100 Karl Marx —Documents relating to the history of Ladakh. [No. 3, 
And even those, who do not know Tibetan and hence are not in a 
position to determine every point of difference for themselves, will 
readily discover that, after all, the subject has gained a little in lucidity, 
and that the history of Ladakh, as far as it is contained within these 
pages, is no longer a chain of insoluble mysteries, but a coherent and 
intelligent, though simple and brief account of the past. This criterion 
is available to any one and is, probably, the best in any case. 
The fresh material at my disposal consists of three different manu¬ 
scripts. All of them are written in the U-med character. 
A-MS. is a small book in 16mo., bound in leather and well kept. 
It contains, on 109 leaves, 1st, a cosmogony and cosmology in outline; 
2nd, the genealogy of the S'akyas; 3rd, a history of the kings of Tibet 
(Yar-lung) ; 4tli, a history of the kings of Ladakh down to king 
Senge-nam-gyal (XXII). Throughout, it is most neatly written with 
comparatively few mistakes. As it was not originally written for an 
outsider, but for the private use of its owner, its text may safely be 
supposed not to have been altered on purpose. The history of the 
kings of Ladakh down to Senge-nam-gyal fills 20 leaves. It forms 
the basis of the Tibetan text, now published. 
B-MS. are four loose leaves in folio, very old looking, very much 
worn at the edges and corners, and torn in some places. It commences 
with the history of the second (Nam-gyal) dynasty of Ladakh kings 
(compare translation, p. 123), and gives a comparatively full account of 
the history of Ladakh down to the Dogra invasion. This MS. is very badly 
written, so much so, that even Ladakhis find it difficult to read ; still in 
point of excellence it ranks next to A, and the information it contains re¬ 
garding the decline of the Ladakh empire (since De-ldan-nam-gyal, XXIII) 
is especially valuable. In order to avoid trespassing too much upon 
valuable space, I amalgamated the preceding and overlapping portions 
of B with the corresponding portion of A; that is to say, the portion of 
B containing the history of the Ladakh kings from Dags-pa-bum to 
Senge-nam-gyal inclusive, which coincides almost exactly with the corre¬ 
sponding portion of A, I do not purpose publishing separately, but it is 
embodied in A-MS., though any new matter contained in it is con¬ 
scientiously preserved and specially marked there. My next publica¬ 
tion will, therefore, have to commence with the successor of Senge-nam- 
gyal, that is, De-ldan-nam-gyal. It will have for its basis the rest of 
B-MS. with such additions as may be derived from O-MS. 
C-MS. consists of two parts. The first part was specially prepared 
by command of the Wazir of Ladakh. Consequently all the vices, 
inherent in such MSS. as hinted at above, are manifest in it. It consists 
of 23 folio leaves. It is very carelessly written, and the text is very 
