Twist, ‘Devotion and Politics’ (2008)

Twist, Rebecca L. Patronage, Devotion and Politics: A Buddhological Study of the Paṭola Śāhi Dynasty’s Visual Record. PhD diss., Ohio State University, 2008. 393 pp. [abstract/PDF]

A few lines from the abstract:

During the 6th – 8th centuries, the Paṭola Śāhi dynasty ruled the country of Bolor, which is Baltistan and Gilgit […] a number of Buddhist artworks […] can be attributed through inscriptions to a donation by members of the royal Paṭola Śāhi family. This study focuses on these inscribed works and other extant visual culture of the Paṭola Śāhi dynasty. […] the Paṭola Śāhis were devout Buddhist practitioners, some of them adherents of early Vajrayāna Buddhism.