418 REV. A. H. FRANCKE ON 



people, who do not wish to be called beef-eaters, do not mind eating the flesh of 

 yaks. 



As a Dard custom, the Mamani festival ' was mentioned in the previous paper. It 

 is celebrated in front of a row of mchod rten which are supposed to go back to Dard times. 

 When I visited these mchod rten a few weeks ago, I noticed clay-tablets in one of them. 

 On examining them, I discovered that the figures printed on them were the same as 

 those found on clay-tablets at a site underneath a boulder, a little above the entrance 

 of the gorge of the Khalatse brook. Under that boulder we noticed a few traces of 

 masonry and discovered a great number of clay-tablets which were of six different 

 types of shape. On two of these types were legends in a non-Tibetan script, one re- 

 sembling Devanagari characters, and the other of a more ancient look. Specimens 

 were sent to Dr. Ph. Vogel, Archaeological Superintendent, Lahore, for examination. 

 He stated that the characters were Indian script, in one case of about the eighth or ninth 

 century, in the other case of the eleventh or twelfth century. Of the other clay-tablets 

 from the same site, one showed the figure of Buddha, another that of 'ajam dbyangs 

 (Mahjughosha), and a third that of the Tara. That of 'ajam dbyangs is particularly 

 beautiful. These tablets seem to be of very different dates, as is shown at first sight 

 by the two inscriptions. Still, going by the inscriptions, even the latest of them may 

 be seven to eight centuries old. The three types of tablets which I found in the Mamani 

 mchod rten at Khalatse, show the figures of a mchod rten of 'ajam dbyang and of 

 Buddha ; as inscribed ones were not found, it is still impossible to date these mchod 

 rten with certainty. But we may say so much, that they are probably seven to eight 

 centuries old. 



The game of polo was introduced into Ladakh by the Dards. We suppose this 

 from the observation that the further we proceed westward the more we find it played, 

 and the more complicated are the rules of the game. In Khalatse, too, the game used 

 to be played much, and the old playing-ground was situated half-way between the vil- 

 lage and the bridge where there are the ruins of a small hall of three walls. This was 

 the hall for the spectators of high rank and the ladies. Now-a-days, the game is not 

 played often, but it is not yet quite forgotten at Khalatse. 



To summarize, the following places at or near Khalatse are spoken of as ancient 

 Dard sites : Balu mkhar is said to have been Dard, before it became Tibetan ; the ruined 

 castle on the brook ; the ruined castle on the river ; the Mamani mchod rten ; the ruins 

 of field-terraces between Khalatse and Skyin gling ; the ruined Dard castle at Skyin 

 gling. 



Later Addition. — The non-Tibetan inscription, Plate XVI, 5, has meanwhile 

 been examined by Dr. Ph. Vogel, Archaeological Surveyor, Lahore. He pronounces 

 it to be Indian Brahmi of the Kushana period (c. a.d. 200-400), and to read as fol- 

 lows : 



(£ri ?) saca ma 



tisya. 



I In the second part of the name Mamani the Dard word manili, bread, may be contained in a contracted form. 



