国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

6o

Arabs reckoned the Tibetans amongst the Turks. Edrisi's Tibet, i. e. Ladak, is in communication with Ferghana and the Turks further north, which also very likely was the case in a much higher degree than now. Amongst the products exported from Tibet, are mentioned musk and rhubarb, both very characteristic things for Tibet. The capital of Tibet, i. e. Leh, is well fortified and built on a hill, and at

its foot a river runs, -- the Indus. I

The King of Tibet has a great army. Of course Edrisi could not know his name. But the Rev. A. H. FRANCKE tells us that about I 1 2 5 to I 15o the King of

Ladak was Lha chen Utpala, son of Lha chen rgyalpo. »He united the forces of Upper and Lower Ladakh, subjected all the vassal chiefs, and even conquered

a new province, Lowo, east of Purang; so that his empire was perhaps even greater than that of Nyima gon ... He also invaded Kulu, and the King of Kulu bound himself by oath, 'so long as the glaciers of the Kailasa do not melt away, or the Manasarowar Lake dry up, to pay his tribute to the King of Ladakh' ...»2 Nyima gon's empire as shown on a map by the Rev. A. H. Francke, embraced eastwards, the whole upper basin of the Indus, Satlej and Brahmaputra. And now we hear that Edrisi's king of Tibet was perhaps mightier still. Lha chen Utpala's Empire is very likely the same as Edrisi's Tibet.

Another question is whether Edrisi's fortified city Tibet, can be identical with Leh. Francke has found that the dynasty of the ancient kings of Lek had taken their name after Kesar, an old saga or epic song which enjoyed great popularity in about woo A. D. 3 The first royal palace at Leh was built by Trashi namgyal, about 1500-1530, and the present castle of Leh, the favourite residence of the later kings, was completed in three years during the reign of Sengge namgyal, about 159o-1620.4 But there may have been buildings on this picturesque hill already in the time of Edrisi.5

A difficulty is presented in the statement that the river Indus flows eastwards, and empties itself into the lake of Berwan. But this may easily have been a misunderstanding of Edrisi, and the original information must have been that the river came from lake Berwan and flowed westwards.6

THE ARABIAN GEOGRAPHERS.

I Sir HENRY YULE says: »Ladakh is probably 'the city of Tibet, built on an eminence over a river' of Edrisi, Cathay and the way thither, Vol. I, London 1864, p. LXX.

2 A History of Western Tibet. One of the Unknown Empires. London 1907, p. 64.

3 Op. cit. p. 56.

4 Op. cit. p. 84 and 99•

5 In a letter, dated March ist 1913, the Rev. Francke sends me the following communication:

'Leh war erst eine dardische Siedelung, deren Name noch unbekannt ist. • Tibetische Nomaden hatten dort ihre Hürden, welche sie gelegentlich besuchten. Diese Hürden nannten sie Glas oder Hlas (= 1Has), aus welchen später Gles, 1Hes, sLes wurde; dies sind tibetische Bezeichnungen von Leh. Hauptstadt wurde Leh erst im r 4ten Jahrhundert.»

6 Even Europeans may sometimes get alarmed about the directions of rivers. Lord DUNMORE was astonished that the Chahlung river of the Pamirs did flow to the east instead of the west and calls this very simple fact »a geographical problem impossible for us to solve». And he had seeng the river Chahlung, while Edrisi had never seen the river of the city of Tibet. The Pamirs, Vol. II, p• 3•