National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

96

The second of the ruined castles is called Seng-ge-mKhar (Plate XI, b). Its ruins are found below the mKhar-gog castle, on the left bank of the Satluj. Its lower part is built of large well fitted stones, and higher up the walls are of clay or sun-dried bricks, as is the case in the later Ladakhi buildings. I suppose that the castle was built by Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal of Ladakh, and called after him. Some of the walls are still standing. The building must have been of huge size. An inscription which I found on a mani wall just above the village of Shipke speaks of a king and his son who once resided ' at the castle.' No names are given. The kings of Western Tibet, or their vassal kings of Guge, may have resided here occasionally. A legend referring to this castle, was told by the Lambardár of Shipke, and taken down by Lobzang of Poo who accompanied me on this tour. According to it, the castle received its crooked ground plan through a race round its base executed in opposite directions by a poisonous snake and a scorpion.

The third castle of Shipke is situated on the road to the village of Khyug on the brook. It is called sKyabs-mkhar ' castle of refuge.' No walls are standing ; only heaps of loose stones remain. No information of any kind regarding it was forthcoming, and I bave no idea of what age it may be.

There are long rows of matii walls on the road from Shipke to Khyug. The Lambardár, Lobzang, and myself went there to examine them. The votive tablets on them were quite of the usual style, but in the place where the Ladakhi tablets give the name of the king, these contained the title of the Dalai Lama, and no personal name. For this reason it is impossible to assign a date to them or to the mani walls. Only this much can be said : they all date apparently from a time, not earlier than the second half of the seventeenth century. If earlier, they would have contained names of the kings of Ladakh, or of Guge. The tablets, however, generally contain versions of the eulogy of the country of Guge, a kind of national anthem, and for this reason I copied one of them, which I found in the village of Shipke. I am rather of opinion that after 1650 A.D., when Guge was made over to Lhasa, all those ancient tablets which contained the names of Ladakhi or Guge kings, were destroyed. It was in the interest of the Lhasa Government to make people forget their former masters.

This is one of their national anthems, as we find them in these inscriptions. It is taken from the only inscription which refers to a king.

Jambudvipa of the south is a famous country among the ten directions of the world. There is the mountain Tise (Kailása) with its neck of ice, the dwelling place of those who have conquered all enemies (arhats) .

There is the turquoise lake Ma-spang (Manasarovar) the abode of the Nága Ma-g cos.

On the right bank of the murmuring river which proceeded from an elephant's mouth (Satluj),

There is the great castle sKu-mkhar, the abode of the king.

In it there dwell the rulers of men, father and son. May you be always victorious !