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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
In JRAS, 1964, I edited an eighth-century inscription from 'Phyong rgyas known only through its survival in a collection which once belonged to Rig-'dzin Tshe-dbang Nor-bu of Ka-thog monastery, a famous lama of the 18th century (hereafter referred to as RT). The present article is concerned with his copy of another inscription described as “at Srong-brtsan Bang-so”. That is the popular name not only for the tumulus called Bang-so dMar-po and known as that of Srong-brtsan sGam-po but also of the whole burial area near 'Phyong rgyas. The inscription comes from a pillar near the tumulus attributed to Khri IDe Srong brTsan, who reigned from c. 804–815. Professor Giuseppe Tucci, the first Western visitor to examine the royal burial ground, has edited it in his Tombs of the Tibetan kings (TTK), Rome, 1950; and in CAJ, June 1963,1 have added some information about the pillar and the burial ground as a whole as the result of a visit in 1949, not long after Professor Tucci. Describing the pillar in TTK, p. 36, Professor Tucci writes “the surface of the stone is nowadays much damaged and a great part of the inscription is effaced. The lower portion is completely gone and a few lines are underground.”
1 Punctuation omitted by RT.
2 kyi RT.
3 Iha las omitted.
4 gzhug RT.
5 chin chad RT. The edge of the pillar is damaged, ni n.. can be read, but there is space for only one more letter.
6 nyams te RT.
7 Punctuation omitted.
8 shin RT.
9 Punctuation omitted.
10 Punctuation omitted.
11 Punctuation omitted.
12 bskyangs RT. The stone is damaged but there are traces of a zhabs kyu which gives a better reading.
13 dgra RT.
14 The stone is damaged and it is doubtful whether there is space for pa either at the end of 1.21 or the beginning of 1.22; but I have retained it.
15 The honorific initial sign in the middle of a phrase and referring to a Chinese ruler is unexpected. RT may have misread the passage owing to damage to the edge of the stone. I have retained his reading; but in 1.24. na| or na | would be preferable.
16 The passage about the divine descent of 'O Ide spu rgyal is identical with F. W. Thomas, Tibetan literary texts and documents concerning Chinese Turkestan (TLTD), II, 93 (B.I.2.); cf. also Lhasa Treaty Inscription E. 11. 5–8; and see also J. Bacot, F. W. Thomas, and C. Toussaint, Documents de Touen Houang relatifs à l'histoire du Tibet (THD), 81, for mention of 'O Ide spu rgyal. The ceremonious, pre-Buddhist language of the inscription may be compared with that of royal eulogies in THD, 112–15, 118.
17 It seems easiest to take gtsug as a variant of btsug ('dzugs pa) and one may compare gtsugs in Lhasa Treaty Inscription E. 1. 71, also TLTD, II, 98; but it may be gtsug summit, crown of head; cf. Lhasa Treaty E. 11. 6, 12 which can now be restored from RT's copy: gdung ma 'gyur and dbu rmog ni slar zhing brtsan pas nam zhar gtsug myi 'gyur. See also THD, 113, last line, mtha'r myi 'gyur.
18 “The way of the gods and the law of heaven.” L1. 7 and 8 of text, cf. 'Phyong rgyas inscription, 11. 7, 8, n. 3 and p. 10.
19 See 11. 14 and 15 of text. This list of epithets, or part of it, occurs many times in the rGyal po bka' thang (GKT) with reference to Khri iDe srong brtsan, which suggests that the author of that work knew this inscription. See GKT, kha f. 19 (b), thugs sgam khong yangs pa dang | zungs thub dpyadpas thugs stobs rab tu che; f. 42 (a), thugs sgam khong yangs; f. 60 (b), thugs sgam pa bka' brtsan pa khong yangs pa | zungs thub pa zhe bead rab tu che | thugs stobs dang Idan pa; 69 (a), thugs sgam bka' btsan khong yangs zungs thub pa thugs stobs che; 85 (a), thugs sgam bka' btsan khong rgyud yangs pa dang | zungs thub dpyas has thugs stobs rab tu che.
20 'greng “men”; cf. 'Phong rgyas, 1. 30 and n. 9.
21 The references to happiness in 11. 18 and 19 of the text, 'bangs skyid do and 'bangs skyid par by a ba, seem to have caught the eye of Rang byung rdo rje, the compiler of a guide to the burial ground in the 18th century, and he describes the pillar as relating the establishment of peace in the kingdom—rgyal khams la bde khod pd'i dkar chag. The phrases are, however, among the clichés of these royal inscriptions and eulogies: cf. Phyong rgyas, 1. 26, nam zhar bde zhing skyid par gnas so; THD, p. 113, relating to Khri IDe gtsug brtsan, myi yongs kyis skyid do; and p. 118 referring to Srong brtsan sgam po.
22 Here, 11. 23 and 25 of the text, are further clear echoes in GKT, f. 21. mtha' bzhi phyogs brgyad bka' btsan chab srid la.…and bar du bka' khon byung nas dgra ru bsdo, and dang po chab srid bzhad ma khad du ni.…
