National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

42

When we were at Tabo, w.e met a native painter, who was prepared to renovate

everything. The monks of the monastery had been told that Government would undertake to pay for necessary repairs in, their temples and had asked the Assistant Commissioner to let them have the services of an artist. Accordingly, Mr. Howell, I.C.S., had ordered a painter to go to Tabo and apply his art to its ancient walls. Fortunately, he had not yet started work in the principal hall, but in all the other halls, there remained little which had not been destroyed either by him or by previous artists. I told the man that he was on no account to touch the walls of the central hall, and when I met Mr.

Howell about a week later in Spiti, he promised to give strict orders that no further attempt should be made to " improve " this precious relic of the past.

The gSer-gyi-lha-khang is another picture hall to the left of the preceding one All the pictures in it are modern, and it has an inscription NI mci i padmé hüm in .La;Whsa characters running round the four walls.

The dKyiï-khang is a picture hall behind the preceding. As the roof is not watertight, the pictures have suffered much through leakage. The principal picture shows rNam-par-snang-mdzad, but I could discover no inscriptions in it.

In Lha-khang-dkar-byung, a picture hall behind the preceding, the central picture shows Buddha with two disciples ; to the left of this group we see Tsong-kha-pa. The other pictures in this hall can no more be explained. There were no inscriptions.

The pictura hall Brom-ston was evidently named after the famous pupil of Atisa, called by that name, the founder of the bKá-gdams-pa sect. It is situated on the right hand side of the Central Hall. It was probably erected in Brom-stcn's time, but nothing remains of ancient relics, besides the interesting door of thang-shing (Deodar wood) which is decorated with well executed carvings of Buddhist saints. The style of carving is very different from the present Tibetan style, and is a distinguishing characteristic of the half Indian Buddhism of the 11th century. This hall is without inscriptions and the principal picture in it represents Buddha with his two disciples.

The seventh hall called Byams-pa-chen-moi-lha-khang contains a huge stucco statue of Maitréya seated on a chair. The top of his head may be 18 to 20 feet above the ground. This hall contains pictures of Tibetan architecture, perhaps four to five centuries ago, such as the monastery of Tashilumpo (bKra-shis-lhun-po) and the Potala palace of Lhasa. But most of the other pictures in this hall are modern restorations or inventions. Here I noticed a Wartu inscription, probably an Oin marzi padme húm formula. This hall has also a door carved with Buddhist figures in Indian, not Tibetan style. The central figure on the lintel, however, is GanëSa.

Besides these seven principal halls, I must also mention the entrance hall to the principal temple, Lha-khang-chen-moi-sgo-khang. It is furnished with paintings, for instance Tsong-kha-pa with two disciples, one of whom was called mKhas-grub.

The thick darkness of most of the Tibetan temples is a great hindrance to archmological research. My work had to be done in a different way from that done at Pompei or in the Turkestan deserts. At Pompei and in Turkestan every article which comes to light, is valuable and has to be taken up, labelled, and put aside. In an inhabited place