Tabo: A Lamp for the Kingdom : Early Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art in the Western Himalaya - Hardcover

Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500018375 ISBN 13: 9780500018378

Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 1998

Synopsis

An exploration of the art, iconography, and contemporary rituals of Tabo features more than two hundred photographs, plans, and diagrams, including an outline of the pivotal role the Tabo in the history of Buddhism in the tenth and eleventh centuries.

About this title

Reviews

It is not at all unusual for Western art historians to write detailed treatments of single European or American religious structures. We are all familiar with many fine books on Chartres Cathedral or the great religious foundation at Assissi. Yet few of these exacting, room-by-room, image-by-image studies have been published on Asian religious buildings. Klimburg-Salter (Univ. of Vienna) has taken upon herself the task of recording and explaining the beautiful and extraordinarily well-preserved sculptures and wall paintings of the Buddhist monastery of Tabo, in the Indian Himalayas in the isolated valley of Spiti, near the Tibetan border. Built in 996 and renovated in 1042, the monastery was a focal point for the diffusion of Buddhism from its birthplace in India up through the high passes to Tibet. Studded with Sanskrit terms, the text is dry but readable and will be more appreciated by readers with some knowledge of Buddhism (just as European art history presupposes a knowledge of Christianity). The glorious color photographs provide a feeling for the vitality and quality of the art in this ancient monastery. A narrative chapter of Himalayan history covers the last 1300 years, and evocative black-and-white photographs chart the European expeditions of the early 20th century that first described Tabo. This book is a privileged look at an esoteric and inaccessible outpost of a religious practice steadily disappearing. Recommended for art and academic libraries.ADavid McClelland, Philadelphia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500018375
• ISBN 13: 9780500018378
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 279