Place · ancient Buddhist temple · Bhutan
Kyichu Lhakhang
One of the oldest temples in Bhutan, its inner shrine ascribed to Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century — the Tibetan king whose reign brought Buddhism over the Himalaya and who is credited with a ring of temples pinning down a demoness across the region. The Jowo image inside is held to be of that date. A second temple was added beside it in 1968 by the Queen Mother, so the complex is two buildings thirteen centuries apart.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered — The temple is established; its seventh-century date rests on tradition and chronicles rather than excavation or inscription.
- Location
- 27.441, 89.376
Worth knowing
Two orange trees in the courtyard are said to fruit all year round, which is the detail every Bhutanese account of the place mentions before the seventh-century shrine.
The seventh-century attribution rests on tradition and the Tibetan chronicles rather than on excavation or inscription.
Connections (1)
- In the same set asJampa Lhakhang, Bumthang
The two temples Bhutan ascribes to Songtsen Gampo, and between them the country's claim to a seventh-century beginning. Kyichu sits in the Paro valley in the west, Jampa in Bumthang in the centre, and both are counted among the ring of temples the Tibetan king is said to have built to pin down a demoness across the Himalaya. Neither attribution is established by inscription or excavation; what is certain is that both shrines are very old and that Bhutan dates itself from them.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kyichu Lhakhang”. Bhutan Department of Culture records; Michael Aris, Bhutan (1979).
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