>Voidvector at 11:31, 25 March 2021

2021-03-25T11:31:43Z

New page

{{short description|Historical work about Ladakh}}
{{italic title}}
The '''''Ladakh Chronicles''''', or '''''La-dvags-rgyal-rabs''''' ({{bo|t=ལ་དྭགས་རྒྱལ་རབས|w=La dwags rgyal rabs}}),{{efn|also called the Royal Chronicle of Ladakh}} is a historical work that covers the [[History of Ladakh|history of Ladakh]] from the beginnings of the [[Maryul#First dynasty|first Tibetan dynasty of Ladakh]] until the end of the [[Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh|Namgyal dynasty]]. The chronicles were compiled by the Namgyal dynasty, mostly during the 17th century, and are considered to be the main written source for Ladakhi history.<ref name="Pirie">{{cite book|title=Peace and Conflict in Ladakh: The Construction of a Fragile Web of Order |first=Fernanda |last=Pirie |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w5APvy1TldcC |series=Brill's Tibetan studies library |volume=13 |isbn=9789004155961}}</ref>{{rp|17}}<ref name="Petech">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oduAAAAMAAJ |title=The Kingdom of Ladakh: C. 950-1842 A.D. |first=Luciano |last=Petech |author-link=Luciano Petech |publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente |year=1977}}</ref>{{rp|1,3|quote=The main source for Ladakhi history is, and always will be, the La-dvags rgyal-rabs, compiled probably in the 17th century, but continued later till the end of the kingdom and beyond. [...] The only other literary source from Ladakh is the biography of sTag-ts'ah-ras-pa (TTRP), compiled in 1663.}}<ref name="Bray">{{cite book |last=Bray |first=John |chapter=Introduction: Locating Ladakhi History |editor-last=Bray |editor-first=John |title=Ladakhi Histories: Local and Regional Perspectives |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2005 |series=Brill's Tibetan Studies Library |volume=9 |isbn=9789004145511}}</ref>{{rp|7|quote=The prime source for this period is the La-dvags-rgyal-rabs a royal chronicle which was first compiled in the 17th century and updated into the 19th century.}}

The Ladakh Chronicles are one of only two surviving pre-19th century literary sources from Ladakh. Only seven original manuscripts of the chronicles are known to have existed, of which two survive to the modern day.<ref name="Petech"/>

==History==
[[File:A H Francke Portrait.jpg|thumb|right|August Hermann Francke, whose translation became widely used for studying the ''Ladakh Chronicles''.]]
Until the early 19th century, European historians believed that there were no written histories from Ladakh.<ref name="RCAS">{{Cite journal |year=1941 |title=Ladakh chronicles |journal=Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=87–91 |doi=10.1080/03068374108730998 |issn=0035-8789}}</ref> After reports about its existence, [[Alexander Cunningham]] found the first known manuscript of the chronicles (''Ms. Cunningham'') during his stay in Ladakh in 1847.<ref name="Petech"/><ref name="RCAS"/>{{rp|87}} Cunningham had the manuscript translated into [[Urdu]], but only reproduced part of it in English in his works; Cunningham did not consider the story after the end of the 17th century to be important, so he omitted the remainder from his works.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|2|quote=Ms. Cunningham. During his stay in Ladakh in 1847, Alexander Cunningham caused a manuscript of the Chronicle to be translated for him into Urdu; a partial English version of it was incorporated in his work. The manuscript (or the Urdu translation) starts with Ts'e-dban-rnam-rgyal (16th century); the English version stops with bDe-legs-rnam-rgyal (end of the 17th century), since Cunningham deemed the rest of the story unimportant. Neither the manuscript nor its Urdu version are available now.}}

In 1866, [[Emil Schlagintweit]] published a study (''Die Könige von Tibet'') about the ''Ladakh Chronicles'', based on another manuscript (''Ms.S.'').<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}} This was followed by missionary [[Karl Marx (medical missionary)|Karl Marx]] whose studies and translations of a third manuscript (''Ms.A.'') were published posthumously in the [[Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal]] between 1891 and 1902.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}<ref name="Bray"/>{{rp|77}} The first publication of the ''Ladakh Chronicles''{{'}} summary of the 1684 Treaty of Tingmosgang appeared as an appendix to a book by [[Henry Ramsay (Indian Army officer)|Henry Ramsay]].<ref name="Bray"/>{{rp|77}}

In 1926, Tibetologist [[August Hermann Francke (Tibetologist)|August Herman Francke]] published a revised translation and the first detailed history of Ladakh, based on five manuscripts of the chronicles (''Ms.S'', ''Ms.A'', ''Ms.B'', ''Ms.C'', ''Ms.L'').<ref name="Bray"/>{{rp|77}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}<ref name="Francke">{{cite book |title=Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Part (Volume) II |first=August Hermann |last=Francke |author-link=August Hermann Francke (Tibetologist) |editor-first=F. W. |editor-last=Thomas |year=1926}}</ref> Francke's edition then became the standard edition for future studies on the pre-Dogra Ladakhi dynasties.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}} In the later part of the 20th century, research on the ''Ladakh Chronicles'' were complemented by further studies by [[Luciano Petech]] and Zahiruddin Ahmad.<ref name="Bray"/>{{rp|77}}<ref name="RCAS"/>

==Known manuscripts==
There are seven manuscripts of the ''Ladakh Chronicles'' that are known to have existed:<ref name="Petech"/>
* ''Ms.S'' [[Bodleian Library]] in Oxford, ''[https://karchak.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/manuscript_113 MS.Tibet. c.7.]'': This manuscript belonged to the former King of Ladakh and was stored in the library of the [[sTog palace]]. The original manuscript has since disappeared, but its contents were copied in 1856 and later published by Emil Schlagintweit.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}
* ''Ms.A'': This manuscript only covers the history up until the reign of [[Sengge Namgyal]] (r. 1616–1642).<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|171–172}} The original manuscript no longer survives but its text was partly published and translated by missionary Karl Marx.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}
* ''Ms.B'': This manuscript consists of only four pages about the Namgyal dynasty and its conquest by the [[Dogra dynasty]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]. The original manuscript no longer exists.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}
* ''Ms.C'': This manuscript was compiled at the end of the 19th century by Munshi dPal-rgyas and includes three appendices about the Dogra conquest. The original no longer exists.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}
* ''Ms.L'' [[British Museum]], Oriental Collection 6683: This manuscript covers Ladakhi history until the reign of [[Deldan Namgyal]] (r. 1642–1694)<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|171–172}} and also contains a plain list of subsequent rulers until the Dogra conquest.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|1}}
* ''Ms.Cunningham'': This manuscript covers the history from the reign of [[Tsewang Namgyal I]] (r. 1575–1595) until at least the reign of [[Delek Namgyal]] (r. 1680–1691).<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|2}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|171–172}} The manuscript was partially translated into Urdu for Alexander Cunninhgam during his stay in Ladakh in 1847, who included a partial English version in his works, but the original manuscript and its Urdu translations no longer exist.<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|2}}
* ''Ms.Sonam'': This manuscript consists of approximately 40 pages and covers the entire history of the two Ladakhi dynasties until the Dogra conquest. The manuscript is a modernized and shortened version of ''Ms.C'' until events c. 1825, after which it contains extra details that are not covered by the other manuscripts. Its owner also added appendices and minor changes not originally contained in the manuscript, and it is known to be in the private possession of a 'Bri-guh-pa monk at the [[Lamayuru Monastery]].<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|2}}

==Contents==
[[File:The Empire of King Nyimagon with three divisions about 975 A. D.- 1000 A.D..jpg|thumb|right|300px|Maryul (c. 975 CE – 1000 CE) as depicted by [[August Hermann Francke (Tibetologist)|A. H. Francke]]. The border between Maryul and [[Guge]] is shown with a thin dotted line, slightly to the north of Gartok; the border between Maryul and [[Zanskar]] is marked by a bolded line, slightly to the west of Leh.]]
The ''Ladakh Chronicles'' were split into several separate sections, with the ''Royal Genealogy of Ladakh'' being the principal chronicle.<ref name="RCAS"/> The chronicles refers to several dynasties of kings, mentioning that some were descended from the mythological Tibetan hero [[Epic of Gesar|Gesar]].<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|17}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|16}}

[[Tibetan people|Tibetans]] controlled the area from 663, and it was controlled by the [[Tibetan Empire]] until 842, after which the area was described by the chronicles as [[Era of Fragmentation|splintering into several principalities]] plagued by warfare and raiding.<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|17}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|13}} The chronicles then describe the establishment of [[Maryul]] by descendants of the central Tibetan monarchy in the 10th century.<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|17}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|17–18}} The chronicles describe the period of conflicts with the [[Mughal Empire]] during the late 14th to 16th centuries in Ladakh and [[Baltistan]].<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|18}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|23, 26–28, 30}} The chronicles then describe the development of the Namgyal dynasty and its expansion to [[Kargil district|Purig]] in the west and the Tibetan lands of [[Guge]] in the east.<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|18}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|28}} The latter parts of the ''Ladakh Chronicles'' in manuscripts ''Ms. C'' and ''Ms. Sonam'' contain details about the [[Dogra–Tibetan War|surprise Dogra invasion of Ladakh]].<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|138–170}}

The chronicles also cover the first-millennium presence of Buddhism, the growth of Buddhism in the first half of the second millennium, and the introduction of Islam in the 16th century.<ref name="Pirie"/>{{rp|17–18}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|18–19, 30}}<ref name="howard"/>{{rp|121–122}}

=== Treaty of Tingmosgang (1684) ===
[[File:Temisgang.jpg|thumb|right|Monastery of Tingmosgang]]
The ''Ladakh Chronicles'' mention that the [[Ganden Phodrang]] Prime Minister [[Desi Sangye Gyatso]] of Tibet<ref name="Ahmad"/>{{rp|342|quote=Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho (1653-1705), sDe-pa or Prime Minister of Tibet 1679-1705}}{{rp|351|quote=Now, in 1684, the government of Tibet, headed by the sDe-pa Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho, annexed Gu-ge to Tibet, and fixed the frontier between Ladakh and Tibet at the lHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}} and the King [[Delek Namgyal]] of Ladakh<ref name="Ahmad"/>{{rp|351–353|quote=We produce now a new translation of the Ladakh Chronicles [...] bDe-legs rNam-rGyal, came to the kingship [of Ladakh] [...] Thereupon, the Government of Tibet, being afraid that the King of Ladakh and his troops might, once again, make war (on Tibet), ordered the 'Brug-pa Mi-'pham dBaii-po that he ought to go (to Ladakh) in order to establish peace. [...] With this exception, the frontier (of Ladakh) was fixed as from the IHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}}<ref name="Petech"/>{{rp|171–172|quote=bDe-legs-n.g. co-regent (1680-1691)}} agreed on the '''Treaty of Tingmosgang''' (sometimes called the '''Treaty of Temisgam''')<ref name="howard">{{cite book |last=Howard |first=Neil |chapter=The Development of the Boundary between the State of Jammu & Kashmir and British India, and its Representation on Maps of the Lingti Plain |editor-last=Bray |editor-first=John |title=Ladakhi Histories: Local and Regional Perspectives |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2005 |series=Brill's Tibetan Studies Library |volume=9 |isbn=9789004145511 |page=218}}</ref> in the fortress of [[Tingmosgang]] at the conclusion of the [[Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War]] in 1684. The original text of the Treaty of Tingmosgang no longer survives, but its contents are summarized in the ''Ladakh Chronicles''.<ref name="Lamb">{{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian Boundary Dispute |journal=The Australian Year Book of International Law |year=1965 |pp=37–52 |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUYrBkIntLaw/1965/4.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|37|quote=No text of this agreement between Tibet and Ladakh survives, but there are references to it in chronicles}}{{rp|38|quote=There can be no doubt that the 1684 (or 1683) agreement between Ladakh and the authorities then controlling Tibet did in fact take place. Unfortunately, no original text of it has survived and its terms can only be deduced. In its surviving form there seems to be a reference to a boundary point at "the Lhari stream at Demchok", a stream which would appear to flow into the Indus at Demchok and divide that village into two halves.}}{{rp|40|quote=The treaty that could have given this information, that of 1684, has not survived in the form of its full text, and we have no means of determining exactly what line of frontier was contemplated in 1684. The chronicles which refer to this treaty are singularly deficient in precise geographical details.}}

The summary contained in the ''Ladakh Chronicles'' includes six main clauses of the treaty:<ref name="Ahmad"/>{{rp|356}}<ref name="Francke"/>{{rp|115–118}}
#A general declaration of principle that the region of Guge (''mNa'-ris-sKorgSum'') was divided into three separate kingdoms in the 10th century;
#The Tibetan recognition of the independence of Ladakh and the restriction for the King of Ladakh from inviting foreign armies into Ladakh;
#The regulation of trade, subdivided into two subclauses, for Guge and the northern plain of Tibet (''Byaṅ-thaṅ'');
#A clause fixing the Ladakh-Tibet border at the [[Charding Nullah|Lha-ri stream]] at [[Demchok (historical village)|Demchok]], but granting the King of Ladakh an enclave at [[Moincêr|Men-ser]];
#Another clause regulating Ladakh-Tibet trade;
#The arrangement of a fee to Mi-'pham dBaṅ-po (then-regent of Ladakh) for his cost in arranging the treaty.

The trade regulations provided for Ladakh's exclusive right to trade in [[pashmina]] wool produced in Tibet, in exchange for [[compressed tea|brick-tea]] from Ladakh. Ladakh was also bound to send periodic missions to [[Lhasa (prefecture-level city)|Lhasa]] carrying presents for the Dalai Lama.<ref>{{citation |editor-first=K. |editor-last=Warikoo |title=Himalayan Frontiers of India: Historical, Geo-Political and Strategic Perspectives |last=Warikoo |first=K. |chapter=India’s gateway to Central Asia: trans-Himalayan trade and cultural movements through Kashmir and Ladakh, 1846–1947 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w_Z8AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4 |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-03294-5|p=4}}</ref> The fee in the sixth clause was later paid by [[Desi Sangye Gyatso]] to Mi-'pham dBaii-po in the form of three estates in Tibet sometime between the autumn of 1684 and 1685.<ref name="Ahmad"/>{{rp|356}}

==Historiographical issues==
The origin, intent, and time of the authorship of the ''Ladakh Chronicles'' is unknown to modern historians.<ref name="Jinpa">{{cite journal |title=Why Did Tibet and Ladakh Clash in the 17th Century?: Rethinking the Background to the 'Mongol War' in Ngari (1679-1684) |first=Nawang |last=Jinpa |journal=The Tibet Journal |volume=40 |issue=2 |year=2015 |pages=113–150 |jstor=tibetjournal.40.2.113}}</ref>{{rp|113|quote=Unfortunately, as with the rest of these chronicles, it is impossible to know when, by whom, and for what purpose that passage was written.}} The chronicles have also been criticized for containing gaps and inconsistencies,<ref name="Bray"/>{{rp|7|quote=However, the rGyal-rabs is full of gaps and inconsistencies, particularly for the period before the 17th century.}} as well as for lacking geographical details.<ref name="Lamb"/>{{rp|40|quote=The chronicles which refer to this treaty are singularly deficient in precise geographical details.}} Its existing translations, particularly concerning the Treaty of Tingmosgang, have also been called "patchwork".<ref name="Ahmad">{{cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Zahiruddin |year=1968 |title=New light on the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal war of 1679—1684 |journal=East and West |volume=18 |issue=3/4 |pages=340–361 |jstor=29755343}}</ref>{{rp|356|quote=It must be admitted that Francke’s edition of the Ladakh-Tibet treaty, which must be dated to the autumn of 1684, is something of a patchwork document}}<ref name="Emmer">{{cite book |first=Gerhard |last=Emmer |chapter=Dga' Ldan Tshe Dbang Dpal Bzang Po and the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal War of 1679-84 |title=Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the IATS, 2003. Volume 9: The Mongolia-Tibet Interface: Opening New Research Terrains in Inner Asia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPKvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |date= 2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-2171-9 |pp=81–108}}</ref>{{rp|99|quote=Francke’s edition of the La dvags rgyal rabs is a patchwork with respect to the agreements made in the peace treaty}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:18th-century books]]
[[Category:History books about India]]
[[Category:History books about China]]
[[Category:History books about Pakistan]]

Ladakh Chronicles - Revision history

>Voidvector at 11:31, 25 March 2021