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XXX. Ancient Historical Edicts at Lhasa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

The other and most ancient historical edicts discovered by me at Lhasa are inscribed upon a lofty pillar of victory which stands at the foot of Potala Hill, under the castle of the ancient kings, now incorporated in the palace of the Talai Lamas.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1910

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References

page 1248 note 1 p. 331.

page 1250 note 1 JRAS., 1891, pp. 185–7, and p. 264, “Imperial Autograph dated 60th year of K'ang-hsi.”

page 1250 note 2 Ibid., p. 264, “Imperial Autograph dated 59th year of Chīen-lung (1794).” It is entitled .

page 1253 note 1 Jaeschke, , Dict., p. 392Google Scholar.

page 1253 note 2 Bushell, , JRAS., 1880, p. 466Google Scholar.

page 1254 note 1 stsald

page 1254 note 2 v. p. 1250.

page 1254 note 3 But see D. 2, p. 1277.

page 1254 note 4 Bushell, , JRAS., 1880, p. 456Google Scholar. He seems to be the same person as “Jê-ku” there also named.

page 1255 note 1 A preliminary note on it by me appeared in the Times of July, 1910.

page 1256 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 476.

page 1256 note 2 The modern bank of the river is about a quarter of a mile further to the south.

page 1257 note 1 Pronounced Je-lä.

page 1257 note 2 See p. 1253.

page 1257 note 3 glo-ba. This term presents some difficulties, as it is never used in such a sense nowadays, glo literally is the ordinary term for “the side” of a person or thing; but is not the respectful form of the word to be applied to a king, which now would be a different root, e.g. gz'ogs. It also means a “cough”, with reference apparently to the movement of one's side which a cough entails. In its determinative form as glo-ba, as here used, it ordinarily means a cough with the sense of sudden movement, so that when compounded with 'bur itself, meaning sudden, the word glo-'bur means “suddenly”, though here again it may merely mean the sudden “side” or aspect. I have therefore treated it as meaning “side”, and it recurs very often throughout these edicts in connexion with advice tendered to the king or State on emergencies by an adviser on the spot or at the “side” or ear of the State or king.

page 1258 note 1 See p. 1261.

page 1258 note 2 Naṅ-blon'. This rank is mentioned in several of these edicts (see after), and is also noted in the Chinese records of the seventh century as “Nanglun” (Bushell, loc. cit., p. 440) as a title of ministers of rank.

page 1258 note 3 The “Kachan” or “Cachan” of Marco Polo, see p. 1262.

page 1258 note 4 z'a-z'a is evidently a Chinese word. If intended for z'wa-z'wa, it might probably mean “by each cap (or ‘button’) of rank”.

page 1258 note 5 is not a recognized expression nowadays. It literally means “bamboo”, “became uppermost” and this might mean “made themselves uppermost [over the Chinese] by beating [the latter]”. Probably the first component of the phrase should be spo, which means “overthrow”, and the sentence then would read “overthrew [the Chinese] and became uppermost”. It is noteworthy that the latter word is the same root which is used as the ordinary designation of the Emperor of China, namely, “The Supreme One”— Goṅ-ma. Another possible though less probable form might be “to smack” or “lick”.

page 1259 note 1 Pronounced “Char-mot'ang”. It is possible that the word here may be i.e. byar-o, pron. “char-o”, instead of byar-mo as transcribed in my eye - copy, especially as a Chinese town named “Chao-yi” exists in this neighbourhood at the present day, see p. 1263.

page 1259 note 2 The Emperor Su Tsung, whose regal title in 756–8 was Che-Têh.

page 1259 note 3 Yang here may not be part of the proper name, but merely the conjunction meaning “or”.

page 1259 note 4 Su Tsung died in 763 (Mayer's, Chinese Reader's Manual, p. 382)Google Scholar.

page 1259 note 5 Kwang Teh, the reigning title of Tai Tsung, who succeeded to the throne in this year 763.

page 1259 note 6 groṅ-ste.

page 1260 note 1 mCh'ims is a small principality or district near Samyäs, south of Lhasa, a princess of which was married to King K'ri Sroṅ-lde-btsan, so that this commander was probably the uncle of the king, and thus was entitled Z'ang, which literally means “maternal uncle” (Jaeschke, , Dict., 471)Google Scholar, though it also is the name of a district of Western Tibet to the north of Shigatse.

page 1260 note 2 rgyal.

page 1260 note 3 The modern Chou-chih, see p. 1265.

page 1260 note 4

page 1260 note 5 cf Jaeschke, , Dict., p. 285Google Scholar.

page 1260 note 6 The Emperor Kwang Teh.

page 1260 note 7 See p. 1266.

page 1261 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 439.

page 1261 note 2 Ibid., p. 475.

page 1261 note 3 Ibid., p. 475.

page 1262 note 1 Marco Polo, by Yule, H., 1st ed., ii, p. 16Google Scholar.

page 1262 note 2 Ibid., p. 16.

page 1263 note 1 Yule, op. cit., p. 13.

page 1263 note 2 Ibid., p. 15.

page 1263 note 3 See p. 1259, n. 1.

page 1263 note 4 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 479.

page 1264 note 1 Yule, op. cit., ii, p. 16.

page 1264 note 2 As is usually stated.

page 1264 note 3 A stele in Chinese, reproduced by Yule, op. cit., ii, p. 17, and translated by others.

page 1264 note 4 Yule, op. cit., ii, p. 16.

page 1265 note 1 Yule, op. cit, ii, p. 14.

page 1265 note 2 Or Chen-chê(t) Professor Parker tells me it is called.

page 1266 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 476.

page 1266 note 2 Professor Parker, who has kindly referred again to the Ta'ng-shu, writes to me that “Bushell's ‘Feng-t'ien-huen’ ought to be ‘Feng-t'ien and Wu-king’, I think”.

page 1267 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 439.

page 1269 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 522.

page 1269 note 2 Instead of the usual title of king, btsan-po, we find here btsan-p'o or “the mighty father”, and this word recurs in line 12 of text. Although p'o is not nowadays a respectful form of name but merely the generic term for “father”, applicable even to the lower animals, yet in ancient times, in the primitive social state when the king was regarded as a patriarch, it was probably, I think, used to denote also the king himself, as we find it surviving in the word for the king's palace, namely, p'o-braṅ, literally “the father's residence”.

page 1270 note 1 Literally “the increased line of the family”.

page 1270 note 2 I have treated as standing for the family collectively. The word which follows if correctly transcribed may be a proper name, but I have read the second element in its usual sense.

page 1270 note 3 literally “a letter”, also a symbol and document.

page 1270 note 4 gyuṅ-druṅ. See p. 1275 for explanation.

page 1270 note 5 Here again btsan-p'o, as in n. 2, p. 1269.

page 1270 note 6 Literally “the life having sunk” . My transcription has tso, which is manifestly a mistake for tshe, probably in copying.

page 1270 note 7 These are two districts to the west of Lhasa.

page 1270 note 8 Or may read “with the king's disposition as of old may they [be present]”, with ll. 60–1.

page 1270 note 9 Literally “throughout the life of the dominion”.

page 1270 note 10 Literally the “knots of strings”.

page 1270 note 11 Or possibly “conferences” if the second element in may have been copied in mistake for which is unlikely.

page 1271 note 1 Or “intriguing king”,

page 1271 note 2 On this title see p. 1274.

page 1271 note 3 The text here is not quite clear as to the title; it may read “to the descendants of the withstander and turner aside of three armies is given the title”, etc.

page 1271 note 4 A district to the north of Lhasa now spelt 'P'an; it contains a celebrated shrine of the Bon deity.

page 1271 note 5 This obviously refers to the Bon deity, and cannot be intended merely for “guardian of the king's body”, as the final s Sruṅs recurs each time this word is met with in the text.

page 1271 note 6 Or literally the “ancestors who have attained brightness”, which possibly may be a euphemism for “died”.

page 1271 note 7 The word used means ordinarily “the mob”.

page 1271 note 8 See p. 1275.

page 1272 note 1 Literally “stamped”, in sense of stereotyped, undeviating, unvarying.

page 1272 note 2 The capital of China (see note, p. 1265).

page 1272 note 3

page 1272 note 4 This implies a widespread nomadic habit.

page 1272 note 5 The construction is intricate.

page 1272 note 6 is a form of Cf. Jaeschke, , Dict., pp. 142, 460Google Scholar.

page 1272 note 7

page 1272 note 8 Literally “discord”,

page 1273 note 1 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 439.

page 1273 note 2 Ibid., pp. 439, 523.

page 1273 note 3 My Buddhism of Tibet, p. 34.

page 1273 note 4 Bushell, loc. cit., p. 522.

page 1273 note 5 Ibid., p. 523.

page 1274 note 1 My Buddhism of Tibet, p. 34.

page 1275 note 1 My Buddhism of Tibet, pp. 34, etc. Rockhill's, Life of Buddha, p. 226Google Scholar.

page 1275 note 2 Yuṅ-druṅ 'k'yil, or “the twisted cross”, has been used as an equivalent of “king's palace”.

page 1276 note 1 There may have been one line above this which has been erased

page 1276 note 2 This phrase recurs in 1. 28 of Inscription B.

page 1277 note 1 Or possibly .

page 1277 note 2 This phrase is similar to that in 1. I of Inscription A; but here I translate as the adverb “like”.

page 1278 note 1 This possibly might read .

page 1278 note 2 Or possibly .

page 1278 note 3 Possibly or .

page 1279 note 1 Probably .

page 1279 note 2 Might also read .

page 1280 note 1 Possibly or .

page 1280 note 2 Or .

page 1281 note 2 See note 1.

page 1282 note 1 Or .