国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

194   ANTIQUITIES OF WESTERN TIBET   [Vol,. II

NOTES BY THE AUTHOR

For the fuller history of this dynasty, the most powerful which ruled over all the other chiefs of Baltistan, see infra, ` Ahmad-Shah's Chronicles of Baltistan.' Cunningham has (p. 36) the following note on the fate of Ahmad-Shah after 1841 :—` In the winter of 1841, Ahmed Shah accompanied the unfortunate expedition against Lhasa ; and on Zorawar's death, was taken prisoner and confined in Balwa]t6 near Lhasa, where he soon died. Balti is now held in jaghir by Muhammad Shah, the disinherited son of Ahmed Shah, who pays an annual tribute of Rs. 7,000 to Maharaja Gulab Sing, of Kashmir.' (Dr. Hutchison, of Chamba, however, tells me that the tomb of the Balti king Ahmad-Shall is found in Kashtawar.)

Miss Duncan gives us (pp. 305-6) the name of a Raja who reigned at Skar-rdo a few years before 1905, Shah-Abbas. Shah-Abbas died in 1898. No other name is forthcoming. She saw the Raja and his court hawk-hunting. She visited the ruins of the times of the Dogra wars, and has the following notes on them :—` We paid a visit to the lower of the two old killas, which was partly destroyed by the Dogras, ... but which has been restored ; it is built on two shelves of a projecting spur of the great rock in the middle of the valley. At the foot of the rock there are a few ruins, which Dr. Thomson describes as exhibiting in 1847 the remains of former magnificence, including a part of a marble fountain, but of this we saw nothing ; they are probably the ruins of the palace of Ahmed Shah. . . The highest peak of the rock, about 1,200 or 1,400 feet above the valley, is precipitous on all sides ; in the small upper kiila perched on the top of it, the Rajah Ahmed Shah took refuge during the Dogra. siege, having laid in a stock of provisions to last for three years. For some time he defied his enemies, who could not find any way of getting at him till, according to local tradition, a faithless subject betrayed him for a bribe, and showed the pathway.' Another note of interest is that the Indus is called Attak (or Attock) immediately below Skar-rdo, according to Miss Duncan.

Skar-rdo is also claimed by the Gilgit Dards as one of their colonies. See my article, ` The Eighteen Songs of the Bono-na Festival,' Incl. Ant., vol. xxxiv, pp. 93 sqq. A picture of the Skar-rdo rock in 1836 is given in Vigne's

Travels (ii, p. 192).

11'22'6

(f) THE CHIEFS OF RON-MDO 1

1.  Ali Sher, c. 1570-1600 A.D.

2.  Ahmed Khan, c. 1600-1630 A.D.

3.  Ali Shah, c. 1630-1660 A.D.

4.  Daolat Sher, c. 1660-1690 A.D.

5.  Assad Ulla Khan, c. 1690-1720 A.D.

6.  Mahomed Ali Khan, c. 1720-1750 A.D.

7.  Murad Khan, c. 1750-1780 A.D.

8.  Abbas Beg, c. 1780-1810 A.D.

9.  Ali Khan, c. 1810-1846 (reigning in 1846).

10. Husen Khan (son).

11. Abdullah Khan (grandson).

NOTES BY CUNNINGHAM (pp. 36-7)

Rongdo (Romi-mdo) is the last Tibetan district on the Indus to the westward of Balti (Sbal-ti). On the north lie Shigar (8i-dkar) and Hunza-Nager, and to the west and south are Gilgit and Astor. The name means ` district of defiles ' (lit. Lower Valley of defiles.—F.), and is descriptive of the bed of the Indus, which throughout Rongdo is a deep rocky gorge. The district extends from Gurbidas to a tree at Makpon-iShang-Rong (Dmag-dpon-gyi-spyami(?)-roil), a distance of 45 miles, with a mean breadth of 32 miles. Its area is about 1,440 square miles, and the mean height of its villages about 6,200 feet. The chief of Rongdo claims descent from the Makpons of Balti, to whom the district has always been subject.

NOTES BY THE AUTHOR

Ron-mdo is not claimed by the Gilgit Dards as one of their colonies, but many of the villages in the neighbourhood have Dard names. A Tibetan inscription mentioning a royal archer was discovered near Ron-mdo by the Rev. Mr. Gustayson, of the Scandinavian Alliance Mission. It is mentioned in my Collection of Tibetan Inscriptions, under No. 9. A picture of the Indus at the Ron-mdo bridge is given in Cunningham's Ladák (Plate III).

' Spelling Cunningham's, but not the dates.

•