The Alchi pages are dedicated to Roger Goepper and his pioneering studies on Alchi.
Village
The village of Alchi in lower Ladakh is widely regarded as one of the most important cultural sites throughout the Himalayas. The village comprises four separate hamlets and contains numerous historic monuments of different ages and in various states of repair. The oldest and most famous of these is a monastic complex, or Choskhor (ཆོས་འཁོར་), which today falls under the jurisdiction of Likir Monastery and the Archaeological Survey of India (A.S.I.). This complex is commonly referred to as 'Alchi Monastery'.
Besides the Choskhor, there are other temples and chörten (the Tibetan stūpa) throughout the village. In the garden of the Zimskhang is what I call the ◊ Lönpo Chörten (named after the nearby house). Alchi Shangrong, along the western slope of the village, contains an almost ruined late 13th-century chörten in a field (see ◊ Shangrong Chörten). Further west, a row of large chörten and the Shangrong Temple sit on a rock ridge within the fields. Dating to the early fourteenth century, the Shangrong Temple preserves an important inscribed depiction of the eighty-plus mahāsiddha. Further along the southern slope of the village lies the Tsatsapuri temple complex.
Choskhor
The monastic complex or Choskhor at Alchi contains three temples and two chörten attributable to its earliest phase. These include the Main Temple (གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་), the Three-Storied Temple or Sumtsek (གསུམ་བརྩེགས་), the Mañjuśrī Temple (འཇམ་དཔལ་ལྷ་ཁང་), the Palden Drepung Chörten (དཔལ་ལྡན་འབྲས་སྤུང་མཆོད་རྟེན་, formerly Great Chörten or Great Stūpa), and the Tashi Gomang Chörten (བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒོ་མངས་མཆོད་རྟེན་, formerly Small Chörten). These latter decorated gateway chörten (Kakani Chörten, ཀ་ཀ་ཎི་མཆོད་རྟེན་) are of a type unique to Alchi and closely related monuments. In addition, the tower-like structures flanking the Main Temple belong to an early phase of the monastery as well as its courtyard.
Somewhat later additions include the Translator's Temple (ལོ་ཙ་བ་ལྷ་ཁང་) and the so-called New Temple or Lhakhang Soma (ལྷ་ཁང་སོ་མ་). In addition, a number of chörten were added at an early period, including the Raised Chörten in the courtyard of the Main Temple and the Twin Chörten. Other early chörten throughout the complex do not retain paintings.
The Production of “Knowledge” on Alchi
This short text assesses Peter van Ham's book Alchi. Treasure of the Himalayas. Ladakh’s Buddhist Masterpiece, published in collaboration with Amy Heller. It also explains why this book is not included in the selected literature on Alchi listed below.
The Pearl Garland Composition
This page presents a new edition of the inscription in the Palden Drepung Chörten (དཔལ་ལྡན་འབྲས་སྤུང་མཆོད་རྟེན), previously known as the Great Stūpa, in Tibetan script. A translation of this text appears in Alchi, Ladakh's Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary, and a full study is currently in press.
History
Traditionally, the foundation of Alchi Monastery is attributed to the great translator Rinchen Zangpo (རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོ་; 958–1055). However, the oldest preserved monuments date from the end of the 12th century to c. 1230.
Very little historical background is known about the Alchi temples. While upper Ladakh, down to Shey or even Leh, was at least temporarily under Guge control, lower Ladakh was probably partly independent. Alchi was part of a small dominion ruled by members of the Dro (འབྲོ་) clan, of Central Tibetan origin. This dominion defined itself as part of Tibet in general and West Tibet (མངའ་རིས་) in particular. The founders of the two temples were monks of the Dro clan who were educated at Nyarma (an extensive ruin near Tikse monastery). The Alchi Choskhor was thus originally a family monastery, inherited from uncle to nephew.
The Three-Storeyed Temple or Sumtsek can be dated to c. 1220 on the basis of both the inscription inside the Palden Drepung Chörten (The Pearl Garland Composition) and a lineage of identified teachers on the third-floor entrance wall. The founder of the Drigung (འབྲི་གུང་) school, Drigungpa (འབྲི་གུང་པ་; i.e. Jikten Gönpo, འཇིག་རྟེན་མགཨན་པོ་, 1143–1217), is named in the caption accompanying the depiction and appears as the last figure in the lineage. The Palden Drepung Chörten inscription implies that the Sumtsek housed a shrine dedicated to Drigungpa's relics. The current central chörten is clearly a more recent addition to the monument.
Alchi Pages
- Main Temple
- Sumtsek
- Jampel Lhakhang
- Palden Drepung Chörten
Alchi Picture Galleries
Shangrong Chörten
The almost-vanished ◊ chörten of Alchi Shangrong is one of the examples presented in an article on an unusual early painting style in Ladakh dating to the 13th century. While the article is based solely on black-and-white documentation taken in 1994, the colour documentation linked here is mainly from 1998 and 2009.
- Luczanits, Christian. “On an Unusual Painting Style in Ladakh.” In The Inner Asian International Style 12th-14th Centuries. Papers Presented At a Panel of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995, edited by Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, and Eva Allinger, VII, 151-169. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998.
Lönpo Chörten
The ◊ Lönpo Chörten is found in the garden behind the house of the Alchi Lönpo family, who also run the Zimskhang hotel and restaurants. The chörten is a twofold construction, with a smaller chörten within a larger one, the outward appearance being that of a Tashi Gomang type. The painted outer chamber has three windows to the east, making this the main direction of the chörten. In contrast to earlier examples of this type dedicated to Buddha Vairocana, this chörten is dedicated to Buddha Akṣobhya.
Selected Literature
Literature specific to the monuments that have separate pages dedicated to them is listed on those pages.
- Luczanits, Christian, and Jaroslav Poncar, eds. Alchi, Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary. Chicago: Serindia, 2023.
- Luczanits, Christian. “Alchi at the Threshold of a New Era in Tibetan Buddhist Art. Monumental Manjushri With Mahasiddha-Adorned Robe, Alchi Sumtsek, Ladakh, India, Ca. 1220.” In Himalayan Art in 108 Objects, edited by Karl Debreczeny, and Elena Pakhoutova, no. 35, 164-167. New York: Scala, 2023.
- Luczanits, Christian. “From Tabo to Alchi: Revisiting Early Western Himalayan Art.” Orientations 51, no. 5 (2020): 36-47.
- Luczanits, Christian. “Prajnaparamita, Alchi and Kashmir - on the Cultural Background of a Unique Bronze.” In An Exceptional and Magnificent Bronze Alloy Figure of Prajnaparamita, edited by Luo Wenhua, no page numbers (24 pages). Beijing: Poly Auction, 2016.
- Takeuchi, Tsuguhito. “Old Tibetan Rock Inscriptions Near Alchi.” Journal of Research Institute: Historical Development of the Tibetan Languages 49, (2013): 29-69.
- Luczanits, Christian, and Holger Neuwirth. “The Development of the Alchi Temple Complex. An Interdisciplinary Approach.” In Heritage Conservation and Research in India. 60 Years of Indo-Austrian Collaboration, edited by Gabriela Krist, and Tatjana Bayerová, 6, 79-84. Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, 2010.
- Tropper, Kurt. “The Caityapradakṣiṇagāthā Inscription in Alchi. A Valuable Witness for Kanjur Studies. With an Appendix By Gudrun Melzer.” Berliner Indologische Studien 19, (2010): 15-70.
- Luczanits, Christian. “Alchi and the Drigungpa School of Tibetan Buddhism: The Teacher Depiction in the Small Chörten At Alchi.” In Mei Shou Wan Nian - Long Life Without End. Festschrift in Honor of Roger Goepper, edited by Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch, Antje Papist-Matsuo, and Willibald Veit, 181-196. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, 2006.
- Luczanits, Christian. Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, Late 10th to Early 13th Centuries. Chicago: Serindia, 2004.
- Goepper, Roger. “More Evidence for Dating the Sumtsek in Alchi and Its Relations With Kashmir.” In Dating Tibetan Art. Essays on the Possibilities and Impossibilities of Chronology From the Lempertz Symposium, Cologne, edited by Ingrid Kreide-Damani, 15-24. Wiesbaden: Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2003.
- Allinger, Eva. “The Green Tara as Saviouress From the Eight Dangers in the Sumtseg At Alchi.” Orientations 30, no. 1 (1999): 40-44.
- Linrothe, Robert N. “Talisman, Reliquary and Instrument of Enlightenment: The Alchi Sumtsek as a Mandalic Site.” Orientations 30, no. 1 (1999): 22-29.
- Goepper, Roger, and Jaroslav Poncar. Alchi. Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary. The Sumtsek. London: Serindia, 1996.
- Goepper, Roger. “The ‘Great Stūpa’ At Alchi.” Artibus Asiae 53, no. 1/2 (1993): 111-143.
- Goepper, Roger. “Clues for a Dating of the Three-Storeyed Temple (Sumtsek) in Alchi, Ladakh.” Asiatische Studien: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Asienkunde / Études Asiatiques: Revue de la Société Suisse d’Études Asiatiques 44, no. 2 (1990): 159-175.
- Goepper, Roger, Barbara Poncar-Lutterbeck, and Jaroslav Poncar. Alchi - Buddhas / Goddesses / Mandalas: Murals in a Monastery of the Western Himalaya. Köln: DuMont, 1984.
- Pal, Pratapaditya, and Lionel Fournier. A Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi - Western Himalayas. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publ., 1982.
- Snellgrove, David L., and Tadeusz Skorupski. The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh, 2. Zangskar and the Cave Temples of Ladakh. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1980.
- Snellgrove, David L., and Tadeusz Skorupski. The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh, 1. Central Ladakh. Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1977.