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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

XX. Basti-Rām's Account of the Dogra War, and Cunningham's
'Other Information'

Basti-Rām was a Dogra officer and one of the early Wazīrs of Ladakh. His
Wazīrate lasted from 1847 to 1861 A.D. Cunningham met him in Ladakh, probably
in 1847, and asked him to write an account of the Dogra war, to which he agreed.
As Basti-Rām held a high office in the conquered kingdom of Ladakh, his account
has a right to appear among the 'Minor Chronicles' of Ladakh. His account of the
Dogra war is of particular importance, for the simple reason that it is the earliest
ever written. On the other hand, it is in much need of re-editing; for the names
contained in it have never been identified with those contained in the later Tibetan
accounts of the same war. The original (probably Urdū) text of Basti-Rām's tale
has been lost. What we possess now is Cunningham's English rendering of the same.
Cunningham says (p. 332) with regard to it: 'The following account of the Dogra invasion
was kindly dictated, at my request, by Mehta Basti Ram, a Hindu Rajput of Káshtwár,
now governor of Lé, who was one of the principal officers of the expedition. As
an authentic record of an interesting event, of which no other account exists to my
knowledge (in 1847 A.D.), I should have preferred giving the narrative almost literally,
but I found that in this shape it would entail the insertion of too many footnotes,
which would have completely distracted the attention of the reader. I have there-
fore re-written the account entirely, and have given the Tibetan names, which my
knowledge of the localities enabled me to do without much difficulty. The narrative
was of course dictated in the first person, for which I have throughout substituted
the name of "Dogra" and "the Dogra troops".' Basti-Rām's account breaks off
immediately before the Balti war. The history of the conquest of Baltistan and the
two later Tibetan Dogra wars was compiled by Cunningham from 'Other Information'.
The correct Tibetan forms of the names have been added by the present author.

ENGLISH TEXT (Cunningham, p. 333)
I. Conquest of Ladák by the Dogras

1. The chief officers engaged in this expedition under the Vazir Zorāvar Sing
were, 1st, Mia Rai Sing; 2nd, Mehta Basti Rām; 3rd, Mirza Rasul Beg; 4th,
Rāna Zālim Sing; 5th, Singhé Mankotiah; 6th, Mian Tuta (Tibetan, Miyanota);
7th, Sirdar Uttam Sing; and 8th, Vazir Khojah Bhunjah.

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