The Yum chenmo and Tadrin temples at Tsi Nesar

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2001.59.2.57.2 (Print)

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Key Information

Photographer

Hugh E. Richardson

Collection

Hugh Richardson

Date of Photo

1948-50

Region

Gyantse Region > Tsi Nesar

Accession number

2001.59.2.57.2

Image Dimensions

60 X 49 mm

The Yum chenmo temple on the left and the Tadrin (rta mgrin) temple on the right at Tsi Nesar (rtsis gnas gsar). The square building in the foreground appears to be ruined. There are fields and mountains in the background.

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

Other Information

Notes on print - 'Nesar Yum chhemo' is written on the reverse of print in pencil in Richardson's hand and 'Velox' in an oval is stamped in black. [KC 29/3/2006]

Other Information - Location: Richardson mentions this site in
High Peaks, Pure Earth , London, Serindia Publications, 1998, pp. 326-7, " ... Rtsis Gnas-gsar (1950), a group of three early temples. The first, on the side of a hill, is the Ru-gnon temple, a small single-storeyed white building with a rgya-phibs covered in tiles of a Nepalese pattern. Inside is a fine Rnam-par snang-mdzad (Vairocana) holding a large round gold ornament. ... The temple is claimed to be one of Srong-brtsam sgam-po's foundations to dominate his frontiers.// Standing on level ground nearby is the largest temple, the Yum chen-mo. It is a square, wooden-framed building of two storeys with a small turret supported by a lantern frame and crowned by a slate rgya-phibs. ... The upper storey is supported by many-branched wooden pillars. ...// Opposite it is the temple of Rta-mgrin attributed to Ral-pa-can. ...// In the eleventh century monks of the later diffusion of the faith ( phyi-dar ) established themselves at Gnas-gsar, which later came under the control of Sa-skya; ..."

Other Information - The temples are attributed to King Songtsen Gampo and later expanded in the 8th Century by King Trisong Detsen to house an image of Prajnaparamita, which was consecrated by Padmasambhava. Richardson wrote in A Culture History of Tibet, " These (last) appear to be almost neglected and remains as examples of the very humble scale of some holy places built at that time." p. 89[TS 16/3/2005]

Other Information - Dates


Other Information - Dates: The contact print of this image was developed with a related batch of negatives identifiable by the batch number '609', of which there are twently nine similarly marked 6x4.5 contact prints in the Richardson Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum. Some of these prints have been dated by Richardson to October 1950, and others relate to places that he visited only in 1948-9 and it seems likely, therefore, that this image was taken within this period [MS 17/12/2005]


For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "The Yum chenmo and Tadrin temples at Tsi Nesar " 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.2.57.2.html>.

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