33* Ladvags rGyalrabs. 



s of Ladakh , according to Schlagintweit f s MS 

 Translated by A. H. Francke. , 



Introductory Note. 



I am presenting to the public an English translation of the 

 first two chapters and the last page of the third chapter of 

 Schlagintweit's ' Die Konige von Tibet.' This translation into 

 English was not made from the German rendering by Schlagint- 

 weit. In many cases I had to abandon Schlagintweit's trans- 

 lation altogether and translate afresh from the Tibetan text 

 which Schlagintweit appended to his * Die Konige von Tibet.' 



As is stated by the early Tibetan writers themselves, thev 



made 



books which were then current 



in Ladakh. The following titles are mentioned : 



blonpo 



(1) 'aJigsrten g dag spa (in the g< 



(2) rGyalrabs spunpo gsum khug 



(3) gSangba or 'aBru bdus ; 



(4) Dangpo dbang byed rimpai dgu byung. 



Of these works, the last mentioned is still known in Ladakh, 



light again. 



ailed Rim dgu. This work may possibly come to 



It is very probable that some of the early historians of 

 Ladakh or Tibet took Indian VamSavalis as their model. The 

 VamSavall of Chainba, for instance, as published by Dr. J. Ph. 



Anti 



bears a strong 



resemblance to the older portions of the Ladvags rgyalral 

 Both productions begin with an introductory hymn in which 



necklace 



as 



being wound round the neck of the deity or saint to whom the 

 book is dedicated. Then, both books contain a long list of 

 names of mythological beings, the supposed supernatural an- 



race 



the actual human kings are given. The Indian VamSavalls, 

 even if they contained nothing but names, were written in 

 metre, and so it also was probably with the Tibetan production. 

 A last remnant of this Tibetan metrical VamSavall we have in 



Ua 



and 



notes on that group of kings in line 7-10; and again in folio 9a, 

 where a Buddhist legend is told in the same metre. As the 

 word raval mthsan mav be translated bv ' royal names/ the 



under 



a Tibetan Vam&avall. 



