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

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Besides the temples mentioned above, there is at Alchi a great number of ancient

mchod-rten and mchod-rten gates with four doors. Several of them contain pictures similar to those noticed at Basgo and Ubshi, i.e., Buddha-like figures of blue complexion. They prob ably represent Nágas, and these gates and mchod-ren may be of Bonpo origin. But there were so many that it was found impossible to register them all.

Let me add a few words with regard to Tibetan palography, based on a compari-

son of the Alchi and Tabo inscriptions of the 11th century. Besides the Alchi and Tabo inscriptions of the 11th century, the following datable inscriptions of ancient Tibet are known : (1) The Endere manuscripts, excavated by Sir M. A. Stein in Turkestan. The latest date which can be attributed to them is the year 788 A.D., but several appear to be earlier. (2) The inscription of Khri-srong-lde-btsan in Lhasa of c. 780 A.D. discovered and .edited by Dr. Waddell.' (3) The inscription of king Ral-pa-can in Lhasa, of c. 810— 820 A.D.2

The most archaic of the Endere relics have the following peculiarities :-

1.  The i vowel sign is often inverted.

2.  In several cases, the final consonant of a syllable is written below the first.

3.  The article is in many cases pha and pho, instead of the ordinary pa and po.

4.  Ordinary e and is are in many cases replaced by ch and the ; and ch and the both have g, b, and el prefixes attached to them.

5.  When m precedes i or e, y intervenes.

6.  Words ending in r, 1, or i' , are furnished with a d suffix, called drag. If we examine the Tabo, Poo and Alchi inscriptions of the 11th century, with re-

gard to the peculiarities of the Endere manuscripts enumerated above, we find that they exhibit only the two last mentioned peculiarities, viz., y intervenes between m and i or m and e ; and r, 1, and n are often furnished with a d suffix. Thus we see that during the period from the 8th to the 11th century, the Tibetan orthography has come much nearer to its present state. The i vowel sign, for instance, is no more found inverted, but always in its present position. At Alchi we found the i vowel sign only once inverted and that

was probably due to want of space. From this observation we may conclude that all those inscriptions which contain inverted i vowel signs, may be older than the 11th century. As regards the position of there and o vowel signs on the right or left upper end, or above the consonant base, it varies with the age of inscriptions. I am of opinion that the compilation of the bKa-'agyur and bStan-OEagyur, in c. 1300 A.D., marks an epoch in Tibetan paleography. It probably put an end to the intervening y between m and i or e, and to the suffixed d. From the year 1300 A.D. onwards Tibetan orthography presumably remained stationary, and the age of an inscription after 1300 A.D. can be estimated only by the form of its compound letters, and the position of vowel signs on or above their consonant bases.

I Ancient historical edicts at Lhasa in J. R. A. S. 1909, pp. 923 ff. 'See my reading and translation .Ep. Lui., Vol. X, pp. 89 ff.