Thundering Falcon

Thundering Falcon is the second of two significant ethno-historical studies of the Yarlung region and neighboring valleys of Central Tibet by the research team of Per K. Sørensen, Guntram Hazod, and Tsering Gyalbo. The first work in the series, Civilization at the Foot of Mount Sham-po (Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2000), focused on the local history of Upper Yar. In this companion study, Thundering Falcon, Sørensen, Hazod, and Gyalbo turn their attention to the Lower Yarlung region, long acknowledged as the cradle of Tibetan civilization. As an entry point into the rich history of this area, the authors concentrate on the royal shrine of Trandruk or “Thundering Falcon,” Tibet’s oldest Buddhist temple. Tandruk (Khra ’brug) was built in the seventh century during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo (d. 649) as the first of several “border-suppressing” sanctuaries, and is also one of the three earliest and most sacred pilgrimage sites in Central Tibet; the two others are, of course, the Jokhang and Samyé. The study is arranged in three lengthy sections: (1) Introduction (3-38); (2) Sources for the History of Trandruk (39-168); and (3) Appendices (169-333). Thundering Falcon proves to be a deeply informative study of Central Tibet’s earliest Buddhist temple and an indispensable contribution to our understanding of the local history of the Yarlung Valley, a vital geocultural region. The work is yet another fine testament to the fruits of the ever increasing collaborative bonds between scholars in Europe and Tibet, and particularly between the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences (TASS) and the University of Vienna. We eagerly await the next volume in this series on Tsel Gungtang by the same impeccable team of researchers.