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

of these Muhammadan portraits in a Buddhist temple, until the lama in charge
explained that they were Ladakhi kings. By the side of the picture, there is a long
inscription in gold on indigo tinted paper, which mentions King bKra-shis-rnam-rgyal,
the builder of the temple. From this inscription it appears that the picture represents
this king who testified to his close attachment to the Turkomans by dressing exactly
like them. As regards the Turkoman invasion under Sultan Ḥaidar during his time,
it is very difficult to reconcile the Tibetan with the Turkish account. The latter is
found in the Tārīkh-i-Rashīdi. Not only according to the Tibetan chronicles, but also
according to inscriptions from Ladakh, he gained a signal victory over the Turkomans.
According to the Tārīkh-i-Rashīdi, on the other hand, he was a servant of the Turko-
mans who held him in little honour.¹ I have come to the conviction that he was a
very clever politician. bKra-shis-rnam-rgyal knew very well that he could not resist
the first violent attack of the Turkomans with an armed force. He, therefore, con-
cluded a treaty with them, and apparently took their side. He then very cleverly enlisted
the energy of the Turkomans on his side, for co-ercing his disobedient vassal
princes and unpleasant neighbours. Some of them were Muhammadans; for instance,
the chiefs of Suru, Sod, Baltistan, and one in Nubra. It is rather remarkable, therefore,
that the Turkomans actually went against and fought them. Whether the Lhasa
expedition came to an end a few marches beyond the Manasarowar Lake, or eight
marches from Lhasa, as stated in the Tarikh, does not matter much. In the eyes of
the Ladakhi kings, the chiefs of Guge as well as the Central Tibetans required suppress-
ing. After the Turks had spent all their strength on the enemies of the Ladakhis, the
latter rose against them themselves, and turned them out of the country. As the
Ladakhi chronicles tell us, the corpses of the slain Turks were placed before the idols
of the temple of the four Lords (mGou-khang). This is the reason why the male
members of the royal family of Ladakh are shown wearing the Turkestan dress in the
frescoes, whilst the female members are dressed in true Ladakhi fashion, wearing on
their heads the berag, a leather strap covered with turquoises.

Above the temple of the four Lords (mGou-khang) are the ruins of bKra-shis-rnam-
rgyal's palace. They include a little Lamaist monastery which is of no particular
interest. Ruins of other parts of the ancient palace, for instance watch-towers, are
found all along the ridge of the rNam-rgyal-rtse-mo hill. Some of the ruins are of a
decidedly earlier date than the reign of bKra-shis-rnam-rgyal. For instance, I am told
that the foundations of a certain round tower are commonly known by the name of
'aBrog-pai-mkhar, "Dard castle." It may, therefore, be attributed to a building
which was erected before the Tibetan conquest of Ladakh, in c. 900 A.D. A man
from Leh brought me a fragment of a copper pot, which he said he had found on the top
of rNam-rgyal-rtse-mo. It contained an inscription in ancient characters, giving the
name of a prince: rGyal sras dBang-(nya ?)-gsing dbang-po, "Prince dBang-(nya ?)
gsing dbang-po." As the word rnam-rgyal does not occur in the name, it may be the
name of a younger son of a king of the first dynasty of Ladakhi kings. In the