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Who Founded Potala Palace?-
M. B. Shakya Nagarjuna Institute Standing loftily above the Lhasa valley Potala Palace of today was built on Red Hill(Tib. dMar po Ri) which dominates the city of Lhasa. No journey to the ‘Roof of theWorld’ is complete withour a visit to Potala Palace the construction of which began in1645 during the reign of Great Fifth Dalai Lama. It is said that the White Palace wasfinished in 1648and that the Red Palace was completed only in 1694, twelve years after the death of the Dalai Lama.During the Reign of Srong btsan po(629-650), he built the Red Hill Palace calledKukhar Phodrang of thirteen storeyed height mainly of mortar, stones and timber according to the scheme of the plan designed by Nepalese artists on behalf of NepalesePrincess Bhrikuti Devi.We are told that she built a nine storeyed palace Sog po mKhar for herself joined by asilver bridge for coming and going of Nepalese Princess form the king’s palace. But itwas burnt down by an invading Chinese army during the reign of his successor MangsonMangtsen. But fortunately, there are still two rooms inside the Potala Palace which dates back to early seventh century.Learned Tibetologist Mr. Stephen Batchelor says that it is impossible to tell howextensive this palace was and what it was like. At present Potala Palace occupies 130,000sq. meters of area and measures 117.19 meter high. It has 999 rooms and halls filled withmaster piece of arts, sculptures and architectural designs influenced by Nepalese, Chineseand indeginous Tibetan character. This building was named The Potala Palace after Mt.Potala in South India, the holy residence of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.Concerning the antiquity of the Potala Palace the learned Tibetan scholar Mr. TileyChodag says that the cave of the Religious king “Chogyal Drupug” is said to have been built to commemorate Srong bstan sgam po’s meditation on the Red Hill in his youth.Constructed in the seventh century, it is the most ancient part of the Potala. According towritten records, when it was built 1300 years ago, Potala had 999 rooms, the addition of this cave shrine making the figure up to 1000. Formerly, Potala was built on a vast scale, but due to fire damage caused by lightning strikes and sudden attacks, the originalconstruction was almost leveled to the ground leaving only the Chogyal Drupug Caveand the Phagpa Lhakhang. Looking around at the Chogyal Drupug’s shiny walls blackened by incense smoke, you can faintly see that all four walls have been dug out toform a cave. Under the gloomy electric light, the life like sculptures of Srong bstan sgam po, Bhrikuti Devi, Weng chen Kongjo, mGar Tongtsan and Thon mi Sambhota could bereal.We have translated below some passages from Mani bKa “bum “folio 117a-118a)Punakha ed. which gives us some ideas about original Red Palace and its dimension.”(folio 117a) “Then the king used to sit always in front of his tutelairy deity and remainedinseparable from it. Lha gcig Khri-bstun thought thus:” The king is beyond (the world of human activity).
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