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| 0216 |
Southern Tibet : vol.1 |
Citation Information
OCR Text
WHEN DID THE NAME MANASAROVAR BECOME KNOWN
TO EUROPE?
In several books dealing with S.W. Tibet a statement is found that the Por-
tuguese Jesuit Father ANTONIO DE MONSERRATE should be the first European who
ever heard of and mentioned the lake Manasarovar. This statement seems first to
have been promulgated by Captain F. WILFORD in 1808.¹ But Wilford goes
much farther, and what he has to tell us of the history of the sacred lake cannot
inspire us with any confidence in his assertion regarding Monserrate.² For he
positively asserts that the lake was mentioned by Pliny and Marco Polo, and prob-
ably by Ctesias. We do not need to waste words on Pliny and Ctesias and their
pretended knowledge of the Manasarovar, which is, of course, absurd.
Regarding Marco Polo, Wilford probably means Chapter XLVII:³ »Concern-
ing the Province of Caindu«, which is said to be lying towards the west. All
that Marco Polo says is: »There is a lake here, in which are found pearls which
are white but not round.« If RAMUSIO is right in his version: »a great salt lake«,
the identification with Manasarovar becomes so much the more impossible, disregard-
ing the geographical situation of Caindu.⁴
The statement about Monserrate, on the other hand, is so positive, and so
detailed that it cannot simply be dismissed as constructed by Wilford's imagina-
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