1998.286.163 (Glass negative)
1998.286.163 (Glass negative)
Sir Charles Bell
Sir Charles Bell
September 11th 1921
Lhasa Area > Dra Yerpa
1998.286.163
78 x 103
Ritual Activity
Negative Quarter Plate
Donated 1983
St Antony's College, Oxford
Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21
Q.150
BL.Q.150
British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections
'The People of Tibet', Sir Charles Bell, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928 [view list of illustrations]
Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry: "[No. of chapter] XXXI. [Subject of Chapter] Weddings and Funerals [Subject of Illustration] Q150 (o) Corpse cutting platform at Tra Yer-pa. Tur-trö at Tra Yer-pa, where the corpses are cut up and given to the birds. See Diary, XII, 87."
Other Information - Description: Bell's Diary entry for 11th September 1921, whilst staying at Tra Yer-Pa Monastery: "I walked this evening to the top of a neighbouring mound, where three fires of the incense burning juniper are kep burning. Just below is the tur-tro , where the corpses of the monks of Tra Yer-Pa are cut up. This is a flattened piece of ground, somewhat larger than a man's body, floored with slabs of slate. A small slab stands vertically in the ground as a headpiece; to it the dead monk's neck is secured, while pieces are chopped off the corpse and given to the birds (photo quarter plate)." [Vol. XII, p.87]
Contemporary Publication - Published in 'The People of Tibet', Bell, C. A., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928, facing p.290:"A flattened piece of ground, somewhat larger than a man's body."
For Citation use:
The Tibet Album.
"Sky burial platform in Dra Yerpa Monastery"
05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum.
<http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.286.163.html>.
For more information about photographic usage or to order prints, please visit the The Pitt Rivers Museum.
© The Pitt Rivers Museum
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