An Unusual Temple

The Jampel Lhakhang (འཇམ་དཔལ་ལྷ་ཁང་), or Mañjuśrī Temple, was a freestanding structure until the Lotsawa Lhakhang was attached to its left side wall. The temple's layout is unusual, built around four central images of Mañjuśrī seated on a shared platform. Originally, the square temple, measuring c. 5.7 x 5.7 metres, had a lantern ceiling above the images. As a result, it was lit only by the small windows in the centre of each wall.

The large central platform is c. 85 cm high and supports the four pillars that hold the diagonally arranged ceiling cross-beams. The complex throne construction is then set on this central platform, reaching a height of c. 175 cm, with the crowns of the images level with the capitals of the pillars. The four images of Mañjuśrī are seated back to back within an elaborate shared frame, crowded in a sort of horror vacui with animals, gods and symbols, and topped by decorative scrolls derived from the tails of the makara. The four images and their frames have been completely repainted in recent times (◊ Mañjuśrī Sculptures).

The central sculptures represent Nāmasaṃgīti Mañjuśrī, who, in the Alchi conception, takes on the colours of the five Buddha families, while the main form remains orange. This is also reflected on the temple’s back wall, where two orange forms occupy the main panels, while the others are arrayed around them. The temple’s iconography, thus, mirrors that of the right-side wall of the Sumtsek.

Quotation below after Davidson, Ronald M. “The Litany of Names of Mañjuśrī.” In Religions of India in Practice, edited by Donald S. Lopez, 104-125. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995: stanza 150.