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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

although the chronicles do not contain any statement to that effect. On the walls of this
temple are found frescoes: for instance, a series of pictures illustrating the Buddha
legend, viz., Buddha's conception, birth, seven steps in the four directions, etc. Their
execution is of a ruder type than that of the paintings on the rNam-rgyal-rtse-mo. But
the most important pictures in this hall are undoubtedly those which represent the royal
family. All the male members wear turbans and look almost like Mughals. The
servants are also furnished with turbans, and the royal ladies seem to wear some form
of the berag, mentioned above. There is another portrait of an historical personage on
one of the walls, that of the famous lama sTag-thsang-ras-pa, which is evidently a later
addition. Besides the huge statue of Maitrêya, I noticed a few small images in the hall
of the same temple. One of them again represents sTag-thsang-ras-pa, the other a
four-armed Avalokitêśvara.

The Seljang monastery of Basgo is established in the ancient royal palace. It
contains a huge statue of Maitrêya which was erected by king Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal, about
1610 A.D., and which is in remarkably good preservation. Several large jewels still
remain on it. We saw only the upper part of the image, as, the key not being
procurable, we could not enter the hall of the temple. This building contains a very large
library, consisting mostly of loose sheets, which is the ancient library of the kings of
Ladakh. Dr. K. Marx, who was the first European to draw attention to it, proposed to
convey it to the Leh palace, arrange it properly, and appoint one of the Moravian Mis-
sionaries as chief librarian. The gallery above the Seljang monastery contains a number
of very rude frescoes which are furnished with explanatory inscriptions; and also the
remains of a very long historical inscription of King Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal's time. We
took a photo of what remains of the latter.

There is a great number of ancient mchod-rten at Basgo. We examined only two
of them. One is called Kha-gan-stong-sku, and is furnished with three (originally
four) doors. Kha-gan is probably a corruption of the word Khanggani, "door." It
is called stong-sku, "one thousand images," on account of the many little pictures of
blue, Buddha-like figures, which are painted on the walls and the ceiling. The pictures
have mostly faded. I am of opinion that it is a monument of the Bon religion of former
days. We found all kinds of old rubbish below the roof, and amongst it a well moulded
image of sGrol-ma (Tārā) made of burnt clay.

The other prominent mchod-rten of Basgo is called Rag-pa (Plate XXXVI, a). It is
situated at the entrance of the gorge leading up to the plain on the road to Saspola. This
mchod-rten which is attributed to Lama Rin-chen-bzang-po, is of pyramidal shape. Its
ground-plan has the form of a star and the dome is furnished with niches which originally
must have contained images of Buddha, like the Mani-gser-mo at Leh.

In the evening of the same day, whilst the caravan went straight to Saspola,
I marched to Likir, with Puntsog, my Tibetan assistant, whom I had engaged at Leh.
The Likir monastery is mentioned in the chronicles of Ladakh as having been erected
by King Lha-chen-rgyal-po (c. 1050—1080 A. D.). I had visited it before, but could find
no record confirming the statement of the chronicles. The object of my present visit