Sacred Space

Online essay by Alex Whitman, Sacred Space.

Tibet’s srin mo legend has been invoked at key moments of political flux, offering actors new modes of relating to–and benefiting from–a common imperial past. The fight against the demoness is continuously played out in sacred spaces, where institutional duty and virtue are intimately tied to the fulfillment of the imperial mandate: to spread the dharma and support its progenitors. Analyzing this legend both through its institutional legacy and its visual representation can offer new perspectives on the relationship between archaic myth and living practices in spaces that have an ongoing dependence on tradition. This paper will first describe the legend and its social implications before shifting to a material analysis, which engages new modes of mapping to broaden the discussion beyond textual sources.