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

portant, as the original Chinese author has been at the place. Tamchok-kabab is
said to be 300 li S.E. of the Kailas and is very high and great. The latitude is
given more than one degree too far south.
When it is said that »there are three sources», one should at first think of
Kubi-tsangpo, Chema-yundung and Maryum-chu, but this is not right, for with »there»
is meant the astronomically given source of the Ya-lu-tsang-pu-chiang, and then it
is said that all three sources flow north-eastwards and unite into one river, which is
the Kubi-tsangpo or uppermost Brahmaputra. At first sight this statement seems to
be correct.¹ For, indeed, the three principal source branches of the Kubi-tsangpo
come out of three mighty glaciers, of which the one farthest west is double, although
it gives rise only to one stream, namely the source of the Brahmaputra. But in
reality the Chinese text does not at all mean the three sources of the Kubi. It
means the Angsi-chu, Chema and Kubi, which we have found joined much too early
on the Ta-ch'ing map. But the Chema seems to be regarded as the principal source.
The next passage of the Chinese text tells us that the river »at first» turns
eastwards and then south-eastwards, of which the first is true for the Kubi-tsangpo,
and Chema-yundung the second for the Tsangpo. From the S.W. a tributary meets
the Yere-tsangpo and comes from a mountain called Kumu-gangri or something like
it. As this tributary must be identical with the Kubi-tsangpo, it may be that this
river is not included in the three source branches mentioned above. Then Tamchok
is obviously placed at the head of Chema-yundung, as appears clearly from the Ta-
ch'ing text, where Kouben gang tsian is placed at 258 li and Tam tchouk khabab
at 340 li west of Djochot. The Shui-tao-ti-kang, which has the same distance,
makes the bearing, in Ogawa's translation, N.W. of Cho-shu-tê (Djochot).
The next tributary mentioned comes from the left side and is called Kiang-
chia-su-mu-la-ho. It corresponds to Kiankia somla of d'Anville's general map and
Kiankia Somla R. of his detailed map, and Giangghia sum la of de Rhins. Its
source comes from a mountain called Sha-ku-ya-la-ma-la-shan, which may be a tran-
scription of Shakya-lama-la or »the pass of the Buddha priest». The Sha-ku-ya-la-
ma-shan and Cha-ko-chia-la-shan are identical with de Rhins' Changou Yarak ri and
the Chadziar ri. Comparing the Chinese text and d'Anville's map with Ryder's
map we find again that this river comes from the Transhimalaya and that the Ma-
ryum-chu, or rather the minimal brook coming from the pass Maryum-la, is only one
of the smallest tributaries to the Chiang-chia-su-mu-la-ho, which itself is only a trib-
utary to the Yere-tsangpo. The fact that it, in its lower parts, is called Maryum-
chu, as I was told by the Tibetans, probably depends upon the tasam which fol-
lows up the brook to Maryum-la. The Chinese text does not even mention Maryum-
chu. So all attempts to proclaim the Maryum-chu as one of the sources of the
Brahmaputra has no foundation whatever.