IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Southern Tibet : vol.7 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
LAKE MANASAROVAR.
29
osservato ....» The merit Monserrate has acquired, so far as the Manasarovar is concerned, is no doubt very great, and he is, as far as we know, the first European who ever wrote down the name of the lake. But, judging from his own words: Nam a Sacerdotibus, nonnulli, de Imai montis situ, interrogati dixerunt .... he had not made the questions regarding the lake, himself, but had obtained his information from other missionaries, which seems to prove that the name Manasarovar was known by other missionaries and certainly taken down before Monserrate had heard of it.' This is of consequence only as it suggests the question : where are the original annotations of those missionaries, and have they possessed other information not to be found in Monserrate's MS. ? It should also be remembered that Desideri's merits in connection with the lake are much greater than those of Monserrate, as the former visited the lake personally, while the latter only wrote down what he had heard from other missionaries who had questioned the Jogis.
In a third passage Wilford says: abut what is more surprising, the good father was ignorant that the Ganges issued from it (the Manasarovar).» To this Rev. Hosten adds in a note: »Wilford is himself making a mistake here, unless he means the Brahmaputra, the source of which is not yet satisfactorily known.» Now, fortunately, the source of the Brahmaputra is very well known, and it is known that the river has not the slightest communication with the lake. To reach parts of the river not yet satisfactorily known, we have to proceed farther east, where a few such sections of the Tsangpo still exist. Wilford believed as firmly as Major RENNELL and all other geographers of the time, in the hydrography of the Lama topographers and D'AN-VILLE, namely that the Ganges really originated from the Sacred Lake. It is highly to the credit of Antonio de Monserrate that he, some i 3 5 years before those topographers, penetrated the mystery with the same intelligence and perspicacity as Desideri, though he had no occasion to visit the lake personally.
Rev. Hosten has devoted Appendix C. to Monserrate's map of India, which he has reproduced at about double the size of the original. He, fortunately, helps us with the very difficult and diminutive writing, which even for him was no easy task. I cannot enter upon his most able and thorough examination, which certainly hardly could have been better done.
It is obvious that the original map of Monserrate has lost in clearness by the reproduction. This is of course, still more the case with my reproduction, Pl. I., of
Hosten's reproduction. However, I have had it made to give at least a faint idea of its appearance, the general disposition of the mountains , the situation of Lake Manasarovar and some of the names. I have it in exactly the same size as Rev.
Hosten.
I MONSERRATE embarked for India in 1574 together with 39 missionaries headed by Fr. ALEXANDER VALIGNANI• Hosten, Op. cit., p. 515.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.