This work is a comprehensive study of the internal wall paintings and sculptures and the early history of the Tibetan Buddhist temple complex at Alchi, Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir, presenting an encyclopaedic collection of photographs of the paintings and sculptures, together with description and discussion of their subject matter and of the temples’ foundation.

The experience of entering what are small and inconspicuous buildings, to be overwhelmed by the number, variety, and richness of the murals within, is truly recreated. Their description and discussion is detailed, scholarly and informative throughout.

There is one small ground plan of the complex (p. 15), and a number of photographs and descriptions of the wooden components of the architecture, with an interesting though brief discussion (pp. 152 ff.) under the heading “Ancient Greece in the Himalayas” of the designs of wooden columns and entablatures in the Three Storeyed Temple. It would, however, be very useful to have more systematic information on the architecture of the temples – plans, elevations and sections, and diagrams – showing how the iconographic programmes relate to the structure of the buildings. This would add to the understanding of the meanings and relationships of the paintings, while the architecture itself would have much to tell about the historical context of the temples.

The dating and history of the temples’ foundation and refurbishment have been vexed questions in the literature. Roger Goepper (in e.g. “Clues for a dating of the Three-Storied Temple (Sumtsek) in Alchi, Ladakh”, Asiatische Studien 44/2, 1990, 159–69) opted for dates in the thirteenth century, and this has often been accepted. Others, including the present reviewer, have preferred dates in the eleventh century, which has been accepted as most likely in this book. Discussion of the dating and historical circumstances is scattered through three separate chapters – “Founding the sanctuaries”, “Dating the sanctuaries”, and “Inscribing the sanctuaries”, and it is not always easy to navigate through a continuous argument that is interrupted by pages of photographs, but finally (p. 404) we read that “ … if this chronological scheme is correct, the foundation of the Alchi complex occurred roughly during the last two decades of the eleventh century”.

This conclusion is based on detailed discussion of the historical context within the Kingdom of Western Tibet (Ngari Khorsum), comparison with parallel temples and paintings elsewhere, the iconography and subject matter of the paintings and, most importantly, the many inscriptions contained within the temples. Study of these inscriptions has advanced considerably with improvements in access and photographic techniques since the 1970s, when the present reviewer and his Ladakhi helpers struggled to decipher problematic readings by the light of a flickering candle. As a result of recent research, much of it by co-author Amy Heller, some of the persons named in the inscriptions have been plausibly identified or placed in a more secure historical context.

There is an interesting map of “Historical empires”, detailed endnotes, and a comprehensive bibliography (oddly entitled “Scriptures”). An index would have been a highly useful aid.

Altogether this book is a significant addition to the study of the temples at Alchi.