M.I.xxviii.0036 (fol. 75; paper, c. 25 x 8 cm., with a horseman seal impression at
top left; ll. 8 of clear, regular dbu can script).
[1]@//blon Mtsho bzher dang blon Lha bzher lastsogs pas//dgun sla tha
cungs tshes...[2]phyag rgya phog ste//pho nya Ring lugs ltang sogs 'Dong phreng
'Dor dgu dang ngo mkhan[3]spyugs myi sde Tsog stod gyi sde Mog Kyem po(?) dang
Nyan rmai'i sde Bong La ku gnyis/Tshal byi'i Nob chungu...[4]gar slebs slebs su
snyegs shing/Kwa cu Khar tsan yang chad du mchiste/'tshal ba g.yar...[5]tshal ma
thang mnyam ste/'Brog Slungs la bya na gson lod spel ma'i bka' rims phye
phul...[6]rims phye khor bzhi'i thang /rad pa srang [b]rgyad brgya ni skyel ma'i
ste len du 'gel to/pho nya gzhan dang 'grogs m--e...[7]rings pa zla la khrid du
myi gang//myi bros ste snye[g] zhing mchi ba la://Slungs dang so pa ma mchis
te/bab no...[8]so pa gang nas gya ba nas/lam tshor ldangs...[g]chi[g] dang...
"[ll. 1-2] By Councillor Mtso
bzher and Councillor Lha bzher, on
the ... day of the last winter month,...seal attached. [ll. 2-4] Messenger Ring lugs (courier), porter 'Dong phreng and 'Dor
dgu (or is 'dor dgu = dor dgu"nine yoke of oxen or yaks"?), and guide...must follow a company
of banished men, Mog Kyem po of the Upper
Tsog district and Bong La ku of the Nyan
rna district, these two, wherever from Little Nob in Tshal byi they go and go.
[ll. 4-6] Proceeding as far as Khar tsan of
Kwa cu, their food, while in the upper
country (g.yar)...rations at a level rate. If the business
takes them to 'Brog Slungs (the nomad Slungs), increase of maintenance
circular-order-flour allowance(?), handfuls...circular-order-flour at the rate of
four khor. [ll. 6-7] The company being for conveyance of
800 srang weight, to obtain that [they have] orders.
Consorting with other messengers...and taking rings pa
into friendship is not allowed. [l. 7] If the men run away and, while they are
going in pursuit, Slungs and soldiers have
not come, stage...having signalled (? read g.yab?)
soldiers from anywhere, sufficient for a road company(?)..."
It will be seen that the translation of this interesting, but unfortunately
imperfect, document becomes in the latter part very doubtful and in fact
conjectural. But the general sense is clear, and the geographical information is
valuable. The route laid down is from Little Nob (Mīrān) to Kwa cu (An-hsi); and it
is evidently contemplated that it should be the direct mountain route and not follow
the desert edge via Shan-shan. The document
supplies two important facts, namely the first that, as has been intimated above (p.
31), and will be more abundantly shown later, the Tsal
byi command included Mīrān, and secondly, that the town of Khar tsan (for this is clearly the name to be completed in the
lacuna) was attached to An-hsi. As regards the other places mentioned, the Upper
Tsog district (sde)
mentioned, the Nyan rna district and 'Brog Slungs (the Nomad Slungs), Tsog has been
mentioned above (p. 11), and with 'Brog Slungs
we may compare the Rgya Slungs, Chinese Slungs, of M.Tagh.c.iii.0043 (IOL Tib N 2285) (pp.
276-7) [note 1: Other references for Slungs are p. 296:23 (M.Tagh.a.iv.0092, IOL Tib N 1708) (a
person's 'card' of wood Rgya Slungs 'Bog lang), p. 296:24
(M.Tagh.a.vi.003, IOL Tib N 1755), p. 431:1 (M.Tagh.c.iii.0022, IOL Tib N 2088)
(byang Slungs), p. 64:11J (IOL Tib N 692) (Slungs in connection with Snying tsoms), M.I.xliii.002 (IOL Tib N 1048) (Slungs), Chronicle, l. 169 (Slungs stod
smad): see pp. 296-7 (M.I.xv.0020, IOL Tib N 749).] : perhaps the word is
connected with Tibetan lung"a valley" and means "the people of the Valley".
Nyang rna has not yet been found: since the
word is used in the sense of a "messenger" we might translate "Bong La ku of the messenger
division (sde)".
Concerning the names Mog Kyem po and Bong La ku see the classified list. Rings pa (l. 7) = "runner" (cf. p. 136.3: M.I.ii.40,
Or.15000/293).
The expression rad pa (l. 6) occurs not very infrequently in the
documents: that it means a travelling party (bgrod?) appears
from several documents, e.g. p. 141. 3-4 (M.I.xiv.109.a, Or.15000/426), rad pa gsum mjald te"three parties (caravans
met)", pp. 61 (M.I.xiv.113, Or.15000/430), 205 (M.Tagh.a.iv.007, IOL Tib N
1631), 371 (M.Tagh.b.i.002, IOL Tib N 2270), 378 (M.I.viii.3, IOL Tib N 377).
M.Tagh.i.0027 (Or.15000/42), M.I.iii.21 (Or.15000/301). Khor is
perhaps for khyor"handful": see pp. 112 (Ch.75.xii.5, IOL Tib J 455), etc.