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

dGe'adun-grub (1389-1473). What points in particular to their ancient origin
is the fact, that in these inscriptions the e, o and u vowel signs are all directly joined to
their consonant bases. These stones were, in all probability, put up on the roadside
during the Lamaist reformation, and later on placed on or near maṇi walls. They testify
to the enthusiasm with which Tsongkhapa's reformation was welcomed in these
tracts.

A still more interesting inscription I found on a maṇi wall at the desert camping
place of Horling. This maṇi wall was erected by a man of the Tibetan village of rGyu-
mkhar, the Shugar of the map, during the reign of a king who resided at Tsaparang (spelt
rTsabarang, on the stones). When I read this, I could not help thinking at once of the
Jesuit priest, d'Andrada, who states that he had found a Tibetan king at Tsaparang
favourably inclined towards Christianity. This statement of the Jesuit has been sub-
jected to serious doubts by modern writers on Tibet. They could not believe that a 'king'
should ever have resided at the now unimportant village of Tsaparang. But d'Andrada
is vindicated as we know now that Tsaparang was the capital of a sovereign whose power
was acknowledged even as far as Spiti. At the same time when the tablet was carved, Tsa-
parang was the capital of the kingdom of Guge, the largest vassal state of the Western
Tibetan empire. As far as my knowledge goes, the kingdom of Guge has had three
capitals : the first was mTho-lding (Tholing), the second, Tsaparang, the third Garthog.
The genealogical tree of the kings of Guge has been preserved in Tibetan historical works.
The original line of these kings came from Zangskar, as stated above. Their dynastical
name was Lde. The Lde dynasty came to an end in the principal line, and was superse-
ded by a rMal dynasty. When the rMal dynasty became extinct, a member of a side
branch of the original Lde dynasty was invited from Purang and became king of Guge.
Then the historical information ceases. The name of the king who is mentioned on
the votive tablet, is Khri-bkra-shis-grags-pa-lde. This name is not found in the genealo-
gical tree, and therefore he must be one of the later members of the second Lde dynasty
from Purang. He cannot well have reigned before 1600 A.D., for maṇi walls were hardly
ever constructed before that time; nor can he have reigned much later than 1630 A.D.,
for about that time Indra Bodhirnam-rgyal, a younger brother of the king of Leh, was
made vassal king of Guge, and in 1650 A.D., Guge was annexed by Lhasa and received
a Tibetan governor. It is, therefore, very probable that Khri-bkra-shis-grags-pa-lde is
the very king whose acquaintance was made by d'Andrada in 1623 A.D.

This supposition is strengthened by the discovery of a similar votive tablet which I
made three days after at Tabo in Spiti. This contained the name of the same king and
gave Tsaparang as his residence. But what is still more surprising, is the occurrence of
the following short passage on the same tablet : "He who clears away all the apostacy and
darkness at the great palace of Tsabarang rtse." The man who carved this inscription
was evidently displeased with the Tsaparang king's inclination towards Christianity.
So was the king of Leh; for it was probably on this account that he placed his
younger brother on the throne of Guge. I think, we shall have to accept d'Andrada's
account of his mission to Tsaparang without any severe criticism.