Ancient Khotan : vol.1 / 202 ページ（白黒高解像度画像）

0202	Ancient Khotan : vol.1
古代コータン : vol.1

that even thus the rich storehouse of notices on ancient Khotan which the Chinese Annals and
similar historical works contain is still far from being exhausted ⁴.

Tibetan
notices of
Khotan. The Tibetan notices of Khotan history bear a very different character. They are con-
tained in four texts forming part of the great canonical collections of Tibetan Buddhism, and
claiming to contain Buddha's predictions concerning events which were to take place in Li-yul
or Khotan. The text described as 'The Annals of Li-yul' seems the largest and most
important among these. To Mr. W. W. Rockhill, scholar and diplomatist, belongs the merit
of having first called attention to these texts, and of having furnished systematically arranged
abstract translations from them in his Life of the Buddha ⁵. Mr. Rockhill's analysis makes it
appear very probable that they are translations or adaptations from works written in the
language of Khotan. That these works reproduced traditions, legendary or historical, then
current in Khotan becomes evident from the substantial agreement which the stories related
in the Tibetan texts about the foundation of the Khotan kingdom, about the origin of various
Buddhist sanctuaries, &c., show with the corresponding legends recorded by Hsüan-tsang.

Sources of
Tibetan
notices. There is no definite indication of the date when the translations were made or the original
texts composed. Yet it seems probable that the latter could not have differed much in character
and contents from those Khotan chronicles to which Hsüan-tsang alludes, and from which his
accounts of various ancient shrines and traditions are likely to have been borrowed directly
or indirectly. The Tibetan texts may thus claim the merit of having preserved for us at least
a reflex of what traditional records Khotan itself possessed during the centuries immediately pre-
ceding the Muhammadan era. But it does not require a prolonged inquiry to realize that the
information supplied by them is, notwithstanding its indigenous origin, greatly inferior in
historical value to that of our Chinese sources. A perusal of Mr. Rockhill's extracts shows
that, apart from the legendary traditions recorded about the origin of the Khotan dynasty and
people, and about that of certain prominent Buddhist shrines, the 'Annals of Li-yul' acquaint
us only with a long string of royal names diversified by occasional reference to pious founda-
tions and matters of doctrine. The same holds good also of the information given about the
last twenty-eight kings who are not specified by Mr. Rockhill, but whose names will be found
in the supplementary extracts which Mr. F. W. Thomas, the learned librarian of the India
Office, has been kind enough to place at my disposal ⁶.

Tibetan list
of Khotan
kings. In the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to form any definite view as to the
critical value to be attached to this long traditional list of kings or to any specific part of it.
Leaving aside the legendary founder of the dynasty, who is represented as a son of King Aśoka,
no chronological indications are furnished to us. None of the royal names, which are all Indian
and formed with Vijaya- as their first part, has so far been found on coins or in the ancient
documents discovered. If the latter portion of the list is authentic the reigns specified in it
must partly at least fall within the period of the T'ang dynasty, for which the Chinese Annals
give us relatively ample information about the rulers of Khotan. The repeated references
made to dynastic relations with China and to Chinese ministers at Khotan seem to confirm

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