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

has a white and green jacket and red trousers; Kesar has a red coat, and a white
cloak with green seams; he sits on a red carpet, and the background behind him is blue.

There is a large pyramidal mchod-rten at Changspa which is called "the Kings'
mchod-rten" by Europeans, and bKra-shis-sgo-mang by the natives (Plate XXXI, b).
The present inhabitants of Changspa say that it was not erected by their ancestors, but
by Turks or Mongols on one of their expeditions to Ladakh. The latter assumption is,
however, difficult to believe. This old mchod-rten may go back to the times of the Mons
or Dards. It is surrounded by rows of one hundred-and-eight mchod-rten. And this goes
to prove that it cannot be of much later date than the 15th century, and may very well
be of much earlier date. The mchod-rten has received its name sgo-mang "many doors"
on account of the many little niches with which it is furnished. In all probability
these niches once contained Buddhist images, but none now remain. On the whole,
however, this old mchod-rten has been wonderfully well preserved and is still regularly
whitewashed.

Not far from it are several stone sculptures in relievo which probably also go back
to Mon or Dard times (c. 700—900 A.D.). The best of them shows a standing Buddha
with Bodhisattvas on his right and left (Plate XXXII, a). The one on his right who
carries a vase is Maitreya. The one on his left, and higher up, with a flower in his hand,
is Avalokiteśvara. Above him, in the air, we see two flying figures (Gandharvas?)
On the reverse of the same stone is a four-armed figure, perhaps a Maitreya, and a
mchod-rten is carved on one of the narrow sides (Plate XXXII, b). I will not now
describe all the stone sculptures of Leh and surroundings, because it would take too long,
for there are many of them. A number have been mentioned or described in my article,
"Archæology in West Tibet."² But I will mention another sculpture at Changspa
near a group of houses, lower down, not far from the brook. It is enclosed by a masonry
wall. This figure is furnished with an unusual headdress and seems to represent a
Buddhist priest of the Mon or Dard times.

On a rocky hill to the west of Changspa, there are several crematories and some
ancient mchod-rten. Higher up, on the same hill, are the ruins of the Ribug (Ri-phug)
monastery. As the monastery was reported to be of ancient date, I visited it but could
not, however, discover any inscriptions or documents referring to it. One of the
mchod-rten close by is of an ancient type, but the cremation tablets contained in it
are unfortunately without inscriptions. The temple hall being roofless, nothing remains
of former frescoes except a few traces of colour on the plaster.

The ruined mchod-rten called Teu-bkra-shis-'od-mtho is the largest in Ladakh. It is
situated about 1½ mile from the Commissioner's compound, a little higher up in the Leh
valley. We measured the circumference of its base at about 10 feet above the ground,
a height at which the masonry rose clear above the surrounding rubbish, and found it to
be 550 feet. It was erected by king 'aBum-lde, in order to cover up a crag which was
believed to be harmful to the country, and is now in a very dilapidated condition.