Resource #: 19466 (URL for reference)
Collections: 2001 Upper Tibet Antiquities Expedition (UTAE)
Description:
A pair of vertically oriented anthropomorphs at mtha' kham pa ri (I-28). This site was first described by the archaeologist bsod nams dbang 'dus in Art of Tibetan Rock Paintings (1994). Despite a fairly steady stream of Chinese researchers visiting mtha' kham pa ri over the last decade, I am not aware of any published examples of this important petroglyph. It depicts a male figure with arms raised standing directly underneath a female figure. The female figure is squatting in the classic birth-giving position. Her head, torso and breasts were boldly rendered as different-sized triangular forms. I am inclined to see this pre-Buddhist composition as an encomium of the life-giving power of the male-female dyad. I would further speculate that the relative position of the female figure is a definite sign of the special prominence of woman in early Upper Tibetan society as the exalted life-givers. This would have been the state of affairs well before the domination of Buddhism, and what might be argued is its bias towards male symbols of religious power and prestige. I explore gynarchic elements of Upper Tibetan paleoculture in various publications, most recently in Bellezza 2005a.Associated Resources
Resource type: Image
Photographer: John Bellezza
Recording Note:
ru thog