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

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one which was copied by Cunningham, who was unable to translate it. Pandit Mukund. Ram of Kashmir who studied our rubbing of it, had, however, no particular difficulty in reading and understanding it. The language is Sanskrit, and the inscription records the erection of two images, one of Maitreya, and another of Avalőkitésvara, evidently the two larger sculptures.

(2) The second stone is about six feet high. The carving shows a plain Maitreya. He wears a three-pointed tiara, and has a rosary in his raised right hand, and a vase in

his left Three small figures, probably human devotees who reach up to his knees, are carved below him, one on. his right and the two others on his left. Below them is a lotus throne which contains the figures of two lions couchant. To the left of Maitreya's head is carved another very small human figure. To the right of his head is carved a Sa,rada, inscription which is, however, in a very dilapidated condition.

3.  The third stone is also six feet high, and shows a standing human figure. The

right hand is raised, and the left hand is probably carrying some object. The head-dress

has been destroyed. This figure apparently represents Avalőkitèsvara. On his right

and left we see two female figure which are almost of the same siz.e as the main image.

They are represented in the " Indian attitude," resting on one foot, and holding one hand above their heads. They may be taken as representations of the two 'I'a,rás.

Below the female on Maitreya's right, we see three small kneeling figures, with their hands raised in supplication (Skr. anjali). Below Avalőkitésvara, there is lotus throne, with two miniature figures emerging from it.' There were probably also several small standing figures on both sides of Avalőkitésvara, reaching up to his knees ; but they cannot now be distinguished. On the reverse of this stone, there is a large and elaborate carving of a stúpa, with thirteen umbrellas on the top. There are also thirteen steps below it leading up to a square in the centre which contains a human figure. Above the head of the female figure to the left of Avalőkitésvara, we discovered a much damaged inscription, partly in Tibetan. Ml the sculptures seem to date approximately from the 10th century A.D.

4.  The fourth sculptured stone stands on the opposite side of the road. The carving represents a full-blown lotus flower, as we often find them on the fountain tablets of Manchad. But this one was decorated with additional vases on the four cardinal points of the wheel.

According to the chronicles of Ladakh, the ancient boundary between Ladakh and Kashmir was at La-rtsa, and a stone with holes " was the boundary stone. The people of Dras told me that their village was also known by the name of La-rtsa (` Root of the Pass') ; but they did not know of such a stone. They also said that, according to their belief, the watershed on the Zo-ji Pass was the frontier between the two countries. I had to leave Pindi Lal with two assistants at Dras, to wait for better weather. He had not been successful in his first attempt at taking rubbings of the inscriptions,

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It seems that one of these two figures is kneeling, while the other is standing and carries a lotus-flower as an offering in his right hand. They bear a remarkable resemblance to the two ludo-Scythian donors in the Vaisravaua image of the Lahore Museum. [Ed.]