Stupa and Lhatho: Architecture between Buddhism und Bon

The first establishment of Buddhism in the Himalayan region took place during the early phase of the Tibetan Empire under the rule of the Yarlung dynasty king Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo is also known for annexing the western Tibetan kingdom of Zhang-zhung, which by that time was the centre of the Bon religion. In addition to efforts to introduce orthodox Buddhist doctrine to Tibetan society by creating colleges for the translation of religious texts and funding the construction of Tibetan monasteries, Songtsen Gampo and his successors simultaneously acknowledged pre-Buddhist myths. One of the most prominent examples is the defeat of the protective goddesses of Tibet by the tantric adept Padmasambhava who, according to hagiographic tradition, bound them by oath to serve as protectors of the Buddhist faith. Such incorporation of early beliefs into Buddhism had the likely effect of not only securing the status of the new faith but also facilitating tasks that the Indian-based philosophy could not adequately fulfil, such as the correspondence and metaphysical interaction between society and the natural environment as represented by local mountain deities and spirits. On the architectural level, this approach most prominently took shape through the lhatho ("seat of a local divinity"). During the course of the FWF project "The Architecture of the Indo-Tibetan Stupa," a remarkable number of lhatos were observed to be combined with a specific group of Buddhist stupas, namely those of the Three Protector Bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, Manjusri and Vajrapani. In several cases, such configurations were placed as protective measures around villages or agricultural fields. Lhathos were even placed inside Buddhist temples such as the Lhatho Lhakhang of Alchi Tsatsapuri. In today`s Upper Ladakh, which is close to the region of ancient Zhang-zhung, the relation between or even the inter-changeability of lhatho and stupa architecture becomes increasingly noticeable. In several cases their architectural conceptions have merged, either through the incorporation of lhatho insignia on stupas or the representation of the Three Protectors in the form of three lhathos. Furthermore, the proportional and structural systems were nearly conflated. Since stupas were also built by Bon communities, the results of the proposed architectural documentation will address the question of underlying Bon conceptions in western Himalayan stupa architecture. The proposed project aims at a comparative study of structures that demonstrate a strong influence of so far little studied pre-Buddhist (i.e. Bon) conceptions in Buddhist stupa architecture - and vice versa - in order to shed new light on the development of the stupa in its Tibetan context. Finally, particular focus will be spent on the spatial aspects of the Three Protectors within the iconographic systems of temples to gain greater insight into their development within their Buddhist context.

The project set out to investigate lhatho architecture as a reflexion of the historical developments of Buddhism in the western Himalayas and to study the formal aspects of this comparatively archaic type of sacral architecture in the context of a natural-topographic and built environment. The study had been based on the preception that lhathos were playing a major role within the religious practices of the Buddhist lay community and that their history had its roots in pre-Buddhist believes commonly summarized under the term Bon. The study brought to light a more complex and in some aspects also divergent picture. First of all, there was a much greater diversity regards formal aspects (colour, form, compositional members, etc.) and configuration. Like stupas, lhathos may be built as solitary objects, but they may also be configurated in lines of three or as mandala- like structures of five, i.e. with four turrets placed around the central lhatho. Further, lhathos are not always solid but may also contain chambers just like Buddhist stupas. Another preception to be partly revised following the results of the study concerns the non-orthodox nature of lhathos as seats of territorial deities of indigenous Tibetan - and thereby non-Buddhist - origin as in the course of the project lhathos dedicated to classical Buddhist deities such as Vajravarahi and the Frour Guardian Kings of the Four Directions could be documented. Another striking fact concerned the invitation of powerful territorial protectors from (Central) Tibet by all of the Tibetan orders in the course of their expansion into the Western Himalayas and their strategic placement to protect the territorial claims of the respective order. Networks of lhathos stretching over hundreds of kilometers were built over vast distances, e.g. the seven spun (brothers) of Nezer Gyapo, whose main lahtho was placed on Kikutak Hill right in front of the Leh Palace. The number of seven is crucial in this context. So far only one such network had been documented. In the course of the study another two sets of seven spun were identified, one of which completey documented. In several case studies it was possible to investigate the complex networks of different lhathos systems within specific regions or even within single settlements. Village lhathos and family lhathos form complimentary sub-systems of the whole. Village lhathos regularly form groups with a specific set of Buddhist stupas, the rigsum gonpo, while family lhathos are often related with family shrines or house temples. Among the latter, the shrines of astrologers (onpos), traditional medical doctors (amchis) and aristocrats were of particular interest. At one site all those aspects could be found and investigates in a most comprehensive way: Tashigang in Upper Spiti Valley. There, a stupa of the so-called passge stupa type with a chamber-plus-lantern ceiling dedicated to a mandala cycle of Amitayus, one of the life prolonging deities can be found nearby a set of three lhathos representing the Three Dharma Protectors of the Gelugpa order: Nezer Gyapo, horse- head decorated Hayagriva and Palden Lamo, also personal guardian of the Dalai Lama. At Tashigang is possible to analyse the methods by which such an ensemble was integrated into a wider topographical context but also how the internal realm of the stupa interacted with the surrounding environment, both built and natural.