This section presents basic information on sites relevant to my research and/or documented in the picture galleries. The documented sites are either briefly presented on this page or on separate pages listed alphabetically in the menu.

Lachuse, Ladakh

The Buddhist temple of Lachuse, located in a side valley some distance off Kanji in Ladakh, preserves some of the oldest wood carvings in the western Himalayan region. The remains are remarkable for the massive capitals, an elaborate door, and interesting fragments that loosely relate to the Alchi group of monuments but likely precede those. These ancient fragments have been reused in a recent temple structure.

  • Poell, Heinrich. 2014. The Wood Carvings of Lachuse. A Hidden Jewel of Early Mediaeval Ladakhi Art. In Art and Architecture in Ladakh, eds. Erberto Lo Bue, and John Bray, 35, 191–225. Leiden: Brill.
  • Poell, Heinrich. 2013. The Temple Door of Lachuse: Early Wood Art from Ladakh. Mārg 64, no. 3: 14–25.

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Tangye, Upper Mustang

Tangye is a rather remote but picturesque village with a small temple and many chörten. At the eastern end of the village is a painted passage chörten. While the paintings are severely damaged they are an important historical document about the history of Buddhism in the region. While a Sakya school context is clear from the iconography, I have not tried to date the paintings. The ◊ Tangye Passage Chörten gallery provides a documentation of the chörten that is detailed enough that it can be studied. To my knowledge this monument has not yet been published.

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Tashi Kabum, Upper Mustang

Tashi Kabum is another chörten cave like Luri and quite close to it, but it is considerably simpler and less well preserved. Unfortunately, its chörten has been destroyed to a large extent, probably in search for precious deposits inside. The cave preserves a wonderful ceiling, a Lama portrait and a depiction of the Ṣaḍakṣara Lokeśvara, and it probably dates slightly later than Luri (◊ Tashi Kabum).

  • McCue, Gary. “Tashi Kabum, a cave temple associated with Luri Gompa in Upper Mustang, Nepal.” https://www.asianart.com/articles/tashikabum/index.html (accessed January 3, 2016). 
  • Slusser, Mary Shepherd, and Lila M. Bishop. 1999. Another Luri: A newly disvovered cave Chorten in Mustang, Nepal. Orientations 30, no. 2: 18-27.