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Art and Architecture in Ladakh Art and Architecture in Ladakh Cross-Cultural Transmissions in the Himalayas and Karakoram Edited by Erberto Lo Bue and John Bray LEIDEN | BOSTON This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents List of Contributors vii List of Illustrations xii Introduction 1 Erberto Lo Bue and John Bray 1 Ancient Petroglyphs of Ladakh: New Discoveries and Documentation 15 Tashi Ldawa Thsangspa 2 Embedded in Stone—Early Buddhist Rock Art of Ladakh 35 Phuntsog Dorjay 3 Historic Ruins in the Gya Valley, Eastern Ladakh, and a Consideration of Their Relationship to the History of Ladakh and Maryul With an Appendix on the War of Tsede (rTse lde) of Guge in 1083 CE by Philip Denwood 68 Neil and Kath Howard 4 An Archaeological Account of Ten Ancient Painted Chortens in Ladakh and Zanskar 100 Quentin Devers, Laurianne Bruneau and Martin Vernier 5 The Chorten (mChod rten) with the Secret Chamber near Nyarma 141 Gerald Kozicz 6 The Dating of the Sumtsek Temple at Alchi 159 Philip Denwood 7 The Iconography and the Historical Context of the Drinking Scene in the Dukhang at Alchi, Ladakh 167 Marjo Alafouzo 8 The Wood Carvings of Lachuse. A Hidden Jewel of Early Mediaeval Ladakhi Art 191 Heinrich Poell 9 The mGon khang of dPe thub (Spituk): A Rare Example of 15th Century Tibetan Painting from Ladakh 226 Chiara Bellini 10 Chigtan Castle and Mosque: A Preliminary Historical and Architectural Analysis 254 Kacho Mumtaz Ali Khan, John Bray, Quentin Devers and Martin Vernier This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV vi contents 11 Lamayuru (Ladakh)—Chenrezik Lhakang: The Bar Do Thos Grol Illustrated as a Mural Painting 274 Kristin Blancke 12 The Lost Paintings of Kesar 298 John Bray 13 Tshogs zhing: a Wall Painting in the New ’Du khang of Spituk (dPe thub) 314 Filippo Lunardo 14 From Benaras to Leh—The Trade and Use of Silk-brocade 329 Monisha Ahmed 15 Conservation of Leh Old Town—Concepts and Challenges 348 André Alexander and Andreas Catanese 16 Revealing Traditions in Earthen Architecture: Analysis of Earthen Building Material and Traditional Constructions in the Western Himalayas 364 Hubert Feiglstorfer 17 Conservation of Architectural Heritage in Ladakh 388 John Harrison Bibliography 400 Index 428 This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV Chigtan Castle and Mosque: A Preliminary Historical and Architectural Analysis Kacho Mumtaz Ali Khan, John Bray, Quentin Devers and Martin Vernier Until the early 19th century Chigtan (Cig gtan or Cig ldan) in the Purig (Pu rig/ Bu rig) region of western Ladakh was a semi-independent principality ruled by a local chief or Jo. Like the rest of Purig, it was originally Buddhist, but the rul- ing family adopted Islam in the late 16th or early 17th century CE. The region’s oral tradition and its architectural inheritance are therefore of particular inter- est as a meeting point of Buddhist and Islamic cultural influences. Today, Chigtan has long since been eclipsed as a regional centre by the mod- ern town of Kargil. However, it is still widely known as a focal point of Ladakhi culture, famous for the local version of the Kesar epic and for a wider reper- toire of folk stories and songs.1 Chigtan castle is now sadly dilapidated but, even in its present ruinous state, it remains a particularly important example of Ladakhi architecture. The mosque below the castle has hitherto been over- looked almost completely by scholars but, as will be seen below, it contains an important set of wood carvings. The whole complex deserves to be better known. In two earlier articles Neil Howard (1989, 1995) presented a survey of for- tresses scattered across the Indus valley and Zangskar, but he was not able to include Chigtan. This essay expands on this earlier work by presenting a pre- liminary study of Chigtan’s history and the remains of the castle’s architec- ture. It draws on photographs and oral evidence collected in the early 20th century and more recently, together with a preliminary inspection of the site as it stands today. The Chigtan Foundation Myth Chigtan’s foundation myth was recorded by the Moravian missionary scholar A.H. Francke in the early 20th century, and is still part of the region’s oral tradi- tion today. 1 Herrmann (1991) includes a German rendering of the saga as recited by Rahimulla Takarpa from Chigtan. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004271807_012 This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV Chigtan Castle and Mosque 255 Francke (1926:172–175) reports than in 1906 he heard that Chigtan had had its own historical chronicle. It emerged that the original document no longer survived but that the former Jo, who now lived in Kargil, had learnt it by heart and could recite it from memory. Francke duly sent one of his assistants to record the text. According to the chronicle, the founder of the Chigtan principality was called Tsangkhan Malik (lTsang mkhan ma lig), and originally came from Gilgit in what is now northern Pakistan. He carried a walnut stick and planted it in the village of Dargo (Dar go) before going to sleep. When he awoke, the stick had sprouted leaves and, taking this as a good omen, he built a castle there. He had a similar experience in Kuksho (Kug sho), this time with a birch stick, before fijinally coming to the nearby village of Chigtan. He also built a castle there although, as Francke (1926:174) remarks, this must have been a distant predecessor to the building whose ruins survive today. Francke comments that the founder’s original name was probably simply ‘Tsangkhan’, and that ‘Malik’ might have been added later to make his name sound more Islamic. He records a similar foundation myth for the rulers of Sod (bSod) near Kargil who belonged to the same family and also held a small castle at Pashkyum (Pas kyum/Pas skyum). Figure 10.1 Chigtan castle in 1909. Photo: Babu Pindi Lal. Courtesy Kern Institute, Leiden University, ms nr.XI. fol.31. This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV 256 Khan, Bray, Devers and Vernier Figure 10.2 Chigtan castle in 2009. Photo: Kacho Mumtaz Ali Khan. Tsering Malik According to local tradition,2 the present castle was built on the orders of Tsering Malik (Tshe ring ma lig), who ruled Chigtan at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. His hybrid Buddhist/Muslim name suggests that he may have been one of the fijirst members of the ruling dynasty to embrace Islam, although it is likely that many of the ordinary inhabitants of the region would have remained Buddhist for some generations to come. Even today there is still one Buddhist household in the village, and hybrid Buddhist/Muslim names have been common in the nearby village of Kuksho until recent times (Sheikh 1995:164). The early 20th century historian Hashmatullah Khan (1939) states that Tsering Malik was the younger son of Kho Kho Bazam, the ruler of the com- bined principality of Sod, Pashkyum and Chigtan.3 Kho Kho Bazam’s elder son 2 The references to the oral tradition in this paper area are as recorded by Kacho Mumtaz Ali Khan. 3 Hashmatullah Khan served in Ladakh as an offfijicial of the Jammu & Kashmir government in the early 20th century. His work draws heavily on oral traditions, many of which have since been lost. We are grateful to Abdul Ghani Sheikh for this reference. This is a digital offfprint for restricted use only | © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV Chigtan Castle and Mosque 257 Urgyal Malik (Ur rgyal ma lig?) was the heir apparent, but he appointed Tsering Malik as the governor of Chigtan. Tsering Malik declared independence with the help of his father-in-law, the Ladakhi King Jamyang Namgyal (’Jam dbyangs rnam rgyal, r. c. 1595–1616), and captured Pashkyum as well as Chigtan, while his brother retained control of Sod. Tsering Malik’s construction—or recon- struction—of the castle may have been intended to provide him with a secure base when making this bid for greater regional power. A somewhat similar account—though difffering in important details— appears in the La dvags rgyal rabs, the Ladakh royal chronicle (Francke 1926:106–107; Petech 1977:33–34). This records that Jamyang Namgyal took Tsering Malik’s side in a conflict with an unnamed neighbouring chief, possibly Urgyal Malik.4 Jamyang Namgyal’s decision proved disastrous because it led to the intervention of Ali Mir, the Makpon (dMag dpon) of Skardu in Baltistan, who defeated him in battle and overran the whole of Ladakh. Jamyang Namgyal was captured and taken to Skardu where, according to legend, he fell in love with the Makpon’s daughter Gyal Khatun (rGyal Khatun). Later he was allowed to marry the princess and to return peacefully to Ladakh.5 Tsering Malik pre- sumably retained or resumed control of Chigtan, although the chronicle does not state this specifijically. Tsering Malik also appears in two historical songs collected by Francke (1909:64–66). The fijirst of these refers to the castle and in Francke’s translation runs as follows: On the boundary of heaven and earth, There is a castle raised by [a] lion If you ask where that is, where that is. It is the youths of middle age in our godly land. If you ask where that is, where that is. It is all the gravel-plains of the beautiful [castle] Shag-mkhar.
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