Documentation of Chödzong Temple

During the 2021 field research campaign, Christian Luczanits was invited by the Norbusum Foundation to document the collection at the remote temple of Chödzong. Built around a fifteenth-century painted cave housing impressive images of protector deities documented earlier, the monastery is built on a cliff in an uninhabited valley, four hours' horse ride from Lo Manthang, the historic capital of Mustang (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: View of Chödzong Monastery, which can be recognised by the improvised tin roof protecting its fragile structure on the cliff.

Chödzong’s small collection of images and books has always been at risk of being taken and sold illicitly. It is said that its distinctive sculpture of Milarepa, an 11th-century Tibetan hermit, has been taken multiple times, but was returned when misfortune befell the takers (Fig. 2). To everyone’s surprise, the documented objects included 12th-century sculptures and book covers.

Fig. 2: The Milarepa image of Chödzong Monastery; Mustang, ca. 1500, brass, 44 x 32 x 26 cm.

The monastery is managed by the Chödzong Gönpa Management Committee, based in Lo Manthang, in cooperation with the local Ngakpa community, a group of tantric practitioners. In 2021, many community members attended the annual ritual for the cave's protector deities (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Group photograph at the end of this year's campaign in front of Chödzong Monastery (photo Kunzom Thakuri).