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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

reminded me of the pre-Buddhist religion of Western Tibet, viz., a scastika and a
yōni, and several ibex; a little later on, we also found a sun symbol among the
carvings at Chanigund.¹

On the road from Chanigund to Shimsha Kharbu, at a place called Dongga, there is
a boulder which is covered with many carvings. (Plate XLIV.) The older ones are of a
yellowish colour, the modern ones are white. Here we actually found carved representa-
tions of stūpas, one of the cross type. Most of the more recent carvings represent
ibex, but not scenes of ibex hunting. As I have already pointed out in other articles,
the ibex is a symbol of fertility according to the pre-Buddhist religion, similar to the
ram of Lahul. The pre-Buddhist divinities, Kesar, 'aBruguma, etc., are invoked to
grant children. When one is born, the neighbours make presents of "flour ibex" to
the happy family. I am inclined to think that the many figures of ibex carved on
the rocks of Ladakh, represent thank-offerings for the birth of children.

On another boulder at the same site, I found carvings, representing war-like scenes,
viz., the capture and slaughter of prisoners. They do not look very old and may refer to
the Ḍógrā war.

There is an extensive ruin of a castle at Shimsha Kharbu, above the bungalow.
When I asked the inhabitants, if they knew who built it, they said that it had been the
property of the Khri Sultans of Sod (near Kargil). The word Khri is not pronounced
Ṭhi at Shimsha Kharbu, but Khri. The Dard women here, as well as at Dras, wear high
caps. We tried to induce one of them to allow herself to be photographed, but were not
successful. After the long desert journey from Leh to Purig, we hailed with delight
the first appearance of occasional trees on the road side, during this day's march. The
mountain sides also ceased to be entirely bare, and showed occasional patches of green
pasture.

On the 7th October, we marched from Shimsha Kharbu to Dras, or Hembabs. When
Moorcroft visited Dras in 1820, he found it to be the joint property of the king of
Ladakh and a Kashmir Malik, both of whom extracted one rupee annually from
every household in the Dras valley.² He does not mention the ancient Buddhist stone
sculptures of Dras at all. They were, however, discovered by Vigne, twenty years later.
Cunningham says that the images represent females, and that they are called Jomo,
"nuns." Both statements are wrong. The sculptures represent Bodhisattvas and are
called Chamba (Byams-pa, i.e., Maitreya). Cunningham made a copy of one of the in-
scriptions and gives his reading of it. We managed to take Nāsik paper impressions
of all three inscriptions found on the sculptures, and also photos of the stones.
The sculptures may be described as follows :—

(1) The first stone which is the smallest, shows a man on horseback, his right hand
on the bridle, and his left hand above his head, probably wielding a sword. This rider
represents a Rāṇā (Skr. rājānaka), and has nothing to do with satī, as was supposed by
Cunningham.³ This stone has a very clear Śāradā inscription on the reverse. It is the