I.2. Residential Structures in Other Locations: Religious and Elite Residences

Jomo RirangJo mo ri rang

Basic site data

• Site name: Jomo RirangJo mo ri rang
• Site number: B-23
• Site typology: I.2a
• Geographic coordinate (N. lat.): 31º 53.3΄
• Geographic coordinate (E. long.): 80º 48.5΄
• Elevation: 4950 m to 4970 m
• Administrative location (township): KhyunglungKhyung lung
• Administrative location (county): TsadaRtsa mda’
• Survey expedition: UTAE and HTCE
• Survey date: April 30, 2001 and October 25, 2002
• Contemporary usage: None.
• Identifiable Buddhist constructions: None.

General site characteristics

The three do khangrdo khang of Jomo RirangJo mo ri rang are found on steep dramagra ma-studded slopes, on the opposite side of the valley from Jomo Rirang KharJo mo ri rang mkhar (A-54). This lower site is much less protected and more open than that of the castle. The edifices were built in the ordinary fashion of all-stone corbelled edifices. They have robust random-rubble walls that were either constructed with a minimum of mud-mortar or with no mortar at all. Mostly slabs of variable length (20 cm to 1 m long) were used to build the structures. Well-formed dark gray roof appurtenances were employed in construction as they were in the Jomo Rirang KharJo mo ri rang mkhar. The three buildings of Jomo RirangJo mo ri rang are designated: upper, middle and lower.

Oral tradition

None was collected.

Site elements

Upper rdo khang

The upper do khangrdo khang is the largest at the site and measures 8.6 m (north-south) x 6.4 m (east-west). This edifice is divided into four main sections and contained around seven rooms. The stone roof of the northeast room is partly intact and has in situ bridging stones up to 1.9 m in length. The floor-to-ceiling height of the northeast room is about 1.7 m. There are two niches in its north wall. The northeast room has two entrances that still have their lintels in place: southwest and southeast (both 1.2 m x 65 cm). Three and a half meters above the upper do khangrdo khang there is what appears to have been the base of a tenkharrten mkhar or some other kind of shrine (2 m x 2 m x 2 m). Its interior has been gutted and its original shape and height are unclear.

Middle rdo khang

The middle do khangrdo khang (7 m x 2.8 m) is situated 15 m downhill from the upper do khangrdo khang. This structure contained at least two rooms, but there may well have also been a lower or forward section that has been completely obliterated. In one of the rear rooms there is an in situ bridging stone, 1.7 m in length.

Lower rdo khang

The lower do khangrdo khang (8.5 m x 3.5 m) is situated 28 m downhill of the middle do khangrdo khang. In addition to the extant structural remains, there may have been a forward tier of rooms but the physical evidence left behind is inconclusive. A lintel over an entranceway between two rear rooms has persisted in the otherwise poorly preserved remains.