Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
confessional buddhas once sat on individual shelves; a handful of them still have bodies
but all the heads have gone.
Dorje Jigje (Jikji) Lhakhang
BUDDHIST, CHAPEL
The murals in the smaller chapel are painted red and gold, and are almost solely devoted to
wrathful deities such as Demchok (Chakrasamvara), Hevajra and the buffalo-headed Dorje
Jigje (Yamantaka), to whom the chapel is dedicated. On the left as you look back at the
door is Namtöse (Vaishravana), the God of Wealth, who is depicted riding a snow lion and
surrounded by square bands of Tibetan warriors. Beside him is a strange dog-faced pro-
tector riding a panther.
Like the Chapel of the Prefect, the paintings here are of later origin, central Tibetan in
style (rather than Kashmiri-influenced) and less refined; the golden years had passed by
this point. All the statues that once stood here were destroyed, including the central Dorje
Jigje.
Summer Palace
BUDDHIST, CHAPEL
From the four chapels at the base of Tsaparang, the path to the top climbs up through the
monastic quarters and then ascends to the palace complex atop the hill via a tunnel. The
Summer Palace, at the northern end of the hilltop, is empty, with a balcony offering won-
derful views. The Sutlej Valley is just to the north. Across the smaller valley to the north-
east is the ruined Lotsang Lhakhang.
The small but quite well-preserved red-painted Mandala (Demchok) Lhakhang in the
centre of the hilltop ridge once housed a wonderful three-dimensional mandala with Tan-
tric murals, only the base of which survived the desecrations of the Cultural Revolution. It
is often closed to visitors.
Winter Palace
RUIN
Accessed by a steep and treacherous eroded staircase (now with an iron railing in place),
the palace is an amazing ants' nest of rooms tunnelled into the clay below the Summer
