Key Information

Photographer

Rabden Lepcha?

Collection

Sir Charles Bell

Date of Photo

1920-1921

Region

Lhasa > Ragyapa camp

Accession number

1998.285.133.1

Image Dimensions

120 x 163 mm

Lhasa Ragyapa outside their houses, which are made of horns from yaks, cattle and sheep. The Ragyapa were the lowest class of Tibetan society, as they were responsible for disposing of the dead - breaking up the bodies and feeding them to vultures. They also disposed of any animal carcasses.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative glass plate gelatin , Negative Half Plate

Date Acquired

Donated 1983

Donated by

St Antony's College, Oxford.

Copy difference

Lantern

Expedition

Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21

Photo also owned by

Royal Central Asiatic Society

Revised Photographer

Rabden Lepcha?

Previous Catologue Number

H.116

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

BL.H.116

Published

'The People of Tibet', Sir Charles Bell, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928 [view list of illustrations]

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] XX. [Subject of Chapter] Beggars and Robbers. [Subject of Illustration] H.116 (o) Ragyapas and their houses in Lhasa, made of horns of yaks, ordinary cattle and sheep. [Remarks] L.97 [lantern slide 97]"

Contemporary Publication -

Contemporary Publication - Published in 'The People of Tibet', Bell, C. A., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928, facing p.137:" 'The walls of their huts are built with horns' ". [MS 10/9/2004]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Lhasa Ragyapa house made of horns" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.285.133.1.html>.

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