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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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(spelt Phyi-dbang ; map Phayang) is probably the most ancient town of Western Tibet. Unfortunately, I had not then yet started my studies of the geographical names contained in the account of gNya-khri-btsan-po's empire. Subsequent studies have shown me that practically all the places mentioned in the Ladakhi account of gNya-khribtsan-po's kingdom exist in Ladakh, and that the village of Phyi-dbang is in all probability identical with Phyi-dbang-stag-rtse, the earliest capital of Tibet.'

The Phyang (Phyi-dbang) monastery is a stately building of much later date. It was erected by King bfira•shis-rnam-rgyal (c. 1500-1532 A.D.) and belongs to the 'aBrikhung-pa sect of lamas. This monastery comes into view when the plain on the right bank of the Phyang brook is reached. At this place King bKra-shis-rnam-rgyal raised a long flagstaff on an elaborate pedestal. As we know from the chronicles, this flagstaff was intended to serve as a place of refuge for all those who were guilty of a crimen lcesce majestatis. It is quite possible that King bKra-shis thought of the crime committed by himself, when he erected the flagstaff. Had he not plucked out his elder brother's eyes and deprived him of his royal power ? No doubt, bKra-shis himself had good reason to embrace the flagstaff most cordially. The pedestal still remains and is generally known by the name of Thar-then," great flag." From a note in Dr. Marx 's " Three Documents " we learn that the Phyi-dbang monastery contains a beautiful collection of ancient armour.

A plain called La-dvags-gong-khai-thang stretches from the village of Phyi-dbang to the village of Umla (Umbla ?) in the west. Halfway between the two is situated the little village of Daru. The mani walls of Daru contain votive stones mentioning King bDe-ldan-rnam-rgyal, c. 1630 A.D., and a minister Thse-dbang-don-grub (c. 1822 A.D.). These walls have little ruined houses built on one end which are known by the name of Man Khang (Mani Khang). These huts were built by the people who erected the mani walls, to serve as hospital stables for horses which had become exhausted on the long march across the great plain.

We examined and photographed the rock with sculptures at Daru. Thanks to the historical information contained in the Leh inscriptions of the rNam-rgyal-rtse-mo hill, the sculptures and inscriptions on the Daru rock can nowadays be dated with more certainty than it was possible a few years ago. I made a first attempt at dating

them in my article, " Archeology in West Tibet,   when I tried to identify King
Lha-then-kun-dgd-rnam-rgyal, whose name appears on the Daru rock, with Lha-rgyal (c. 1250 A.D.) of the chronicles. But even then I had to assume that part of the inscription was probably of later date, judging by the name of a lama which occurred in it. Now, the rNam-rgyal-rtse-mo inscriptions give the name of a great minister, Phyag-rdor-jo, who is also mentioned on the Daru rock. Phyag-rdor-jo of the rNamrgyal-rtse-mo inscriptions is plainly stated to have been a contemporary of King

j This question has been fully treated in my article, " The Kingdom of gNya-khri-btsan-po," J. A. S. B. 1910, p. 92. Here we must distinguish between the chronicles of Ladakh and the chronicles of Central Tibet. Whilst the places mentioned in the former book are found in Ladakh, the Places mentioned in the latter book are found in the vicinity of Lhasa. See 4` Yarlung " in the geographical work 'aDzam-gling-ye-shes translated by S. Ch. Das.

2 Cf. Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXVI, pp. 89 ff.