6 
A. F. R. Hoernle — The Weber Manuscripts. 
[Ro. 1, 
The Tibetan tradition with regard to the “Wartu” characters is 
rather uncertain. In the paper, above referred to, Babu S. C. Das says, 
that the “Wartu” characters were introduced into Tibet by Sambhota 
(or Thon-mi, the son of Anu) from Magadha in North-Eastern India, 
about 630-650 A. D. Since then he has been re-examining the tradi- 
tions of Tibet on this point, and he now informs me that the “ Wartu ” 
characters were rather introduced from the North-Western extremity 
of India, namely from Kashmir, called in Tibetan Klia-clie. He has 
supplied me with the following passage from the JBu-ston Chos byun 
(fl. 138) : “ He (i. e., King Srong Tsan Gampo, 630 A. D.) ascended 
the throne at the age of 18. He brought the border chieftains under 
subjection. He made presents to them, (and) read letters (sent by 
them). Before that (time) there was no written language in Tibet. 
He sent Thon-mi, son of Anu, with sixteen attendants to learn the 
letters. He learnt from Pandit Deva-vid Sirhlia the S'abda Vidya. He 
designed 30 letters, adapting them to the Tibetan language. Ho based 
the four fundamental vowels, called All, (i. e., i, e, o, u) on a. In form 
these letters (vowels and consonants) resembled the characters of Klia- 
che. This was done at the fort of Maru in Lhassa. He wrote eight 
grammatical works on the orthography and syntax of the Tibetan 
Grammar.” The Babu also informs me, that in later days the country 
of Liyul or Klioten was included in the general name of Khache ; and 
further that the letters which were brought from India, through Nepal, 
were the so-called Lantsha (see Plate VIII in Journal, vol. LYII), 
introduced in the reign of Tliisroh Deu-tsan. 
Here the following points may be noted : In the first place, the 
34 original letters o| Tibet (i. e., 29 consonants and 5 vowels) elabo- 
rated by Sambhota, are shown on Plate 11(a) in Babu S. Ch. Das’ 
paper. They are the so-called U-chan or “ headed ” characters. It 
will be noticed that among them “ the four fundamental vowels ” are 
certainly adaptations of the form of the vowel a. This, so far, bears 
out the tradition above quoted from the Bustan. But, for the rest, 
the letters show no particular resemblance to the “Wartu” or 
“ Khache ” characters, any more than to any other Indian system of 
writing (e. g., the Gupta or Lantsha.) Possibly this may be put down 
to the fact, that Sambhota may have modified the shapes of the letters 
lie adopted ; or it may be due to subsequent alterations, the table not 
showing the exact shape the letters received at the hands of Sambhota, 
but such as they assumed in the course of time. 
But, secondly, it is noteworthy that the letter y in Sambhota’ s 
alphabet shows the ancient tri-dentate shape of that letter. In the 
table of “ Wartu ” characters, on the other hand, that letter shows its 
