Photo of Avalokiteshvara Cave Painting, Mustang

Photo of an 12th century wall painting of Avalokiteshvara in a cave near Luri Gompa, Upper Mustang, Nepal.

This mural is in a cave near Luri Gompa, Upper Mustang, Nepal.

Amazingly, the Buddhist monks at Luri weren't aware of its existence only a mile away. We managed to find a guide in the local village who guided us up the riverside cliffs to a narrow path leading to a small complex of caves.

A break in the rock face led us into the small round cave dominated by a broken central stupa; pages of prayers from inside the stupa were scattered on the ground. The entire ceiling was painted in a graceful pattern of red and ochre with fine black lines; this painting was one of several around the walls of the cave.

A crack in wall of the cave has damaged the painting but adds to the beauty in reminding us of the impermanence of all things.

The third photo shows the surroundings of the painting and the last photo shows the photo framed above a shrine (Private Collection).

A guide to approx sizes
A3: paper size 42x29.7cm, image size 40x28cm
A2: paper size 59.4x42cm, image size 57x40cm
70x50cm paper size, image size 68x48cm