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

of the names are of historical interest, as they agree with ministers' names given in the old stone-edicts of lHasa.
(See Lieut.-Col. Waddell's edition in the J.R.A.S., 1910–11.) Thus the names of the famous ministers rJe-blas
and sTag-sgra, of the Potala inscription of A.D. 730, are repeatedly mentioned on documents of the Stein
Collection. The same may be said with regard to the ministers Khri-bzher and sTag-bzher of the Potala
inscription of A.D. 764, and several names of ministers occurring in the inscription of A.D. 783. As regards the
names on the stone-edicts, they are generally compounds of personal names and clan-names. The Stein
documents, on the other hand, generally give only the personal names, at any rate in all those cases when
a famous and well-known minister is addressed. For this reason the identification of the names found in the
Stein Collection and on the stone pillars at lHasa cannot yet be called perfect, but it is quite probable that both
authorities treat of the same personages.

Although royal names are not found in the documents of the Stein Collection, several of them seem to refer
to kings, either of the whole of Tibet or of vassal states. The wish 'May your helmet remain firm !' was
addressed to royalty in those days as well as in quite recent times.

As regards the religious side of the question, a good number of the names are of Bonpo character. I may
mention the names which contain the word lho, god (of the pre-Buddhist pantheon), and Klu (Nāga), gSas, Khro,
as one of their compound parts. The principal part of the name of the founder of the Bon religion, viz.
gShen-rab, is found in several personal names; for instance, in gShend-sum-bu, sKu-gshen, gShen-phan-legs, etc.
A few names remind us also of names occurring in the Kesar-saga, the old epic of Tibet. . . .

Names of women are extremely rare in the documents. rGya-mo is the name of a female slave; mNa-ma
occurs once as the writer of a letter, but the word means 'daughter-in-law'.

Buddhist names are also of rare occurrence. On entering a monastery a man received a new Buddhist name.
Thus we read that a man who was formerly called 'U-tung-gsas-chung received the name Byang-chub-bkra-shis
when he entered a monastery. Other Buddhist names are: gZhon-nu-dpal-grub, sPyan-ras (probably), Byang-
chub, Yon-tan-seng-ge, dGe-bsnyen (Upāsaka), Sha-ri-bu (Śāriputra), lHa-sbyin (Devadatta), rDo-rje (Vajra),
rDo-rje-dgyangṡ, 'aJam-dpal (Mañjuśrī), Com-ldan-'adas (Bhagavān), dGe-mthso.

Several names are of interest as having been observed also in documents of Ladakh or other literature.
Thus the name gYu-sgra is found in the Stein Collection, and the same name is also given in the bTsun-mo-bkai-
thang-yig, which professes to date from Padmasambhava's time, edited by Dr. B. Laufer. The syllables
sMer-chang form part of one of the names in the Stein Collection, and several names containing the same
syllables are found on the boulders near the bridge of Khalatse.ᵃ . . .

In many cases the personal names are found in connexion with titles. The most ordinary title of the
documents is perhaps that of a minister, or blon-po, abridged blon. There are, however, various kinds of ministers,
as, for instance, rJe-blon, a high minister; Tha-blon, minister of seals; dGra-blon, minister of enemies, probably
'minister of war'; So-blon, minister of guards; Khri-blon, throne-minister; Phyi-blon, minister of outward
affairs; and Zhang-blon, uncle minister. . . .

Other titles are: Nang-rje-po, the great man of the inside, which I have usually translated by 'Minister of
Inner Affairs'; Kha-ga (modern Ga-ga), nobleman; Jo-cho or Jo-co (modern Jo-bo), lord. I may note that in
modern West-Tibetan the form Jo-jo is generally used for noble ladies, but in the Stein Collection the title Jo-co
seems to refer to men; rTse-rje, high summit (the sphere of work of this official has not yet become plain,
perhaps he was a magistrate); Vi-ge-pa, secretary; sPyii-yi-ge-pa, general secretary; gNyer, steward; sDe-po,
head of a tribe; mKhar-pa, head of a castle; Khams-kyi-dbaṅ-po seems to have been the title of the major
domus who played such an important part in old Tibet. This title is given to Blon-rgyal gSum-bzher, the royal
minister gSum-bzher.

Another group of titles consists of compounds with the word dpon, master. The following kinds of dpon
have been noticed in the Stein Collection: Ru-dpon, perhaps 'master of a clan' (rus); 'Og-dpon, lower officer,
subaltern officer; Zhing-dpon, master of the fields (this title is still used nowadays: a Zhing-dpon is the man who
has to regulate the irrigation of the fields); sTong-dpon, master of thousands, colonel; dMag-dpon, army officer;
dPhung-dpon, master of the host; Chibs-dpon, master of the horse; Khral-dpon, tax-officer; dNgos-dpon,
perhaps 'frontier officer'; the title Thungs-dpon cannot yet be exactly explained; it may be the title of
a magistrate. Also the title Khong-ta cannot yet be translated.