Nechung Monastery

Abstract

Chapter 5 focuses on Nechung Monastery itself, offering a structural and symbolic exploration of the site’s architecture before addressing its often problematic historical evolution. The monastery possesses a rich and multivalent structure, with the courtyard murals illustrating the Five King Spirit’s retinue, the assembly hall providing images of the deities themselves along with important tantric figures, and the central chapel displaying statues of Nechung’s main protectors. Oral accounts historically associate the site with vivid prophetic pronouncements, but several discrepancies make a complete history difficult to ascertain. Regardless, today Nechung has been reestablished in exile, and both the historic Nechung of Lhasa and the new Nechung in India speak to the split liturgical activities of Pehar’s institution.