1925 King's Palace at Muli
Until 1950 Muli was a semi-independent theocratic kingdom, ruled by a series of hereditary lama kings based at the trio of Yellow (Gelugpa) sect Buddhist monasteries at old Muli, Kulu and Waerdje. These lamaseries These lamaseries were overthrown by the new Communist rulers of China in the 1950s and destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The monastery at old Muli, 120 km north of the county seat, once housed more than 700 monks. It was originally built in early Qing Dynasty, took 12 years to build and was completed in the 17th year of the reign of Qing Emperor Shunzhi, around 1600. It was modelled on important lamaseries in Tibet and is said to have contained an impressive golden statue of Gyiwa Qamba Buddha over 10 metres high. Since 1987 the Muli monastery has been partly restored and now has about 80 young monks in residence. It is near a modern small town called Wachang, located high up on the western edge of the Litang river valley, at about 3000 metres altitude. The other monasteries at Kulu (now known as Kangwu)and Waerdje are still in ruins. Muli was visited by the botanist and explorer Joseph Rock in the 1920s and 1930s. He befriended the then lama king, Chote Chaba, and used the monastery as a base for exploring and plant collecting in the then unvisited regions of Minya Konka and Yading. Joseph Rock wrote colourful accounts of his encounters with the eccentric lama ruler of Muli in the National Geographic magazine. These are said to have been the inspiration for the writer James Hilton and his novel Lost Horizon, about a remote monastery in the Himalayas.
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Photo credit: © SOTK2011 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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