Part of inscription pillar at Karcung near Ramagang

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2001.59.17.40.2 (Print)

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Key Information

Photographer

Hugh E. Richardson

Collection

Hugh Richardson

Date of Photo

1948-50

Region

Lhasa Area > Karcung

Accession number

2001.59.17.40.2

Image Dimensions

60 x 60 mm

Part of the inscription pillar (rdo ring) at Karcung (skar cung) near Ramagang four miles from Lhasa south of the Kyichu river.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Print silver

Date Acquired

Donated August 2001

Donated by

The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson

Expedition

Hugh E. Richardson

Published

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

Other Information

Notes on print - 'Sang gye'

Manual Catalogues -


Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative index - Folios 37-53. 'Karchung detail. 37 - 53'. [KC 21/9/2006]

Research publication - H. E. Richardson, High Peaks, Pure Earth' , London, Serindia Publications, 1998, plate 17. "Detail of Skar-cung inscription." [KC 09/11/2006]

Other Information - History: Hugh Richardson discusses the history and significance of the pillar at Karcung in
A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions , 1985, Royal Asiatic Society, James G. Forlong Series, No. xxxix, Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 72-81. "The pillar stands outside a small temple near the village of Ra-ma-sgang on the south bank of the Skyid-chu about two miles south-west of Lhasa. It records the renewal by Khri Lde-srong-brtsan of his father's vow to maintain the Buddhist faith ... The present-day temple is very small and neglected but it stands inside an extensive area bounded by four large ancient mchod-rten which show traces of having been covered by tiles of the colour appropriate to their position as are those at bSam-yas. A great accumulation of sand, which made it impossible to see whether there were the remains of other buildings, had covered the stone pillar ... I had enough of the sand cleared away to be able to copy the whole text; and some time later I was able also to clear the base on which the pillar stands and which was seen to be a massiver block of stone carved with a pattern of mountains in the Chinese style ... Inside the courtyard of the little temple were a stone capital, similar to that on the pillar, and the remains of what appeared to be the base of another pillar which may be buried in the sand. ... " (p. 72) [KC 21/9/2006]

Other Information - Dates


Other Information - Dates: This is one of a group of 25 images for which contact prints were made using the same printing out paper although with slighty different tonal qualities as some are very sepia toned. However, there is a very limited number of images in the collection printed out on this type of paper. One of the images in this group is from Samye and Richardson states that he photographed and copied this particular inscription pillar in 1949 [ A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions , Royal Asiatic Society: James G. Forlong Series, No. XXIX, p.26]. This suggests that the images may have been taken around that time [MS 17/12/2005]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Part of inscription pillar at Karcung near Ramagang" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.17.40.2.html>.

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