BMR.86.1.37.1 (Album Print black & white)
BMR.86.1.37.1 (Album Print black & white)
Frederick Spencer Chapman
Hugh E. Richardson
November 28th 1936
Lhasa > Barkhor (from Surkhang House)
BMR.86.1.37.1
Print gelatin silver
British Diplomatic Mission to Lhasa 1936-37
Donated to the British Museum in 1986 by Hugh E. Richardson
C.17.2 In publication
'Lhasa Mission 1936, Diary of Events', P. Neame, H. Richardson, F. S. Chapman, Government of India Political Department [Note: photographs for October 18th - November 4th 1936 are not included as their relationship to text is not detailed; see Mission Diary text for details of images] [see photos in publication]
F. S. Chapman Collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum
'Lhasa Mission 1936, Diary of Events', P. Neame, H. Richardson, F. S. Chapman, Government of India Political Department [Note: photographs for October 18th - November 4th 1936 are not included as their relationship to text is not detailed; see Mission Diary text for details of images] [view list of illustrations]
Other Information - Album: This image appears alongside 3 others on page 37 of Hugh Richardson's album 'Lhasa 1936' [MS 25/08/2006]
Manual Catalogues - Caption in Chapman's hand-written list of negatives made whilst on the Mission to Lhasa, 1936-7 [See PRM Manuscripts Collection]: 'Clear view down onto sparse crowd'; PRM Manuscripts Collection: ‘List of Tibetan Prints and Negatives’ - Book 3: ‘11/4 - Detail of the crowd [Pole Trick New year’] [NB: Incorrect - this was actually taken during the Palden Lhamo procession] [MS 25/08/2006]
Other Information - Related Images: Images prefixed with 'C.17' comprise a group of negatives containing images of Palden Lhamo procession down street, Kalon lama and Bhondong, Regent’s house and monastery. This group of images had been given the heading “‘Queen Vic’ Procession” by Chapman in his handlist. Queen Victoria was reputed to have been an incarnation of Palden Lhamo [see notes for C.17.7]. They seem to have been taken between November 26th - December 11th 1936 [MS 27/03/2006]
Other Information - Description: Entry in Mission Diary for November 28th 1936: "There was a great procession in the city today. An enormous image of the goddess Palden Lhamo was taken from the Cathedral and carried through the streets. This is the goddess of whom Queen Victoria was supposed to be an incarnation. Lamas, many of them grotesquely masked, first cleared a way through the densely crowded streets. When the goddess appeared long trumpets were blown, drums were beaten, and a great pyramid of straw was burnt in the street, while lamas danced and chanted. This goddess, when the world was young, was about to destroy all creation; but in the nick of time a husband was found for her and he, apparently, appeased her wrath. On the day that she is taken round Lhasa her husband, who is kept in a monastery on the other side of the Kyi Chu, is also taken out and they are allowed to behold each other annually, at a distance of several miles" ['Lhasa Mission, 1936: Diary of Events', Part X p. 1, written by Chapman] [MS 03/04/2006]
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Crowd watching Palden Lhamo procession"
05 Dec. 2006. The British Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_BMR.86.1.37.1.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The British Museum.
© The British Museum
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