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

ibex in his possession, with the right horn crooked like an ammonite (Plate XXXIII, b).
This head was found in Ladakh, and the famous lama bKra-shis-bstan-'aphel, who died
in 1890, pronounced it to be the head of Buddha in his antelope incarnation. It is,
of course, treated with proper respect by its owner, who will not part with it for any-
thing. This is the second "bone of Buddha," which we have come across in Leh. The
first is contained in a gaily coloured clay tablet which was brought to us for sale.
It was said to have come from Lhasa, and the official seal stamped on its reverse
indicates that a homoeopathic measure of a Buddha relic was mixed up with the clay
composing it. Mention has been made of another Buddha bone, that of Buddha in
his elephant incarnation. With regard to the latter, Munshi dPal-rgyas said that
it was a tooth of the Buddha elephant on which the mystic syllable Oṃ could be
plainly read.

As I had suspected, Munshi dPal-rgyas turned out to be the writer of Dr. Marx's
Manuscript C. Through Mr. Reichel's exertions I have come into possession of copies of
the last two chapters of his rGyalrabs, and a comparison with Dr. Marx's translation shows
that Munshi dPal-rgyas' text coincides with such passages of this version as are marked
C-MS. As regards the "History of the Ḍogrā war," Munshi dPal-rgyas has written
no less than three different versions of it. He would perhaps never have thought of
writing one, if Dr. Marx had not asked him to do so. The first account he wrote
probably soon after the latter's arrival at Leh in 1886. This account was litho-
graphed at Leh, and used as a school book. The Munshi seems to have soon found out
that this account contained several mistakes, and therefore he wrote another version
which he presented to Dr. Marx apparently in 1899; but the latter did not live to translate
and publish the whole of this.¹ As Dr. Karl Marx's text was believed to be entirely
lost, the text and a translation of Munshi dPal-rgyas' first version of his account of the
Ḍogrā war was published.² Mr. Reichel's manuscript contains the third version of
Manshi dPal-rgyas' account. It is by far the best, and much fuller than his two pre-
ceding versions. I hope soon to be able to publish a translation of it. From what has
been said, it follows that Munshi dPal-rgyas is quite an unusual man. Who else among
the natives would have kept a certain subject of scientific interest in his mind for about
twenty-five years, without being paid for it? Who would have continued his inquiries
with so much patience and, discarding all his previous work, have started afresh,
when more recent research showed him the truth in a new light? What a gain it
would be to science if all historians were so conscientious!

Besides those already mentioned, it is necessary to refer to a few more buildings
of importance at Leh. The mosque at the upper end of the Bazar is not the first
of its kind at Leh.³ The first mosque is a very small building; but the time of its erec-
tion has not yet been fixed. The Christian church is situated to the west of the "Great
Palace" of Leh, behind the Bazar. North-west of the New Bazar is a small temple,