1895.] 
L. A, Waddell —Description of Lhasa Cathedral. 
259 
Description of Lhasa Cathedral , translated from the Tibetan — By 
L. A. Waddell, LL.D. 
(With Plate XXVI). 
[Read August 1895]. 
Ho detailed description of the great temple or cathedral of Lhasa, 
the jealously guarded St. Peter’s of Lamadom, seems to be on record. 
The only extant accounts of it appear to be the rather brief notices in 
Giorgi’s Alphabetum Tibetanum , 1 in the Chinese histories, which have 
been translated by Klaproth 2 and Rockhill, 3 in the Abbe Hue’s narra¬ 
tive, and the few general references to it scattered through the reports 
of the Indian Survey spies. 
The descriptive account now given, is found in the official guide-book 
to the cathedral, a booklet of forty-six pages printed at Lhasa and 
entitled ‘The Crystal Mirrored Catalogue of the transformed Lha-Zdan 
(Lhasa.)’ 4 This book is a recension of a much larger one in three 
sections, which respectively describe the three great temples of Lhasa, 
Sam-yas and Ra-mo-ch’e. 
As, however, its author is the crafty prelate, the 1st Dalai Lama 
(AD. 1615-1680) who took such liberties with Tibetan tradition, 5 
twisting it to suit his schemes and mixing with it so much of the lying 
1 p. 406 et seq.; Rome, 1762. He gives a ground-plan of the chief building. 
2 Notice sur H’Lassa capitale du Tibet, in the Nouv. Annales des Voyages lie 
series t. XIV. p. 257-275. 
3 Tibet, a geographical, ethnological and historical sketch derived from Chinese 
sources. J.R.A.S. 1891. pp. 8, 70-76, 263 et seq. 
4 The title is given in bilingual form, in corrupt Sanskrit and modern Tibetan 
thus:— 
Devamanirmasya vihara warnadyasbatekai shuklebhira darsha viharatisma. 
Lha-Zdau sprul-pai grtsug-lag-k’aij gi dkar-cli’ag s’el-dkar me-loij-tzugs. 
b See my Buddhism of Tibet , 39, &c. 
