65 
1903.] E. H. Walsh —Tibetan Language, Sf Recent Dictionaries 
The Tibetan Language, and Recent Dictionaries. 1 —Bij E. H. 0. Walsh, 
Esq., I.O.S. 
[Read, November, 1903.] 
Part I. 
At the present time when matters connected with Tibet are occupy¬ 
ing an unwonted amount of public attention, the Tibetan language is a 
matter of interest to more than the necessarily restricted circle of 
scholars, missionaries, or officials who are themselves acquainted with it. 
The Tibetan Dictionary, which after many years’ labour has at length 
been completed, and has been published by the Government of Bengal, 
may therefore be supposed to interest that wider circle as shewing the 
latest that is known regarding the language of a people, with whom it 
is to be hoped we may be brought into closer relations of friendship and 
commerce in the future, than their strict exclusiveness has permitted 
in the past. 
The present Dictionary, as is stated in the preface, was commenced 
in 1889, and Rai Sarat Chandra Das Bahadur was placed by Government 
on special duty for its compilation. He completed his work in 1899 
after ten years’ labour, and his proofs then underwent revision, which 
occupied two years, by the Rev. Graham Sandberg, and the Rev. A. W. 
Heyde, the former of whom brought to bear the knowledge of the 
scholar; and the latter not only the knowledge of the scholar, but a prac¬ 
tical knowledge of the spoken language based on many years’ labours, 
as a Missionary on the Western borders of Tibet. As regards Rai 
Sarat Chandra Das’s qualifications as a compiler little need be said. 
His name is sufficiently well known as a Tibetan scholar, and his 
experiences in his second adventurous journey in Tibet in 1881-82 
. ' r *. J ' • r '* .. ' - _ 
1 A Tibetan English Dictionary with Sanskrit synonyms, by Sarat Chandra Das, 
Rai Bahadur, C.I.E. Revised and edited under the orders of the Government of 
Bengal by Graham Sandberg, B.A., and A. William Heyde, Calcutta. Published by 
the Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1902. 
J. i. 9 
