Key Information

Photographer

Rabden Lepcha?

Collection

Sir Charles Bell

Date of Photo

April 17th 1921?

Named Person

Ragashar Family

Region

Lhasa > Ragashar House

Accession number

1998.285.115.1

Image Dimensions

120 x 163 mm

Ragashar, his brother (both seated), Ragashar's wife standing next to Ragashar's brother. Two male members of household standing behind. Also two female members of the household, one wearing several ornaments.

Further Information

Photographic Process

Negative glass plate gelatin , Negative Half Plate

Date Acquired

Donated 1983

Donated by

St Antony's College, Oxford.

Copy difference

Lantern

Expedition

Sir Charles Bell's Mission to Lhasa 1920-21

Photo also owned by

Royal Central Asiatic Society

Previous Catologue Number

H.102

Previous Pitt Rivers Museum Number

BL.H.102b

Manual Catalogues -

Manual Catalogues - Bell's List of Illustrations entry for H.102: "[No. of chapter] XVI. [Subject of Chapter] The Aristocracy. [Subject of Illustration] H102 (l) (left to Right) Rakashar, his brother, both seated. Rakashar's wife. Servants behind. [remarks] L.74 [Lantern slide 74] (Y in L)"

Technical Information - Bell does not distinguish in his List of Illustrations between H102a and H102b [1998.285.113 and 1998.285.115]. However, 1998.285.115 appears to be a re-photograph of a print from 1998.285.113, although zooming in and cropping the image to enhance the centrality of the figures. As a result, 1998.285.115 has a slightly more grainy texture [MS 18/5/2004]

Other Information - Setting

Other Information - Setting: Bell went on a short tour north of Lhasa at the beginning of April 1921. In his diary for 17th April he states:"On the way [back to Lhasa] a servant of Rakashar met us with an invitation to his house, 8 miles or so out of Lhasa. We spent a very pleasant hour conversing with the head of the family, a Depon recently returned from Eastern Tibet. Poor man, though only 35 years old (Tibetan reckoning), he is crippled with gout." [Vol. X, p.22]

Other Information - People

Other Information - People: Bell's diary entry for 24th March 1921: "Palhese tells me that Rakashar is descended from another of the old kings before Song-tsen Gampo's time, known as 'Cha-pa', 'The Bird'. Both these families [Rakashar and Lha-gyal-ri] are believed to be descended in unbroken descent through the male lines from these earliest ancestors. The heads of the Lha-gyal-ri and Rakashar family are greeted by their tenants with obeisances accorded only to Lamas and they are looked on as Lamas. They do indeed marry, but so did the 'Religious Kings'. When a head of these families dies, a tomb is made encased in silver, just as those of the D[alai] L[ama]s are encased in gold. So says Palhese" [MS 1/6/2004]

For Citation use:
The Tibet Album. "Ragashar and his wife, with group" 05 Dec. 2006. The Pitt Rivers Museum. <http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/photo_1998.285.115.1.html>.

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Ragashar and his wife, with group