Visiting the monastery of Shekar

24th April 1924

The fortress of Shekar was prized by Tibetan travellers of the past as a sort of wonder of the world. The Dzong, as the fort is called, is a large secular building that towers above the monastery of Shekar and is joined to it by a perilously steep wall. The buildings were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but in 1924 they were still standing and their magnificence did not fail to impress expedition members. From the very top of the Dzong it was possible to gain a view of Everest, rising inexorably above the neighbouring peaks. Here the Tibetans brought incense and other offerings to Chomolungma, as ‘she stretches out her white arms on both sides, a goddess in the form of stone and ice’. 

Sandy and John MacDonald, the son of the British trade agent, spent the following morning climbing to the top of the fortress to get a view of the mountain. After that they visited the monastery and presented the Chief Lama with two polished half-oxygen cylinders. ‘They made two fine gongs of different tones. We also told him there was a devil inside whose breath would kindle a spark — we showed him on incense'. Despite the introduction of a devil into his monastery, the Chief Lama made them very welcome and allowed them to spend as much time as they wanted in the temple. Sandy’s interest in the temple was genuine and he was deeply impressed by the statues, the hangings and the devotional offerings. He was also amused by the meeting of different cultures, as he related to Lilian a few days later. 'Grandfather will never own me as a grandson again because I bowed down before a colossal Buddha about 20 ft high with an altar covered with most brilliant jewels. I had to make great pretence to worship in order to get a photograph from a camera concealed in my coat as I had to give a 70 sec. exposure in the very dim light of the holy of holies — my devotions had to be very prolonged!! Some of the hangings in the temple were perfectly beautiful & the ornaments & offering bowls spotlessly clean — the only clean things in the whole of Tibet. I enjoyed myself enormously in the monastery at Shekar. I think they rather regarded us as Buddha or devils'.