Some Other Pieces of the Puzzle: The Restoration of the Alchi Sumtsek (A lci gSum brtsegs) by Tashi Namgyal (bKra shis rNam rgyal) and Other Considerations on the Stratification and Reinterpretation of the Paintings of this Temple.

The paintings preserved in the Alchi Sumtsek (A lci gSum brtsegs), in Ladakh, represent a unique and exquisite example of the Kashmiri stylistic milieu in the Himalayan world. My attention was captured in 2007 by the inscription, identified by Denwood as inscription number 10, in the Maitreya chapel. The text contains the name of the sixteenth century King Tashi Namgyal (bKra shis rNam rgyal), as a patron of the renovation of the temple as well as the names of some of the artists who worked on the temple. In this paper I will discuss some additional aspects of the paintings in this temple, without presuming to arrive at definitive answers, but with the intention of providing additional pieces to a very big and complicated puzzle. I believe that this work of restoration was more significant and substantial than previously thought based on the implications of the contributions of the artists mentioned in inscription 10. Furthermore, I will also focus on the commissioning of temples carried out by the early descendants of the Namgyal Dynasty.