Historical Documents from Western Trans-Himalaya Lahul, Zanskar and Ladakh (An Old and Rare Book)

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Tobdan (b.1944) is a self-taught scholar of Sanskrit, Tibetan and Urdu. He is at present District Development Manager in NABARD. He obtained LL.B. Degree from University of Delhi. Tobdan has to his credit three books entitled 'History and Religion of Lahul (1984), Bhoti Parichaya: Vyakarana Aur Anuvad (1990) and The People of the Upper Valley: The sTodpas of Lahul in the Himalayas (1993) and numerous research papers and scholarly articles published in reputed journals and volumes.

C. Dorje (b. 1953) obtained his Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in History from Himachal Pradesh University. In 1978 he was awarded Postgraduate Diploma in Archaeology from the School of Archaeology. Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi. He joined the Archaeological Survey of India in 1979 as Deputy Superintending Archaeologist and was promoted as Superintending Archaeologist in 1989. Ever since his joining the ASI, he has been actively involved in field work and has carried out archaeological conservation and research in different parts of the country. He participated in the Excavation at Sringaverapura. He was Curator of Himachal State Museum, Shimla for a period of one year (1985-86). He has inspected and studied large number of archaeological monuments and sites in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir as well as other parts of India. In December 1995, he was deputed by the Department of Culture of the Government of India to participate in Azad Hind Expedition which began its journey from Singapore by road and arrived in Delhi traversing Malaysia, Myanmar and North- Eastern States of India.

Dorje has contributed number of papers and articles in research journals and other scholarly works.

While there are several travelogues and accounts of the western Trans-Himalayas including coffee table books, not much attention seems to have been given to historical documents available from the region, in fact, bulk of the literature published has concerned itself primarily with Buddhist monasteries and art treasures in this area. At the other end of the spectrum are works which essentially try to project these areas as a veritable Shangrila where everything including time seems to have stood still. Exceptions to this are AH Francke's works prepared respectively under the title "sengon mar't this kyt lo rgyus gur zha pa mams la yod da tram les pa bzhugs so (Die historischen und mythologischen Gamerungen der labouler) (1907) and First collection of Tibetan Historical Inscriptions on Rock and Stone from west Tibet (1906) and Second Collection of Tibetan Historical Inscriptions on Rock and Stone from Western Tibet (1907) containing text of original documents from the region. Being handwritten, these works are inaccessible and also do not contain transliteration or translation of the texts Francke also referred to some of these inscriptions in his History of Western Tibet (1907) as well as in Antiquities of Indian Tibet, in two volumes (1914 and 1926) Later, these have been utilized by scholars like Petech. Snellgrove, and Skorupski and others. Tobdan and C Dorje have published in this work not only original documents comprising of inscriptions and historical records with transliteration and English translation but have also added new material. This book by Tobdan and C Dorje is therefore a significant contribution to the literature on the history of this part of our country since the documents included herein provide information on several hitherto unknown aspects about this region. Besides presenting difficulties in compiling the material due to problems of access and condition of the documents, equally formidable was the problem of dialects as well as subjects dealing with historical inscriptions, folklore as represented in songs, myths and legends and the hitherto unpublished documents of the rulers and wazirs.

With the opening of Ladakh and Lahul and the concomitant tourist traffic, building of roads, environmental change, etc., the historical material-be it in the form of inscriptions on stone or on mud plastered walls of monasteries or in the form of movable documents is exposed to threat by way of vandalism, destruction and even removal from their original location.

In this work are compiled some of the important and rare documents from and about Lahul, Zanskar and Ladakh These documents are more or less inaccessible for the general readers and most of them are at the verge of destruction Even those which are available. posed problem regarding their interpretation, since these are written in a variety of scripts and dialects/languages, some of which are little known or understood outside the area.

For the purpose of identification of each document separately, the book has been divided into three parts A, B and C. Those placed under A are from AH Francke's collection under the title sugon ma't his kyr forgyns gar zha pa rmams la yid du tsam hus pa behin bzhugs so. Those under 'B' are from his First and Second Collections of Tibetan Historical Inscriptions on Rocky and Stones from West Tibet, while the documents put under "C" represent new collections Serial numbers distinguishing individual documents and dates as given by Francke have been retained Wherever possible, new and more reliable date has been given in the notes.

The script used in the texts is variously Tibetan, Takri and Persian. The documents from Ladakh, Zanskar and some from Lahul are in Bhoti/Tibetan Other languages/dialects used are Punan, Tinan, Manchad, Chanh, Urdu and Hindi Some introduction is necessary about the dialects which would facilitate the readers in understanding the documents.

Punan constitutes the lower part of the Bhaga valley in which is situated Kyelang, the headquarters of District Lahul and Spiti, and their dialect is known as Punan or Gaar

The lower part of the Chandra valley is known as Tinan and also Rangloi, and the dialect used there is known by as Tinan or Rangloi