Burang, known as Purang in Tibetan, is the main town in Burang County

Burang County

Burang County is called Purang in Tibetan, and the county capital is also known as Purang in Tibetan and Taklakot in Nepali...

 in Ngari Prefecture

Ngari Prefecture

Ngari Prefecture is a prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Its capital is Gar County. Its regional headquarters is in the town of Purang. The biggest town is Ali. It includes part of the Aksai Chin area, a disputed region claimed by India but over which China exercises administrative...

 in the Tibet Autonomous Region

Tibet Autonomous Region

The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....

 of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. It is situated to the south of Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash

Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...

, near the borders with India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

. The town lies at an altitude

Altitude

Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...

 of 4755 metres (13,205 feet). The Tibetan name of the town (spu hreng) is a corruption of the Zhang-zhung

Zhang-Zhung language

Zhang-Zhung is an extinct Tibeto-Burman language that was spoken in what is now western Tibet. The term 'Zhang-zhung language' has been used to refer to two different entities. The first 'Old Zhang-zhung' refers to the language which appears in a small number of documents preserved in Dunhuang. The...

 words pu hrang, meaning 'horse head'. It is known by Nepalis and Indians as Taklakot (from Tibetan

Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

 'Takla Khar'), and is a very ancient trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

 and staging point for pilgrim

Pilgrim

A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...

s to Mount Kailash. It lies in the valley of the Karnali River or the Mapchchu Khambab - the 'Peacock Mouth River' or 'River Formed from the Mouth of a Peacock'. between Mount Namonanyi and the Abi Gamin

Abi Gamin

Abi Gamin is a Himalayan mountain peak situated in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state in India, 2 km  northeast of Kamet. It lies on the northern border of Chamoli district, where India meets Tibet....

 ranges.

Burang is said to be the place where Sudhana

Sudhana

Sudhanakumâra , mainly known as Sudhana, translated as Child of Wealth, is the main protagonist in the next-to-last and longest chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Sudhana appears in Buddhist, Taoist and folk stories; in most of them he is one of the acolytes of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and is...

, a previous incarnation of the Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

, lived.

On a cliff above the town was the large ancient fort of Tegla Kar

Tegla Kar

The Tegla Kar Dzong was a fort located on a cliff above the town of Burang in Burang County, southwestern Tibet near the Nepalese border. It seems that the Tegla Kar was built during the Zhang Zhung period which was conquered by the Tibetan King Songsten Gampo in the beginning of 7th century...

 (Lying Tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

 Fort) and Simbiling Monastery

Simbiling Monastery

Simbiling Monastery, also known as Shambuling Gompa, Shepeling Dzong and Taklakot Gompa, was located next to the large fort of Tegla Kar on a ridge near Taklakot, above the town of Purang, in the Ngari province, which is just over the border from Nepal in western Tibet in the valley of the Karnali...

 (both totally destroyed in 1967 by Chinese artillery during the Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

, but the monastery has since been partially restored). Beneath them is the Tsegu Gompa

Gompa

Gompa and ling are Buddhist ecclesiastical fortifications of learning, lineage and sadhana , located in Tibet, India, Nepal, and Bhutan...

 or the "Nine-Storey Monastery" which was probably originally a Bön establishment. Tsegu covers many terrace

Terrace (agriculture)

Terraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice...

s and may be reached by ladder

Ladder

A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps. There are two types: rigid ladders that can be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rope ladders that are hung from the top. The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers or stiles . Rigid ladders are usually...

s, and contains many unique and ancient wall-painting, darkened from centuries of smoke.

It seems that the Tegla kar (Lying Tiger fort) was built during the Zhang Zhung dynasty which was conquered by the Tibetan king Songsten Gampo in the early 7th century CE. It became the main fort of the Burang Kingdom, in the 10th century under King Kori, one of the two sons of Tashi Gon, King of the Guge

Guge

Guge was an ancient kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, within Ngari Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, China. At various points in history after 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur,...

Kingdom. The Burang kingdom is believed to have ended in the 15th century.

External links

• Purang: a region joining Tibet, Nepal, and India (Kailashzone Charitable Foundation)
• Photos of Taklakot