Ancient Rutog Clay Caves Murals

The cave, named Dingaon Lakan, is 4 meters tall and wide. Various pictures of Buddha and flying Apsaras were painted on stonewall around the cave or on the top of the cave.

The subjects of the murals mainly concerned about dkyil-khor(a kind of painting like thangka). There are two kinds of dkyil-khor: Buddhism and Bonism(a kind of religion in Tibet ). But they are all round outside and quadrate inside. On the two sides of the cave gate, you can find pictures of Buddha. And on the left side there are some horrible ghost pictures, pictures of the naked persons or men and women with genitalias outside. According to the murals’ subjects and style, the murals carry a strong feature of folk paintings in ancient Tibet, which is totally different from those Tibetan Buddhism monastery murals painted after Tubo Kingdom period in colors and styles. In addition, around Dingaon Lakan people also found a large group of huge cave murals with special pictures of humans and animals, which is the precious materials for study the early folk painting in ancient Tibet.

Location:

It lies in the gully of Wu River valley to the northeast of Banggong Co Lake in Rutog County.

 

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