IDNO

P.97535.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(Photos 206-212 were taken at YATUNG; the Williamsons spent nine days at YATUNG before returning to GANGTOK.)
212. “Head Lama of Kargyu, 7.10.34 (Peggy)”
Fine photo. The lama is dressed as a yogin and is holding a rosary in his hand. “The Abbot... is an aged man with a benign yet lively face... he wore a grey robe and had a great mass of hair tied in a bundle on top of his head. We were told that never in his life had he cut his hair. He wore flat discs of spiral-curled ivory in his ears and rings on his fingers...”.
Sp-Ch: 26.” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

Portrait of Ajo Rinpoche, Head Lama at Kagyu Gonsar, holding rosary beads and wearing a white shawl with broad red stripes and a sgom thag (meditation belt) across his torso, dung long (white, spiral-shaped conch earrings ), and gos dkar lcang lo can (long braided hair) coiled up on his head (see Barphungpa 2022 p.39).
A young monk is to his left, and in the background is a covered walkway with a walls painted with frescos. [JD 03/11/2022]

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Chumbi Valley; Yadong; Tsceholing [Yatung; Dromo; Kargyu; Kagyu Gonsar]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Ajo Rinpoche

Photographer

Williamson, Margaret

Collector / Expedition

Date

7 October 1934

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

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]

Publication: Image published in 'Portrait of a Vajra Siddhi: An Introduction of the Life and Work of Bara Kagyu Master Ajo Rinpoche (1856 - 1962)' by Tenzing Longsel Barphungpa, Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim. In Bulletin of Tibetology, Volume 53, No. 1, pp.37-52, and captioned: "Ajo Rinpoche at Kagyu Gonsar, 1934."
Barphungpa writes that Ajo Rinpoche (1856 - 1962) was a Sikkimese Buddhist master belonging to the Bara Kagyu (Tibetian 'Ba' ra bKa' brgyud) school, which was one of the first who came in touch with Western scholars and intrepid travellers (p.36).
Ajo Rinpoche (Tib. A jo Rin po che) was born in Pam, Pabyuk (Tib. sPa phyug), East Sikkim, into "nomadic Phalong Drokpa families who used to migrate with their herds to Chumbi (Tib. Chu 'bi) Valley during summer and down into the temperate valleys of East Sikkim during the winter months. He was given the name Ngodup Dorje (Tib. dNgos grub rdo rje, Skt. Vajra Siddhi), which can be translated as 'Great Adamantine Master of Spiritual Accomplishments'. (p.37)"
"Owing to his white, undyed, cotton clothing (Tib. ras), reminiscent of Milarepa, and similar to the Nalijorpas (Tib. rnal 'byor pa) or 'wandering ascetics', he was also known as Ajo Repa Rinpoche. A striking figure, he usually wore a white shawl with broad red stripes and a meditation belt across his torso (Tib. sgom thag). This was in stark contrast to the conventional scarlet robes of the monks usually seen in monasteries. He never cut his hair and wore his long braided hair (Tib. gos dkar lacang lo can) coiled up on his head. White, spiral-shaped conch earrings (Tib. dung long) completed an overall unforgettable appearance (p.39)."
Ajo Rinpoche presided over the Kagyu Gonsar, which was in the Chumbi Valley as the junction of the frequently used trails connecting India, Tibet and Bhutan. Kagyu Gonsar became known as Tsceholing (Tib. Tshe mchong gling) monastry, and using money from loyal patrons Ajo Rinpoche "built a two storeyed temple replete with scriptures, statues, frescoes and thangkas (p.41)." [JD 03/11/2022]