1844.] and on Gerard's Account of Kundwar. 231 



Chanthan, i. e. Zjangtang, History of. —Chan than was formerly 

 subject to independent princes, but their authority gradually merged 

 into the supremacy of the chief pontiff at Lassa. — Moorcroft, II. 

 364. 



These independent princes were Hindoos, and claimed a Rajpoot 

 descent, (see also As. Res. XII. 434.) Their chief place was Chap- 

 rang on the Sutlej, and they ruled over the districts around the 

 Mansarawar lake, and westward as far as Ladakh. The Pitti valley 

 was also their's. In a war with the Ladakhees, the Raja was hard- 

 pressed, and he asked aid from Lassa ; but before assistance arrived, 

 he was accidentally killed, or as one story has it, he was put to death 

 by the Ladakhees while in the act of offering tribute. The Lassa 

 force advanced and expelled the Ladakhees, but as the Chaprang 

 family was extinct, the Lassa authorities retained the country in their 

 own hands. A treaty was formed with the Ladakh Raja, and he married 

 a daughter of the Lassa commander. The district of Pitti was given 

 to Ladakh as the bride's dower, and 20 houses in the neighbourhood 

 of Menser or Misser were added to it. A Raja named Kehar Singh, 

 of Bissehir, was at this time on a pilgrimage to the Mansarawar lake ; 

 he formed a friendship with the Lassa leader, and perhaps gave his 

 countenance to the usurpation of Chapran ; for at this time two vil- 

 lages on the left bank of the Pitti river are said to have fallen under 

 Bisseher. 



The whole of the above is the common story only, and the events 

 are said to have taken place towards the beginning of the last century 

 with regard to the possession of Pitti. Another account states, that it 

 was given to Ladakh, on the occasion of one of the sons of the Raja 

 becoming the Grand Lama. 



At p. 101, Gerard says, that certain villages of Tartars on the 

 Sutlej, after many contentions between the Kunawarees and Chinese, 

 were given up by the Grand Lama of Lassa for the support of the 

 Teshigang temple, and adds in a note, that this temple although in 

 Kunawar, is still partly supported by the Grand Lama. It is not 

 so at present, for the temple is maintained from the produce of the 

 lands attached to it, aided by its neighbouring village Namghea and 

 the contributions of the pious ; nor would the Grand Lama, who is 

 of the yellow sect, give assistance in his religious capacity to the 



2 M 



