Barkhor, a circular street at the center
of Old Lhasa, is the oldest street in a very traditional
city in Tibet. It is a place where Tibetan culture, economy,
religion and arts assemble and a place to which a visit
must be paid.
It has been said that in the seventh century
Songtsen Gampo, the first Tibetan King (617-650) who unified
Tibet, married Chinese Princess Wencheng and Nepal princess
Tritsun. Later Princess Tritsun built Jokhang Temple to
accommodate the twelve-year-old Jowo Sakyamuni, brought
to Tibet by Princess Wencheng.
Barkhor is the road which pilgrims tramped
out around Jokhang Temple through centuries. Buddhist pilgrims
walk or progress by body-lengths along the street clockwise
every day into deep night. Most of Lhasa's floating population
is comprised of these pilgrims. The pilgrims walk outside
four columns on which colorful scripture streamers are hung,
a custom which began in the Tubo period (633-877) as a way
to show respect.
To the west of the north street of Barkhor,
in front of a juniper hearth, the annual ceremony to hail
Maitreya (Buddha of the Future) is held. Tibetans pray before
the hearth to expect fortune in the next year. A yamun,
which used to be the office of a Lhasa magistrate, squats
nearby. A small lane leads northward to a nearby market,
the oldest market in Lhasa. The pantheon of the three story
temple built during the Tubo period retains its Tubo architecture
after many renovatioins. It was said that characters used
in Tibetan writing were invented in the temple.
Barkhor, the sacred pilgrim path, is also
a marketplace where shaggy nomads, traders, robed monks
and chanting pilgrims join together. Clustered shops and
stalls sell printed scriptures, cloth prayer flags and other
religious vessels, jewelry, Tibetan knives, ancient coins
and other Tibetan relics.
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