1892.] S. C. Das— The Origin of the Tibetans. 85 



country was known to the Turks and Tartars. In the Travels of Soly- 

 man the Arab merchant, which, according to Reinaud, was published in 

 850 A. D., the name Tibet was first mentioned. The Chinese name for 

 the whole country is Tufan. From an inscription on the Boring mono- 

 lith of Lhasa dated 822 A. D., in Chinese and Tibetan character, the 

 name Bod is written with the Chinese initial Fan. Hence it appears 

 that the Chinese name Tufan is the same as Tubod which is still the 

 Mongolian name for Tibet. The name Wcitsang applied to Tibet by 

 the Chinese is compounded of the two names of the two principal pro- 

 vinces of the country, viz., Wu and Tsang. The names Hsi-Tsang and 

 Hsi-fau (in which hsi = west) are also indiscriminately applied to the 

 country by the Chinese. 



The name Alakavati by which Tibet is also known to the Indians 

 may be traced in the term Changlo-chan by which the part of the province 

 of Tsang, lying to the north of the Chomo-Lhari and Kang-chan Junga 

 mountains, is designated. The Tibetan word Changlo-chan (in which 

 Changlo = Alahd and Cha,n = vati) signifies Alakavati or the place where 

 men and women wear flowing or braided locks. The custom of wearing 

 the Changlo exists, even now, as it existed before, in Tibet. There 

 the men wear only one plaited tail while the women enjoy the privi- 

 lege of braiding their flowing hair into two. Tibet was for this reason 

 designated Alakavati by the Indians, though the Tibetan equivalent 

 of that name was applied were to a part of Tsang by the Tibetans them- 

 selves. The grove of Changlo-chan situated on the river Painam with 

 its attractive sceuary, forms an important landmark to travellers who, 

 proceed to Lhasa from the south, via Gyan-tche. 



Accoi'ding to Sum-pa the great Tibetan Historiographer and also 

 the early records of Tibet, it is mentioned in certain Chinese histories 

 that the people who inhabited the Arya-bhumi, the blessed land of the 

 Hsi-thian (western heavens) originated from the gods, the people of 

 China, the flowery country — sprang from the dragon, the offspring of the 

 heaven and the earth, the Mongolians originated from the demons and 

 last of all the Tibetans descended from the Yakshas, a kind of mischief- 

 making demigods. The Hiuclus regarded the Saki-Tartars and the early 

 Pei\sians, who worshipped the Ahura (Asura) and lived at the foot of 

 Meru, i. e., about the Parapomisus* mountains as the descendants of the 

 Asuras who waged war on Indra, the Emperor of India and his nobles. 

 The Hindoos designated the Tibetans by the name of Huua and Gana 

 or the legions of Kuvera, the god of wealth. From the internal evidence 

 of the classical writings of the Hindoos, it appears that the specific de- 

 signation which they had for the Chinese really signified the Tibetans. 

 * Para and upa Nishad mountain. 



