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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2024

When Religion Works Political Wonders - The Spiritual Significance of the Visit of Kathok Rigzin Tsewang Norbu to Ladakh in 1752–53

Résumé

(Paper Abstract - Kathok Rigzin Tsewang Norbu and his connection with the Drukpa lineage in Lower Ladakh in the 18th century: reflections on its past and present significance. The paper will draw on my research on the heritage of the Drukpa lineage in Ladakh (a forthcoming book), introducing some findings and reflections about the Drukpa legacy and the Ladakhi culture, while providing new light on the religious history of Lower Ladakh in the 18th century. My method is interdisciplinary. It combines the collection of the local oral tradition, reading of biographies of Tibetan masters, such as that of the 7th Gyalwang Drukpa Thrinle Shingta (1718-1766), who spent one year in Ladakh around 1747/1748, and that of his root guru, the master Kathok Rigzin Tsewang Norbu. Tsewang Norbu is well known to historians of Ladakh for his crucial mediation between the king of Upper Ladakh and the king of Lower Ladakh in 1752 and 1753, which led to the famous “Hanle Award” (to which Peter Schwieger has dedicated a paper published in RROL in 1993, and thereaſter an entire book). I will also mention stone and silk inscriptions preserved at Hemis, and Buddhist art, in particular statues and thangkas found in various temples of both Upper and Lower Ladakh, which are not well identified. By crossing these sources and ascertaining the proper identification of the religious images, I will present an outline of how a practical approach to spirituality in general, and Kathok Rigzin Tsewang Norbu in particular, may have influenced the religious history of Ladakh and more particularly Lower Ladakh in the middle of the 18th century. Sacred images of Kathok Rigzin from Serdung Castle in Mulbek and from the old Drukpa temple of Phokar in the same area will be introduced, along with the religious dimension of the master’s activities during his sojourn, so far presented in modern literature as having been of only a political nature. Connecting the past with the present will also be attempted, taking as a basis the local guardian deities’ cult performed by Tsewang Norbu to reconcile the entire population of Ladakh, a form of cult still alive and maybe significant at the meeting point of Buddhism and Islam in the cradle of a very ancient Himalayan culture.
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hal-04571404 , version 1 (07-05-2024)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04571404 , version 1

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Estelle Atlan. When Religion Works Political Wonders - The Spiritual Significance of the Visit of Kathok Rigzin Tsewang Norbu to Ladakh in 1752–53. Christian Luczanits. Visible Heritage 2. Essays on the Art and Architecture of Greater Ladakh. Papers from the 17th IALS Conference, Kargil 2015, Vajra Publications, In press. ⟨hal-04571404⟩
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