西藏阿里象泉河流域卡孜河谷佛教遺存的考古調查與研究=Archaeological Survey and Study of Buddhist Remains Across the Khatse River Valley in the Xiangquan River Basin Within Ngari Prefecture,Tibet
The present paper deals with the Buddhist remains recently discovered in archaeological survey across the Khatse River valley in the Xiangquan River basin within western Tibet. Among them the aboveground monuments,including the Nyags Ihakhang grottoes,the Khatse Village Buddhist Temple along with the early Buddhist relics in the temple,and the ruined Buddhist stupas on the summit of the hill north of the village are preliminarily datable to about the 11th to 13th century.Of them the Kashimir-style images in the Nyags Ihakhang and Khatse temples can be more definitely dated to the 11th century and assigned to the early Guge Kingdom.In addition to these early remains,there are the Bragdzong gon pa grotto and other vestiges that may go back to the time as late as the 15th to the 16th century and, as the author believes,can be taken as related to the religious activities of the Kagyu and Saskya sects in this area during the second spread of Buddhism in Tibet.According to Tibetan documents and historical legends,Khatse was closely related to the religious activities of Rinchenzangpo,an eminent monk and great translator of the early Guge Kingdom,and his family.The discoveries under discussion prove that Khatse was not only an important political,cultural and religious center of the early Guge Kingdom,but also a remarkable place where various religious sects of the mid and late Guge Kingdom very frequently did their activities.As known from the murals of the Nyags Ihakhang and Bragdzong gon pa grottoes,the Buddhist art of this region had a long history with its own evolutionary sequence.It inherited the aesthetic style of the early Guge Kingdom on one hand and made new development in later times on the other.Therefore,the archaeological survey brought new rich data for understanding the aspect and developmental course of Buddhist culture in the Guge Kingdom and accumulated certain experience for future field archaeological work in the small river valleys of western Tibet.
