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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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Schlagintweit.1 I hope to find time to prepare a reliable version of this interesting document. Although the Hemis monastery is not very ancient, yet it contains images of a type which is found only in monasteries of the 10th or 11th century. When the monks are asked to state the place of origin of such statues, they say that they were brought here from Lhasa. I wonder if that can be true. It seems to me that a more likely explanation is that these images were brought here from Meru, which is, as already stated, the " mother " monastery of Hemis.

At Martselang we saw again many ancient mohod-rten of the Mon type, and all along the road, from this place tQ Chushod, these mohod-rten were much in evidence. I may add that it is very much the same on the other bank of the Indus, e.g., at Khrigtse, Ranbirpur, and Sheh, where they are numerous. At Ranbirpur, I remember having seen even several specimens of the ladder type in fair preservation. The conviction that we are travelling here on ancient Buddhist ground, grew very strong on me. It is not impossible that the present village and monastery of Khrigtse are identical with the castle of Khri-btsegs-'abum-gdugs mentioned before Srong-btsan-sgam-po, who was the first Buddhist king of Tibet, and with the monastery of Khri-rtse mentioned under King Mes-ag thsoms (705-755 A.D) . Local names in Sanskrit which are found here and there in Ladakh, date from the times of this more Indian than Tibetan form of Buddhism. The names of Meru, and Sakti (Skr. Sakti) have already been mentioned. I may add the names of Muni and Kanika (= Kanishka ? ) in Zangskar, and Tar (Skr. Tárá, on account of the Svayambhu Tärás at that place), Hari rtse (Summit of Hari). The greater part of the Ladakhi local names are certainly Tibetan, but not a few are of Dard origin. In connection with the latter statement let me point to the many naines which have the Dard word hem (Skr. hima) or hen " snow," as one of their component parts, viz., Hembabs (Dras), Henasku, Roma la, Remis. Of other plainly Dard names like Hanu, Hunupatta, Garkunu, Chanegund, Hibti, Esu, etc., I cannot yet explain the etymology. The name Ranbirpur is a modern D6grá name.g A few ancient Indian personal names also have been preserved in folklore and inscriptions. Thus, the ruined castle opposite Stag-sna is called the castle of king Surgamati (Skr. Süry-amati, " Sun-mind ") and among the old royal names on inscriptions at Khalatse we find Shirima (Skr. Srimán) and (probably) Satyamati (" Truth-mind "), besides several others.

When riding along the left bank of the Indus river, we could see the villages, castles and monasteries on the right bank, a visit to many of which would amply reward archmological research. The conical hill of the Khrigtse monastery always looks picturesque, and so it is with the Stag-sna monastery which is built on a rock between two arms of the Indus. The buildings of this monastery look almost like a royal castle. It was built with the greater care, because it was the residence of several members of the royal family who had taken orders in the 'aBrug-pa sect. The erection of this monastery in its present shape is attributed to Ngag-dbang-rnam-rgyal, the step-

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i " Buddhism of Tibet."

2 The place is named after Ranbir Singh, the son and successor of Gulàb Sitgh and the second Dőgrá ruler of Kasmìr.

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