Thöni, M: Kailash - Guge

West Tibet¿s uniqueness is the result of the combination of overwhelming natural landscapes and a perceptible spiritual atmosphere. This part of the Tibetan Plateau is the true "Land of the Gods", for here is located the divine Mt. Kailash. Since time immemorial the followers of four religious communities worship this mountain as their holiest spiritual "centre": Bön-pos, Jains, Hindus and Buddhists. Here was, and still is, the place of the gods of Tibet and of India. The first section of Part I of the present volume is devoted, both in text and illustration, to Mt. Kailash, with the historical-mythological viewpoint and its relationship to the Vedic-Hinduistic cultural realm on the Indian subcontinent being especially stressed. Thereafter, the reader, following the Sutlej ­River (one of the "four waters of Kailash") westward, reaches the sunken kingdom of Guge, widely dominated by the beige-yellowish deposits of a huge prehistoric lake gleaming in the bright light of the sun. Following the footsteps of the Italian scholar Giuseppe Tucci, the journey continues through the fantastic canyon landscape of that prehistoric Lake Zanda, laying bare a veritable treasure chest of that unique Indo-Tibetan Tantric art, which in rudimentary form is still preserved in the centres of the former kingdom, the temples of Tsaparang and Tholing. The shorter, second part of the book deals with the latest findings and discoveries from archaeological and geologic research. Aspects of the pre-Buddhist, so-called "prehistoric" West Tibet are discussed, as well as the development of the greater Indo-Tibetan Region during the distant past; for this, perspectives of both natural science as well as of the divine Veda are taken into account. 376 pages with 530 photos and illustrations. With image contributions dealing with the temple frescoes in Guge by Jürgen C. Aschoff and Hans Först.English translation from the original German by Henry M. Lieberman.Expanded English version of the 2016 German