206 
Sarat Chandra Das —Contributions on Tibet. 
[No. 3, 
II.—DISPUTE BETWEEN A BUDDHIST AND A BONPO PRIEST 
FOR THE POSSESSION OF MOUNT KAILA'SA AND THE 
LAKE MANAS A. 1 
Je-tsun Melarepa with a great many pupils arrived at mount Tesi 
(Kailasa) from Pu rah. There he was welcomed by a number of local 
deities. They made him profound salutations and large and curious 
offerings. Besides making him a gift of the lake Mapan and mount Tesi 
for the use of himself and his pupils as a hermitage, they undertook to 
protect his devotees and followers, after which they returned to their 
respective abodes. 
W r hen the teacher with his pupils arrived on the shores of the lake 
Mapan to make religious obeisance and reverence, the Bon priest Naro-Bon- 
chhuh and his sister, being informed of his fame and of his visit to Tesi, 
came to meet him there. Knowing him, yet pretending not to recognise 
him, Naro thus accosted the teacher and his pupils :—“ Whence are you 
and whither do you go” ? 
The venerable Je-tsun said—We are come from one of the mountains 
called La-chhyi (Laphye), in order to sit in meditation on the top of Tesi. 
Naro .—What is your name ? 
Je-tsun .—I am called Melarepa. 
Naro .—Well then! the snowy Tesi, the Lake Mapan and yourself are 
alike. From a distance your fame is great, but on a near approach it is 
stript of its wonder. Admitting this mountain to be wonderful, I must 
say it is the possession of the Bonpo. If you wish to live here, you must 
practise Bon rites. 
Je-tsun .—According to the Buddhist revelation this mountain is a 
place of pilgrimage for Buddhists in general, and more particularly by the 
prophecy of the sage Marpa it is destined to be the place of my 
hermitage. You must consider yourself fortunate to have owned it so 
long. If now you continue to reside here, you must follow the practices of 
our religion; otherwise you may go wherever you like. 
Naro-Bon-chhun .—You two, though from a distance are of great 
fame, yet are little at a near view. 3 If you have something wonderful 
in you, come, let us compete with each other in the exhibition of miracles, 
so that whoever wins should own this place. 
1 Literally translated from a block-print said to be 800 years old. 
2 Lit. “ at the bank,” which is a Tibetan idiom, meaning “ near.” 
