The objective of the present study was to understand the historical context of the making of sacr... more The objective of the present study was to understand the historical context of the making of sacred sites in the village of Alchi in Ladakh, with a special focus on the monasteries of Alchi and Tsatsapuri, supplemented by other sacred structures like chortens, lhathos and lubangs. The study was conducted with the understanding that structures, though built to serve a specific function, do not perform their intended functions in isolation, but are influenced by a large number of factors, starting with regional peculiarities, cultural and social circumstances, and temporal changes in the social, cultural, political and spatial domains. Another set of factors influencing our understanding of physical structures is the history of their use—intended and actual, as well as the condition of our own times, which we use as a lens to understand our pasts. The study thus, attempted to understand one region of the vast and diverse history of Ladakh by looking at a small village tucked away in Lower Ladakh. Alchi might have represented only a fraction of the diverse practices and traditions prevalent in Ladakh around the tenth till the fifteenth centuries CE, but it was one which probably exercised immense influence and served as a vital point of exchange and interaction between different communities during this time. The study was conducted keeping in mind the history of the use of structures in Alchi, and not merely the history of the construction of these structures as independent entities that only shaped the landscape or were shaped by the landscape. Alchi is a region in the Shams that probably saw continuous change, and how this change was reflected in and impacted the physical structure and the people that used these structures was an important aspect looked into in this study. The study was also conducted so as to indicate a sample of the range of potential questions that a study of material culture can generate in the region, to push the need for an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the Ladakh region. The study of Ladakh has been for a long time dominated by an art historical approach, and a certain tendency toward looking at the history of different religions to get more information about the region, for comprehensible reasons. However, there is a need, especially now, in the light of the growth of inter-disciplinary approaches in the social sciences, to broaden our range
Talking Figures: Space and Performance at the Sumtsek of the Alchi Monastery, 2014
Presented at the 75th session of the Indian History Congress in New Delhi in 2014, this paper is ... more Presented at the 75th session of the Indian History Congress in New Delhi in 2014, this paper is a spatial analysis of the Alchi monastery of Ladakh. It attempts to look at the performative aspects of ritual elements and sculptures at Alchi to understand Buddhist practice in Ladakh in the twelfth century CE.
The objective of the present study was to understand the historical context of the making of sacr... more The objective of the present study was to understand the historical context of the making of sacred sites in the village of Alchi in Ladakh, with a special focus on the monasteries of Alchi and Tsatsapuri, supplemented by other sacred structures like chortens, lhathos and lubangs. The study was conducted with the understanding that structures, though built to serve a specific function, do not perform their intended functions in isolation, but are influenced by a large number of factors, starting with regional peculiarities, cultural and social circumstances, and temporal changes in the social, cultural, political and spatial domains. Another set of factors influencing our understanding of physical structures is the history of their use—intended and actual, as well as the condition of our own times, which we use as a lens to understand our pasts. The study thus, attempted to understand one region of the vast and diverse history of Ladakh by looking at a small village tucked away in Lower Ladakh. Alchi might have represented only a fraction of the diverse practices and traditions prevalent in Ladakh around the tenth till the fifteenth centuries CE, but it was one which probably exercised immense influence and served as a vital point of exchange and interaction between different communities during this time. The study was conducted keeping in mind the history of the use of structures in Alchi, and not merely the history of the construction of these structures as independent entities that only shaped the landscape or were shaped by the landscape. Alchi is a region in the Shams that probably saw continuous change, and how this change was reflected in and impacted the physical structure and the people that used these structures was an important aspect looked into in this study. The study was also conducted so as to indicate a sample of the range of potential questions that a study of material culture can generate in the region, to push the need for an inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the Ladakh region. The study of Ladakh has been for a long time dominated by an art historical approach, and a certain tendency toward looking at the history of different religions to get more information about the region, for comprehensible reasons. However, there is a need, especially now, in the light of the growth of inter-disciplinary approaches in the social sciences, to broaden our range
Talking Figures: Space and Performance at the Sumtsek of the Alchi Monastery, 2014
Presented at the 75th session of the Indian History Congress in New Delhi in 2014, this paper is ... more Presented at the 75th session of the Indian History Congress in New Delhi in 2014, this paper is a spatial analysis of the Alchi monastery of Ladakh. It attempts to look at the performative aspects of ritual elements and sculptures at Alchi to understand Buddhist practice in Ladakh in the twelfth century CE.
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