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

escaped renovation and reminded me of similar pictures I had seen at Alchi. Here also
were pictures of monks with patchwork gowns of many colours.

(5) Tretapuri (Tirthapuri).—This is a large stūpa which is enshrined in a ruined
house. The name of the building would point to its former occupation by a community
of heretics (Skr. tīrthika), as they were found in Tibet by Atiśa on the occasion of his
advent into the country. Judging by the images contained in it at the present time,
however, it is now as Lamaist as any other temple at Mang-rgyu. There were four
stucco images of the following Lamaist deities : 'aJam-dbyangs, (Mañju-ghōsha) painted
yellow, in the eastern corner ; sPyan-ras-gzigs (Avalokiteśvara) painted white, in the
southern corner ; and Phyag-rdor (Vajra-pāṇi) painted blue, in the western corner ; and
further the reformer bTsong-kha-pa (Sumati-kīrti), resplendent with red, orange, and
yellow, in the northern corner.

At the time of its foundation, the Mang-rgyu monastery may have equalled the
Alchi monastery in splendour. Now-a-days it is far inferior to it.

On the 25th September, we marched to Khalatse, on the right bank of the Indus.
Half way we passed by a gorge which forms the entrance to the valley of the village of
Tar. I should not have visited the latter, if rumours had not been current that a very
ancient rock inscription had been discovered there by Mr. Chatterji and others. Just
below the village of Tar, there is a rock, on which people believe they can see twenty-
one figures of the goddess Tārā (sGrol-ma) which have come into existence of themselves.
There used to be a high flagstaff in front of this rock. These svayambhū figures of
Tārā may account for the name of the village. It was probably called Tārā original-
ly, the name having become abridged to Tar. Lower down the valley, we found very
well moulded clay representations of Tārā in a mchod-rten. In the village we exam-
ined the "famous" inscription mentioned above. It contains only the name of King
Thse-dpal-rnam-rgyal, the last independent ruler of Ladakh, and is very fragmentary.

We arrived at Khalatse just in time to prevent the boulders containing the oldest
inscriptions of Ladakh from being broken. There are several rocks near Khalatse
bridge, bearing ancient Kharōshṭhī inscriptions, and one with an ancient Brāhmī
inscription. As a new bridge was under construction, many boulders, some with inter-
esting rock carvings and inscriptions had been blasted ; and the boulder with the
Brāhmī inscription had already been marked for blasting. I spoke to the Public Works
overseer in charge, as well as to the authorities at Khalatse, and entreated them to
preserve these invaluable stones. I hope that this may not have been in vain. We
took photos of the Brāhmī, the longer Kharōshṭhī,¹ and the old Gupta inscriptions.
The latter is found in the close vicinity of the mGo-chen mchod-rten. Some of the
ancient rock carvings were also photographed, and impressions taken of the royal
Tibetan and the Kharōshṭhī inscriptions. The mGo-chen mchod-rten belong to the