Author: A H Francke
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 141
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8120813944
Description
A History of Western Tibet is based on foreign and Western Tibetan sources of information. The Western Tibetan sources of information are records on stones and on paper. Records on stones cover the period 200 B C to 1900 A D. Records on paper are the chronicles of the Kings of Leh (or Ladakh). Though these are edited ones, much remains to be done.
According to Francke it's not time for the compilation of a scientific history. That may be written when all the historical records of whose existence we known have been edited. There are historical records, which it is extremely difficult for a European to get hold of, although there can be no doubt about their existence. Among them are the chronicles of several lines of Vassal-Princes. Basing his work on the Book of the Kings of Ladakh Masterly translated by Dr Karl Marx, the author ventures on a popular history of the Western Tibet, without the risk of committing gross mistakes.
Francke's own pioneering researches into the dialects, customs, folk-lore, ethnology, and archaeology of Western Tibet are widely known. The credit for finding such a prolific and versatile scholar as Mr Francke to take up this work goes to Moravian Mission.
The readers will find A History of Western Tibet interesting which is the outcome of scholarly enterprise and research as much as of familiarity with the country and the people.
The book is profusely illustrated, and illustrations and maps vis-a-vis the text make the readers move apace with the different phases of the history of the Western Tibet.
Contents
AUTHOR’S PREFACE
PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
1. Greek and Roman authors on the nations of Western Tibet.
2. The Mission of the Mons to Western Tibet.
3. The migrations of the Dards.
4. Chinese records of Western Tibet, say 640-760 A D.
5. The time of the Tibeto-Dard Kingdoms, about 500-1000 A D.
6. The inauguration of the Central Tibetan dynasty and its First Kings, about, 900-1400 A D.
7. The days of the great reformer Tsongkapa, and the fall of the first dynasty, about 1400-1580.
8. The time of the Balti Wars, about 1560-1640.
9. The great Mongol War, about 1646-1647.
10. The quarrel for the succession, about 1680-1780.
11. The last two kings, about 1780-1834.
12. The fall of the Western Tibetan Empire, 1834-1840.
13. The conquest of Baltistan, 1841.
14. The war against Central Tibet, 1841-1842.
15. Missionary's review.
APPENDICES
1. Rinchana Bhoti's Career.
2. The ancient history of Lahoul.