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

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the Tibetan emperor Kh.ri crony lde btzan who invited him to Tibet and who is regarded as an incarnation of Manjusri. But also the third invocation we find in Lahul combined with the former two ; for instance on the rock at Yurnad near Kye-fang (Lahul) which was photographed by Dr. Vogel. Is it possible that Padma-sambhava who made ample use of the vajra (thunderbolt) was believed to be an

incarnation of Vajra-sattva ?

It is of great interest that the connection of the Buddhist teacher Padma•sambha\ a with Rawalsar

is asserted not only by Tibetan Buddhists, but also by the Brahmans of the tirtlaa. T):. Vogel has the following note in his article on Trilaknathl "Here (at Rawalsar) in an absolutely Hindú country we find Padma-sambhava, the founder of Buddhism in Tibet, worshipped not only by lamas who have their own dgon pa here, but equally by Brahmans who call him Rishi Lomasa and even possess a

Màhàtmya, in which the local legend is given in its Brahmanic version."

The Siva temples make a very beautiful picture along the shore of the lake and are undoubtedly

older than the present Lamaist dgonpa. The stone figures of the bull Nandi in front of them struck me as being particularly well modelled. The ancient dress of Mandl Buddhists has been preserved in Lamaist representations of Padrna-sambhava. The unusual kind of the Lama's head-dress is still known as Zahor-ma, Zahor being the Tibetan name of Mandi. As regards the many Tibetan rock carvings on the shore of the lake, I find it impossible to assign a fixed date to them, The forms of characters employed certainly do not suggest their being contemporaneous with Padma-sambhava but as many of them look very time-worn, they may have been carved within the last five hundred years.

One of the Tibetans I met at Rawalsar told me that he intended to travel straight to Amritsar, as this was another place connected with Padama-sambhava. I was astonished to hear such a statement, and resolved to make enquiries on the spot.

Let me now add a few notes on Mandl, collected from Tibetan historical works. There can exist

no reasonable doubt as regards the identification of the Tibetan Zahor with Illa?uf ; for on our visit to Rawalsar we met with numerous Tibetan pilgrims, who all said that they were travelling to Zahor, thereby indicating the Mandl State, if not the town. In the biography of Padma-sambhava, and in other books referring to his time, Zahor is frequently mentioned as a place where this teacher (c. 750 A. D.) resided. The famous Buddhist teacher Santi Rakhshita, who went to Tibet, was born in Zahor. Again in the days of Ral-pa-can (C. S00 A. D.) we find the statement that during the reigns of his ancestors many religious books had been brought to Tibet from rGya (India or China), Li, Zahor and Kashmir. Zahor was then apparently a seat of Buddhist learning and it is even stated that under the same king Zahor was conquered by the Tibetans. But under his successor, the apostate King Langdarma, many religious books were brought to Zahor, among other places, to save

them from destruction.

Among the Tibetans there still prevails a tradition regarding the existence of bidden books in Mandi, and this tradition in all probability refers to the books above mentioned. Mr. Howell, Assistant Commissioner of Kulu, told me that the present Thàkur of Kolong, Lahoul, had once been told by a high lama from Nepal, where the books are still bidden. Unfortunately the Tha.kur had entirely forgotten the name of the place. My enquiries on the spot were of no avail, as none of the lamas and Tibetan laymen could or would tell where the books were concealed. I can suggest only one way of finding out the truth (or otherwise) of the tradition. A reward in money might be offered to the Thakurs of Kolong in order to induce them to make another attempt to find the old books. It will be remembered that the Thakurs of Kolong found out among other things who were the murderers

of Schlagintweit.

1 J.A. S. B., Vol. LXX, p. 39.