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

the Tibetan emperor Khri srong lde btzan who invited him to Tibet and who is regarded as an incarna-
tion of Mañjusri. But also the third invocation we find in Lahul combined with the former two; for
instance on the rock at Yurnad near Kye-lang (Lahul) which was photographed by Dr. Vogel. Is it
possible that Padma-sambhava who made ample use of the vajra (thunderbolt) was believed to be an
incarnation of Vajra-sattva?

It is of great interest that the connection of the Buddhist teacher Padma-sambhava with Rawālsar
is asserted not only by Tibetan Buddhists, but also by the Brāhmans of the tīrtha. Dr. Vogel has the
following note in his article on Trilōknāth¹ "Here (at Rawālsar) in an absolutely Hindū country we
find Padma-sambhava, the founder of Buddhism in Tibet, worshipped not only by lamas who have
their own dgon-pa here, but equally by Brāhmans who call him Rishi Lomasa and even possess a
Māhātmya, in which the local legend is given in its Brahmanic version."

The Śiva temples make a very beautiful picture along the shore of the lake and are undoubtedly
older than the present Lamaist dgonpa. The stone figures of the bull Nandi in front of them struck me
as being particularly well modelled. The ancient dress of Mandi Buddhists has been preserved in
Lamaist representations of Padama-sambhava. The unusual kind of the Lama's head-dress is still
known as Zahor-ma, Zahor being the Tibetan name of Mandi. As regards the many Tibetan rock
carvings on the shore of the lake, I find it impossible to assign a fixed date to them. The forms of
characters employed certainly do not suggest their being contemporaneous with Padma-sambhava;
but as many of them look very time-worn, they may have been carved within the last five hundred years.

One of the Tibetans I met at Rawālsar told me that he intended to travel straight to Amritsar, as
this was another place connected with Padama-sambhava. I was astonished to hear such a statement,
and resolved to make enquiries on the spot.

Let me now add a few notes on Mandi, collected from Tibetan historical works. There can exist
no reasonable doubt as regards the identification of the Tibetan Zahor with Mandi; for on our visit to
Rawālsar we met with numerous Tibetan pilgrims, who all said that they were travelling to Zahor,
thereby indicating the Mandi State, if not the town. In the biography of Padma-sambhava, and in
other books referring to his time, Zahor is frequently mentioned as a place where this teacher (c. 750
A. D.) resided. The famous Buddhist teacher Santi Rakshita, who went to Tibet, was born in
Zahor. Again in the days of Ral-pa-can (C. 800 A. D.) we find the statement that during the
reigns of his ancestors many religious books had been brought to Tibet from rGya (India or China), Li,
Zahor and Kashmir. Zahor was then apparently a seat of Buddhist learning and it is even stated
that under the same king Zahor was conquered by the Tibetans. But under his successor, the
apostate King Langdarma, many religious books were brought to Zahor, among other places, to save
them from destruction.

Among the Tibetans there still prevails a tradition regarding the existence of hidden books in
Mandi, and this tradition in all probability refers to the books above mentioned. Mr. Howell, Assistant
Commissioner of Kulu, told me that the present Thākur of Kolong, Lahoul, had once been told by a
high lama from Nepal, where the books are still hidden. Unfortunately the Thākur had entirely
forgotten the name of the place. My enquiries on the spot were of no avail, as none of the lamas and
Tibetan laymen could or would tell where the books were concealed. I can suggest only one way
of finding out the truth (or otherwise) of the tradition. A reward in money might be offered to the
Thākurs of Kolong to induce them to make another attempt to find the old books. It will
be remembered that the Thākurs of Kolong found out among other things who were the murderers
of Schlagintweit.