the time of a trip to Drigung Monastery and Zhwai (Sha) Lhakhang, including Tsa Pobrag, Yeregang and Khyer. Photographs from this trip can be dated to 1948. In A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions [ Hertford: Stephen Austin and Son, Royal Asiatic Society, James G. Forlong Series, No. XXIX, 1985, p.45] Richardson states of the Zhwai inscriptions translated in the book that “The texts, which were first published in JRAS in 1952 and 1954, are based on copies and photographs made by me in 1948 and checked on a second visit in the following year”.

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Yangri Monastery" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.15.2.1.html>.

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