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

When stationed at Kye-laṅ, Lahul, as a missionary, I asked Thākur Amar-Chand
of Ko-loṅ to show me his family chronicles, if he had any. He said that his father,
Hari-Chand, had compiled a chronicle in 1880 A.D., but that the information contained
in it was drawn from older documents. Amar-Chand recently brought it up to date.
Amar-Chand very kindly had the chronicles copied for me in the original Urdū, and he
also ordered his munshi to prepare an English translation for my use. Besides the
Urdū chronicles Amar-Chand produced also a genealogical tree of his family in Tibetan,
and several other Tibetan documents. A number of letters by Kulū kings to the chiefs
of Ko-loṅ were discovered at Ko-loṅ by Mr. Howell. Stone inscriptions containing the
names of several former chiefs of Ko-loṅ have been discovered in the vicinity of the castle
of Ko-loṅ.

Ko-loṅ is situated on the right bank of the river Bhāgā, about 16 miles above the
confluence of the rivers Chandrā and Bhāgā. Ko-loṅ was the capital of a small chief-
tainship, which in its best days extended from the confluence of the Chandrā and
Bhāgā to the Baralatsa pass, on the right bank of the river. This narrow strip of land
was their own property, but since the reign of Māṅ-Siṅgh of Kulū, 1674–1717 A.D., they
had to watch over the interests of the Kulū kings in the whole of Lahul. Lahul then,
as now, comprised the valleys of the Chandrā, and the Bhāgā, and of the united rivers
down to Tirot.

The chiefs of Ko-loṅ are never mentioned in the chronicles of the neighbouring
countries, but Lahul as a whole is referred to occasionally in the chronicles of Ladakh
and Kulū. Under the first great king of Ladakh, Ñi-ma-mgon, a country called Spyi-
lcogs is mentioned. According to K. Marx, Spi-lcogs probably stands for Lahul. Later
on two Tibetan conquests of Kulū are described, under the Ladakhi kings Lha-chen-
Utpala and Tshe-dbaṅ-rnam-rgyal I. In both cases Lahul was apparently included in
the conquest, although it is not specially mentioned. Then, during the reign of the
last independent Ladakhi king, Tshe-dpal-rnam-rgyal, Lahul is repeatedly referred
to under its Tibetan name Gar-źa. Let me add that the name Lahul is entirely unknown
among the Tibetans.

In the chronicles of Kulū Lahul is repeatedly mentioned in the first legendary
chapters, and again in the chapter referring to the conquest of Lahul by the Kulū kings
in the seventeenth century. Here the name Lahul is used for the country.

The first European who published a pedigree (in Urdū) of the chiefs of Ko-loṅ was
Col. Massey. In his publication the pedigree begins with Ko-no-Chun-nun (Chogan) and
Seṅ-ge. To the pedigree is added a brief account of the conquest of Ladakh by the
Dogras, which would be rather out of place here.