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2001.59.7.64.2 (Print)
2001.59.7.64.2 (Print)
Hugh E. Richardson
Hugh Richardson
Autumn 1948
East Kyichu Valley Region > Zhwa'i lhakhang
2001.59.7.64.2
60 x 60 mm
Print silver
Donated August 2001
The executors of the estate of Hugh E. Richardson
Richardson's 1948 tour of the East Kyichu Valley
Notes on print - 'Sha' (in pencil) 'Zhwa'i dge rgan & monks' (in black ink) is written on the reverse of print in Richardson's hand and 'Velox' in an oval is stamped in black.
Manual Catalogues - Notes on negative index - Folio 64. 'Monks of Zhwai'
Other Information - Setting: Richardson visited this site in 1948 and 1949 and describes it in High Peaks, Pure Earth , H. E. Richardson, London, Serindia Publications, 1998, p. 307. " ... in the open valley of the Mang-ra-chu, facing the point where the Skyid-chu, flowing from the north, turns sharply westwards, is the little Zhwa'i Lha-khang (1949, 1949), the 'Temple of the Hat'. It is approached through a courtyards where the three resident monks kept their cattle. At either side of the entrance to the temple is a stone pillar, now damaged, bearing inscriptions by Khri Lde-srong-brtsan in honour of the founder, the famous monk-minister Myang Ting-nge-'dzin bzang-po, whose waard and pupil he had benn in his minority. A door opens onto a little enclosure with a white mcho-rten in the centre, beyond which could be seen through th eopen door of the temple the image of Rnam-par snang-mdzad (Vairocana) on the alter with the Eight Disciples of the Buddha on either side. ... the basic structure of the temple appeared to have survived unchanged since the early years of the ninth century. A little way from the building is a white mchod-rten containing the miraculous hat of Myang Ting-nge-'dzin. The legend tells how he had been promised as much grain as would fill his hat: putting his hat , which had a hole init, over the granary, the grain poured through to provide he wherewithall to build his temple."
Other Information - Location: Richardson describes his visit to Zhwa'i lhakhang in 1948 in 'The Chapel of the Hat', chapter 61 of High Peaks, Pure Earth , London, Serindia Publications, 1998, pp. 722-726. "He [a monk] led us to the doorway of a small but solid three-storeyed building, red-washed stone below and white above. My eyes brightened as I saw two fine stone pillars with writing on them, one on each side of the door. ... They were thickly splashed with the red-wash which covered the walls of the building, so that much of the inscription was illegible. A monk who joined me promised to have it cleaned tomorrow. (p.724)
Other Information - Historical background: The translation of the inscriptions on the two pillars may be found in A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions [ Hertford: Stephen Austin and Son, Royal Asiatic Society, James G. Forlong Series, No. XXIX, 1985, pp. 43-63]. They record priviledges granted at different times "to Ban-de Myang Ting-nge-'dzin who founded the temple and who, as seen from the inscriptions, was the guardiam of Khri Lde-srong-brtsan when young and later, as a minister of state, was instrumental in establishing him on the throne." (p.43)
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Monks in front of inscription pillar at Zhwa'i lhakhang"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_2001.59.7.64.2.html>.
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