Sumtsek

The Sumtsek is located on the left of the Du-khang that marks the finest of works in the history of early medieval Indian-Buddhist art. Its wood carvings and paintings are influenced by rich lively colours of red and blue and they are today as fresh and as vivacious as they were 900 years before. The main attraction of Sumtsek is a massive statue of Maitreya, the Buddha-to-come; his head is protected from the high imposing height in the second storey. Accompanying him are two equally grand bodhisattvas and they are positioned as if they are searching desperately through the gaps in the ceiling. Each of these embellishes statues wears a figure clinging dhoti decorated with careful design and pattern. Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion situated to the left, has pilgrimage sites, court vignettes, palaces and pre-Muslim style stupas on his dressing gown, while that of Maitreya is decorated with episodes from the life of Gautama Buddha. The robe of Manjushri which is the destroyer of falsehood, to the right, shows the 84 masters of Tantra, the Mahasiddhas, and adopting complex yogic poses in a maze of bold square patterns. Some of the delicate murals were refurbished in the sixteenth century, among them which are famous are the six-armed green goddess Prajnaparamita, known as the "Perfection of Wisdom Amazingly. The huge amounts of other images that are displayed in the interior of the Sumtsek, when sighted from the centre ascertain the atmosphere into a serene and tranquil whole.