Ali Purang County | Happy New Year

Ali Purang County | Happy New Year

"Mt. Kailash and Two Holy Lakes Pilgrimage Panorama"
Collected by monasteries in the Ali region, photographed by Guge Zirenjabu

"Ali Purang Buddha Statue"
Located in Xide Village, Purang County, photographed by C. Kalantari
Selected from a series of photos taken in 2007, this close-up shot captures the face
Erected in 826 or 838, this masterpiece of a statue dates back to the Tubo period

"The Ali Purang Bodhisattva Statue"
Located in the east of Purang County, photographed by C. Jahoda (2007)
It is speculated that its construction time is close to the above-mentioned Purang Buddha Statue
Either in the first half of the 9th century or the late 9th century, the main subject of the statue is unknown.
དོ་དགོང་འདི་རུ་འཛོམས་སོང་རེ་ལོ།
ལགས་དང་ཞུས་པས་ལགས་དང་ཞུས་པས།
གཏན་དུ་འཛོམས་རྒྱུ་བྱུང་ན་རེ་ལོ།
དེ་རིང་བཀྲིས་ལགས་བཀྲ་ལ་ཤིས་བ་རེ་ཤོག་ཅིག་ལ་ནི།
དེ་རིང་གཡང་ཆགས་ལགས་གཡང་ལ་ཆགས་པ་རེ་ཤིག་ཅིག།

Gather here tonight, please come, welcome, may we often be joyfully gathered together
May today be auspicious, may today be as you desire
Excerpt from the Purang folk song "Auspicious Day"(བཀྲིས་ཉིན་མོ་)

*The lyrics of this folk song may vary by region
Various interpretations exist for the second line
The Tibetan word "གཡང་ཆགས་" has only been translated in a basic manner in the Tibetan language
The concept embodied by this term is very rich in depth

"Vajrasattva and Vajrapani, Sources of Supreme Power and Fearless Wisdom"
From the mid-15th century, private collection
Detail: A Western Tibetan layperson and monk in elaborate attire as a patron

Female Protector: Dzogchenma
In the 13th century, above the entrance to the Songzeng Hall of the Akisong Temple
As the personal protector of the great translator Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo (958-1055)
Dzogchenma (རྡོ་རྗེ་ཆེན་མོ་) is revered throughout the entire Western Tibetan region.

 

The traditional "Four New Years of Tibet" include the Gongbu New Year in Nyingchi area, the Purang New Year in Ali Prefecture, the Agricultural New Year in the rural areas, and the King's New Year celebrated throughout Tibet. These four New Years mark the beginning of the year on the first day of the tenth month, the eleventh month, the twelfth month, and the first month of the Tibetan calendar, respectively. It is important to note that some regions in Tibet have their own unique New Year festivals, such as the Dzam Lingpa Festival in the Gar Region. Each New Year has its own legend of origin, rooted in the unique natural environment and climate of the region. It is commonly believed that during the Tubo period, there were two major gatherings of rulers, officials, and people, one in summer focused on agriculture and animal husbandry abundance and summer sacrifices, and the other in winter related to overall prosperity and winter sacrifices. Today, festivals like the Horse Racing Festival are associated with the former, while the Agricultural New Year and the King's New Year are related to the latter. In terms of their origins, the Gongbu New Year in Nyingchi and the Purang New Year in Ali Prefecture share a similar narrative structure, involving celebrations before sudden military conflicts.

"Wooden sutra board found in Purang County"
Taken by Guge Tsering Japu in the late 14th century.
"Wearing Elaborate Attire Women from the Ali Region"
Photographed by Guge Cirenjabu
"The common clothing styles in western Tibetan areas can be divided into twelve categories"
There are specific differences in both clothing combinations and accessory styles.

"The Prince of Norsang and Yungdrung"
Selected from "Eight Major Tibetan Operas: The Prince of Norsang"
Published by People's Publishing House of Tibet, 2023 Edition

 

In the current conventional "Eight Great Tibetan Operas", it is generally believed that apart from "Nang Sa Wo Bong" and "Han Fei Ni Fei", the original texts of the other six Tibetan operas are not based on real events, but are derived from revelation literature from South Asia and the Himalayan region, especially "The Story of Rgyalpo of sTag-lun". It should be noted that the authenticity of the source of "Zhuo Wa Sangmu" in the other six Tibetan operas is still debated in the academic community. Although the story of the origin of the Ali Purang New Year involves the Prince Nosang and is related to the protagonist of the Tibetan opera "Prince Nosang", the deeper meaning behind it may transcend the text and reach the depths of history.

Purang(སྤུ་ཧྲེང་/སྤུ་རངས་), the peacock holy land surrounded by snowy mountains, is not only home to the revered Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar, but also to cultural landscapes such as Khojag Monastery(འཁོར་ཆགས་དགོན་) and the ancient palace grotto temples(དགུང་འཕུར་ལྷ་ཁང་/སྐུ་ཚེ་དགོན་). In particular, the ancient palace grotto temples, in the traditional folklore of Purang, are the practice and ascension sites of Princess Un Chor Lam, and many rock-hewn structures and mountain-lake combinations in Purang are associated with the legend of Prince Nosang. This literary representation that transcends history reflects the specific narratives and memories of the people of the Ali region about their own history. As one of the early three kingdoms, the Purang Kingdom has a long history related to the ancient Guge Kingdom, and has constantly extended its own historical lineage, from a relatively independent territorial entity long under the rule of Guge, to governing independently and giving rise to other vassal states, and ultimately perishing in the historical flow of Western Tibet.

Therefore, we cannot accurately determine the specific actions of this change in the New Year celebration, whether it began during the "period of prince's rule" under the Guge governance, or during a war of resistance against external forces after the Purang Kingdom gained full independence, or during the "Ladakh War" led by Ganden Tashi Wang in the 17th century. For the people living in Purang and Zanda, they take pride in their descent from the lineage of Prince Nosang, as they see themselves as the heirs of the glorious history of Western Tibet. Perhaps the prince tales imported from South Asia, especially the Kashmir region, have led the people here to associate them with outstanding rulers of their own. "The prosperity of the northern land is all due to the benevolent teachings and good governance of the kings", the evaluation by the Fifth Awan Lozang Jigme on Prince Nosang, isn't it enough to remind us of those descendants of the kings who have already been recorded in the history books of later Ali? The temples and monasteries still stand, and prosperity thrives here.

Painting Detail: The Four Harmonious Friends
17th century, collection of the Rubin Museum
(Note: "The Four Harmonious Friends" is a traditional Buddhist tale about a partridge, a hare, a monkey, and an elephant working together to protect a tree with fruits.)

པུ་ལན་དུ་ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ།

Happy Purang New Year

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