The Zhol outer pillar, or Doring Chima, is a stone pillar which stands outside the historical residential and administrative Zhol village below the

Potala Palace Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of t ...

, in

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. It was erected to commemorate a 783 border treaty between the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...

and the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

. The pillar is inscribed with an old example of Tibetan writing.

Erection

The pillar was erected during the reign of King

Trisong Detsen Trisong Detsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 37th king of Tibet. As the 38th king, he ruled from AD 755 until 797. Trisong Detsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet — Songsten Gampo, Trisong Detsen, Rapalchen — honored f ...

(755 until 797, or 804), the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty. It was commissioned by Chisong Dezan who erected a monument to commemorate the war achievements of

Nganlam Takdra Lukhong Nganlam Takdra Lukhong (, ? – ?), also known as Nganlam Tara Lukhong (), Nganlam Lukhong or Lon Takdra (), was a famous general of the Tibetan Empire who served as '' Lönchen'' during Trisong Detsen's reign. In many Chinese records, his name ...

The inscription

The creation of the Tibetan script occurred during the reign of

Songsten Gampo Songtsen Gampo (Classical , pronounced ) (; (601–683 CE, reign 614-648) was the 33rd Tibetan king of the Yarlung dynasty and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. The first of three Dharma Kings of Tibet, he formally introduced Buddhism to Tib ...

, the 33rd king of the Yarlung dynasty, through the work of

Thonmi Sambhota Thonmi Sambhota (Thönmi Sambhoṭa, (Tib. , Wylie transcription, Wylie ''thon mi sam+b+ho Ta''; c.619-7th C.) is a figure credited by Tibetan traditions with creating the first Tibetan script, based on the Gupta script, Gupta alphabet, after bei ...

and others. Sambhota was sent to India early in Songsten Gampo's reign, and devised an alphabet suitable for the Tibetan language by adapting elements of Indian scripts and other scripts. The inscription starts off by announcing that

had been appointed Great Inner Minister and Great Yo-gal 'chos-pa (a title difficult to translate). It goes on to say that Klu-khong brought to Trisong Detsen the facts of the murder of his father,

Me Agtsom Me most often refers to: * Me (pronoun), the first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker Me, M.E. or ME may also refer to: Language * Me (cuneiform), a sign in cuneiform writing * Me (kana), a letter in Japanese script * Middle En ...

(704-754) by two of his Great Ministers, 'Bal Ldong-tsab and LangMyes-zigs, and that they intended to harm him also. They were then condemned and Klu-kong was appointed Inner Minister of the Royal Council. It then gives an account of his services to the king including campaigns against Tang China which culminated in the brief capture of the Chinese capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

(modern

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

) in 763 CESnellgrove and Richardson (1995), p. 91. during which the Tibetans temporarily installed as Emperor a relative of Princess Jincheng Gongzhu (Kim-sheng Kong co), the Chinese wife of Trisong Detsen's father,

.Beckwith (1987), p. 148. It is a testament to the generally tolerant attitude of Tibetan culture that this proud memorial by a subject was allowed to stand after the re-establishment of Buddhism under Trisong Detsen and has survived until modern times.

Other information about the pillar

Traditionally among the celebrations for Tibetan New Year, or

Losar Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various da ...

, a team of sportsmen, usually from

Shigatse Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê () or Rikaze ( zh, s=日喀则, p=Rìkāzé), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histo ...

, would perform daredevil feats such as sliding down a rope from the top of the highest roof of the Potala, to the Zhol Pillar at the foot of the hill. However, the

13th Dalai Lama The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (full given name: Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal; abbreviated to Thubten Gyatso) (; 12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, enthroned during a turbulen ...

banned this performance because it was dangerous and sometimes even fatal. As of 1993 the pillar was fenced off so it could not be approached closely (see accompanying photo).

Gallery

File:Potala and Sho Doring.jpg, 1936-1937 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-12-48-12, Tibetexpedition, Karawane vor Potala.jpg, 1938 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-15-04-37, Tibetexpedition, Lhasa, Potala.jpg, 1938 File:Lhasa Zhol Rdo-rings 1993.JPG, 1993 File:Lhasa vom Potala II.jpg, 2004

Footnotes

References

* ''Ancient Tibet: Research Materials from the Yeshe De Project''. (1986). Dharma Publishing. Berkeley, California. . * Beckwith, Christopher I. (1987). ''The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia''. Princeton University Press. Princeton, New Jersey. . * Larsen and Sinding-Larsen (2001). ''The Lhasa Atlas: Traditional Tibetan Architecture and Landscape'', Knud Larsen and Amund Sinding-Larsen. Shambhala Books, Boston. . * Richardson, Hugh E. (1984) ''Tibet & Its History''. 1st edition 1962. Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Shambhala Publications. Boston . * Richardson, Hugh E. (1985). ''A Corpus of Early Tibetan Inscriptions''. Royal Asiatic Society. . * Snellgrove, David & Hugh Richardson. (1995). ''A Cultural History of Tibet''. 1st edition 1968. 1995 edition with new material. Shambhala. Boston & London. .

External links

"The Battle of the Barkhor"
Gordon Laird - "Barkhor Heritage 05".

{{coord missing, Tibet 8th century in Tibet Tang dynasty Buildings and structures in Lhasa Treaties of Tibet History of Lhasa