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The Punakha Dzong, also known as Pungtang Dewa chhenbi Phodrang ('the palace of great happiness or bliss') was built in 1637 - 1638 by the 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche and founder of the Bhutanese state, Ngawang Namgyal (1594 - 1651). It is the second largest and second oldest dzong (fortress) in Bhutan, located at the confluence of the Pho Chhu (father) and Mo Chhu (mother) rivers in the Punakha-Wangdue valley.<br/><br/> Punakha Dzong is the administrative centre of Punakha District, and once acted as the administrative centre and the seat of Bhutan's government until 1855, when the capital was moved to Thimphu, though it still acts as the winter capital for the head of the Bhutanese clergy. It houses sacred relics from the southern Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Astronomy in China has a very long history, with historians indicating that the Chinese were the most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere in the world before the Arabs. Star names later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions have been found on oracle bones unearthed at Anyang, dating back to the middle Shang Dynasty (Chinese Bronze Age, 3rd - 2nd millennium BCE), and the mansion system's nucleus seems to have taken shape by the time of the ruler Wu Ding (1339-1281 BCE).<br/><br/> Detailed records of astronomical observations began during the Warring States period (fourth century BCE) and flourished from the Han period onward. Chinese astronomy was equatorial, centered as it was on close observation of circumpolar stars, and was based on different principles from those prevailing in traditional Western astronomy, where heliacal risings and settings of zodiac constellations formed the basic ecliptic framework.
The text of the manual is in Tibetan, which was the liturgical language of Mongolian Buddhism. Similar to Tibetan traditional books, this manuscript consists of unbound, oblong leaves of paper written on both sides. Also following tradition, the book is wrapped in a silk cloth with strings tying it up into a tight bundle. The hand-made paper was likely imported, the inks and dyes used for the manuscript were most likely hand-made locally, and it was probably copied by a professional monk-scribe. While it was copied sometime in the 1800s, the information in the text is likely to be many centuries old.<br/><br/> Most Mongolians are followers of Buddhism, a religion which originated in India and came to Central Asia via the Silk Road in the 3rd century CE and from Tibet and China during the era of the Mongolian Emperor of the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan in the 13th century. Because of this, Mongolian astronomy and divination were heavily influenced by Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese traditions.<br/><br/> The many colorful charts in this manuscript were based on astrological texts imported to Mongolia from Tibet in the late 1700s. Much of this philosophy was laid down and taught in Tibet and Mongolia by Sumpa Khenpo Yeshe Peljor (1703–1788), a Mongol Buddhist monk and master of both astrology and medicine from Amdo, one of the traditional regions of Northern Tibet near modern-day Mongolia. In 1789 a school for the study and practice of astrology based on his teachings was established in Urga, modern-day Ulan Bator, which is today the capital of Mongolia.
Abū Ma'shar, Ja'far ibn Muḥammad al-Balkhī (also known as al-Falakī or Ibn Balkhī, Latinized as Albumasar, Albusar, or Albuxar) (10 August 787 in Balkh, Khurasan – 9 March 886 in Wāsiṭ, Iraq), was a Persian astrologer, astronomer, and Islamic philosopher, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad.<br/><br/> He was not a major innovator, and his works are practical books for training of astrologers; even as an astrologer he was not intellectually rigorous. Nevertheless, he wrote a number of practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through translations, that of western Europe and Byzantium.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.
Giant sand chedis are built in many temples around the time of the annual songkran water festival. People bring handfuls of sand to their local temple and it is then sculpted into a sand chedi. The sand brought is symbolic of the sand and dirt carried away from the temple on the soles of visitors feet during the preceding year.<br/><br/> Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year and is celebrated from 13th to 15th April. This annual water festival, known in Thai as 'songkran,' and in Burmese as 'thingyan' marks the beginning of the rainy season and is celebrated in Burma, Laos, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, usually in April.<br/><br/> Chiang Mai (meaning "new city"), sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom.