The Ring of the King: A Tibetan's Ring and the Founding of a Monastery
Dating to the end of the 11th century and held in a private collection, this work is known as the Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Statue, or Master of Compassionate Heaven. Its subject is King Songtsen Gampo and his two consorts, Nechen. As the account goes, རྒྱལ་པོས་སོར་གདུབ་ཕུད་དེ་ འདི་གར་ལྷུང་བ་དེར་རྩིགས་ཤིག་ཅེས་ མཁའ་ལ་འཕངས་པས་མཚོ་ནང་དུ་སོང་བ། The Zamp threw off the ring and said, "Wherever it falls, that is where we shall build." The ring landed in the lake.
When the origin history of the Jokhang Temple is discussed, the precious ring worn by Songtsen Gampo for addressing is often brought up. The ring’s exact form has been much debated among classical scholars, and there are also claims that it belonged to Princess Chutzun. This passage comes from "The Sage's Banquet"（མཁས་པའི་དགའ་སྟོན་） by the 2nd Karmapa, Karma Pakshi (གཙུག་ལག་ཕྲེང་བ་; 1504-1566).
Since the 17th century, a widely held theory has claimed that the ring was adorned with a celestial bead. References to a nine-eyed finger sleeve or ring woven from black and white wool appear frequently in early Tibetan Buddhist classics. This nine-eyed pattern is regarded as a symbol of wealth and good luck. Even today, such ornaments can still be found in certain farming and herding regions of Tibet.
Thonmi Sambhota (བརྩོན་འགྲུས་གྲགས་པ་; 1123-1193), the revered restorer and architect of Lhasa's structures, is likewise a historical figure connected to the Jokhang Temple. In the time before his death, he crafted over a dozen rings from bamboo strips and gave them to his disciples, urging them to stay true to their teacher and to Buddha.
In a partial close-up of the image, a set of rings for the main hand is shown (combination decoration). According to both archaeological findings and folklore, early Tibetan culture employed not only metal but also bone (as recorded in British documents), rattan, and sheep wool in ring-making. Later, during the Tibetan Empire, Tibetan metal rings had evolved into more refined forms, including circular, square, circular-square half-clasp, and gem-decorated ring faces.
In Tibetan, the common terms for rings are "sor gdub" (སོར་གདུབ་) or "sor rgyan" (སོར་རྒྱན་), while informal expressions include "mdzub dkaris" (མཛུབ་དཀྲིས་) and "mdzub rgyus" (མཛུབ་རྒྱུས་). The phrase "tshigs khebs" (ཚིགས་ཁེབས་) can be used for all finger ornaments, rings included. The arrival of Buddhism in Tibet brought South Asian decorative influences into Tibetan culture, which led to a varied interpretation of rings.
In the Kham region (collected in Dege), a saying has it: “A man's finger guard can serve the war god, a woman's ring can serve the heavenly goddess.” The finger guards worn by warriors for archery are referred to as “kred kor” (ཀྲད་ཀོར་) or “mthemb kor” (མཐེབ་ཀོར་). In addition to marking status and acting as everyday adornments, Tibetan rings function as personal talismans and aids in spiritual practice. Divination rings are used by high priests, and rings of revelation are used by those who uncover hidden treasures.
Because no specialized literature has introduced Tibetan rings, modern classification of them is excessively complicated. One prevalent style in Tibet is the saddle-shaped ring (རྟ་སྒ་ཅན་). In the mid-19th-century work "Geser King Descends Enemy with Treasure-Wishing Gem and His Entourage," which belongs to the NYTH Museum, the partial image shows King Gesar wearing a white jade thumb ring. These rings aid in connecting with divine spirits and in seeking hidden treasures within the world.
It should be noted that not every ring is meant to be worn on a finger. Additionally, as documented in various sources, Tibetan rings can be divided into the following four categories (only those mentioned in literature): – Vajra-shaped ring with two ends on the ring face (རྡོ་རྗེའི་སོར་གདུབ་) – Lotus petal ring with granular ring face decoration (པད་སྤུངས་ཅན་) – Half-closed gem-set ring with eyes (སོར་གདུབ་མིག་ཅན་) – Circular iron ring without gems (གནམ་ལྕགས་ཚིགས་ཁེབས་).
Seven regional categories are sometimes used to classify rings: Nepalese, Indian, Mongolian, Bhutanese, Tibetan, Kham, and Amdo. Traditional ornaments also feature ring head ornaments and ring-shaped buckles, often carved with phoenix birds or floral designs. From the V&A Museum collection comes a set of mid-20th-century women's jewelry from the Ali region. Note the two distinct styles of precious silver rings shown below. The ring between sacred and secular.