Abstract

The temples of the Alchi Group of Monuments enshrine some of the most important remains of the early Buddhist art of the western Himalaya region. While their murals and clay sculptures have been widely studied, another aspect, namely their votive stupas, has hardly been dealt with. In the small hamlet of Saspotse near Alchi two votive stupas have survived in a dilapidated state inside two small ruined temples. Despite of their poor state of preservation they still display some of their original decorative elements. The stupa of the eastern temple in particular has some unique features including ornamental depictions of stupas and floral scroll patterns in gilded high relief as well as lions made of clay and wooden sticks supporting the fragile construction. Originally fully painted, these stupas were the most delicately built specimens of their kind in Ladakh found so far.

The poster will focus on the detailed documentation using 1:1 drawings of selected sections of the survived decorative parts. In addition, the stupas will be tentatively reconstructed on the basis of the measurements of their remaining parts and a comparative study of their proportional systems and the related votive stupas of the Alchi Compound.