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

one of the old temples of Sungra. Then there arose the custom of building with
superimposed pyramidal roofs one on the top of another, the upper ones decreasing in
size ; the whole structures reminding us of Burmese Pagodas. Such temples we have at
Sungra, Manāli in Kulū, and probably also at Nachar.¹

The religious buildings of the Hill-type are distinguished by their wood carvings.
Mention has been made of the almost life size figures of lions on the beams of the roof.
The most prominent figure among the ornaments, is the full-blown lotus (padma) with
leaves arranged radially. This ornament was believed by Captain Harcourt to be of
Buddhist origin. As has been shown by Professor Grünwedel, however, the wheel and the
lotus are by no means purely Buddhist emblems. The same must be said with regard to
the snake and bird ornaments which are frequently met with. The continual warfare
between Garuḍas and Nāgas was a favourite topic among the hill tribes long before the rise
of Buddhism. Representations of the human figure are also of frequent occurrence
among these wood carvings. But they are by far inferior to the representations of
animals and look very much like the effigies of men on ancient rock carvings. The
types are stiff and conventionalised, as if on the way to become pictographs. The wooden
eaves-boards which are often seen on the edges of roofs, form a very pretty kind of
ornament. Many of the roofs or gable beams end in dragon heads with open mouths.
Of the rams' heads at the end of such beams mention has been made.

We passed through Jangi on the 30th June. Tibetan maṇi walls are now becoming
frequent, but up to this place they contained nothing beyond endless repetitions of the
Oṁ maṇi padme hūṁ. Here I found for the first time on our expedition a maṇi wall
with a votive tablet on one end. This shows that the knowledge of the Tibetan language
is more general here than in the previous villages. The tablet was, however, so much
worn that I could not read much beyond the words Khungs-btsun-ga-ga-che, "the great
nobleman of excellent origin." Neither this nor any of the preceding maṇi walls look
as if they were of great antiquity. In the district between Chini and Poo Lamaism has
made progress in outward show during the last thirty years or so without, however, oust-
ing Hindūism.

Opposite Jangi lies the village of Kinam with a fine castle on a rock above the river.
It was built, it is said, by the Rājā of Bashahr.

After Jangi, the country begins to show a Tibetan character. Vegetation becomes very
scarce, and only a kind of Juniper, generally known by the name of Pencil Cedar (the
holy tree of the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet) makes us realize that we are not travel-
ling on the moon. The pencil cedar never forms forests, but at best dots a hillside with
a tree to every 500 square yards or so. Also the road, which up to this had done great
credit to the Public Works Department (to which I am indebted in particular for the
hospitality of their bungalows), becomes more and more uncivilised, and reminds one of
the days of hardships when Gerard travelled here almost a century ago. After this