No. IX. Interpretation of the Tibetan Inscription on a 
Bhotian Banner, taken in Assam, and presented to the 
Asiatic Society by Captain Bogle. 
[J.4.8.B., Vol. V, p. 264 (1836).] 
{In a letter to the Secretary of the Asiatic Society; see also Proceedings 
of the Asiatic Society, 4th May, 1836.] 
According to the request conveyed in your letter of the 30th 
April, I have translated the piece of magical superstition which 
you have faithfully transcribed from the Bhotian board. With 
exception of the salutation at the beginning and the conclusion, 
and a few terms in the middle, the whole is in the Tibetan langu- 
ort of it, as will be evident from the tenor of the 
translation, is, to obtain the favour and protection of several 
inferior divinities, to increase the prosperity, &c. of the person 
and family for whom the ceremony was performed, and this 
magical piece was erected or set up. 
It may be that the flag-staff, with the wooden board con- 
taining this inscription, was carri fore the Tibetan chief in 
his march, and so used as an ensign in war; but it is more 
probable that it belonged originally to the house-top or terrace of 
the prince in Bhotan : for the houses of great personages in that 
country are generally decorated with such ensigns of victory at 
the four corners of the terraced roof. They are called in Tibetan 
HANASS rgyal mishan (ensign of victory), and always con- 
tain ad et a of similar purport with this. 
ard to the orthography of the ett : frequently 
occurs in Tibetan writings and books, that the v si are 
iret of the line above; several cases of this occur in your 
transcript. The intersyllabic points at the end of a line are 
generally also omitted, except with the conjunction aC which 
will also be remarked here. I have made a copy in Roman 
characters, and have also endeavoured to make a literal transla- 
tion : the words in Italics I cannot properly interpret. 
m svasti, pronounced hte the Tibetans om soti, is rendered 
by them in their language rap Q "al AVA ae om bdé 
‘ieee ~? 
egs-su gyur-chig : ‘‘ Oh may it please, may it be prosperous.’’ 
