Tsering Namgyal

Tsering Namgyal is a woodcarver from the Nyanpa family of Hinju village in Ladakh, in which woodcarving has been passed down for generations. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of art, from Ladakh ^[1].

Training with a master

Namgyal was born in Hinju on 31 January 1955 ^[2]. He learned the basics of the craft at home, then trained for five years, from 1976 to 1981, under the woodcarving master Tsering Stobdan of Wanla ^[2]. For more than four decades he has worked to preserve and promote Ladakh’s tradition of woodcarving ^[2].

Carving for the monasteries

His work fills many of Ladakh’s monasteries, including Hemis, Thiksey, Phyang, Lamayuru, Likir and Matho ^[2]. He designed the throne and scripture cases at Hemis in 2007 and worked on the wooden shrines of Lamayuru, Ladakh’s oldest monastery, in 2008 ^[2]. In 2003 he made 60-by-15-foot decorated shelves for statues and scriptures at the main Chokhang Vihara in Leh, and he has carved 25 great doors for monasteries at Chemdey, Matho and Tserkarmo ^[2]. For the Kalachakra teachings in Ladakh in 2014 he crafted a tea table for the Dalai Lama and the rack for the Kalachakra mandala ^[2].

He has trained hundreds of young craftspeople, helping them earn a living from the craft, and has worked on new designs that blend traditional and modern styles ^[2].