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

are the ruins of an ancient castle, *mkhar*. People told me that they had formerly to
live on that rock (probably before 1650, when they came under Bashahr). They left the
rock on account of many accidents in consequence of their getting drunk. I visited
the site, but saw nothing beyond heaps of loose stones with fragments of rude pottery
Some of the rooms can still be traced. The Tibetans of Li as well as of Kanāwar in
general are distinguished from those of Spiti, Ladakh and Shipke by the fashion in which
they wear their hair. The men of Kanāwar wear their hair like the people of Bashahr.
No long pigtails are seen here. The same is the case in Lahul where also the long pigtail
has disappeared. The Hindu rulers of Bashahr and Kulū were apparently against it.

The bKra-shis-lhun-grub monastery of Li is asserted to be of ancient origin. This
may be true, for it belongs to the rNyingmapa sect, the most ancient order of monks in
Tibet. This sect has not founded new settlements for a long time. The abbot told me
that the Li monastery was founded by Padma-sambhava, which is quite probable, if it be
not even older. As Sarat Chandra Das has shown, the rNyingmapa order has much of its
literature in common with the Bonpos, the followers of the pre-Buddhist religion of
Tibet.¹ Around Lhasa, the monks of the rNyingmapa order cannot be distinguished from
other orders of the "red persuasion," as regards dress, but here in the west they can.
Here the rNying-ma-pa monks grow long
hair which is never combed, and gives them a
savage appearance. The best specimens of this
uncivilized order of saints can, however, be
seen at Pyin in Spiti. Although I am con-
vinced of the correctness of the assertion that
the monastery is of remote origin, this state-
ment cannot be confirmed by documentary
evidence. The present building does not
appear to be of many years' standing, nor the
few idols contained in it. At the monastery,
however, they have an ancient and beautiful
wood carving of teak wood, representing Buddha
surrounded by Bodhisattvas. All the Bodhi-
sattvas are of the primitive and simple type.
(Fig. 1).

Not far from the bKra-shis-lhun-grub mon-
astery, a little above the line of cultivation, are
the ruins of an old nunnery, called *Jo-moi
dgon-pa*. It consists of three separate ruined
houses, a *maṇi* wall covered with white pebbles
and two *mchod-rten*. The nunnery was abandon-
ed only a hundred years ago, so people told me.