PROJECTS
CENTRAL ASIA

VILLAGE IDENTITY AND STATE INFLUENCE IN BUDDHIST CENTRAL ASIA
(1) Elke Studer | Races for the Gods. Byang thang ’char can rta rgyug.
(2) Hilde Schäffler | Ethnological Knowledge, Objects and Colonial Power.
(3) Guntram Hazod | Historical Maps of Central Tibet.
(4) Walter Probstler | Cultural History of the Buryats in Northeastern Mongolia.
(5) Stephan Kloos | Tibetan Medicine among the Buddhist Dards of Ladakh.


 
ELKE STUDER | RACES FOR THE GODS
Byang thang ´char cen rta rgjug.
 


Elke Studer worked in Nagchu, part of the old administrative region Chang Tang, in the “northern area” of the autonomous region of Tibet. There, among the patrilineal nomadic clans of the region, horses are still valued very highly. Indeed, many local deities are portrayed riding horseback, such as gNyan-chen thang-Iha, the most important territorial deity of the north. In honor of the warlike attributes of these deities, riding competitions in their honor occurred all over Tibet during the summer months. In the 17th century, it was the Qosot Mongols who shaped the history of Tibet, when Gushri Kahn offered his military support to the fifth Dalai Lama and received the spiritual support of the emerging Gelukpa (Yellow Hat) School. This ruler of the Qosot had a permanent influence in northern Tibet by establishing a great Riding Festival in 1640 to demonstrate his claim to power.
 
In this way a ritual in honor of the local deity became a great holiday, in which the best riders of both the nomadic clans and the Mongolian troops participated. Thereafter the festival was held every four years on the occasion of the arrival of the new Buddhist governmental emissary to the Chang Tang from Lhasa. Starting in 1959 and throughout the Chinese Cultural Revolution, however, the holiday was forbidden. Reinstated in 1992, the celebration is taking place once more now, however, in a largely secularized form. High-ranking functionaries of the Communist Party now present the prizes to the winners of the race from Nagchu.


 
The data for this project were gathered by Elke Studer in collaboration with her Tibetan research partner, Pema Gyatso, and the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences. Research methods included participation, observations, and interviews. The author also consulted prayer texts and local Tibetan publications about the Rider Festival. In addition to extensive photo documentation, the author also created a short film that was broadcast on the Austrian Television Network (ORF): Tibetisches Reiterfest (Tibet 2002)
 
 
 
Studer, Elke (2006): Weiße Zelte am Schwarzen Fluss: Über die Beziehungen der nordtibetischen Klans von Nagchukha zu Lhasa in der Zeit vom 17. Jahrhundert bis heute. In: Gingrich, Andre and Guntram Hazod (ed.): Der Rand und die Mitte. Beiträge zur Sozialanthropologie und Kulturgeschichte Tibets und des Himalaya. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press.
-> see publications
 
Studer, Elke (2002): Ritual under change: Mongolian Influences on Horse Races and Montain Divinity Worship in Tibet. In: Inner Asia 4, 2002: 361-373
-> read more
 
 		 
     
 
 

Wittgenstein-Preis 2000
Kommission für Sozialanthropologie
Schwindgasse 14/6
A-1040 Wien

Tel.: 0043/1/515 81 - 6677
Fax: 0043/1/503 68 73 - 6680
wittgenstein2000@oeaw.ac.at

Notice: We want to inform you that the research program will come to an end on the 31st of March 2007. Since that time this homepage will not be updated anymore.