THE reader of the history of Western Tibet will probably like to know from what sources the information regarding this topic has been drawn. The sources are of two kinds: some are foreign, and some Western Tibetan. The latter are of the greatest interest to us, and are of a two-fold character: we possess records on stone as well as on paper. Of the former, which cover the time from 200 B.с.-1900 A.D., only comparatively little has become known up to the present, the reason being that systematic and thorough researches in that domain have not yet been made. Also, regarding the records on paper, although what is probably the most important work, the chronicles of the kings of Leh (or Ladakh), has been edited, much remains to be done. I have heard of the existence of the following historical works which have never yet been examined by a European: the chronicles of the vassal-chiefs of Chigtan;¹ the chronicles of the village of Sakti; and the "history of the monasteries," as it is found, I am told, in the Bidur (Vaidurya) gserpo. It is very probable that there are many more historical works in existence in the country, the names of which will be discovered in course of time. Besides these books, some villages are in possession of shorter documents on paper, in particular edicts of several kings, to collect and edit which will be a necessary preliminary to a scientific study of our history. One of these documents, an edict by King Nyima namgyal, will be found translated in these pages.
Let us now examine the general character of Ladakh histori-ography, especially the chronicles of Ladakh on which the following history is chiefly based. The chronicles, so far as they are made use of here, cover the time from 900-1842 A.D. But as the historiography did not stop with the loss of independence of the kingdom, but has been continued down to the present, the Ladakhi chronicles comprise a full millennium by this time. The character of the work is not the same during the different periods it describes. Its most ancient part can hardly be called a history; nor was it apparently meant to be such. It was begun as a pedigree of the kings of Leh, whose chief intention it was to prove their descent from the famous line of the ancient kings of Lhasa. Thus the first portion of the work, covering roughly the period of 900-1400 A.D., does not contain much besides mere names. About the year 1400 the account begins to be-come fuller. This may be due to the fact that the second dynasty branched off at about that time, and this new line of kings may have had a stronger instinct for history. At any rate, the accounts grow in fulness after 1400 A.D. Still, they leave much to be desired from a European point of view. The writers were Lamas, and to them the greatest events during the reign of a king were his presents to Lamas and monasteries, or his building of chortens and mani walls. Much ink has been expended on these events, which are of very little interest to the average European. On the other hand, the campaigns of the kings are treated with extraordinary brevity, and of their economical work we hear nothing at all. Only in the case of the last few kings are we able to form an idea of their characters, and of tactics employed during the campaigns we hear nothing. The historian is quite satisfied with telling us the final result of the campaign. Thus we see that all those points which go to make a history of a country serviceable are missing in these Western Tibetan records; and yet, the naive tone of the historians has often a charm of its own.
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