IDNO

P.97046.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
115. “Dre-pung Monastery 7.9.33”
115f. It is difficult to tell which Buddha this is since the position of his hands and what he is holding cannot be seen. The altar is decorated with butter lamps, water containers, rice mandala and scarves of greeting.
MPOW: 121.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

An altar inside Drepung monastery, decorated with butter lamps, water containers, rice mandala and scarves of greeting. At the back sits a Buddha statue surrounded by ornate wood carving. A blurred image of a monk is present in the right foreground.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Drepung

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

7 September 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]

Exhibition: A reproduction of this image was displayed in Collected Sights in the section Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim with the descriptive label: “Inside view of the Dre-pung Monastery showing a Buddhist altar decorated with butter lamps, water containers, rice mandala and scarves of greeting. This is one of the three main monasteries, called ‘the three seats’, that dominated the religious and political life of Lhasa and of Tibet.” [Alex Nadin 09/12/02]

Place: Drepung (‘Bras-spungs) monastery is situated about 8km west of Lhasa. Drepung literally means ‘rice mound’, the Tibetan translation of ‘Dhanyakataka’, the Sanskrit of the magnificent stupas in south India where the Buddha is said to have taught the Kalachakra tantra. It was founded in 1416 [by Jamyang Choje Tashi Palden (1397-1449)] and soon grew into the largest of all Gelugpa monasteries having more than 7000 monks. [Source: Cech’s list, CJ 1/9/2008]

Place: F Spencer Chapman writes about Drepung monastery in Lhasa: The Holy City, 1938, London:Chatto and Windus, p. 195, “Drepung is supposed to house 7700 monks, but sometimes as many as 10,000 live there. The name Dre-pung literally means 'the pile of rice', which is what the monastery resembles as its tiers of whitewashed buildings lie one behind the other on a sloping site at the head of a wedge-shaped valley. Looked at from a distance Drepung resembles a large fortified city rather than a single monastery, and it is only when one climbs the steep mountain slopes behind it and looks down on to its innumerable ramifications that one gets a true idea of its immense size. Looked at from below it is foreshortened and many of the buildings are dwarfed or hidden." [Source: http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1999.23.1.17.1.html, CJ 1/9/2008]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Caspian James 1/9/2008]