Sumda Chung, Ladakh
The tiny village of Sumda Chung miraculously preserves an assembly hall that retains all but one of the original sculptures of a Vajradhātu maṇḍala in the niche at the back of the room. Historically, the site is closely connected with Alchi, as the Dro (འབྲོ་) family responsible for founding the Alchi Choskhor is understood to have originated from Sumda.
The painting programme of the assembly hall is equally noteworthy. The left side wall and the back portion of the room belong to the original foundation; the right wall and the entrance area have been largely repainted. On the left wall, a Dharmadhātu maṇḍala survives with wonderful detail. Two chapels flank the front wall of the assembly hall, each housing a large clay sculpture — Maitreya on one side and Avalokitēśvara on the other.
When the site was documented in 1994, two additional temple ruins could be identified on the slope above the village houses. One preserved a finely carved wooden door, which has since been moved to Hemis monastery; the other retained mural fragments from the same period as the assembly hall. The site thus once must have been considerably more substantial than is apparent today. The (◊ Sumda Chung) gallery currently contains the documentation from 1994.
Sumda Chung Picture Gallery
Selected Literature
- Gill, Maninder Singh, Carolina Priego Rendo, and Sreekumar Menon. “Materials and techniques: Early Buddhist wall paintings and sculptures at Sumda Chun, Ladakh.” Studies in Conservation 59, no. 5 (2014): 300-313.
- Luczanits, Christian. Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, Late 10th to Early 13th Centuries. Chicago: Serindia, 2004.
- Snellgrove, David L., and Tadeusz Skorupski. The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh, 2. Zangskar and the Cave Temples of Ladakh. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1980.