Mustang city, the capital of a kingdom

Mustang city, the capital of a kingdom

Mustang is an ancient kingdom with a colorful past. First mentioned in Ladakhi records in the seventh century, Mustang shared much of its history with Tibet to the North. Buddhism came to Mustang at about the same time as to the rest of Tibet. Legend says that before Padmasambhava (the founder of Tibetan Buddhism) could complete construction of Tibet's oldest monastery, Samye, he had to build the temple in Lo Ghekar in Mustang (see legend in the introduction). By the fourteenth century the great warrior Ame Pal became the ruler of Mustang and ushered in Mustang's golden age, which lasted for the next 200 years. Ame Pal built the majority of the capital city of Lo Manthang, including the palace and the four great temples in Lo Manthang. He also convinced the renowned Lama Ngorchen Kunga Sangpo, of the Sakya sect of Buddhism in Tibet, to come to Mustang numerous times in his lifetime. Lama Sangpo's attentions spawned an age of spiritual enlightenment in Mustang, resulting in the building of the many temples and monasteries that dot the Kingdom. By the fifteenth century Mustang had become a central power in Tibetan Buddhism.

The slide photo is scanned by a Nikon CoolScan 5000 ED from Kodachrome 50.