The Gsumge Mani Stone Castle, or Songge Mani-Sutra City ( zh, t=松格瑪尼石經城, s=松格玛尼石经城, first=t, p=Sōnggé mǎní shíjīngchéng, l=Gsumge Mani Stone Sutra City; also referred to as / ) is a massive complex built out of

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

mani stone Mani stones are stone plates, rocks or pebbles inscribed with the six-syllabled mantra of Avalokiteshvara ('' Om mani padme hum'', hence the name ''mani stone''), as a form of prayer in Tibetan Buddhism. The term mani stone may also be used to ...

tablets located in the Zachukha Grasslands, Sêrxü,

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Etymology

The place where the castle is located is known as () in

, () is a

modal particle In linguistics, modal particles are always uninflected words, and are a type of grammatical particle. They are used to indicate how the speaker thinks that the content of the sentence relates to the participants' common knowledge or add mood to t ...

The building

The rectangular castle is facing south, measuring 73 metres long and 47 metres wide. The height of the outer wall is about 9 metres, and the highest point of the castle is 15 metres. It is built in the structure of a

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

, without any supporting frames and construction adhesives. The outer walls are covered with rows of niches that look like countless "windows". Most of the niches are filled with exquisitely carved stone statues and paintings of

Buddhist deities Great mandala of the Tôji imperial temple in Kyoto Buddhism includes a wide array of divine beings that are venerated in various ritual and popular contexts. Initially they included mainly Indian figures such as devas, asuras and yakshas, but ...

. The interior is structured like a maze of corridors. A shrine dedicated to King Gesar and his thirty generals is located at the centre of the castle. According to an excavation report by the local government, half of the castle had sunk into the soil. The excavation yielded numerous mani stones inscribed with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

mantra A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

s dating back to the 11th and 12th centuries.

History

According to the local tradition, the Gsumge Mani Stone Castle dates back to the time of the legendary King Gesar. Around the 10th century, Nomzida and Ronchamale, two of Gesar's generals, along with a large number of soldiers, died in the battle of Hor-Ling due to the betrayal of Gesar's uncle Khrothung. As a gesture of repentance, Khrothung built a

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

and piled up mani stones around it. In the 18th century, the stupa and mani stone piles were discovered by Pema Rinchen (), founder of the Pukang Temple ( or ) at Sêrxü. He vowed to build a "city made of mani stones", which gradually became the Gsumge Mani Stone Castle. The castle's history can thus be divided into pre-Peman and post-Peman periods.

References

{{Reflist Tibetan Buddhist buildings in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Stone monuments and memorials Tibetan Buddhist architecture Tibetan Buddhist mythology

Etymology

The building

History

See also

References