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

Ladakh chronicles we read that one of their early kings had placed the bones of Buddha
in his elephant incarnation on the top of the same hill. I made inquiries as to
their whereabouts and was told that they had been deposited in a mchod-rten which
was utterly destroyed by the Baltis about 1580 A.D. No trace of the relics
remains.

On our way down from the top of the hill, we passed by the Great Palace of Leh
which was erected by king Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal in c. 1620 A.D. As I knew from
former visits, it is practically empty. We did not enter it, but photographed the carved
wooden gate, the famous "Lion Gate" of Ladakh (Plate XXX, b). One of the rooms
of the palace contains heaps of old manuscripts. All the paper is indigo-tinted, and the
writing is in gold, silver and copper. As this collection probably represents the old royal
library, or part of it, I asked Mr. Chatterji of the Kashmir State, to make arrangements
to put the manuscripts into order again.

I heard rumours of the existence of ancient Indian Buddhist manuscripts at Leh
and in other parts of Ladakh, Munshi dPal-rgyas, the representative of the To-go-che
family being reported to be in possession of one. Fortunately for me, Munshi dPal-
rgyas himself arrived in Leh soon after I had heard this, and readily showed me his old
book. It was, however, not of Indian, but of Tibetan origin, being the eighth volume
of the Tibetan translation of the Prajñā-pāramitā, and written throughout in 11th
century orthography, gold on indigo-tinted paper. The wooden cover (Plate XXXVII, b)
was ornamented with very beautiful ancient carvings, for which reason a photo was taken
of the same. Munshi dPal-rgyas emphatically denied the existence of Indian manuscripts
at the Hemis monastery, in spite of a rumour to that effect which had been brought to
us. But he said that he had heard of the existence of a book, written in Lañthsā cha-
racters at the Sanid (or Muni) monastery in Zañgskar. This book may be identical with
the old 'palm leaf' shown to the Rev. Mr. Bateson on the occasion of his journey
through Zañgskar in 1908.

Mr. Meebold¹ also makes the statement that he was shown 'palm leaf' books
at the Rangdum monastery of Zañgskar. These statements await verification. It is
strange that Munshi dPal-rgyas should have bought his ancient book at Lhasa, as he
says. The Prajñā-pāramitā, as already stated, was translated into Tibetan by Lama
Rin-chen-bzang-po, who was a West Tibetan, and most of the copies of his book were
distributed among the West Tibetan monasteries of his time. Sending them to Lhasa
would have been of no use, as Buddhism had practically disappeared from Central
Tibet in the 11th century, being introduced into the country again from West Tibet
and Khams. But at a much later time, possibly only a century or so ago, a number
of important books were carried off to Lhasa. So I was told at the Alchi monastery
where no ancient manuscripts now remain. The history of Munshi dPal-rgyas' book
may therefore be as follows: It was originally written for one of the Western
monasteries. Then it was carried off to Lhasa; and was there again sold to a pilgrim
for a high price.