Alchi at the Threshold of a New Era in Tibetan Buddhist Art

The Alchi Choskhor monastic complex in Ladakh, northwestern India, is one of the jewels of world art (fig. 2). Within this complex housing five painted monuments dating from the late twelfth to the first quarter of the thirteenth century, the three-story Sumtsek Temple stands out in terms of conception, preservation, and quality.1 Built in the memory of Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel (1143–1217), the Sumtsek can also be dated to about 1220. Although some scholars continue to date the monument earlier, internal evidence leaves no doubt about its historical context. Moreover, the Alchi monuments provide ample signs that they were constructed at the threshold of developments that make Tibetan Buddhist art distinctive.

Manjushri with Mahasiddhas

One of the depictions that demonstrate this development is the monumental clay sculpture of Manjushri with eighty-five Mahasiddhas —adepts of esoteric Buddhist teachings—on his dhoti, that is, the painted cloth covering the hip and legs of the image (fig. 1). This representation of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom is orange and four-armed, and he is surrounded by the sculptures of the four outer offering goddesses, which personify the offerings of incense (dhupa), flower blossoms (pushpa), light (dipa), and fragrance (gandha).

The same bodhisattva, surrounded by tiny offering goddesses, is also shown in the main panels flanking this niche, and these depictions clarify the attributes that are now missing from the sculpture (fig. 3). As in the painting, the upper hands once held an arrow and a bow, while the lower hands held a sword and a book on top of a flower blossom, commonly a blue lily (utpala), as still preserved above the sculpture’s left shoulder. This form of Manjushri is alluded to by a verse of the Litany of Names of Manjushri (Manjushrinamasamgiti), where Manjushri figures as the ultimate expression of the Buddha’s wisdom: 

Dressed in the mail of loving kindness, equipped with the armor of compassion, with a volume of insight scripture, a sword, a bow and an arrow, he is victorious in the battle against defilements and unknowing.2

The Litany of Names of Manjushri derives from an esoteric Buddhist context and has inspired a rich literature commenting on it from both a Yogatantra and Highest Yogatantra perspective. The mahasiddhas on the dhoti stand for the transmission of the highest esoteric teachings and thus the latter perspective. Their depiction can be linked to the Legends of the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas as narrated by the Indian scholar Abhayadatta to his Tibetan disciple in the early twelfth century.3 

The dark-skinned figure at the bottom center of the dhoti (fig. 4) can be identified as Padampa Sanggye, an Indian adept active in Tibet until his passing in 1117.4 Although not part of Abhayadatta’s group of mahasiddhas, he specifically signifies the transmission of the highest esoteric teachings to Tibet.

Three Stories, Three Sculptures

The Sumtsek is a three-story building with central niches in the back and the side walls (fig. 5). The three niches house such tall clay sculptures that their heads look into the middle story. As encountered by the circumambulating visitors, these sculptures are the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara, Maitreya, and Manjushri, and their clothing is covered with paintings of the holy places of Kashmir, the life of a buddha, and the mahasiddhas.

As stated by inscriptions within the Sumtsek and a slightly later monument, the Pelden Drepung Chorten (previously referred to as Great Stupa), the temple was founded by the master (lobpon) Tsultrim Wo of the Dro family. In the top story of the Sumtsek, this master pays homage to a lineage of teachers ending with Drigungpa (fig. 6), that is, Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel (1143–1217), the founder of a branch of the Kagyu tradition named after the monastery he founded, Drigung. A close study of the inscription written by Tsultrim Wo for the Pelden Drepung Chorten further reveals that it is dedicated to Drigungpa as well, and that Tsultrim Wo, besides the Sumtsek, built a shrine for his relics.5 This may well be a reference to the chorten (Sanskrit: stupa) originally placed in the center of the Sumtsek, the shape of the current chorten indicating that it is a more recent replacement. 

Family Monastery

Combining the information from these two monuments with that of the earlier Main Temple founded by the master Kelden Sherab, it is clear that the Alchi Choskhor was a family monastery inherited from uncle to nephew. Such arrangements were common for Tibetan monasteries at the time. 

The Dro clan was already prominent during the Tibetan Empire (seventh to ninth century), and during the later spread of Buddhism in Tibet (tenth to eleventh century) it established itself in western Tibet. As the recently identified foundation inscription of the Sumtsek establishes, the branch of the family that founded Alchi was based in Sumda, a village in the valley parallel to and south of Alchi.6 The family likely controlled trade moving between the western Tibetan Plateau and the Kashmir Valley, giving them the means to establish their own monastery and sustain it for several generations.

The artists who painted the earlier monuments of the complex­—the Main Temple, the Sumtsek, the Pelden Drepung Chorten, the Tashi Gomang Chorten (previously called Small Stupa), and the Jampel Lhakhang (or Manjushri Temple)—are thought to have come from Kashmir, while the structures established subsequently were likely decorated by local artists. The shift in workmanship, accompanied by changes in the material quality and the religious content of the monuments within and around the Alchi Choskhor, directly reflects changes in economic circumstances and the religious environment in which they were established. The moves from depictions of the Yogatantra to those of Highest Yogatantra themes—most notably, deities in sexual embrace—and from an independent western Tibetan tradition to one closely aligned with central Tibet are most remarkable. Representative of the latter is the so-called Lhakhang Soma, the New Temple, with images of the highest Yogatantra deities covering its main wall (fig. 7). 

Religious Politics

Traditionally, the temples of Alchi—and many other monuments throughout the region predating the fifteenth century—are credited to the great translator (lotsawa) Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055). Within the Alchi Choskhor such credit is expressed by the Lotsawa Lhakhang (“Translator’s Temple”), whose name directly refers to him. This naively painted temple dates between the early monuments and the Lhakhang Soma and features the portrait of a teacher to the left of Shakyamuni on the main wall (fig. 8). However, the same teacher is already portrayed in the two early chortens, where he can be identified as Drigungpa based on the contexts of these depictions (fig. 9).7

Today, the Alchi Choskhor is run by Likir Monastery, which is of the Geluk tradition founded by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). An originally conservative tradition, it directly associated itself with the teachings of Atisha Dipamkarashrijnana (ca. 982–1054), who met Rinchen Zangpo in western Tibet before traveling to central Tibet. It is therefore not surprising that when the Geluk tradition established itself in the western Himalayas through pupils of Tsong­khapa in the fifteenth century, it directly linked back to Rinchen Zangpo. This is obvious in the Red Temple, or Dukhang Dzamlinggyen, in Toling, where a triad focused on Rinchen Zangpo to the left of the niche is balanced by a triad with Tsongkhapa in its center.8 Thus, it must have been during the spread of the Geluk tradition in the western Himalayas from the fifteenth century on that earlier monuments in the region were credited to Rinchen Zangpo, sidelining the traditions, such as the Drigungpa, that flourished in between. 

For the monuments of the Alchi Choskhor this meant that portraits of Drigungpa became identified as Rinchen Zangpo. Likir Monastery even today maintains the attribution, despite the fact that it contradicts the content of the monuments. The depiction of the eighty-four mahasiddhas on Manjushri’s dhoti, for example, is based on a source that certainly dates after Rinchen Zangpo’s time. Dating to about 1220, it remains the earliest image of this topic preserved anywhere in the Himalayas. Further, portraying the Tibetan teacher as an awakened being, as apparent in the paintings of Drigungpa in the two early chortens at Alchi (fig. 9), did not become prevalent until the early thirteenth century, once again positioning the Alchi depictions at the threshold of a new development. 

The more recent and modern understanding of the site is an expression of a sectarianism foreign to the time when Alchi was founded. Being a family monument, attributing the foundation of the Alchi Choskhor to any tradition is misguided. Instead, the Alchi Choskhor needs to be interpreted on the basis of the information it contains, and then it offers a uniquely detailed glimpse into a past for which we have very few reliable records. In this regard, too, the value of Alchi cannot be overestimated.