An excerpt from ‘Old Lhasa: A Biography’, by MA Aldrich.
Two sites in Lhasa are linked to the invention of the Tibetan writing system. Outside the east wall of the Jokhang, Songtsen used to meditate next to an auspicious boulder. Later he ordered the construction of a chapel next to it, the Jambhala Lhakhang (Chapel of Jambhala). The chapel has been fully absorbed into the grounds of the surrounding Meru Nyingma Monastery.
The Tibetan script is primarily based on the Devanagari Sanskrit script, with adaptations for Tibetan and its grammar. The king joined his minister in this task by the Jambhala Lhakhang so frequently that his absence from court invited ridicule by lesser lights in the palace for his lack of attention to other duties.
Today the entrance of the Jambhala Lhakhang attests to its antiquity. It is a meter lower than the ground level of the surrounding courtyard. The chapel is designed in a style popular in India during the Gupta dynasty. You descend a few steps to an east-facing sanctum with an ambulatory enclosed by solid mud plaster walls painted red with yellow etchings of guardian protectors. In the niche to the two doorways to the chapel are images of the deities Jambhala and Namtösé (Vaisravana in Sanskrit). An avatar of Avalokitesvara, Jambhala is the Buddhist deity who bestows good fortune and wealth to those who practice charity and compassion. The other door guardian, Namtösé, is one of the Four Heavenly Kings and the protector of the north entrance to Mount Meru. The boulder revered by Songtsen has been walled up for centuries in a room on the north side of the chapel.
Songtsen meditated in the two connected caves in the side of the mountain; these are open to pilgrims and visitors alike.
