Himalayan Art Resources

Tibet: Dratang Monastery (SRG Archive)

SRG Archive: Dratanag | Tibet Main Page

Subjects, Topics & Types:
- Dratang Monastery Description (below)
- Map of U-Tsang
- Leigh Miller Archive: Dratang
- Ariana Maki Archive: Dratang
- Masterworks
- Confusions
- Others...

Dratang Monastery, circa 1085, was founded by the monk Traba Ngonshe. During the 13th century the monastery was offered to Sakya Pandita and has remained a Sakya institution from that time. More specifically the monastery has been under the influence of the Gongkar Chode Monastery of the Dzongpa branch tradition - founded by Kunga Namgyal - for the past few centuries.

Dratang was heavily damaged in the mid 20th century and only the ground floor and ground floor murals, depicting Shakyamuni Buddha and students, remain original to the site. Giuseppe Tucci, prior to 1931, recorded full black and white photographs of the site. Long anticipated, both the scholarly and Tibetan communities look forward to the day the photographs are published and made available to the world community.

Jeff Watt [updated 9-2018, 4-2019]