southern side, about 12 m. south of Lhasa, runs a considerable river called the Kyichu (Ki-chu) or Kyi, flowing here from E.N.E., and joining the great Tsangpo (or upper course of the Brahmaputra) some 38 m. to the south-west. The hills round the city are barren. The plain, however, is fertile, though in parts marshy. There are gardens scattered over it round the city, and these are planted with fine trees. The city is screened from view from the west by a rocky ridge, lofty and narrow, with summits at the north and south, the one flanked and crowned by the majestic buildings of Potala, the chief residence of the Dalai lama, the other by the temple of medicine. Groves, gardens and open ground intervene between this ridge and the city itself for a distance of about 1 m. A gate through the centre of the ridge gives access from the west; the road thence to the north part of the city throws off a branch to the Yutok sampa or turquoise-tiled covered bridge, one of the noted features of Lhasa, which crosses a former channel of the Kyi, and carries the road to the centre of the town.
The city is nearly circular in form, and less than 1 m. in diameter. It was walled in the latter part of the 17th century, but the walls were destroyed during the Chinese occupation in 1722. The chief streets are fairly straight, but generally of no great width. There is no paving or metal, nor any drainage system, so that the streets are dirty and in parts often flooded. The inferior quarters are unspeakably filthy, and are rife with evil smells and large mangy dogs and pigs. Many of the houses are of clay and sun-dried brick, but those of the richer people are of stone and brick. All are frequently white-washed, the doors and windows being framed in bands of red and yellow. In the suburbs there are houses entirely built of the horns of sheep and oxen set in clay mortar. This construction is in some cases very roughly carried out, but in others it is solid and highly picturesque. Some of the inferior huts of this type are inhabited by the Ragyaba or scavengers, whose chief occupation is that of disposing of corpses according to the practice of cutting and exposing them to the dogs and birds of prey. The houses generally are of two or three storeys. Externally the lower part generally presents dead walls (the ground floor being occupied by stables and similar apartments); above these rise tiers of large windows with or without projecting balconies, and over all flat broad-eaved roofs at varying levels. In the better houses there are often spacious and well-finished apartments, and the principal halls, the verandahs and terraces are often highly ornamented in brilliant colours. In every house there is a kind of chapel or shrine, carved and gilt, on which are set images and sacred books.
Temples and Monasteries.—In the centre of the city is an open square which forms the chief market-place. Here is the great temple of the “Jo” or Lord Buddha, called the Jokhang,[1] regarded as the centre of all Tibet, from which all the main roads are considered to radiate. This is the great metropolitan The Jokhang. sanctuary and church-centre of Tibet, the St Peter’s or Lateran of Lamaism. It is believed to have been founded by the Tibetan Constantine, Srong-tsan-gampo, in 652, as the shrine of one of those two very sacred Buddhist images which were associated with his conversion and with the foundation of the civilized monarchy in Tibet. The exterior of the building is not impressive; it rises little above the level of other buildings which closely surround it, and the effect of its characteristic gilt roof, though conspicuous and striking from afar, is lost close at hand.
The main building of the Jokhang is three storeys high. The entrance consists of a portico supported on timber columns, carved and gilt, while the walls are engraved with Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan characters, and a great prayer-wheel stands on one side. Massive folding doors, ornamented with scrollwork in iron, lead to an antehall, and from this a second gate opens into a courtyard surrounded by a verandah with many pillars and chapels, and frescoes on its walls. On the left is the throne of the grand lama, laid with cushions, together with the seats of other ecclesiastical dignitaries, variously elevated according to the rank of their occupants. An inner door with enclosed vestibule gives access to the quadrangular choir or chancel, as it may be called, though its centre is open to the sky. On either side of it are three chapels, and at the extremity is the rectangular “holy of holies,” flanked by two gilded images of the coming Buddha, and screened by lattice-work. In it is the shrine on which sits the great image of Sakya, set about with small figures, lamps and a variety of offerings, and richly jewelled, though the workmanship of the whole is crude. In the second and third storeys of the temple are shrines and representations of a number of gods and goddesses. The temple contains a vast accumulation of images, gold and silver vessels, lamps, reliquaries and precious bric-à-brac of every kind. The daily offices are attended by crowds of worshippers, and a sacred way which leads round the main building is constantly traversed by devotees who perform the circuit as a work of merit, always in a particular direction. The temple was found by the members of the British mission who visited it to be exceedingly dirty, and the atmosphere was foul with the fumes of butter-lamps.
Besides the convent-cells, halls of study and magazines of precious lumber, buildings grouped about the Jokhang are occupied by the civil administration, e.g. as treasuries, customs office, courts of justice, &c., and there are also private apartments for the grand lama and other high functionaries. No woman is permitted to pass the night within the precinct.
In front of the main entrance to the Jokhang, in the shadow of a sacred willow tree, stands a famous monument, the Doring monolith, which bears the inscribed record of a treaty of peace concluded in 822 (or, according to another view, in 783) between the king of Tibet and the emperor of China. Before this monument the apostate from Lamaism, Langdharma, brother and successor of the last-named king, is said to have been standing when a fanatic recluse, who had been stirred by a vision to avenge his persecuted faith, assassinated him.
The famous Potala hill, covered by the palace of the Dalai lama, forms a majestic mountain of building; with its vast inward-sloping walls broken only in the upper parts by straight rows of many windows, and its flat roofs at various levels, it is not unlike a fortress in appearance. At the south base of the rock Potala. is a large space enclosed by walls and gates, with great porticoes on the inner side. This swarms with lamas and with beggars. A series of tolerably easy staircases, broken by intervals of gentle ascent, leads to the summit of the rock. The whole width of this is occupied by the palace. The central part of this group of buildings (for the component parts of Potala are of different dates) rises in a vast quadrangular mass above its satellites to a great height, terminating in gilt canopies similar to those on the Jokhang. Here on the lofty terrace is the grand lama’s promenade, and from this great height he looks down upon the crowds of his votaries far below. This central member of Potala is called the red palace from its crimson colour, which distinguishes it from the rest. It contains the principal halls and chapels and shrines of past Dalai lamas. There is in these much rich decorative painting, with jewelled work, carving and other ornament, but the interior of Potala as a whole cannot compare in magnificence with the exterior. Among the numerous other buildings of note on or near Potala hill, one is distinguished by the Chinese as one of the principal beauties of Lhasa. This is a temple not far from the base of the hill, in the middle of a lake which is surrounded by trees and shrubberies. This temple, called Lu-kang, is circular in form, with a loggia or portico running all round and adorned with paintings. Its name, “the serpent house,” comes from the tradition of a serpent or dragon, which dwelt here and must be propitiated lest it should cause the waters to rise and flood Lhasa.
Another great and famous temple is Ramo-ché, at the north side of the city. This is also regarded as a foundation of Srong-tsan-gampo, and is said to contain the body of his Chinese wife and the second of the primeval palladia, the image that she brought with her to the Snow-land; whence it is known as the “small Jokhang.” This temple is noted for the practice of magical arts. Its buildings are in a neglected condition.
Another monastery within the city is that of Moru, also on the north side, remarkable for its external order and cleanliness. Though famous as a school of orthodox magic, it is noted also for the printing-house in the convent garden. This convent was the temporary residence of the regent during the visit of the British mission in 1904. Other monasteries in or near the city are the Tsamo Ling or Chomoling at the north-west corner; the Tangyä Ling or Tengyeling at the west of the city; the Kundä Ling or Kundeling about 1 m. west of the city, at the foot of a low isolated hill called Chapochi. Three miles south, beyond the river, is the Tsemchog Ling or Tsecholing. These four convents are known as “The Four Ling.” From their inmates the Dalai lama’s regent, during his minority, was formerly chosen. The temple of medicine, as already stated, crowns the summit (Chagpa) at the end of the ridge west of the city, opposite to that on which stands the Potala. It is natural that in a country possessing a religious system like that of Tibet the medical profession should form a branch of the priesthood. “The treatment of disease, though based in some measure upon a judicious use of the commoner simple drugs of the country, is, as was inevitable amongst so superstitious a people, saturated with absurdity” (Waddell, Lhasa and its Mysteries).
The three great monasteries in the vicinity of Lhasa, all claiming to be foundations of Tsongkhapa (1356–1418), the medieval reformer and organizer of the modern orthodox Lama Church, “the yellow caps,” are the following:—
1. Debung (written ’Bras spungs) is 6 m. west of Lhasa at the foot
- ↑ The name given by Köppen (Die lamaische Kirche, Berlin, 1859, p. 74) is “La Brang,” by which it is sometimes known.
