Ch.73.xv.10.fr.12 (vol. 69, foll. 62-3, originally a single roll; c. 76 x 15 cm.;
fragmentary at the beginning; ll. 53 recto of ordinary dbu
can script, l. 2 verso in another hand).
[1].................................................Pho kwang s[i]'i
[l]ha 'bangs J 'u/Zhi nyang 'phongs/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Song Shing dgon/
Pho kwang si'i lha 'bangs Yang G.yu tshe 'phongs/
[5]Rgod sar kyi sde/Bam Kun tse/dgon g.yon/ru 'bring Shud pu Legs zigs
kyi dar tshan 'An Dze hing dang sbyor //
[8] [note 1: ll. 8-9 in red ink. [note @/:/Rgod sar
kyi sde/ru 'bring/Shud pu Legs gzigs [9]pon g.yog bzhi bcu tshar gcigi yul yig la/
/
[10]Rgod sar kyi sde/'An Dze hing 'phongs/g.yasu ru cung //Cang Ka
dzo'i dar tshan/Bam Kun tse dang sbyor//
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Tong Thong thong dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Hwa hwa 'phongs/
[15]Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Tsong Tsheng tshen dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Kun tse 'phongs/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Se'u se'u dgon/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang 'Bye tig 'phongs/
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Dwan Ke'u zhi dgon/
[20] Rgod sar kyi sde/Ba' Kun kun 'phongs/
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Tong Phug man dgon/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Zhim Li the'u 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Cang Le'u cin dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Zhim Kwon 'ing 'phongs//
[25]Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Cang Pe'u pe'u dgon//
[26]Pho kwang si'i lha 'bangs/Je'u Tshe tshe 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Dwan Hing dar dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Zhim Ju ju 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Ser Kun dgon//
[30]Rgod sar kyi sde/Ser Kheng kheng [note 2: Corrected from Tshen tshe [note 'phongs 'dzin pa/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Shud pu Legs dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Tsheng tsheng 'phongs/drod pa/
Rgod sar kyi sde/Wang Kog ne dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Zhang tse 'phongs//
[35]Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Cang La tshir dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Zhim Hing tse 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Dze'u Kwe kwe dgon//
Cang Tshe'u cung 'phongs//
Pho kwang si'i lha 'bangs Hag Dze'u shun dgon//
[40]Rgod sar kyi sde/Wang Tsheng tsheng 'phongs/
Leng ho si'i lha 'bangs/Wang Kun tse 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Wang dzin shen dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Tong Wang 'do 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Li Jing 'an dgon//
[45]Rgod sar kyi sde/Ser Dzin 'in 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Dze tse dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Cang Gen tse 'phongs//
Rgod sar kyi sde/ban de Kun tse dgon//
Rgod sar kyi sde/Tsong Dze tsheng 'phongs//
[50]Rgod sar kyi sde/Tsong Dze shing dgon g.yon
[51]tu dbuu ru'i ru 'bring yang Stag legs kyi dar tshan//Dze'u Shib
tig dang sbyor//
Verso (in another hand)
[1]zhus lags/nga ba(u)s spud/
[2]Pho tshon bris//
"[1] The god's servant of Pho kwang si, Je'u Zhi nyang, 'phongs.
Rgod sar division, Song Shing, dgon. The god's servant
of Pho kwang si, Yang G.yu
tshe, 'phongs. Rgod
sar division, Bam Kun tse, dgon, along with 'An Dze
hing, dar tshan of Shud pu Legs
gzigs, middle left horn.
. . . . . . .
[ll.8-9 Red ink] Rgod sar
division, middle horn: Shud pu Legs gzigs, master and
servants, forty, one tshar, district list.
[10] Rgod sar division, 'An Dze hing, 'phongs,
along with Bam Kun tse, dar
tshan of Cang Ka dzo, little right
horn.
. . . . . . .
[41] The god's servant of Leng ho si, Wang Kun tse, 'phongs
...................................
[50] Rgod sar division, Tsong Dze shing, dgon,
along with Dze'u Shib tig, dar tshan of Stag legs, middle horn of the
centre left horn.
(Rev.) Submitted. I, son-brother, Pho
tshon wrote this."
There would be no purpose in a fuller translation of this document, which has been
selected as showing clearly the system of the nomenclature. It is, as will be seen,
simply a list of persons, who are alternately designated dgon and
'phongs. Most of the persons belong to the "Rgod sar division (sde)"; but four are "god's servant" of Pho kwang si and Leng ho si
respectively, these being, no doubt, the si (probably Chinese
ssŭ"temple" of Pho kwang and Leng ho respectively (since we already know Leng
ho, p. 46 (IOL Tib J 850).
The red-ink heading in ll. 8-9 shows that what follows is a district list (yul yig) of one tshar, forty persons, belonging
to the Rgod sar division. But the expressions
"right" and "left horn" suggest that it has a
military significance. There are many indications that the Tibetan military system
was territorial; and, in fact, we have mention of many regiments bearing the name of
districts [note 3: A list of the regiments will be given later
(pp. 455 sqq.). On Shud pu see p. 66. Note that not one of
the 10 ban des is a 'phongs.] ; in consequence the word sde, "district" or "division", has most often to be
rendered "regiment", and that is, no doubt, the meaning here.
There are further indications: for besides the "horn" (ru) and its commander (ru dpon), which
occur several times – on the term tshar, "parish", elsewhere evidenced (along with its tshar
dpon), see pp. 169 (M.Tagh.a.iv.0074), 338 (M.I.xii.3, IOL Tib N 520), the dar tshan"silk badge" (mtshan) will very likely be
the banner-bearer: cf. dar, "banner", Vol. I,
Thomas_1935:
pp. 277 sqq. Of the two alternating terms attached
to most of the names, 'phongs and dgon, the
former has the sense of "archery", so that the dgon should be the archer's attendant, a sense which, however, does not seem to
be attested. We have, however, a person's (wooden) "card", which reads Dgon Mon cung, i.e. "Mon
cung, a dgon" (M.I.vii.88a, IOL Tib N 358).
Coming now to the nomenclature, we find that most of the names have three
syllables, of which the first is usually one which recurs and which in several cases
(e.g. Cang, Dze'u, Li, Ser) we have already encountered. These,
therefore, are surnames; and, not being for the most part geographical, they are
clearly clan or tribe names. We have, therefore, in these papers a fair control of
the ethnographical classification of the region.
Not to linger over the matter, and reserving any further comments for the combined
list to be added below, we need here only remark that some of the names such as
Shib tig and 'Bye'u tig are clearly Chinese; and it is natural to conjecture that the
majority are so (perhaps this will be evident to Sinologists). The principal of
repetition, as in Hwa hwa, Tsheng tsheng, Se'u
se'u, Kun kun, Ju ju, Kheng kheng, is
extensively followed, and in other cases the syllable tse seems to
be in high favour as final element in the names. Concerning Zhi nyang see p. 73 (Ch.75.iii.3, IOL Tib J 1240).