Iconic Jokhang temple safe,
adjacent shrine gutted by fire
February 17, 2018 Tenzin
Dharpo Phayul.com
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 17: Amid
widespread speculations of the iconic Jhokang temple in Lhasa city
in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)being destroyed by fire,
Phayul’s sources in Lhasa have confirmed that a nearby shrine has
been destroyed by a fire earlier today and not the 7th Century
shrine.
The Jokhang temple,
considered sacred by Tibetans and built by Tibetan emperor Songtsen
Gampo has suffered no damage.
A fire broke out on
Saturday evening around 6:30 p.m. local time, the source said. The
fire has since been put out by the authorities. No damage to sacred
relics have been reported. The cause of the fire is not yet
ascertained, a Tibetan living in Lhasa told Phayul.
No casualty has also been
reported, considering the locality being in close proximity to the
Jokhang temple which is usually packed with pilgrims and devotees.
Today being the second day of the Tibetan new year is especially
inclined to increased number of pilgrims in the area.
The Jokhang temple which
was accorded the UNESCO World Heritage site along with the Potala
Palace in the year 2000, houses the “Jhowo Rinpoche”, a holy statue
of the Buddha.
The temple that houses the
iconic Jhowo Shakyamuni suffered damage during the cultural
revolution, after Chinese communist forces occupied Tibet in 1959,
and later restored in the 1970’s.
However, Beijing based
Chinese media house CGTN (China Global Television Network) reported
that fire did break out at Jhokhang temple. "Local authorities said
there are no casualties and no cultural relics were damaged," it
said without citing any official or authorities' name.
At the time of this report
going online, social networking sites and microblogging sites are
flooded with videos of massive fire raging some building in what
looks like residential dwellings in the Tibetan capital. However,
the videos are taken from a distance from where it is difficult to
ascertain the exact spot of the fire. A Facebook post by a user
called Bah Meson (འབའ་མེ་སོན།) claims it was not the
Jhokhang temple that caught fire but a nearby temple. The user
claims he was actually outside the Jhokhang temple's
circumambulation path when he was posting his comment. "About half
an hour ago, there has been a rumor that the Jhokhang temple caught
fire. However, it is not true but a temple nearby caught fire. I am
actually circumambulating the Jhokhang right now. Please do not
worry and stay relieved", he wrote in Tibetan. (translated)
However, the authenticity of the user could not be
verified.