BLESSING FOR THE LAND

In Nepal’s Mustang District, on the right bank of the Kali Gandaki river facing the large settlement of Tshug (Chusang), is a low hill known as Gönpa Gang, the “convent ridge.” Standing on the ridge are the remains of a Buddhist site, Künzang Chöling. Until recently, nothing was known about the building beyond the fact that it had once been a nunnery, and it is hard now to imagine that a local ruler in the 17th century, awed by its majestic proportions and its exquisite paintings, exclaimed that it was “the jewel in the crown of the realm.” This book brings to light a forgotten gem of Nepal’s architectural and artistic heritage, while the archives of the community offer a window onto the lives of the lama who built it “as a blessing for the land,” and of the nuns for whom it was a centre of spiritual activity for almost three centuries.

John Harrison is best understood as a specialist in Himalayan and Tibetan vernacular architecture, with decades of fieldwork across Nepal, India, Pakistan, and China. His work is deeply tied to documenting, conserving, and interpreting the architectural heritage of the Himalayas, including Mustang, where he co‑authored A Blessing for the Land.

Christian Luczanits is a leading scholar of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist art, widely recognized for his research on monasteries, sculpture, and painting traditions across the Western Himalayas. His work is central to understanding the artistic and cultural history of regions such as Mustang, Ladakh, and Tibet.

Charles Ramble is a British anthropologist and one of the most influential scholars of Tibetan and Himalayan societies, especially the Mustang region of Nepal. His work combines long-term ethnographic fieldwork, historical research, and the study of Tibetan-language archives.

Nyima Drandul is a Tibetan-speaking scholar and local historian from Mustang, Nepal, known for his collaboration with international researchers on the social history, documents, and monastic heritage of the region. His work is especially important because he provides local expertise, linguistic knowledge, and access to community archives, which are essential for reconstructing Mustang’s historical record.