IDNO

P.96995.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
85. “Lhasa from the Potala 27.8.33”.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

27 August 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Transcription: The transcription of this album by Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman was carried out with reference to Krystina Cech’s catalogue list alone. Alex Nadin has since revised their cataloguing by systematically matching their records to the images. Margaret Williamson’s handwritten captions for photographs have now been transcribed into the Inscription field, and Cech’s descriptions appear in the Description field. Correct entries for Place, Named Person and Other Nos. have also been entered by Alex Nadin. [Sudeshna Guha 29/10/2002]

Related Image: On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
85. “Lhasa from the Potala 27.8.33”.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

Place: Potala palace. Construction of the palace began in earnest in 1645 during the reign of the great 5th Dalai Lama. By 1648 the White Palace was completed. To finish the rest of the building, known as the Red palace, the chief adviser, Desi Sangye Gyatso, had to conceal the Dalai Lama’s death and pretend that he was in prolonged retreat. The Red Palace was completed in 1694, 12 years after the Dalai Lama’s death. The building is named after Mt. Potala in South India, one of the holy mountains of the Hindu god Shiva. The Buddhists, however, dedicated this mountain to Avalokiteshvara , the bodhisattva of compassion and gave the name ‘Potala’ to the Pure Land where Avalokiteshvara resides. The Potala has served as the home of successive Dalai Lamas and their monastic staff from the time of the Fifth until the present Dalai Lama, the 14th. From the latter half of the eighteenth century, it has been used as a winter palace, The Norbu lingka being the palace where the rulers would retreat in the summer months. [Source: Cech’s list, CJ 20/08/2008]

Context: The Banner of Victory (rgyal-mtshan) is a cylindrical layered banner and is a Buddhist object symbolizing victory over ignorance and death. The Victory Banner was traditionally carried in battle on the back of chariots, with great warriors would often having their own emblems.
“In early Buddhism, the banner represented Buddha's victorious enlightenment with his overcoming the armies of Mara (hindrances and defilements). Legend says the banner was placed on the summit of Mt Meru, symbolizing Buddha's victory over the entire universe.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the banner represents eleven methods of overcoming Mara: the development of knowledge, wisdom, compassion, meditation, and ethical vows; taking refuge in the Buddha; abandoning false views; generating spiritual aspiration, skillful means, and selflessness; and the unity of the three sam¨¢dhis of emptiness, formlessness, and desirelessness.” [Source: Tibet Geographic Magazine, http://en.tibettour.com.cn/geography/200412005122090042.htm, JD 19/8/2008]


This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Caspian James 21/8/2008]