2001.59.5.58.1 (Film negative)
2001.59.5.58.1 (Film negative)
Hugh E. Richardson
Hugh Richardson
July 8th 1939
Lhasa > Darpoling
2001.59.5.58.1
57 X 55 mm
Ritual Activity
Negative film nitrate
Donated August 2001
The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson
Hugh E. Richardson
Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative album - '5' 'Yaso. Serpang. Byamspa gdan dren. Taarpa gling Oracle, lhosar [?] ceremonies. Jo mo lhari, Phari' is written on the negative album in white in Richardson's hand. [KC 31/7/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative index - Folio 58. 'CARRIERS OF SPIRITS' [KC 31/7/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Richardson's Handlist - 'Vol. 5' 'Nos 55-72. 'The Dar-po gling oracle. His temple is to the north-east of the Jo-khang. He is possessed in turn by three different deities. Photographs show him dancing down the stairs in front of his temple. In one state of possession he twists sword blades and sometimes throws them at the crowd. The occasion is the Dzam-gling spyi bsangs on the 15th of the 5th month. No. 58 shows the oracle's attendants who carry leather sacks said to be filled with the dying breath of the dead.' [KC 14/8/2006]
Other Information - Setting: Richardson discusses this event in Ceremonies of the Lhasa Year , 1993, London: Serindia Publications, pp. 94-5. "The festival of Dzamling Chisang commemorates the preparation for the founding of the Samye monastery when Padmasambhava subjugated the gods, nagas (serpent spirits) and local deities and made them protectors of the Buddhist faith. The people then offered incense to them. ... people go to consult their special oracle, for there are many minor prophets in addition to the State Oracles of Nechung and Gadong and the Sera oracle of Karmashar. On one occasion I went to see the Darpoling oracle awhose temple is in the middle of Lhasa. He became possessed three times, on each by a different form of the god Pehar. In the first he wore similar robes, ornaments and headdress to those of the Nechung Oracle. He danced down the steep and narrow stone stairs outside his temple and on to the street below. There he finally twisted the blade of his sword into a knot and hurled it among the surrounding crowd. In the second he wore a brocade hat with a small brim and a crown of red silk. Again he danced down the steps throwing knives as he went. In his third appearance he had a headress like the coiled turban worn by images of the Religious Kings of Tibet, but rising out of a sort of tiara of miniature skulls. During this dance too he hurled knoves,some of which hit bystanders, fortunately on thick clothes. People do sometimes get wounded and on rare occasons killed. If that happens the oracle-priest is heavily fined. Accompanying him at the foot of the stairs were two half-naked figures carrying on their backs leather saacks with white eyes painted on them; they are supposed to contain the breath of the dead." [KC 21/8/2006]
Other Information - Background: Darpoling (dar-po-gling) oracle is one of the most important orcales after Nechung (gnas chung) and Gadong (dga' ldong). The monastery is situated in the middle of Lhasa. The photograph shows the oracle in a trace during the festival of Universal Peace ('dzam gling spyi bsang) which takes place on 15th Day of 5th Tibetan month. [TS 4/7/2005]
Other Information - Dates: This image relates to a batch of contact prints that are distinctively marked with the batch development number '516' in black ink. In the group of 15 prints that are similarly marked there is one picture with Capt. A. H. O O’Malley who had taken up the post of Medical Officer in Gyantse in July 1938 [see Tibet and the British Raj, Alex McKay, Richmond: Curzon, 1997 p.236] and who visited Lhasa in early June 1939 [Hugh Richardson Archive, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS Or Richardson 3 folio 168]. Also, some of the images are from the ceremony at Darpoling Monastery on the 22nd Day of the 5th Month, which it seems that Richardson visited. There is some suggestion that they were taken on the 15th Day of the 5th month at a ceremony which Richardson states in Ceremonies of the Lhasa Year [London: Serindia Publications, 1997] that he attended only once. [MS 17/12/2005]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Crowd watching man carrying an Udam leather sack"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.5.58.1.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The Pitt Rivers Museum.
© The Pitt Rivers Museum
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