Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/277

 The four Labrang temples, built with Chinese roofs and gilded spires, are especially noticeable. They are called Labrang-shar (or "eastern"), Labrang-nub (or "western"), Labrang khung, and Khansar chenpo, and in their general arrangement they do not differ from the temples I had seen at Tashilhunpo and elsewhere.

In the palmy days of the Sakya hierarchy there were four abbots under the hierarch who ruled these four Labrang. The rank was hereditary in their families, and all those abbots, the hierarch included, were allowed to marry. This system of hereditary hierarchy