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Tibet Guge Kingdom Photo Gallery - 3. Tsaparang

In July and August 2006, we traveled to Dubai, Mount Kailash and Guge Kingdom in Tibet, Muscat, Iceland and a brief stop in London.

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 01 Long View While emerging from a gorge and turning the spur of a mountain - we suddenly beheld the lofty castles of the ancient city of Tsaparang, which seemed to be carved out of the solid rock of an isolated, monolithic mountain peak, we gasped with wonder and could hardly believe our eyes. - Lama Anagarika Govinda: The Way of the White Clouds.

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 01 Long View

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 02 Entrance Tsaparang is 21km west of Tholing (Zanda). From left to right are the Chapel of the Prefect, the Yamantaka Temple, the Red Temple, and the White Temple. The trail then climbs to the former residential quarters, where monks' cells were tunneled into the clay hillside. Finally, the route goes into the hillside and through tunnels before emerging in the ruins of the palace citadel at the very top of the hill, with the Demchog Temple just visible to the left. Photographing inside the buildings was strictly forbidden.

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 02 Entrance

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 03 Chapel Of The Prefect Outside Just inside the Tsaparang entrance is the Chapel of the Prefect, a small building that was a private shrine for Tsaparang's prefect (regent). Inside the bare room of four columns are murals dating from the late 16C, originally blackened by fire and smoke, but now a little clearer after being cleaned.

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 03 Chapel Of The Prefect Outside

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 04 Chapel Of The Prefect Atisha The main painting on the back wall of the Chapel of the Prefect shows Shakyamuni flanked by Tsongkhapa on the left and Atisha on the right, both wearing the typical Gelugpa headdresses. Here is the painting of Atisha showing its initial state and after it has been cleaned. Atisha (982-1054 AD) was a great Indian Buddhist Master who came to Tibet 1042 and revived the teachings of Buddhism and purified them from misunderstandings. Older photo: Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis (1986), newer photo: Aschoff: Tsaparang - Königsstadt in Westtibet (1997).

Tibet Guge 05 Tsaparang 04 Chapel Of The Prefect Atisha

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 01 Outside Tsaparang’s White Temple (Lhakhang Karpo) is a large 19m x 17m hall, built around 1500, and holds the oldest paintings at Tsaparang. Their influences extend back to the 10C Kashmiri Buddhist art, with their slender torsos and thin waists, the detailed brocade of the figures' robes and the general richness of the colours. At one time, 22 life-size gilded statues lined the walls, but today only nine or ten remain. A couple of the statues were already damaged before Tucci’s arrival in 1933, and the rest destroyed or damaged by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution. Even so, this chapel has fared better than most temples attacked during the Cultural Revolution.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 01 Outside

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 02 01 Hayagriva Immediately on the left of the door is a 5m-high terrific image of red Hayagriva (Tib. Tamdrin), looking at us with its three wide open eyes. Hayagriva used to have a horse head emerging from his hair, and his right hand would have held a vajra. As the guardian of the door, Hayagriva is portrayed at the entrance to the temple to keep away evil influences and to protect the sanctity of the place. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 02 01 Hayagriva

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 03 01 Mahakala Below Hayagriva’s outstretched right arm is a beautiful painting of blue Mahakala, a wrathful Tantric deity and manifestation of Avalokiteshvara (Tib. Chenrezig). He is blue with fanged teeth and a tiara of skulls, wears richly decorated robes, holds a staff in his right hand and a skull cup brimming with blood in his left. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 03 01 Mahakala

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 04 01 Yamantaka Above Hayagriva’s outstretched right arm is a beautiful painting of Yamantaka with six heads, hands and feet, riding on the back of a buffalo. Photo - Aschoff: Tsaparang - Königsstadt in Westtibet (1997).

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 04 01 Yamantaka

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 05 23 Vajrapani Immediately to the right of the door is a 5m-high guardian figure, blue Vajrapani (Tib. Chana Dorje). The significantly elongated torsos, a typical Guge trademark, have been broken open, exposing the straw. This has since been closed with what looks like white plaster. To the left of Vajrapani is an empty pedestal that used to contain a statue of Tara. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 05 23 Vajrapani

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 06 23 Yama The frescoes were of the highest quality we had ever seen in or outside Tibet. They covered the walls from the dado (about two and three quarter feet from the floor) right up to the high ceiling. They were lavishly encrusted with gold and minutely executed, even in the darkest corners or high up beyond the normal reach of human sight, and even behind the big statues. - Lama Anagarika Govinda: The Way of the White Clouds.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 06 23 Yama

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 07 03 Avalokiteshvara Beyond Hayagriva is an empty pedestal and then a pedestal containing an especially beautiful four-armed Avalokiteshvara (Tib. Chenrezig). Here is a photo showing both its original form and the partially destroyed image, still looking serene. Photos from Li Gotami Govinda: Tibet in Pictures (1979) and Nomachi: Tibet (1997).

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 07 03 Avalokiteshvara

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 08 04 Vairocana 1 There are six statues of a three-headed Vairocana, three on the left, three on the right, which together form a meditation cycle of Vairocana. Originally they were each enclosed in a richly decorated stucco frame (torana), an arch, usually depicting foliage and animate designs above the divinity's head. Small holes in the wall secured them around the images. Notice especially the thin, elongated torsos, the elongated faces, distinctive stomach cleavage, slight abdominal bulge, and extremely slender waists are all characteristic of Kashmiri art. Photo of second Vairocana - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 08 04 Vairocana 1

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 09 12 Jowo Khang Chapel Along the centre of the rear wall is the smaller inner chamber called Jowo Khang, which is open to the assembly hall and provides the only light to the entire temple. The chapel once had a gigantic gilt-bronze statue of Shakyamuni on a massive stand. The caretaker has replaced the figure of Shakyamuni with one of his own statues. The left and right walls have four rows of tiny, sculpted divinities, each supported on its own pedestal. Some of the gilded clay images in the higher series are still intact. Photo –

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 09 12 Jowo Khang Chapel

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 10 12 Jowo Khang Ceiling The roof of the temple may also be considered as the richest and most finely worked out in the whole of Western Tibet. … It is made of large wooden planks, brought with great labour from the Himalayan valleys towards India, well smoothed and then painted. Their decoration consists in a series of mandalas, all on the same axis, and of stylized floral and geometric motifs, never repeating themselves. - Giuseppe Tucci: The Temples of Western Tibet and their Artistic Symbolism (1935). Photo –

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 10 12 Jowo Khang Ceiling

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 11 12 Jowo Khang Ceiling Buddha Pillar The ceiling capitals are among the most accomplished in Tibet. At the top of each of the four slender columns is a small wood-carved Shakyamuni. Photo –

Tibet Guge 06 Tsaparang White Temple 11 12 Jowo Khang Ceiling Buddha Pillar

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 01 Outside Tsaparang’s Red Temple (Lhakhang Marpo) was built around 1470, perhaps 30 years earlier than the White Temple. The murals in this 16m x 20m chapel were repainted around 1630, shortly before the fall of the Guge kingdom. The main statue of Shakyamuni was built of gilded bronze, but alas lays in rubble, destroyed by the Chinese Red Guards.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 01 Outside

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 02 Door The original chapel door is made of deodar cedar with concentric frames and carvings of Shakyamuni in meditation, bodhisattvas, mantras and elephants. Each door has three circular medallions inscribed with Om Mani Padme Hum, unique in Tibet.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 02 Door

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 03 Door Carving Its pillars are sculpted with floral motifs and covered up with small figures worked out with great delicacy … Above, in a square frame, the Buddha seated in the posture of meditation; on his sides two small figures of gods who hovering in the air play the trumpet by way of homage. - Giuseppe Tucci: The Temples of Western Tibet and their Artistic Symbolism (1935).

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 03 Door Carving

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 04 Red Mahakala Immediately to the left of the main door is an unusual red Mahakala, holding a chopper in his right hand, while his left hand is held in the threatening mudra at his heart. Photo - Bruno Baumann: Kristallspiegel. Pilgerreise zum heiligen Berg Kailash.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 04 Red Mahakala

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 05 Amoghasiddhi On the walls large frescoes follow one another reproducing the “gods of medicine” together with other deities. - Giuseppe Tucci: The Temples of Western Tibet and their Artistic Symbolism (1935). Photo of Amoghasiddhi: Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 05 Amoghasiddhi

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 06 Pratisara To the right of the main door is Pratisara, with three angry faces and eight arms. She is a tantric goddess, one of the five Protectresses who are related to longevity and good deeds. In her right hands she holds the dharma wheel, an arrow, a trident-topped staff, and in her left hands she holds a vajra, a bow, and a vajra-tipped noose. Photo - Aschoff: Tsaparang - Königsstadt in Westtibet (1997).

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 06 Pratisara

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 07 Ceiling The whole ceiling is painted in long parallel bands with floral and geometric motives and a series of mandala: a feat of colours. - Giuseppi Tucci: Secrets of Tibet (September 23, 1933). Photo - Thöni: Westtibet.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 07 Ceiling

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 08 Band Yama Mahakala This part of the band painting features Yama on the left and then three versions of Mahakala. Photo - Thöni: Westtibet.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 08 Band Yama Mahakala

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 09 Band Temple Consecration On the left wall below the large portraits are the paintings chronicling the construction and consecration of the temple. To the left are musicians celebrating the completion of the temple. The right upper band features princesses, the middle band Kashmiri officials wearing turbans, and the bottom band animals people and animals hauling the building's huge timber beams into place. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 09 Band Temple Consecration

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 10 Band Life of Buddha … nowhere has it (the life of Buddha) been represented with so many details, with such a richness of scenes and with such a movement as here at Tsaparang. These frescoes have to be singled out as works of art. … Still above, the Buddha standing with the pindapatra in his right hand, indicates his resolution to deliver the famous first sermon. He starts walking towards Sarnath and en route meets the ajivaka Upagana, here represented with the ascetic stick: it is to him that he reveals his proposal to go to Banares to preach the law. The scene of preaching is, in fact, represented on the following panel. The Buddha sits on a throne covered by a rich canopy, with his hands in the attitude of the preaching mudra. On the basement of the throne are the traditional symbols of this culminating moment in the life of the Saint of the Sakyas namely, in the middle, the wheel representing, according to ancient symbolism, the first preaching; and on both sides two deer, reminding of the park actually called “the Deer Park”, where the famous ceremony was pronounced. Around him, in the act of devoted concentration and kneeling as a mark of homage, is a numerous crowd of every kind of creature: garuda above, nagas slightly below, gandharva and kinnaras, and then deities guided by Brahma and ascetics. The five emaciated yogins praying in the foreground possibly reproduce his first disciples. - Giuseppe Tucci: The Temples of Western Tibet and their Artistic Symbolism (1935). Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 07 Tsaparang Red Temple 10 Band Life of Buddha

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 01 Yamantaka Temple Outside The (Yamantaka) temple is opened once a year; there is inside a terrifying deity who must not be disturbed. - Giuseppi Tucci: Secrets of Tibet (September 23, 1933). The Yamantaka (Tib. Dorje Jigje) Temple is a small chapel, left of the path above the Red Temple. The statues have all been destroyed. Like the Chapel of the Prefect, the paintings here are of later origin, central Tibetan in style.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 01 Yamantaka Temple Outside

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 02 Yamantaka Temple Yamantaka On the altar once stood this large wrathful image of buffalo-headed Yamantaka (Tib. Dorje Jigje), to whom the chapel is dedicated. Photo from 1948: Li Gotami Govinda: Tibet in Pictures (1979).

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 02 Yamantaka Temple Yamantaka

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 03 Yamantaka Temple Guhysamaja-Manjuvajra On the left wall in yab-yum with his consort Sparshavajra are three paintings of the three-faced six-armed Guhyasamaja, Guhyasamaja-Manjuvajra and Guhyasamaja-Akshobyavajra, associated with the Buddha Akshobhya, and the most ancient and fundamental Tantra of Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism. Here is Guhyasamaja-Manjuvajra with his two central hands crossed near the centre of his body, his right hands holding a sword and arrow, and his left holding a lotus and bow. Sparshavajra’s two main hands circle Guhyasamaja- Manjuvajra, while her other hands mirror his. Photo: Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 03 Yamantaka Temple Guhysamaja-Manjuvajra

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 04 Yamantaka Temple Chakrasamvara On the right wall is a four-headed, 12-armed large painting of Chakrasamvara (Tib. Demchog), embracing his consort Vajravarahi. Vajravarahi’s left hand circles Chakrasamvara’s neck while her right holds a vajra. In his right hands he holds a vajra lasso, a drum, a hatchet, a chopper and a trident; while his left hands hold the vajra lasso, a skull full of blood, a noose and the heads of Brahma. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 04 Yamantaka Temple Chakrasamvara

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 05 Yamantaka Temple Yama To the right of the door is a painting of Yama (Tib. Shinje) riding a blue water buffalo. Yama is nude, has a buffalo head, wears a garland of human skulls, has an ornament shaped like a wheel on his breast, his right hand holds a sword topped with a skull, and his left hand holds a loop of rope. On the right is the fierce Dakini Simhaumukha. Snarling and roaring with a gaping large mouth on a white lion face, she stands fierce and menacing with two hands, with protruding fangs, curled tongue, two large round eyes and dark flowing hair. Her left hand clutches to the heart a white skullcup filled with blood. Photo - Thöni: Westtibet.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 05 Yamantaka Temple Yama

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 06 Looking Up To Siege Tower From just outside the Yamantaka Temple I stared up at a strange windowless structure near the top of the slope. This is thought to be the base of a huge siege tower built by the invading Muslim army who destroyed the kingdom.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 06 Looking Up To Siege Tower

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 07 Looking Up To Royal Summer Palace We started the tough climb towards the top of the Tsaparang complex. The Royal Summer Palace at the northern end of the hill top is empty.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 07 Looking Up To Royal Summer Palace

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 08 Tunnels Up To One of the caves proved to be the entrance to a tunnel; that led upwards in a wide curve inside the rock, from time to time lit up by narrow openings in the outer rock-wall. - Lama Anagarika Govinda: The Way of the White Clouds.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 08 Tunnels Up To

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 09 Citadel On The Top With a beating heart I followed the tunnel, climbing higher and higher … I stepped into the light of sun again and realized that I was standing on the very summit of Tsaparang. - Lama Anagarika Govinda: The Way of the White Clouds.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 09 Citadel On The Top

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 10 View From Citadel Back Towards Entrance From the Citadel at the top of Tsaparang, we had a wonderful view back towards the entrance, across the marvelously eroded valleys around the site. In the middle, just to the right of centre is the Temple of Lotsava Rinchen Zangpo.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 10 View From Citadel Back Towards Entrance

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 11 View From Citadel To North From the Citadel at the top of Tsaparang, we had a wonderful view to the north.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 11 View From Citadel To North

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 12 View From Citadel To South West From the Citadel at the top of Tsaparang, we had a wonderful view to the south west.

Tibet Guge 08 Tsaparang 12 View From Citadel To South West

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 01 Outside The Temple of Samvara/Bde-mchog is a chapel standing on top of the steep clayey mountain, around which the town was constructed, and around which was spread the crown of the caves of its inhabitants, dug out of the ravine. This small temple is built just in the middle of the royal palace. It was to host the tutelary spirit (yi-dam) of the country. - Giuseppe Tucci: The Temples of Western Tibet and their Artistic Symbolism (1935).

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 01 Outside

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 02 Carving on Roof Support Four main beams span the ceiling outside, each with charmingly carved figures underneath.

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 02 Carving on Roof Support

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 03 Blue Mahakala On the left side of the door is the four-armed Blue Mahakala (called Chandamaharoshana by Tucci), holding a sword and a vajra-topped curved chopper in his right hand, and a khatvanga (a staff with three human skulls, topped with a trident) and skull cup in his left. He is pot-bellied and stands on a human corpse. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis,

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 03 Blue Mahakala

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 04 Vag Dakini Chakrasamvara Along the left wall is the cycle of Demchog (Skt. Chakrasamvara), with five dakinis each holding Demchog in tantric yab-yum, with the far one being the red-skinned Vag Dakini. His two main arms embrace Vag Dakini, one with a vajra, the other a lotus. Vag Dakini’s left hand circle Chakrasamvara’s neck while her right holds a lotus. In his right hands he holds a vajra lasso, a hatchet, a drum, a trident and a chopper. His left hands hold a vajra lasso, a skull full of blood, a noose, the heads of Brahma, and a khatvanga. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis,

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 04 Vag Dakini Chakrasamvara

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 05 Ratnasambhava Along the back wall is the cycle of Akshobhya (Guhyasamaja), the five Tathagatas each with three heads and six arms, garbed in rich bodhisattva ornaments and crowns. On the far left of the wall is my favourite, a beautiful Ratnasambhava, painted in Kashmiri style with the faces and bodies elongated, the waists are very narrow, and the abdomens slightly bulging. They have well-developed, almost breast-like pectoral muscles, although their multiple arms are thin and spidery. Photo - Weyer/Aschoff: Tsaparang, Tibets Grosses Geheimnis,

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 05 Ratnasambhava

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 06 Padma Dakini Heruka Along the right wall is the cycle of Heruka (Tib. Kye Dorje), with five dakinis each holding Heruka in tantric yab-yum, with this one called Padma Dakini. Photo - Aschoff: Tsaparang - Königsstadt in Westtibet (1997).

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 06 Padma Dakini Heruka

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 07 Cemetary A 0.5m high band of paintings runs beneath the murals, depicting the eight great cemeteries of India. There are macabre scenes of disembowelment by lions, tigers, and other wild animals, and a striking image of a long-haired man impaled on a pole. Here also are images of the eight chortens, eight holy mountains (including Kailash), eight holy trees, and the eight holy waters.

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 07 Cemetary

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 08 Hidden Vajravarahi Attendants Below the Demchog Mandala Temple is a small windowless temple, its walls covered with good paintings. Thöni calls it the Hidden Temple (Verborgnen in German). Here is a painting of two attendants to Vajravarahi (Tib. Dorje Phagmo), the left with what looks like the head of an eagle, and the right with the head of a pig, each holding a vajra-topped chopper and skull cup. Photo - Thöni: Westtibet.

Tibet Guge 09 Tsaparang Demchog Temple 08 Hidden Vajravarahi Attendants