BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS (NOTES ON DOCUMENT PELLIOT No. 3530, WITH A STUDY OF

TIBETAN PHONOLOGY OF THE NINTH CENTURY}.

BY

BERTHOLD LAUFER.

Et illMd quidam etiam nil notum, avium VOCCI

vol4tulque interrogare.

TACITUS, Germania X.

Among the Tibetan manuscripts discovered by M. Paul Pelliot

there is a roll of strong paper (provisional number 3530 of the

Bibliotheque Nationale) measuring 0.85 X 0.31 m and containing a

ta~ile of divination. This document has recently been published and

translated by M.· J. BACOT. 1) This gentleman has furnished proof

of possessing a good knowledge of Tibetan in a former publica­

tion, 2) in which he gives a most useful list of 710 abbrevit~.tions

occurring in the cursive style of writing (dbu-med) of the Tibetans,

ft·om a manuscript obtained by him on his journeys in eastern

Tibet. It is gratifying to .note that the tradition gloriously inaug­

urated in France by Abel-Remusat, Burnouf and Foucaux, and

worthily continued by L. Feer and 8. Levi, reincarnates itself in a

young and fresh representative of the Tibetan field, who has enough

1) La. tdie des pre1age1 sig,.ifii' par l' eclair. Tex\e tibetain, puillie et traduit •.

(JoNI'na/ a1iatig«e, Mars-Avril, 19Ia, pp. 4oi5-449, with one plate).

2) L'ecriture c1mive tibetain.~~ (ibid., Janvier-Fevrier, l!H2, pp. l-78). M. BACOT i~ alao Lhe author of a pamphlet L'a1·t tibetain (Cbaloo·&llt-Saone, HHl), and of two inter­

eatinl{ boc,ks of travel Datu le• marchu ti6itaine1 (Paria, l\W9) an•l Le TiiJet rtJvolti (Paria, 1912).

354

2 B E R T II 0 L D LA U F E R.

courage and initiative to attack original problems. lt is likewise

/ matter of congratulation to us that the wonderful discoveries of

M. Pelliot will considerably enrich Tibetan research and reanimate

with new life this wofully neglected science. The volumes of the

ancient Kanjur edition discovered by him in the Cave .of the Thou­

~nd Buddhas (T/ien fu tung) of Kan-su and dating at the latest

from the tenth, and more probably even from the ninth century,

together with many Tibetan book-rolls from the same place, 1) are

materials bound to signal a new departure in the study of Tibetan

philology, hitherto depending exclusively on the recent prints of the

last centuries. We therefore feel juAtified ,in looking forward with

great expectations to the elaboration of these · important sources.

The ted published by M. BACOT is the first Tibetan document

of the .lfiB&ion Pelliot made accessible to science, and there is every

reason to be grateful for this early publication and the pioneer

work conscientiously performed by M. lhco;r. It is a document ot

great interest, both from a philological Rud a religious point of view.

The merit of M. BACOT in the editing and rendering of this text

is considerable. First of all, he has honorably accomplished the

difficult task of transcribing the cursive form of the original into

the standard character (dbu-can), and, as far as can be judged by

one who has not bad the opportunity of viewing the original,

generally in a convincing manner; he has recognized also some of

the arcbaic forms of spelling, and correetly identified them with

their modern equivalents; and above all, •side from minor details,

he has made a correct translation of the divination table proper.

There are, however, two points of prime importance on which

my opinion differs from the one expressed by M. BAcoT. These

points are the interpretation of the meaning of the Table, and the

1) Com11are P. PELLto•;·, La miuio11 Pelliot 1!11 A1ie centr·ale, pp. 25, 26 (Atmalel tie

Ia IOCiete tie gilograplaie COIIImernale, Fasc. "· Hnnoi, 1909) nnd n. E Jo'. E. 0., Vol. VIII,

1908, p. r,o7.

355

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 3

· rendering of the introductory note prefacing the 'fable. In regard

to the latter, M. BAcOT is inclined to view it as a series of rebuses

which seem to have the raven as their subject. He consequently

takes every verse (the entire preface is composed of twenty-nine

verses, each consisting of a dactyl and two trochees, - a metre

peculiarly Tibetan and not based on any Sanskrit model) as a

single unit; while in my opinion the verses are mutually connected,

and their interrelation brings out a coherent account furnishing

the explanation for the divination table. As indicated by the very

title of his essay, M. BACOT regards the latter as a list of fore­

bodings announced by lightning; and in column I of the Table

·worked up by him, we meet the translation en cas d'eclair a l'est,

etc. The Tibetan equivalent for this rendering is nan zer na, which

literally means, uif there is evil speaking." No authority, native or

foreign, is known to me which would justify the translation of

this phrase by anything like. "flash of lightning;" it simply means

"to utter bad words," which may augur misfortune; hence nan,

'as JlsCHKE (Dictionary, p. 126) says, has the f!lrther meaning of

"evil, imprecation." The phrase nan amras is rendered in the dic­

tionary Zla-bai od-snan (fol. 29b, Peking, 1838) into Mongol

magh:u kalaksan. In the present case, the term 1ian .zet• refers to I

the unpleasant and unlucky sounds of the voice of the crow o:a:

raven, which indeed, as expressly stated in the prefatory note, is

the subject of divination in this Table. Moreover, the preface leaves

no doubt as to who the recipient of the offerings is. It is plainly

told there in y erso 8 ( 4 in the numbering ·of M. BAcoT): gtor-ma

ni b9a-la gtor, "the offering is. made to the bird," and this bird

certainly is the raven (pco-rog) 1) spoken of in Verse 1, again men­

tioned in Verse 17, their vario~s tones being described in V. 25~29.

In this Table, it is, accordingly, the question only of the raven,

1) The ditrerentiation of the Tibetan words for "raven" and "crow" ia nplained below,

in the Grat note relating to the translation of the preface.

356

4 RERTHOLD LAUFER.

not of lightning; no word for lightning (glog or tog) occurs either

in the Table or in the preface. 1) The fact that this interpretation

1) It must be said. in opposition to M •. B.&cor'a e1planation, also that neither the

Tibetans nor the Indiana aeem to have oft'eringa to lightning, nor do I know that good or

bad predict.ons are inferred in Tibet from the man11er ic which a flash of lightning strikes.

M. BACOT usures ua that analogous tables for divination from lighlnilig are still in use

in Tibet and Mongolia. It would be interesting to see such a table nferred to by M. BACOT.

Ia ladia, lightniaga were cla81ified according to color, a yellow lightning pointing to rain,

a white one to famine, etc. (A. HILLEBBANo·r, Rilrud-Lilttratru. l'edi1clte Opfer nd

Z.IIIMr, p. 184, Struaburg, 1897). M. HLoOKPIELD ( 1'/le AtlmrPtJ~~eda, I'· 80, Strallbnrg,

18119) apeaka of a "goddess lightning" who ia conciliated by charm• to cause her to apare

the 1torea of graia; but then, again, he identifies the divine ea~~:le with lightning. Aaong

the Romani, the lightning-flash wus a solicited portent of j(re&t aignificance, not. ho•uer,

for the ditiaatioa of the magistrates, but for certain prieatly ceremoniea of tbe augun

(HAmMos, E•cyclopaedia of &li.gwn, Vol. IV, I!· H23). - lo regsrd to thunder, a aeries

of omena regulated accordiog to the quartera uiat1 amoog the Moo~tola. P S. PALLAS

(&m•lugtn~ ltiltomcller NacArlchtu 1l~r .:Jie •oiUJuluclter: l'iJUtmrlutjll'•, Vol. II, p. 318,

St. Petenborg, 1801) hme ntracted the following from a Mongol book atyled by him

Jerrittc-GtUIOOl: • When in the spring it thuodera io tbe south, this is a good r.ign for

every kiad of cattle. When it thunders straight from an easterly direction, this signifies ao

ioundatioa threateniog the crops. When it thunders from the north, this ia a good eign

for all creatures. Whea it thunders in the north-west, this means much slush and wet

weather in the spring; and, moreover, many new and strange reports will be heard through­

out the world. When it thunders from the west very early, a very dry spring will follow.

Wbea it thunden early ia the south-west, this meana unclean diseases t.o men. Whea it

thoadera earl7 in the sooth-east, locusts will destroy the gra88." In regard to augoriee,

PLLU.S atatea that tbt bird of augury among the Kalmuk is the whitish buzzard called

tMglttlt& c!tuldll; when it flies to the right of a tramping Kalmuk, be takes it to be a

happy omen, thanking it with bows; when, however, it flies to· hia left, he turns his eyea

away and dread• a disaster. They say that the right wing or this bird is directed by a

B•rt;lta• or good apirit, the left one by an aerial demon, and nobody dares shout this bird.

According ~o Pallas, the flight of the eagle, the raveo, and other birds, has no significance

amopg the Kalmuk. The white owl is much noted by them, and looked upon as a felicitous

bird. - .~bou Bekr Abdeaselam Ben Choaib (La di11i11ation par le tonne"e d'apre1 le .

.umut:rit marocai11 U.tit•li Er·Ra'adiya, Revue d'etl•nographie et d~ 8ociologi~. HH3,

pp. 90-V9) \ranslates a Moroccan ~anuacript (date not given) treating of divinatioD from

thundor-pe&ls, according to their occurrence in the t.welve months of the year. Also the

Malaya draw omena from thunder ( W. W. Si:EAT, Malay Magic, p. 6tH) and lightning

(p. 666). - 'l'be field of Tibetan div-ination and astrology is a subject u wi!le aa ungrate­

ful and unpleasant for reaeareh. It has been slightly touched l!pon in the general boob oo

Tibetan Buddhism by ·E. SCHA.GINTWEIT and L. A. WADDELL Some special contributions are

by A. Wt:oaa, Ue!Jer ei•e magi1che Ge6et1jor•el aus Ti!Jet (Sitzung16ericltte der preussi·

1clte11 .dlrademie, 188,, pp. 77-83, 1 plate), and WADDELL, So'IIUJ .4ncietzt Indian Ohanns

357

BIRD DIVINATION -i\.MONG THE TIBETANS. 5

is to the poiut, will ~e especially gleaned from the text of the

Kakajariti given below. The first colu'mn of M. BACOT's rrable

finds its explanation in the last clause of this text, where it is.

said: "When &n omen causing fear is observed, a strewing obla­

tion must be offered to the crow" ( t.t}iys·pai rtags mt'o·n-na·, bga­

rog-la gtor-ma dbul-bar byao), and the flesh of the frog is tlw

1uost essential of these offerings. 'rhe trow does not receive offerings

in each and every case wheu an oracle is desired from its sounds,

but only when it emits disastrous notes pointing to some calamity,

and the object of the offering is the prevention of the tbreu.tcuwg

Jioaster. It is therefore logical to find in the first column of our

Table, headed "the method of offerings," and indicating the kind of

otlerings for the nine (out of the ten) points of the compass, the

conditional restriction 1ian zer na, for example, "when in the east

(the crow) should utter unlucky sounds, milk must be offered,"

etc. The crow is believed to fly up in one of the nine points of

the compass, and exactly the same situation is described in the

beginning of the Kakajariti.

,Among the offerings (gtor-ma, Skr. bali) enumerated in our

Table, there are two distinctly revealing Indian influence, -the white

mustard .(Tib. yu/ts-kar, Skr. sarsltapa), and guggula, itself a Sanskrit

word. 1) The question must naturally be lraised, Is this practice

/rom the Tibetan (.Journal .Anthrop. l111titute, Vol. XXIV, 18\!5, pp. 41-44., 1 plate)

'l'he most common method of fortune-telling is practised by mtana of dice (so) in connection

with divinatory charts. Interesting remarks on this subject are found in the excellent "'orks

of STEWART CULIN, Chinese Games with Dice and Dominoes (Report of TJ. S. Nat. Mu1.

for 1893, p. 636, Wuhington, 1896), and Ckell and Playing-Cards (ibid., for 18\16,

Pl1 821-822, Waab., 1898). Also thia practice doubtless originates in India, and should be

studied aowe day with refncoc!e to the Indian dice gamea an~ oracles {compare A. Wn&R,

UelJer ein indi&chet IYurfel-Orakel, Monataberickte Br:rl . .Jk., 185\l; A. F, R. HoEBNLE,

1'he Bower Manuscript, pp. 209, 210, 214.; J. E. ScHRoTitR, Payakakeuali, Ein indiscbes

Wiirfelorakel, Borua, 1\lOO; and chiefly H. LiiDEBS, .Das 1Yiirfellpiel im alte11 l1Uiien,

.il.bltandl. der K. Ges. de; IYiu. zu Gotti1Jgen, Berlin, 1907). 'l'here are several Tibetan

booke treating especially of dice oracles (ace also E. H. WALSH, 1"ibetun Game of de :;ito, Proc. A. S. B., 1903, p. 129).

1) Also rice and flowers are Indian offerings, the some as uccur likewi3e in Burma

358

6 BE R T H 0 L D L A U F .E R.

of divination from the notes of a crow of indigenous 'fibetan origiu, or

is it rather a loanJ received from India? The Tibetan Taujur contains

amoag the o1feriuga to the Nat (L. Vou101t, Ntd-wor&hip among tlztJ Burme&e, p. 4,

repriu& from J0111Ul ..4..,-ican FoU-Lore, 1891), aad the whole series of offerings may

conlldeatly be atated to be derived from Indiaa practice. "Arter bathing, with hands circled

by awaying bracelet., ehe herself gave to the birds an offering of curds and boiled rice

placed ia a ailver cup; • . • abe greatly hoaored the direction• of fortune-tellera; &he fr.,.

queDtecl all the aootbaayera learned in aiKDI; abe showed all respect to thoae who under·

Hood &lae omena of birds" (TAl Kadafldari of Ba~'" translated by Miu C. M. RumiNa,

p. 68, Loadou, 1896). - M. BACOT accepts &he rendering boi1 d'aig/e for guggu/4 (Tibet­

aai.ecl p-g•/) giYeD io th.s Tibetan Dictionary of the French Missionaries. But this is aot

correct. Or~gg.Ja or 9"99•1• ie not at all a wood but a gum resin obtained from a tree

(BuqMllia ""ata, aometimes called the Indian Olibanum tree) and utilized as incense

( W. RoJ:soaouou, Flora lrcdic11, p. 865 ; G. W ATl', Dictionary of tile Economic Prod~~et1

of lradia, Vol. I, p. 616). ID more recent timee this name has beeu extended alao to the

l'roduce of BaYtlfiiOthrtdro• .\bdttd, which became known to the Greeks under the oame

{31iAA& (thua in Ptripl••· ed. F.uuc&us, PI'· 76, 78, 90), then Grecized {3~iAAio~ (first

in DiOICO&IDU, Latioiaed BDKLLIVK in PLINY, Nat. Hilt. XII, 9, HI, ed. MATson, Vol.

II, p. 888; compare LAISEN, l~tdilelle .AltertumUunde, Vol. I, p. ~90, and H. BllEl'ZL,

Botfltli.IM Forlchrtgln de1 4/t#arader•M~••, pp. 282-4., J.eipzig, 1903) and to tba Arab~

uDder tbe word mtJtJI J.iA (L. La:CLUC, Traiti de1 liaple1, Vol. III, p. 331, Paris, 1883,

aDd J. LOw, 4r••iiileAe Pfla»marunll611, p. 369, Leipzig, 1881). The meaning 'bdellion' is

exclaeivel7 given for gug"g.,u, in the Sanskrit dictionaries of St. Petersburg; this, however,

i1 'DOt the original but merely a subeequent (and probably errooeoua) application of the word,

nor il &he ido1lti&7 of /Nkllilna with pggMla, as eatabliahed by J. JoLLY (!Jedici~t, p. 18,

Gruradriu d. iJU10o11r. PAiL), correct. W 4TT eaya advisedly, "Care must be taken not to

ooDfaee thil gam reeia (gt1f1pl4) with the olibaaum or frankincense of commerce, or with

Muhl. Tlae &rae Salllkrit ume for tbia plaat is moat probably Sallaki .. " The Sao&krit

name which Watt hu ill millcl ia faUU"i or •illd1, BoNellia. tiiMrifera, yielding frank­

iacellee which ia called aJA. {Tib. n·la). The Greek words bdella and 6dellima are deriYed

from Hebnw ~ld. iUDW; but •what it was remains very doubtful" (Yuu and Bua­

.N&LL, Ho/Jia.JDMM, pp. 'liS, 886). Regardiog the Cbioeee names of g•ggMk see PKLLIOT,

1"0tM'I P11111, UUi, p. ~. In his study of lhe oamea of p11rfumes occurring in Chao

Ju-kaa, M. PKLLJOT (ilnd., p. 4.74) alludes to the MaAavyMt~li u one of the eourcea

to be utililed for euch research; I may be allowed to point out that the Saoakri& aad

Tibetall liet of the thirlet:o names of perfumea contained io that dictionary was pabliahed

by me ill z.i.t#jrift fiir Eth111Jlogie, 1896, YerAandluge., p. 397, in connection with the

Tibetan text and tranalatioo of the DAupagogarat•at~rala; this certainly wu urce •1n1re d1

J•uJtMu on which J could now euily im11rove. '!'he moat important aourco for our purp081111

doubtleM ia the Hia"9 p'11 ::ff iff l:y lluag Ch'o jJt jf of the Sung period, reprinted

in T'a1'!i Sug t,C,~"!I situ. HRJmJCHNKIO&& (Bot. Sin., pt. I, No. J5a) mentions a work

•If the same title, bnt from the hand of Ye T'ing.knei Ji l! Jt of the Sung.

359

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 7

li small treati&e under the title Ka/cajariti indicated by. G. Hu'l'll. 1)

The Indian method of divining from the calls of the crow is briefly

expounded therein, and for this reason a literal translation of it

may first be given. It will ba recognized that the thoughts of tbi~

text move on the same line as the document PeUiot, and it will

furnish to us the foundation for some further remarks on tbe latter.

In order to facilitate immediate comparison of the two texts, I

have numbered, in the Table published by M. BAcOT, the series of

the first vertical column with the Roman figures I-XI, and the

nine series yielded by the nine quarters with the Arabic figures

1-9, so that by the combination of the two any of the ninety

squares of the Table may be readily found. The references to the

squares of this Table, placed in parentheses in the following text,

iudicate thought identity or analogy in the two documents.:£}

Translation of Kakajariti.

'l'anjur, Section Sutra (mdo), Vol. 123, ~,ol. 221 (edition of

Narttang).

l) Sit••mg1iericllte dtJr prt:11uiM:ke• 41tade•u, l89o, l'· 276. lluTu rel'era to "Schief­

ncr in Weber'a ladi&che Streifen I 276," whic1

h I have never seen, aud wh_ieh is aol

acccsllib)e to me.

2) After my translation wu made from the Nartbang edition of the 1'aojur, I found

t.hat A. ScHlUND ( Ue!Jer lin i.tulueluss Kriilzaoraltel, Miltlage• tUiatitJ•"• VoL 1 V,

~t. Peteraburg, 1863, pp. · 1-14) had already edited and traDilatecl the aame-work. In

collating my renderiag with that o( ScJUEFNKR, it turned out that I dilfered from him in

a number of points which are diacuaaod ia the footnotea. Scan:.rNKa·a text (api••reully

based on the Palace edition) and traaelatioo are generally good, though the mark ia missed

in ~everal passagea; I have to expreu my ackaowledgmeal eapecially to hia text edition, aa;

my copy of the Narthang lirint, which ia difficult to read, left several poioU obacure. Uu

the other haad, whoever .will tllke the trouble to check my version with that of my pred­

eeeaaor, will doubtleaa recognize the independence of my 1JOrk. As the principal point iu lhe present case is to reveal the inward eonaection between the Kakajariti iad the docu­

ment Pelliot; it was, at any rate, 11eceaaary to place a complete version of that text

before the reader, and not everybody may have access to the publication in which ScHJEF·

NI'.R'6 study is containe11.

360

\

',_·_'

,, \ I,

i\

I!·

8 BERTHOLD LW--FER.

lu Sanskrit: Kakajariti ("On the Sounds of the Crow"). 1)

Iu Tibetan: Bya-rog-gi a/cad brtag-par bya-ba ("Examination of

the. Sounds of the Crow").

This matter is as follows. The crows are divided into four

castes; na111ely, BrahmBI}-B, Kshatriya, Vai~ya, and Qudra. A crow

of intelligent mind 2) belongs to the Brahmal}-a caste, a red-eyed

1} Tbe Sanskrit title is thouibt by 8cautF1fER to be corrupt. Ht made two conjl'r­

turea,- firat, io a communication to Weber, b:J restoring the title iuto ka~ttrufttlil, which he

soon rejected; aecond, he accepted aa foundation of the dia&gured Sanskrit title the word•-

6ya·r0fj-gi 1pyod-pa occurring at 'he end of the treatiae, which he took in the sense of

lcalcacaritrtt or 0 carita, and he uaumed that this ti&le may have arisen t hrougb a retrana­

latioo from Tiltetan into Sanskrit, ~t a time when the Suosk rit original no longer existed.

Again, on p. U, be conjectures 1pyorJ..tJ4 to be an error for dpyod-pa = Skr. viciira~u1,

"eumination," and thua uncooaciously contradicts his previous surmise on p. l. I can see

I!O valid rcaaon for any o( these coojer.tures. Tbe final words taken for the title do not

in fac& rtpreaent it, but on~y refer to the third and last part of the treatise, whi~:h is

}Jlainly divided into three aections: 1. Omens obtained from a combina~ion of orientation

and the time divisions of the day; 2. Omens to be heeded by a traveller; 3. Omens obtained

from the orientation of the crow'a neat. The spyod-pa of the crows refers to the peculiar

activity or behavior of the birds in building their nests. Beaides, the title of the work is

simply enough indicated in its Tibetan translation, "Examination of the Sounds (or Cries)

of the Crow (or Crows)/' and the restoration of the Sanskrit title should be attempted

onl:J oa tbia baaia. It ia evident that it is defective, and that a word correspondin)l: to

Tib. brtag·1Jilr bytt·la is wanting, wbicb, judging from analogies of titles in th.: 'fanjur, il

ma:J be euppoeed, was p4rik1"ii. The word jarati, corresponding to Tib. 1kad. seems to be

a derivation froc the root jar, jarate, "&o call, to invoke."

2) 1ib. io-la rtn-6a • . ScHID'NK& (p. 12) remarks on this passage which he renders

die i~a Kar~Aa'1 recllnenden Brtthma~ten: "The Tibetan text is not quite without ·blemish.

Some pauagea of the original are wholly miaunderatood; to these belongs &he passage in

queation. I auspect a misunderstanding of kiir.A~tga, 'blackness.' As Weber observes, this

11upposition is confirmed by a cliL88ification of the Brahmans among tbe crows occurring

elsewhere." This interpretation seems to me to be rather artificial; I think zo is a clerical

error for ie, and take u-la rtn-ba in the sense of "to calculate in their miodP." The

crow ia the object of divinatory calculation on the part of observing man, asd the bird

which, owing to ita superior intelligence, easily adapts itself to this proce!ia, ia considered

t~ rank among the highest caste. The ability for calculation and divination is directly

transferred to the bird: The d_ivision into castes is found also among the Naga and the

spirita called gflan (aee Scut.II'NE&, Ueber da1 Bon/)0-Sutra, Mt"m . .dead. de St. Pet., Vol.

XXVIII, N°. l, 1~80, pJl. 3, 26 et pa1nm; Mira. &e. jin71()-()ugrienllc, Vol. XI, 1898,

p. 105; .{)Gnklchrifftm 1Yiener Alcadcmit:, Vol_. XINJ, 1900, p. 3l).

361

HIRD IHVINATION A:MO~U THE TIBETANf'. 9

out to the Kshatriya caste, one flapping its wings to the Vai~ya

caste, one shaped like a fish to the <;udra caste, one subsisting ou

filthy food and craving for flesh belongs likewiHe to the latter.

The following holds good for the different kinds of tones emitted

by the crow. The layman_ must pronounce the affair the truth of

wuicb he wishes to ascertain simultaneously with the flight of

the crow). 1)

I. When 10 the first watch (t'urt da/t-po la), 1) in the east, a

crow sounds its notes, the wishes 0f men will be fulfilleJ.

When in the south-east it sounds its notes, an enemy will

approach (Table II, 9, and V, 2). 3)

1) ScHIEt'NER translates: , Die veracbiedenen Arten ihres Geachrris sind folgendc,

(welche) der Hausberr einmal wabrgenommen verkiinden muss." llut this mode of rendering;

the 11assage does not do justice to the tc1t (lt'yim-/Jdag-gis ci.g-car bdt:n·pjlr ~yur-ba 11i

b··il)d-par b!Ja·sfe). Stre5s is laid on the phrase cig-car, alluding to the fact, which repeals

itself in all systems of omens, that the wish must be uttered at the same ·moment when

the phenomenon from which the oracle is taken occurs. ScHIEFNE/R overlooks the force of

bdt:n par t,Jg!fur-bo, which is not wahrgtmommen, but was bewahrlu:itee wcrden 1oll. Only he

,who seeks an oracle will naturally pay attention to the ~ight of the crow, and he must

, loudly proclaim his question, addret~sing the bird at the moment when it fties into the 011en.

2) ScHIEfNER takes the term t'un (Skr. yilma) _in the sense of night-watch. This, in

my opinion, is impossible. In this first seetion of the treatise, divination is detailed to five

divisions of time, the fifth and last of which is _designated as the sunset. Consequently the

four preceding di~lsiollS--must refer to the time ofthe day; both t'un and yama apply to

tne day as well as to the nigl\t, and simply signify a certain length of time (usually

identifit4 with a period of three hours in our mode ~of reckoning) of the twenty-four hour

day. Th\e five watches named in our te1t would accordingly yield an average term of

liftcen hours, the usual length of a day in Iodin. It is also natural t.o watch crows in

the daytime, and not at night, when, like others of their kind, they are asleep in their

nests. The same division of the day into five parta, probably derived from lndia, exists

also in Java (RAFFLES, A History of Java, Vol. I, P· aao. Loudon, l8iW).

3) The crow's prophecy of war is linked with th~ nq.a;i04l~ and bellicose character of

the Lird This notion uppears as early as in the A say r1an io&cl'iptlcms of Sennacl!erib, where

we meet such comparis()DI as "like the coming of many ravena swiftly ~oving onr the

country to do him harm," and "like an invasion of mauy ranns on the (ace Of _the coun­

try forcibly they rame to make baltle'' (1''. UILITZSCH, A1syriscAr: Tlrie,.,amett, p l02,

J.eipzig, 1874; and W. JlouoHTo~. Tlu: Bir~ uf lite Assyrian JI<Jf&ltllf.l'"ll, Trtllfl. :WC.

BJ./Jl. Arch, Vol. Vlii, 188-1., p. 80). Jn Teutonic di,·inatiou, the raven bclirved to poaaeM

wiadom and knowledge of events was et(tecially ronnected t~·ith battle: should one be heard

tnrice aereaming on the roof, it IJo,leJ olca&h to'lf~!_rion; while the aJ'pearance of raveus

362

10 BERTHOLD LA. UFER.

Whe.u in the south, etc._, a friend will visit ('rable VIII, 6;

X, 3).

When in the south-west, etc., unexpected profit will accrue.

When in the west, etc., a great wind will rise (Table V, 4).

When in the north· west, etc., a stranger (guest) will appear. •)

When in t~e north, etc., property scattered here and there (nor

!}tor-ba) will be found (Table X, 2).

When in the north-east, etc., a woman will come (Table VII, 8; IX, 6).

When in the abode of Brabma (zenith), 2 ) etc., a demon will

following a host or a lingle warrior would bring good luck io battle (HASTINGS. ENC!Jclu­

paldia of lleligi011, Vol. IV, p. 827).

l) In IOilthern lndia, if a erow keeps on cawing incesaantly in a bouse, it i11 believed

to foretell the coming of a guea,. The belief i1 10 strong, that some women prepare Jnorc

food than is required for the household (E. 1'HU.ISTON, JJ1ttfOfJ1·apAic .fr_p/•1 i• &•ih~N

lndill, P· 276, Madras, 1906). Among the rani (J. J. :tfoDI, Omnu a•OIIfJ the ParUCI, in

his A•IAI'OpD/ogit:al PtlfW/'1, p. 41, Bombay, no year) the cawing of a crow portends good

u well as e'fil. A peculiar eound called "a full noise'' portends good. Such a noise is also

conaidered lo foretell the arrinl of a guest or the receipt of a letter from a relative iu

some distant couotry. U a good event occurs after the peculiar cawing which portends

good, they present 10m' ;.weeta to a crow. Another peculiar kind of cawing, especially that

of the kagri, the female crow, portenda some evil. A crow making such a peculiar noi11e is

genenlly driven away with the remark, "Go away, bring 1ome good new1!"

2) 'fhe four cardinal pointa {p'!JOf/1 ni) are expreilaed by the common words 811r, lhu,

nub, byan. The four intermediate pointa are designated me ·("fire"), aouth-east; !Jden 6ral,

auuth-wea&; rt.t• ( "wiod")1

, north.:weat; and diJizti-lan, north-eu&. Thtse names are derived

from those of the Ten Guardian» of the World (1ee Mdavy11tpatti, ed. of MJNAYJ.V and

MJ&ONOV, p. 102; ed. of Csox.a and Ross, pt. J, 1)· 57). The ninth point, Briihmi, is

there rendered by .teiJ-gi p'IOfll, the direction above, which ia expressed in our text by

Ts'tnil-ptli gu1, "the place of Brahma. In the 'fable })Ublished by M. B4COT (II, 9) the

term ntllt-ifl (= lc'11, •k'a} ldii' is uaed in lieu of that one; this means literally "floating

or aoaring in the sky" (it occun. a1 a frequen& name of the Garul}.a), and here "soaring

in straight direction toward the sky," that is, the zenith. It '!ill thus be nen that the

nine pointe of the compua (out of the typical ten, Ufflliik, which were uaumed), as enum­

erated in the aboye text, are the same and occur in the same succession, 11 in M. B4COT's

Table. 'fhe tenth point, naturally, is here out of the question, as crows cannot 87 up in

the nadir of a penon. ln. the introductory to M. Pelliot'l roll the fact of nine cardinal

points is di1tinctly alluded to ic two ver11es (6 and 941), and M. BAcOT, quite correctly,

has recognized there the eight quarters, making nine with the zenith.-- 'l'he connection of

crow auguries with the cardinal points may ·have arisen from the very ancient observation

363

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 11

come ('!'able X, 1). 1)

End of the cycle of the first watch.

11. When in the second watch (teun giiil-pa-la), in the east, ·a

crow sounds its notes, near relatives will come (Table VI, 4). 2)

of the crow'• .ense of locality, and ita utilization in dilcovcring land. Indian na'Yigatora

kept birds on board ahip for the purpose of despatching them in search of land. In 'he

BilPiru-Jatalta (No. 339 of the .eriea) it ia a crow, in the KntuidAasutu (in Diglaa•ikoya)

it is a "land-apying bird." J. MINAYEV (Melanges ttliatiqtwl, Vol. VI, 1872, p. 697), who

waa the tint to edit 'be former tnt, explained the word for the crow di1akiika, aa it occura

there, u po111ibl1 meaning •a crow aerving to direct navigators in the four quartera"

(While the opinion of WEBER, added by; him, that it might be an ordinary crow, aa it

occur• in all quarter&,- seems forced). lot my opinion, Muu.nv ia correct: di•akiikta ia the

crow, whoae flight ia affiliated with the quarters, both in navigation and divination.

GaiiNWJ!:DEL (VeriJ.ff. M111. fur Yollterhruie, Vol. V, 1897, p. 106) hu publiahed an

allied teJt from the Biography of Padmaaambhava, where the land.-eeking bird of the

11avigatora ia designated "pigeon'" (1'ib. p'fi!I·Ton). This 11'ill doubtleaa go back to 10me UD­

koowo Indian text "~there pigeons are mentioned in this capacity. PLINY (N11t. Bist. \'I,

22, 83, ed. MAl'Ho:rr, Vol. I, p. 466) relate11 that the seafarers of Taprobane (Ceylon) did

oot obaerve the atars for the purpose of navigation, but carried birda out to aea, which

they aent off from time to time, and the.a followed, the course of the birds flying in the

direction of the land (siderum in navigando nulla observatio: septentrio non cernitur,

volucrea secum vehunt emittentes saepin& meat.umque earum terram petentium comitantur).

The connection of this practice with that described in the Babylonian and Hebrew tradi-·

tiona of the Deluge was long ago recognized. In the Babylonian record (H. ZnuuBN,

Keilinsckriften liNd Billel, p. 7) a pigt:on, a swallow, _and a -raven are .ent out aucceasively

to· ascertain how far the watera have abated. When the people of Thera emigrated to

Libya, ravens tlew alon~ with them ahead of tho shit>& to show the way. The Viking,

~~ailing from Norway in the ninth century, maintained birds on board, which were set free

in the open aea from time to 'ime, and discovered Icel~nd with their assistance (0. KEL·

LEll., Die antilte Tierwelt, Vol. II, p. 102}. According to JuSTUf (XXIV. IV: 4), who says

that th~ Celts were skilled beyond other peoples in the science of augnry, it waa by the

lligbt of birds 'hat the Gaula 11'ho invaded lllyricum were guided (Do-rru(io -liAIITINGs,

~•cyclopaedia of Religion,' Vol. IV, p. 787). In the lu-fiidoki, Emperor Jimmu enga~;ed 10 a war upedition, and marched nnder the guidance of the gold-colored raven (K. FLU·

iti!:Nz, Jap:4ni1cke Mytkologie, p. 29Q). On the s«:nding of pheasant and raven in ancient

Japan Bee especially A. PPIZKAIEII, Zu d,. &.ge wm Owo-kuni-m11ki (Sit61111fiiJerichte 1Yie­

ner .Akader~~ie, Vol. LIV, 1866, pp. 60-li2).

1) ScHUU'NER reads l!{IT01&-po, and_ accordingly translates "guest." But it seems unlikely

that the same should be re11eated bore that wa1 nid a few lines before in r~gard to the

north-west. The Narthang print 11lainly has flgOM-po, which 1 think is mistaken for l!{IO,i-pQ,

"demon." The analogous case in Table X, 1, where the word ~J-dre gdon is used, confirms this supposition. .

2) In the l\anjur, a little story is told of a r.row ultcriog agreeablll sound11 Muguriug

364

·12 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

[A reference in regard to the south-east is lacking in the text.]

When in the south it sounds its notes, you will obtaiu flowet·s

and areca-nuts. 1)

When in the south-west, etc., there will be numerous offspring

(rgyutl-pa {tp'tl-bar {tgyur-ro).

When in -the west, etc., you will have to set out on a distant

journey (t'ag rina-au {tgro-bar (tgyur-ro; compare Table II, 2; IX, 3).

When in the north-west, etc., this is a prognostic of the king

beiug replaced by another one (rgyal-po g.Zan·du t_lgyur-bai rtags;

compare Table VIII, 1 J. 2)

When in the north, etc., you will receive good news to bear

(Table Ill, 8; VJI, 7). 3)

for tbe Hfe retura of a woman's absent husband, and being rewarded by her wilh 11 gololt·ll

C&[l (A. SCHl.lfiUR, Ti!Jetn '/(del, English ed. by ltU.STO:-J, l'· a&5). J. J. MolJI (AnlllrU•

polugie.l Pll]l61'1, p. 28) quotes the following lines, which he overheard a Hindu womau

11peak to a crow: "0h crow, oh crow! (I will give thee) golden rings on tby feet, a ball

prepared of curd aad rice, a piece of silken cloth to corer thy loins, and· pickles in thy

mouth." A peculiar noiae made by a crow, continues thie author, is supposed to indicate

the arrival of a dear relatioa or at leaat or a letter from him. When they bear a crow

make that peculiar noise,. they promise it all the above good things if ita prediction turu

out true. ID this cue they fulfill the;r promiae by serving it some sweets, but withhold

the oroamenta and clothes. - The following l'Ustom is observed in Cambodja. "Lorsq ue

quelqu'uo de Ia maieon est en pays lointaia, si le corbeau vient ~azouiller dana le voisi·

nage, la face toornee dana la directioa de l'absrnt, il aanonce son prom11t retour. l>~tn~

toote autre direction~ il annonce ua malheur" (E .• -\ rMoNIER, JUpu irlflocAirwi#, 1883, l'· 148).

1) Tib . .u-tog tUA go-Ill t'ob-pc. ScUIBPNU readera go-/a by •betel;" bot go-la islht:

areca·aot, which is cllewed together with the ltaf of betel, 11iper IHitel L. (see CHANDK4

D!s. Dictiotusr!J, p. 227). We may juetly nise tbe qoeetion whether anythiag 110 insi('id

wu t:Oat.iae~ ia the Saaakrit original, aad wllether the text is aot rather corru1•ted berc.

Tbe Table coataias nothiag to thia effect. I noture to think tbat go, "rauk, positiou,"

wu ioteaded. Jn Table I, 6, ftowen are men~ioned aa ol'erings to the birda, and this may

give a clew u to how the coofosioa came about.

2) Ia the text of the Table: rggfll.·po l!jig·p•r 61011, "this iadicalu lhe overthrow or

ruia of the kiag" (but not iwdifW ..,. dange,; pm~r k: ros). I do not agree with Scuan·

NJC.I&'I readeriag: .,Ein Zeiehen, dua der Konig eich anderellohin wendet.''

3) Tib. ~p'n..ltu leg~optlr t'01-par fH!JtiT•ro. P'ria, "uews," Will probably be \he }lrOtJer

reading. Ia the text of M. B4C01' p-,.;, ~fall i1 printed, and translated r111 co11rrier de

IKifltH:llel. M. BACOT presumably bad in mind 'be word bga·JIIa·rla, "a courier," bot there

is no word bJaft with this menoing. We do11btless hnvc to rea•l p'rin bzaJi, "good news,

good meaaage.''

365

BIRD DIVUiATION .\KONG THE TIBETANS. 13

When in the north-east, etc., disorder 1) will break out (Table·

V; 7). Wben in the zenith, etc., you will obtain the fulfilment of your

wiahes. 2)

End of the cycle of the second watch.

111. W·hen in the third watch, in the east, a crow so'unds its

u(l)tes, you will obtain property (Table X, 2).

When .in the south-east a crow sounds its notes, a battle (qt'ab-

mo) will arise ('11able V, 7).

When in the south, etc., a storm will come (Table V, 4-).

When in the south-west, etc., an enemy will come (see above,

I, south-east).

When in the west, etc., a woman will come (see above, I,

north-east).

When in the north-west, etc., a relative will come (see abov~, II, east).

When in the north, etc., a good friend will come (Table VIII,

~·; X, 3).

When 1n the north-east, etc., a conflagration will break out

'(mes gtscig-par qgyur-ro; Table VI, 7).

When in the zenith, etc., you win gain profit from beiug taken

care of by the king. 3)

End of the cycle of the third watch.

l) 'rib. tJ.l&'rug-pa exactly corre&(JOoda in ita varioua •hade& of meaning to Chinese lMa,

8L .' "disorder, tumult, iosuneeti~na, war,'' etc. This rendering is indeed given for the

Tibelan word in the Tibetan-Chinese vocabulary of Hu i yi yii (Cb. 11, p. 33 b; Hirth'•

copy io Royal Library of Berlin). In the Table, the word t•ab-.w, "fight, battle,'' is uaed •

. 2) Tib. tJ.dod-pai -qjug-t» r4tld-par f!.9P'-ro. ScuiUM.BB traoslatea: , Wird sich die

gewiinachte G!!legenhei& tloden."

3) Scuu:r~n:a'a tranalatioo ~wird der Konig den im Oemiith befeatigten Gewinn fin­

den'' itt unintelliF;iblo. The ted reads: rgyal-po t•.,•-14 !Jrlag1-pai rlled-pa t'o6-par 1!1JJMr-ro.

Schiefner'a correction of !Jrtag1 into !Jtag1 is perfectly justifiable; indeed., the confusion of

these two word& ia frequent. But tcMgl-!ll f!odogl-pa ia a comman phraae correctly e1plainetl

by JiscuK.: (Dictionary, 1'· 280) "to interelit one's self in, to take care of!' It should

not be forgotten, of r.ourae, that; at the time when Schiefner \Vrote, this di~tionary was n~t publiahed. / ·

366

14 R E R 'l' H 0 J, J) J. A U F R R.

IV. When in the fourth watch, in the east, a crow sounds its

notes, it is a prognostic of great fear (q,jigs-pa cce-bai rtag&-so;

Table V, 6; IX, 1).

When in the south-east a crow sounds its notes, it is a prog­

nostic of large gain.

When in the south, etc,, a stranger (guest) will come (see above,

I, north-west).

·when in the south-west, etc., a storm will rise m seven days.

When in the west, etc., rain and wind will come (Table V,

4, 5), 1)

When in the north-west, etc., you will find property which is

scattered here and there (nor 9tor-ba ). \

When m the north, etc., a king will appear.

When in the north-east, etc., you will obtain rank. 2)

When m the <Zenith, etc., it is a prognostic of hunger.

End of the cycle of the three watches and a half.

V. When at the time of sunset (1ii-ma nub-pai tie; com pare

Table X), in the east, a crow sounds its notes, an enemy will

appear on the road.

When in the south-east a crow sounds its notes, a treasure

will come to you.

When 1n the south, etc., you will die of a disease (Table V, 8). 3)

1) The ability attributed to crow and raven of possessing a foreknowledge of coming

rain baa chi"efty made them preeminently prophetic birds (at1f1ur aquae in Horace). The

ancients observed that these birds used to caw with peculiar notes when . rain was to fall,

an•i that, if a storm was imminent, they were running to and fro on the beach with great

restlessness, and bathing their beads (compare 0. KELJ,.&a, Die antiltd Ticrwt:lt, V~l. 11, ll:_ 98).

2) Tib. go-14 (as above) riled-par 1!-ggur-ro. The correction go rfud-par_ may here be

allowed to pass, as the finding of areca-nota seems such a grou stupidity. ,

3) In the' story •'fbe Death of the Magpie," tranalated from a manuscript of the India

Otlice by A. ScmnN.I!:R (M~langes .uiatiljue1, Vol. VIII, p. 630), th11 rllven has the attri­

butes "the Uncle, the Judge of the Uead" (in Scbiefner'• rendering; the original is not

known to 1ne), and the following verses are ad.lreue•l to it (p. 631): "Be kind to the

nephews here, bestow fortunr upon thr rhiJ.lren, dirrct the government of the country,

367

RlRJ> DIVINATION AMONG THI<~ TIBETAN~. 15

When in the south-west, 1) etc., the wishes of one's heart will

be fulfilled. When in the west, etc., reiatives will come.

When in the north-west, etc., it is a prognostic of obtaining

property. When in the north, etc., homage will be done to the king.

[A reference to the north-east is lacking in the text.]

When in the zenith, etc., you will obtain an advantage fo1·

wbicb 1ou had hoped.

End of the cycle of the fourth watch.

End of the description of such-like cries of the crow.

We shall now discuss the import of the crow's tones when

one is travelling. When along dams and river-bank~, on a tree, in

a ravine, :!) or on cross-roads, a crow sounds its vohte on your

right-band side, you may know that this journey is gaod. W~en,

at the time of wandering on the road, a crow $()ll~s its voice

behind your back, you will obtain the aiddlti. WheQ, during a

jrborney, a crow flapping its wings 3) sounds its voice, 11. great acci-

le1d eapreaion to good plana." In connection with these ideas of1 t~e raveu as a bird

nr death, it i• worthy of oote that in two tells of the Taojur, Mabakila appears in the

for111 or the Rueu-faced one (Skr. liil&rt~ya, Tib. IJya-rog gdoft-can), likewise the goddea!\

'Kilt (Tib. t'.a gdoti-DW); eee P. CoRDJEK, Cat. ·dufoJJdl tilletaira de la Bibl. Nat., Vol.

U. I'P· 124. 127. The raven-faced Mahiikiila is illustrated in the. "Three Hundred God!' ol Narthang•• (section .Ri• t;l6gu1/, Col. 121). The raven u a.· bird announcing death is

1ridely hown in elauical antiquity and medienl Europe (0. KELLER, Die antike Tierwelt,

Vol.ll, p. 97; E. A. Po~·• poem The Ra11m); Tbe imminent deaths of Tiberi us, Gracchus,

t'ieero, aud Sejan, were prOJiheeied by ravena.

ij Ia expresaed in &hie pauage by ,,;,..poi •tla11u, •the intermediate space of thr lliikebaea."

2) Tib. grog 1tod, u plaiuly writteu in the Nanhang print. ScuJ&P.NIR read gro9

uoll, and corrected grog 1t1il, with the tranalation "on an ant-heap." regardiug grog a1

l'tll·••, f/1'0fJ·'IIIo, •ant." I prefer to eoncein grog u grog-[Jo (related to rot't), "ruine,"

which ia more plausible iu Yiew of the other deaignationa or )QCalitiea which are here

RI"Qil)ltd together. Moreover, I do uot believe that crowa go near ant-hills or feed on

~•ta. The1 rt•ading 1tod is then perfectly good. the aignilieaaee being "in the nppr.r part or t.e ratine!,"

S) A~ordin~ tn the introtlur.tion, nor. of the Kshatriya r.astr..

368

16 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

dent will bef~ll· one. When, during a journey, a crow pulling

human hair with its beak 1) sounds its voice, it is an omen that

one will die a.t that time. When, during a journey, a crow eating

filthy food 2 ) sounds its voice, it js an omen of food and drink

being about to come (Table VIII, 9).

When, duri,ng a journey, a crow perching on a thoru-bush

sounds its voice, it should be known that there is occasion to fear

an enemy. When, during a journey, a crow pel'cbing on a tree

with milky sap 3) sounds its voice, milk-rice ( o tug-gi bza-ba) will

fall to your lot at that time. When a crow perching on a withered

tree 4) sounds its voice, it is a prognostication of the lack of food

and drink at that time. When a crow perching on a palace sounds

its Yoice, you will find an ~xcellent halting-place. 5) When a crow

l) Tib.1kra mc'111 gziiu-lin. According to Jii.scuu (Diclw•ary, p. 464) 1ha ~iUih1-pa

or g.in-la is an adjective with the meaning •bristly, rugged, &baggy'' (Dictio'llary •( tile

'FrMclt MiuW.,t~ri41, p. 832: criRel diljecti, cAeueuz epars). The verbal partide ciJi anti

the iastrnmentali• •c'u-1 ("with the beak") indicate that gzihl is a verbal form belongintt

to a stem tUin1, ~;,. and meana "pulling about hair in auch a "'DY that it appears

rur;ged." Below, we find the same upre .. ion 111C'u1 g(U gziit1-iii,, "pulling a dress ,.;itb ita

beak." The word f:J(iliiz1-p11 is used alao of i11terlaced trees or thick-set vegetation, as ill~

dicated by the Polyglot Dict.onary of K'ienrlung, according to which it is the equivalent of

t1'ao •• l•'••g lsa - * ii Jl, ltlanchu g•lutlelu:bi, Mongol kii.qhiiniilduji (l'eNtre­

lacw); we 8od there, fnrther, the phrue 1gro t,&dlin1 == ling cll'i t1'a" kile 4ifl - ~ ~ 1

"with broken wings," Mongol liin&tiiri#l, "' llriser (the 'l'ibetao. equivalent in KOVALETSJU

is 11 misprint). Scui&r.MKa (p. 1 ~) remarks that the form gziit1 is new to him, and quea­

tiona ita correctneu; he takes it u identical with llzun, and translates it by a•Ja,tM.

This derivation is not ·correct, it iil merely surmised. The passage evidently means m.ore than

thGt the ~row· iiml>ly seizes human hair; it ia torn to pieces, and this destructive work

hu a distinct relation to the foreboding of death.

2) Tib. •i gl1aiz-!Ja za zin, tbe same espreuion aa. need in the introduction to deaote

n crow of the C}udra cute. Compare S~tl/lasAilaralt~tlnidAi 37 {ed. CsQlU.).

3) Tib. o-aa-ct~,•·gJi lin (Skr. k1lr'irikil, lllliri!Ji). Indian medicine recognizes live trees

presumed j_o yield a milky aap. These are, according to HOJtBNLI (The Bowr Ma>&xlcripf,

p. 20), the nyagrodha (Ficu lld~tgale111il), udambara (Ficu gloTI&erala), a~nttha :CFicMs

religiOit~), plakaha (Fic111 tJd~la), and piirisha ( 'fke1pe1ia pop11lnea).

4) At often in the Indian stories (SCHliFNEA, Jlila11ge1 aliatiques, Vol. VIII, 1817,

p. 96; or lt.&.LSTON, Tibetan 1'ales, p. 32).

5) ScKlt:.P:'i'ER translates erroueoualy, "When yon betook yourself to the royal pal~tce,

369

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG 'ME TIBETANS. 17

rcbing on a divan sounds its note, an enemy will oome. When·

~ crow facing the door sounds its voice, it should be known . that

a peril will threaten from the frontier (nat•caml-ltgi q,jigB-par au­par byao). When a crow 'pulling a dress (go•) with ita beak ~aDtls

·its , 0 iee, you will find a dress (go•). When, during a journe.f, a

crow perc~ing on the cranium of a corpse 1) 10und1 ite notes, it

it a prognostication of death. When a crow aeizing a red thread

and perching on the roof of a house sounds its notes, this house

will be d'estroyed by fire (Table VI, 7). When, in the morning

(nuz.-droi dua-au, Table V), many crows assemble, a great storm

will arise (Table V, 8). 2)

When, at ·the time of a journey, a crow seizing with its beak a

piece of wood sounds its voice, some advantage will fall to your lot.

\Vben, at the time of a journey, at sunrise (iii-ma sar dua-1u, Table IV),

a crow sounds its voice, you will obtain property. When, at the time

of a journey, it sounds its voice, 3) one's wishes will be fulfilled.

~od wbeo the crow then sounds its cries, you will receive a good seat." But it ia tbe

queation of a traveller who, oo bi1 jourJtey, happens to pan by a pal~oce, ancl it ia the crow

which ia 1ittiog on the roof of the palace (the verb 1"'-" meani "to dwell, remain," but

, Dever espreuea any act of motion); in the uma manoer aa the crow baa fouod a goocl

rtBiiDg·place, 10 the weary wanderer will find good q ... arlera for the night. The ten roll'l

tblll: p'o-iran-la gna.r-•u gan-gi t1'e 1/t~ ~grog1-1aa, dei t1'1 1dod 1a IJzan-po rlud1Mr

~yMr·ro. The word 1f/Qd 111 doea not mean "a eeat," bot a place where a tnveller atopefor

the uight, "halting-place." Likewise, in the two following eeatencea, ScHIJJ.M.Q refen the

}lbraael gdfl~t·la g~tal~llfU and lgO lta zin to the man instead of to the C~.

1} Soai.BPN~II: ,eine Krii.be aur der Kopfbinde aieh ~fiodend." Thia il d~-10 • ~COD• ruaion of the two word• l'od and. t'od-pa; the former mean• •turban;'' bu(tlae test lau

t'od·pa lDe&ning "the akull of a dead }leriOD," and thil ooly maket leiiH of t1at palilp. Cro~, congregate ud feed on carrioo, and are therefore eooeeived of as birdt ol Uaill.

Tbe turban, for the reat, i1 out of the queation in thia test, as it waa introdooed iato lodia ooly by the Mohammedans.

2) 0. KBLLia (Die atilte 2Ur10tlt, Vol. II, p. 109, Leipzig, 1918), who concllldes

hia it~tereatiog chapter on crow and raven in eluo;ical aotiquity with an extract frna

Sehieflaer'a tranalation, obaervet on thi• ~entence that it ia baaed on a fact, and that auch

graina of truth bidden among these aupentitiona account for the fact that theJ DOold aurvin for eenturiet.

. 3) Apparently there ia here a gap in the text, no definition of the aeLivity of the erow beaoK given.

370

lR BERT II 0 J, n L A tT F E R.

End of the signs of the journey (lam-gyi mts'an-itid).

The symptoms (or omens) of the nest-building of the crow are

as follows. 1) When a crow has built ita nest in a branch on the

eaat side of a tree, a good year and rain wiil then be the result

of it. When it has built its ne&t on a southern branch, tho m·ops

will then be bad. When it has built its nest on a branch in the

middle of a tree, a great fright will then be the result of it (Table

V, 6). When it makes its nest below, fear of the army of one's

adversary will be the result of it. When it makes its nest on a

wall, on the ground, or on a river, the king will be healed [from

a disease]. 2)

Further, the following explanation 1s to be noted. When a crow

sounds the tone ka-ka, you will obtain property. Whe.n a Cl'OW

sounds the tone da-dJa, misery will befall you. When a crow sounds

the tone ta-ta, you will find a dress. When a crow sounds the

tone gha-glta* a stat~ of happiness will be attained. 3) When a crow

sounds the tone glu~.'·ga, a failure will be the result of it. ')

1) ID the first •ecU~ll of the trentise the crow is in motion, and the person dcman,J­

iog the. oracle is staJ.o.nary. In the second section both the crow nnd the person are in

motion. In this one, th.e third section, both the crow and the person are stationary; hence

the text says: y•as-pai fJga-rog·gi tlalt-gi mts•an·nid, "the crows when they are aettle.i. .. "

2) Tib. ,.u()-/)ar f!.UY•r-ro, translated by ScHIEPNEJt ,10 wird der Konig Ieben," which

gives no aenae. Of course, the word at,•c-!Ja meana "to live,'' but also "to'\reco,er from

sickneu:• Here the Table (IX, 2) comes to our rescue. where we meet the plain wording

Md-pa IObptzr, don. "it indicates cure from disease." - Among the Greeks, the crow,

owing to th~ belief in the long life of the bird, was an emblem of Asklepioi(O. 1\KLLU,

Ditl anliloe 1U:r1Delt, Vol. II, p. lOti); compare Hesiod'e famous riddle on tbe age of the

crow and raven (W. SCHULTZ, Riit11l aiU dem helleni1chen Kulturl&reise, p. 143, Leip&if[,

1912; and K. OHLEil'r, Biilsel u•d Biibel1piel11 der a{ten GriecAen, 2d ed., p. 146, Ber­

lin, 191~). The idea of the Jongevit.y of the crow was entertained Also in India ~Skr.

W7'!Jltiijus, Tib. tl.fJ·t••od-can, attribute of the crow given in the Dictiottcry of tit• Fr,e!l

Mutioaaries, l'· 86); it is striking that this quality of the crow is not alluded to ia our te~t. 3) Tib. don f!.UTU!J-par f!.Uy•r-ro.' SCHI:E,PNER translates: ,so geht die Sache in ErfUllung.''

4) Tib. "or OJi-IJar ,.gyur·ro. ScHI.U.Nli:R, ,so wird ein Schatz kommen,'' which ia cer·

tninly correct, as far as the meaning of these words is concerned; but I doubt vel'y mnch

whl'thl'r this i11 the trur signilicanr.r. intenilr.ll by th~ llllfhor, for whnt Scun:F.Nio'R tr:tns•

371

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBE'l'ANS. 19

When an omen causing fear is observed, a strewing oblation

must be offered to the crow. As the flesh of a frog pleases the

crow, no accidents will occur when frog-flesh is offered. 1)

01h mi-ri mi-ri vajra tudate gilam griltf}a gi 1vaha!

Eud of the description of such-like behavior of the crow.

'J.1rauslated by the Mabapa~Q.ita DanB9ila in the monastery 'rcan-po-cce of Y ar-klulis in the province of dB us.

The translator Dana~lla has been dated by HuTH in the uinth

century, on the ground that he is made a contemporary of King

Kcri-lt.le sron-btsan of Tibet in the work sGra sbyor in Tanjur,

Stitra, Vol. 124. This fact is correct, as may be vouchsafed from a

copy made by me of this work. Oana9Ila figures there, together

with such well-known names as Jinamitra, Surendrabodhi, Qrilendra­

bodhi, Bodhimitra, the Tibetan Ratnarakshita, Dha.rmatac;lla, Jiiana­

sena, Jayarakshita, Manjuc;rivarma and Ratnendra~lla. Dana91la

is well known as translator of many works in the Kanjur 2) apd

Tanjur. From t.he colophon of a ·work in the latter collection it

appears that he hailed from V arendrajigatala, that is, Jigata.la

latea ia euctly the aame aa what ia said above in regard to the tone /ta-ka. Further, the

tone gha-qa standa in oppoMition to the 1)receding tone gla•-glta; il thus becomes clear tbnt

li.Or stands for t40r-ba, "to err, to fail," and ia uprellive of the contrary of don l,lgrrt.6·pa,

"to reach one's aim, to obtain one's end, to attain to happiness." Thia case reminds one of

the grammatical aa well ae other subtleties of the ·Indian mind. - Also the ancients seem

to have cliatinguiahed between various kinda of raven's criea, jndging from PLINY's words

that they imply the worst omen when the birds awallow their voice, as if they were being

choked (peaaima eornm eignilleatio, cum gluttiunt vocem velut strangulati. Nat. Hist., X, 12• ·~ 32; ed. M.UHOPP, Vol. II, p. 229). The crow, according to PLINY (ibid., § 30), is a

bird inau•picatae garrulitatis, a quibusdam tameD laudata.

1) In the belief of the Tibetans, the cr~w is food of frogs; compare the jolly story

"The l<'rog and the Crow" in W. 1•'. ·O'CoNNOR, Folk Ttdes fl'oa 'Fillet, p. 4.8 (Lon-don, 1906). ·

2l lt'~~:t:a, A.,maled tlu Musce Guimet, Vol. II, I'· 406.

372

H B 11 T 11 0 L D J, A U F E R.

(Jagaddala) in Varendra, in eastern India. 1) Then we meet him in

KD.~mtra, where TaranAtha ~) knows him together with Jioamitra

and Sarvajiiade'a, in accordance with dPag bsam ljon bzan (ed,

CHANDRA DAs, p. 115); while rGyal raba has tbe triad Jinamitra,

Qrilendrabodhi, and ,Dana~ila. 3) It may therefore be gran ted that

the Kakajariti 4} was translated and known in Tibet in the first

part of the ninth century. The original Sanskrit manuscript from

which the Tibetan translation was made in all probability was

defective, for three gaps in it could unmistakably be pointed out.

What is the position of K. in the history of Indian div_ina­

tion? H. JACOBI (in HAsTINGs, Encyclopaedia of Reli,qion, Vol. lV,

p. 799) has formulated the result of his study of this subject in

these words: ulo India, divination has gone through two phases of

development. Originally it seems to have been practised chiefly

with the intention of obviating the evil consequences of omens and

pOl'tents; in the later period, rather to ascertain the exact nature

of the good or evil which those signs were supposed to indicate."

In the Vedic Sarhbitas, birds are invoked to be auspicious, and

certain birds, especially pigeons or owls, are said to b~;messengers

1) P. Coaou.;n, Cat. du (und1 tibetai11 de la Bihl. Nat. 1~. (l(>- 63, 122, 188 (Paris,

1909), and VlDYADHUS..tJ:>;A (the name of this author appears in his publications in four

difterent wnya of apelling, 0 bhusan, 0 bhuaana, 0 bbu~ana,

0 bhu~a\l&: which is the. bibliog­

ralJher aupeosed_ to choose?) ,Bauddht~-Sto/ra-SatiuyaAt~/1-, PI'· XVIll, XIX (Calcutta,

1908). Mr. V. atatea that it is said at the end of the l!.'l&t~ja/iliidllua that the worsbi11

uf Tiirii originated" from China, but that it is not clear whether this refers to Ekaja~i Tllrii

alone or to Tari of aU classes. I fear that neither the one nor the other ia the caac.

'fhe Tibetan tell plainly says, •Tbe work 1ilrilladhana which baa come from China (scil.

in a Chinese trnoalation) ia in a l~erfect cunditioa." ·rbia implies that the Tibetaa translator

availed llimsclf of a Chinese version. The worahip of Tiiri most assuredly originated in

l ullin, not in China.

2) ScuiUH&Il'a translation, I'· 2~1\.

:1) ScHL40INTWEJT, 1\.onige You Tibet, l'· 8~9; also ltocKUII.L,. The Life of tAll

Butldltt~, I'· 2U. 4) Heueef!lrth abbreviated K.

373

BIRD DIVI~ATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 21

of death (Nirrti, Yama). 1) But all these are no more than scant

1) Tho beat investigation of the history of bird omena in India ia found in the mono­

graph of E. HuL~SCH (Prolego111.8xa zu de1 Ya1aataraja 9a.hna neblt- Teztpro!Jd, Leipzig,.

1879). The beginning• of bird augury in India may be traced back to the Vedic period.

In the ~igveda occur the so-called fakuna, charms against pigeons, owla,. and other black

birds whose appearance or contact forebodes evil, or defiles (M. BLOOJU!'IKLD, TAe J.lltarDa·

peda, p. 85, Strauburg,. 1899). According to llA.cooNJ:LL and KKITll ( Vedie lndez of

Narne1 and Subject1, Vol. II, p. 347, London, 1912) there are the two words, cllkuna,

usually denoting a large bird, or a bird which gives omena, and yalcuni, used· practically

like the former, but with a much dearer reference to divination, giving signa and fore­

telliRg ill-luck; later the falcon is so calle~, but the raven may be intended; the commen­

tator on the Taittiriya &f!1Aitii thinks that ·it is the crow. Oracles obtained from an

ob&ervation of cro\n aeom to be contained particalarly in the Kauvika Sfura. When tho

rite serving the purpose of securing a husband baa been performed on behalf of a girl, the

suitor 'is cupllO&ed to appear from the direction from which the crows come (H. OLoJ:~­uuo, Die Religwn de1 Yeda, p. oll, Berlin, 1894). Coot•ct with a crow was regarded

as unlucky and defiling. He who waa touched by a crow WBa thrice turned around.birua;elf,

from the left to the right. by the aorcerer holdin~ a burning torch (V. ·HENRY, /A ma!Jic

dan1 l'lndtJ tJHtiqu, p. 176, 2d ed., Paris, 1909; E. THUBSTON, EtAnograpllic Note, ira

Southern lndia, p. 277, Madras, 1906). A. HlLLIORANDT (Ritual-Litterat•r. J' edilcl11:

(}pf6r u•d Zauber, p. lEa, StrUBburg, 1897) ~evea he finds the explanation for this idea

oC bird omena in a pa111age of Haudhiyana, accordi.ng to which the birds are the likeneues

of the manea; but it seems rather doubtful whe~her the latter notion could receive such a

generalized interpretation, and whether it ia sufficient to account Cor the augural practice

in its entire riDge. The latter would naturally presuppose the idea of the bird being ani­

mated with a 10ul and being gifted with 111pernatural powers or inatigated by eome divine

force; but Hillebrandfs opinion leave& the reason unexplained wby the bird, even though

it ahould repre~eat a mane in every cue, poase88el the ability of ·divination. True it ia, a~t

abuwa by W. C.u.AND (Di4 alliruiilcnen Totl/en- und Rt:lfaltuglgebrii~~elu, 11. 78, .\mster­

Ja•, 18i6), that eapecially the crowa were conceived or ae embodyiag the 10ula of the

de(,.rtrd, u meaaeng~n of Yama, who, after the funerrny repast (yrilddlua), draw near, greedy

lur food \Compare the Ravea Spirit in the Lamaist mystery playa who atlempta to filch

the abewiag oblalioa, and who ia chued away by two atick-brandishing A.tsara, the akeleton

ghoal.ll); b~a& plainly, io thia cue, no proceaa of diviaation ia in question. CALA.ND, on this

occuioa, q~aotea Duuol& oo tbe modern practice that the chief of tbe funeral offers boiled

rice aod pea~e to the crows, - if they ahould refuae to eat, it is taken u an evil presage

of the future alate of the deceaaed; but this evidently ia quite a different affair froan that

described in his above reference to Baudlaiyana. Some authots allow the whole t•ractice of

aug•uiu to go back into the prehiatoric epoch of tho Jndo-Eorope/n peoples (ll. HIBT,

Die 17fdoger•a11411, Vol. II, p ~18, S&raaaburg, 1907; and S. i''EIST, Kultar, etc., der

l»dog~,.,.lln611, p. 326, Herlin, 1913), the latter even going so far as to speculate that

the idea of a /soul flying along in the shape of a bird was not foreign to the urDolk,

aioce this a11gural divination ia baaed on tho transformation of the souls into birds. I

am very skeptical regarding s11ch concluaions and constructions, aod !Qust confess lhftt

374

22 BERTHOLD J.A UFER.

allusions; neither in the Vedic nor in the early Brahmanic epoch

do we find anything like an elaborate augural system, as in K.,

in which future events are predicted, - Jacobi's second stage.

The same author tells us that the whole art of divination became

independent of religion when Greek astronomy and. astrology

were introduced into India in the early centuries of our era; the

Indian astrologer then took up divination, hitherto practised _by

the Atharva priest. It is of especial interest for our present case

that in the Briltat &1ithita by Varahamihira (505-58~ wri-tten

about the middle of the sixth century, in which a summary of the

Indian arts of divination is given, the auspicious or unlucky move­

ments of crows are mentioned. 1) A work of the type of K., &<.-

1 even belong to tboae hereti('s who are still far from being convinced of the ni11tence

of such a thing aa tbe i•doger11tani1che .,;zeit, - at least in that purely mechatical and

subjective formula in wbicb it is generalJy conr.eived. The work of FEIST, however, is a

laudable exception, 1)erhapa the first sensible book writteu on this subject, and I read it

from beginning to end with real pleasure. - In regard to the crow or raven, we lind

also otber ideu connected with them than those of a soul-bird, in. India as well as among

other Indo-European Jleoplea. In a legend connec~ed "ith Hama, an Asura disguiaed as a

crow appears t,o peck at l:Jitii's breast (E. Tnuast'ON, l. c, p. 276, and Omen~ and Super­

stition' of Southern India, p. 87, London, 11112). Among thll aouthern Slavs, the crews arc

believed to be transformed witches (lt', S. K,uuss, Slavilche 1'ollcl{or&chu.ngen, pp. 57, 60,

J.eipzig, 1908); and iu mediaeval legends, the devil occaaionally assumes the shape of a

raven. Jn Gretk legend Apo~o reJ>t.>atedly appears in the disguise of.. a raven (0. KULKII,

JJie antilce Tierwell, Vol. II, p. 103). 'l'hese various liiamples demonstrate that the raven

as a divine bird cannot be solely explained as the embodiment of an ance~tral aoul. lL

seems to me that H. OLDEN BERG (Die Religio• lUI Yeda, 1111. 76, 510) is right in aaaum­

ing that the animals sent by the gods were those of a weird, demoniaca! nature, and

were, for this reason, themselves deitied, while at a later time they became mere stewards

to divine mandators. "The bird crying in the quar~er of the fathers'' (the south), Jntnlioncd

in the l;{igveda, according to 0Lot:NUERG, should be understood aa one br.ing de'f)atched by

the fatherl). '!'he document Pelliot lends substantial force to this argument. It is there

cxpreased · in plai~ and unmistakable, words that the raven is a divine aird of celestial

·origin and aupernaturr.l qualiti68, and the messenger who announces the will of a deity,

the Venerable One ofthe Gods (Lha btsu1•); compare the Prefa.ce to the Table, translated below.

l) Ch. XJ.V is takeo up by tht. auguries obtained from the wagtails (s~e H. KERN's

tranalation in hit: Yer~preidts gescArifle•, Vol. I, p. 299, 's-Gravenhage, 11113; on crows,

ibid., pp. 130, 178). Regardin~ Varahamihira's date of birth MuUI!Jt iu J . .d S. B., 1912,

jiJl· 275-8.

375

BIRD DIVINATION ~MQNG THE TIBETAN::i. 23

conliugly, mU8t have been known at that time; but was it much

earlier? I am under the impression that K. is hardly earl,er than

the sixth or seventh century, perhaps contemporaneous with the

Qakuna of Vasantaraja, which, according to HuLTZscu (p. 2·7 h is

posterior to Varahamibira; the striking Jack of thought and imagi­

uation, and the somewhat flat treatment of the subject, plainly

litamp K. as a late production. The absence of any mythological

detail is a decided drawback; the religious function of the crow is

not even set forth, and we remain entirely in the dark as to the

religious concept of the bird in the ludia of that period. ScHI~J:'N~u

designated the little work a Buddhist retouch ( Uberarbeitung) of a

Brahmanic text. It seems to me to be neither the one nor tue

other. It cannot bA yoked to any drfinite religious system; it takes

root in the domain of folk-lore, and closely affiliates with those waui­

told branches of divination which, independent of any particular

form of religion, are widely diffused from the shores of the Medi­

terranean to almost tue wbole of continental Asia and the Malayan

world. 'l The tone and tenor of this text are not Buddhistic, nor

l) 'f. S. R4l'FLES (The lli8tory of Java, Vol. 11, p. 70, London, 1830) tells, in

regard to the ancient Javanese, that when the croll was gathered and the at:customcd

devotions performed, the chief appointed the mode and time of the departure of the honlc

from one place to another. On these occasions, the borde, after offering their ancritices and

fcaijtiog in an open plain, left the remains of their repast to attract the bird ulllniJ!Jtf!Jit

(~opposed to have been a crow or raven); and the young men shook the ri711ciJA•'!I ~a rude

in!U:mnent of music still in use), and set up a shout in imitation of its cry. Jf the bini

did not cat of the meal offered to it, or if it afterwards remained hovering in the air,

perched quietly on a tree, or in its flight took a course opl_losite to that which the borde

wished to pursue, their departure was deferred, and their }lrllyers and sacrifices renewed.

Hut when the bird, haviug eaten of its meal, tlew in the tlirt!ctioo. of their iiltendr.d jour­

_ney, the ceremony :"·1\s concluded by slaying and burning a lamb, a kid, or the young uf

llome other animal, as an otferiog of gratitude to the deity. 1t.HYLJ·:S adds thnt the Uay11k

or Horneo still hold pilrticular kinds of birds in high veneration, ami draw omens from

their flight and· the sounds which they utter. Before entering on a journey or enguging iu

War, head-hunting, or any matter of importance, lhey procure omens from a species of

white-headed kite, and invite its 8(lproa«:h hy :~creaming songs, <Loti scattcriug rice before it.

376

24 B E R T H 0 f, D L A U F t~ R.

is there a particle of Buddhist color admixed with it. Nor is there

in it much that could be styled' specifically Indian, with the excep­

tion, of course, of the outward garb in which it is clothed; but

most of the oracles could as well have been conceived in Greece

or Rome. 1)

We may justly assume tbat K. was not the only work of its

class, and that other Sanskrit books of an allied character may

lC the&e birds take their tlight in the direction they wish to go, it is rtgarded aa a favor­

able omen; bul if they take another direction, they consider it aa unfu.vorable, and delay

the busiaeu until the omena are more auitable to their wi~hea. See now HosE and

McUouoALL, Tile Pagan Trihe1 of Bof"i&eo, Vol. I, pp.l68-l70, Vol. ll, p. 74 {Lond<m,

liH2). Omens are taken either froni the dight or the cries of certaia birds, iuch aa the

night-owl, \he crow, etc. (W. W. s&uT, Ma14y .\Jayic, p. 636, London, lUOO). a wong

the tribes of the Philippines, bird omena play an nteDBiYe role My colleague F. C. Cot&,

who has studied to a great extent their religion• notioua, kindly imparts the following

information on the subject: ;With the Batak, a pigmy people living in northern Palawao,

the small 1un bird known as .'tlfJ'IDfl!flagway is considered the messenger of Diwata [evi~ently __;

Skr. dnala] Menduau, the greatest or the nature spirits. Should this bird sing while they

are on the trail, the Batak will return home, for evil is sure to follow if they continue

their journey that day. Should the bird enter a dwelling ond sing, the place ia deserted.

When a man desires to make a clraring in the jungle, he first .add•·esses the sun bird,

asking it to sing and give him the ai~n if it is a bad place to plant, but to be sile~&t if

it ia a good plot for him to culrivate. Similar beliefs are entertained by the 1'agbanua

tribe which inbabita the greater part of Palawan." Further information will be found in

the publication of F. C. CoLI, 1'/u Wild Tri6e1 ol Da11ao lJittricl, /tlindanao, pp. 63,

108, U3, l1J (Field Jlru•m 4•t4r. Ser., Vol. XII, 19!3).

1) The Greeks diatingniabed five kinds of divination (oiAJ11iiTTtJC~) headed by auguration

(To 6p11IOII"ICO'If'IJC611); Telegonos waa the lir1t to write on this subject (H. Dr•r.s, B.flriige

•r Zwehregflj/lratur d.• OJftden/1 t111d Orient1 I, .J!J4andl. prerm. A/tad, 1908, p. 4).

'fbe lJpical Homeric method of foretelling the future ""II by the actions and cries of

omea-birda. In Homer, the omen-bird ia generally an eagle, and is alwaya sent by Zeus,

Apollo, or Atbene. Its actions are •ymbolical, and need no complicated augury for t~eir

interpretation (H.UTINOS, .Etieyclop44di• of Religion, Vol. IV, p. 787). In .Aristopbanes'

Birda, J:uelpides inqu,rea ·.what road ia advised by ·a crow purchased at tb ree oboiL Ac­

cording to Virgil and H.oraee; a crow coming from the left-band aide is of ill omen. In

Worb ind Oaya by ~esiod it is aaid, •Do not let a huuae incomplete •. otherwise a gar­

rnloua crow will perch on it and -caw." Even Epiktet believed in Lhe correcrness of the evil

propbecie~ of a rueo (0. Kuua, Die 11•tike Tilmt1eU, Vol. II, p Y7). Compare L. Horr,

Tierora!el1111d OraleUier6 i11 alter ud ru:ur Zei~ (Stultgaft, 1888); and W. It. HALLIDAY•

Greel: Dip~tjp», ~ {JIIIIi!j of it1 Metlwd1 afld Pritaeiplu (London, 1913).

377

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 25

tlu~u have existed in Tibet; 1) for, with all the coincidences prevailing

between K. and the document Pelliot, there are, on the other hand,

far-reaching deviations extant in the latt~r which cannot be ex-.

plained from K. First of all, however, the interdependence of the

two texts should be insisted upon. The main subject of the two is

identical; it is the method of obtaining omens from crows which

is treated in b.Jth on the same principle. This principle is based

on a combination of two elements, - orientation of the augur

and time-reckoning according to tbe hours of the day; divination

is determined by s_pace and Lime. In regard to the division of space,

the coiuci4ence in the two documents is perfect; the nine 2) points

of tbe compass forming the framework in both are one and the

same. Time calculation ia likewise tbe same 10 principle, except

that K. follows the Indian, the Table the Tibetan method, - a

point discussed farther on. The ideas expressed by the oracles show

far-reaching agreements in both, and move within the narrow boun­

daries of a restricted area; no great imagination ia displayed iu

them, they are rather commonplace and philistine, even puerile.

but this 1s all tbat could be expected from this class of prophecy

intended for the profanum volgua. Another feature which K. anu

the document of Pelliot bave in common is the method of divining

from the naturE:~ of the cries of the crow, independent of space and

1) .w ritinga of similar contents are still extant in modern 'fibetan literature. BJUAlf

H. lfooosoN ( Tne Pllo~niz, Vol. I, 187t\ J). 94), in a notice on the Likrcll4re of 1'i/N;J, mentions a book "Ditakb, by Chopallab (C'oa dpal ?) J,ama, at Uraaikh; 10 interpre' tho

ominous croaking of crows, 11.nd other inaiiapicioua birds."

2) The number nine . playa a great r8le in systems of di,ination. In southern India,

(be belief preveile that ill luck will fotl~w should an owl· sit on the boust--top, or perch 00 the bn11gh of a tree near the bouse. One screerh forebodes death; two screechea, aucee&l

in any approaching undertaking; three, the addition by marriage of a girl to the family;

four, a diaturbance; five, that the hearer will travel. Six screeches for~tell the coming of

gueala; seven, mental distress; eight, sudden de alb; and nine signify favorable resulta

(K TffuasToN, Ethnographic N;tes i1& South~;r11 l•di4, ~· 28l, Mndras, liJ06; and Omen1 41tc/ Su., ('I"

rers l 'Otts of Soutllttrn b1dia, I'· 6G, London, 1\112).

378

26. ij E R T II 0 L D L A U I<' E R.

time. The last six verses (24-29) of the prefatory note corrm~poud

in meaning to the conclusion of K.: "\V hen a crow sounds the

tone lea-lea," etc. It is a notable coincidence that in both texts five

notes of the bird are enumerated in words imitative of its sounds,

in K. conceived from an Indian poiut of view, in document Peltiot

nationalized in a Tibetan garb. 1) 'rhe character and quality of

these tones, as well as the distinction between good and bad omens,

necessarily lead to ~ effort toward reconciling the evil spirit which

speaks through the organ of the bird. Offerings may counterbalance

the mischievous effects of uulucky oweus, - a.gain a point on

which the two texts /are in harmony.

The differentiation of the two, in the first place, is due to a

technical fe'ature. The text of K. Is a literary production and au

analytic account. What is offered in the document Pelliot is an ab­

stract of this divinatory wisdom worked up into convenient tabular

form, manifestly with a view to handy and practical use. Any one

who had encountered the necessary experience by observing a crow

in a certain direction at a certain time of the day' was enabled to

1) The number live is evidently suggested by the live elements, &ij shown by the live

cries or the pillljala, a kind of owl, distinguished according to the/ftve elements in the

f;al.·~t~~~t. of Va~antaraja (HuLT.t.scu, Prokgorntma, p. 70). The beliefs-'in the.-omrn~; of the

owl in modern India are well set forth by E. TuuasTos (Omens ur1d SII)Jt:r&litio"' uf

So1ttheru l11.dia, l'P· 65-67). The enmity between crow and owl in Indian folk-lore deecrvcs

~ word' of comment in this connection. JiisCUKE (JJictumar!J, P· :n4) rder~ to S~tiHIT~ta· pralJkuiJJIUtl'a aa describing the crow as au inveterate enemy of the owl. J n the Praj'ikida~t{lu

ascribed to Niigarjuna (ed. CnANDHA U.t.s, l'· !1, Darjeeling, lS96) occurs the saying:

"'l'hose formerly vanquished by an enemy do not wish auy; longer for friendship. Look

how the crows set fire to the cave filled with o"·Jian,d burn them to death." In the same

boolc (p. 8), the crows are cre1lited with the killing of snakes. Com11are also SuMiilhit•·

ratnanidki 186 (ed. Cl!OllA). 'l'he animosity of the crow 'toward the owl seems to be based

on the observation of a natural fact. C. H. CoRY ( Tlte Bird' of Jllinoil and WilcuJUitt,

1'· 548) has the following to say: "'l'hey lieetn lo entertain an intense dislike to certain

animals, especially an owl. Often the peaceful ttuiet of the wooda~ is suddenly broken by

the harsh excited 'cawing' of a. Jloek of crow11, who have dit;coverc1l a bird of that specie~

quietly enjoying hi:; diurnal siesta, an1l the 1lin r1arely ceases until the hat1~1l birll ha11 bc~t'll

•lrivcn from hi:> eoncealmcnt and forcetl· tu seek other quarters."

379

nnW DIVINATION .UIONG THE TIHETAN!-0. 27

reatl from this Table at a moment's notice what consequence this

event would entail on his person. The subject-matter, therefore,

was arranged here somewhat differently; the offerings placed at

the very end of K. make here the very opening, and justly so,

because, in accordance with the practical purpose of the 1.1able, it

was essential for the layman, or rather the priest acting on his

behalf, to ascertain the kind of reconciliatory offering in case of

threatening ill luck.

The greater fulness of the Table constitutes one of the prin­

cipal divergences from K. In the latter, only five divisions of day­

time are presented, while the Table offers double this number. This

is infallible proof for the fact that the divination process revealed

by the document Pelliot has been 'fibetanized ; it is by no means

a translation from Sanskrit, but an adaptation based on some San­

~Jkrit work or works of the type of K., and freely assimilated to

'ribetau thought. The Indian division of the day is abandoned; and

H1e designations of the Tibetan colloquial language, as they are

13till partially in use, 1) have been introduced into the Table. It is

self-evident that these teo periods are not equivalents of the"three­

hour Indian yuma, but correspond to a doubte hour as found in

China. In logical sequence these determinations run from about one

o'clock at night to about nine o'clock in the evening. The plain

Tibetan names for the points of the compast3 are all retained, wLilc

the fancy Indian names appearing i~1 K. are all dropped. Au at­

tempt at adaptation to Tibetan taste has been made in the oracles. Tl k" · le tlhng of a yak and heavy snowfalls, for instance, are aftail'S

peculiar to Tibet. It is manifest also that the prognostics giveu iu

------l) !:)ee ,G. SANIJI.IMW, lla~t~l·6uuk of ()ulfoquial Ti61./ta1l I'· (G2 (Calcutta U:!\14) awl< c ) ) J /

' A." lll!iLL, Alanuul of Culluqnial 'J'i6etan, p. 110 (Calcutta, Hl05), where other terms a~sn ilrc uwhuled ,- also A ll

. kon~. 1899). ~ . •:snol\1:-is, /~'s.l{(i dt• .ttralllmflirt tltiMt{/iJtt:, 1'1'· \10-91 (llonf-(-

380

28 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

the 'fable, in a number of cases, are more definit~ and specific

than those of K., which are rather monotonous and wearisome by

frequent repetition of the same statement. Such repetitions, it is

true, occur ·also in the Table (H, 2 == IX, 3; II, 4 = IV, 7 = VII,

4; V, 6 = IX, 1 ; VIII, 6 = X, 3), and there is certainly no waste

of inventive powl:\r or exertion of ingenuity in this whole system.

Apparently it appealed to the people of Tibet, where kindred ideas

may have been in vogue in times prior to the infusion of Indian

culture, 1) and it is to this popularity that we owe the composition

1) .ll'or the inhabitant• of the Weatern and Eastern Women Kingdom, the latter a

branch of the K'iang, perhaps akin to the 'fibetans, were in posseaaion of a system 1

of bird

di•ination, aU.o pu .m, ~ (St'i 1h11, Ch. 83, and T'llng '""· Ch. 122; the lwo pa111gea

are translated by RocKHILL, Tlte Land of tile LamtU, pp. 839, 341, the former alao by BusHELL, 1/le &t.rl1 Hutory of 1"ibet, p. 97, J. B . .d. S., 1880), which was based on

the examination of a l'heaunt'a crop, - a procaa of divination cerlainly difering from

what ia described in o11r Ti~tan texta. Nevertheleaa we may infer that tke ahamans of

thoae· peoplea, especially a• the 1'tl11g lAM states that to divine they go !n tbe Ieath moath

into the mountaias ~altering ·grain about and calling a flock of birda, paid a great deal of

attention to birds. (Whether the inhabit~nts of the two Women KingdoiU apoke a Tibetan

language aeema doubtful. The 1'attg .1A• hu preserved to ua three worda of the language

of the Eastern one: pin· I liM W g;t "aotereign" :f: , k•o·pa·Ji 1/lj G ¥ •minia-

ter" * llJ, aad ,,.,; '* ¥.¥ •aboe" Jll. None of tbeae is traceable to a Tibetan word kno;Wn to us. The vocabulary ia ao widely dill'erent in the present Tibetan dialects

that thia may have been the caae even in ancient times; at any rate, these t~r~e example•

are not auf6ciea' evidence for pronouncing a verdict. The word '*·!li (not contained in

GlLI8 and P.t.LLADIUS) ia explaiaed by the &i ,.;"9 aa quoted in K'ang-hi•a Dir.tionary

AJJ Jfl pJT 4!i -& "a word employed among the Hu".1• The Tang 1hu (Ch. 216 ,;,-

1'· 6 a) relates that the great aorcerera po eh'l pu - 1fjM ;m, (enctly correspondi_ng to

Tib. ·(Jha c'•·po, "great sorcerer"), taking their place oa the right-hand side of the Tibelun

king, wore, during their prayer ceremol!ies, head-dresaea in the ahape of birds and girdlea

of tiger-akin ( ~ jJl, .M, ji J}t 1,j; ), while beating drums. 'l'hey r.eJtainly w_erc

abamaoa, as indicated by the very Cbineae word ""' and the style of their costume, aad it

ia difficult to aee what made BusHILL (TA• &rly Hutorg ofTi/Jet, p. 101, note 81) think

that the po clll pu would appear to have been a Buddhist. - Among the adhereala of

the Bon religioil, tnnsfiguration of ~~ainta into bird•, and obaenation of and di•inalion

from birds' •oicea, are Jlrominent (aee rG!Jill rtlbl 6on·gyi ~IJrun g•as, pp. 12, 13; regard·

ing tbia work t~ompare T'ow11_g Pao, 1901, fJ. 2-1); there the verse occurs, "Omena are

derived from birds. trees, the fuur elements, hills anti rocks: fro:n these the voices of the

"Bun doctrine have arisen:•

381

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 29

of this divination table in the colloquial language. This point marks·

the fundamental importance of the document Pelliot, which thus

becomes the earliest document of the Tibetan vernacular that we

bave at present. And it is no small surprise to notice that the

style of this text is thoroughly identical with that of the living

language of the present day. Any one familiar with it will testify

to the fact that he can perfectly understand this Table through

the medium of his knowledge of colloquial Tibetan. 1he safest cri­

terion for the correctness of this diagnosis is furnished by M. BAcoT

himself, who had doubtless mastered Tibetan conversation during

his journeyings in the country, and, I venture to assume, was con­

Riderably aided by this knowledge in grasping correctly the mean­

ing of the oracles in the 'fable. But let us not w·holly rely on~

such impressionistic opinions, when the text of K., written in the

Tibetau wen li, the style of the early Buddhist translators, offers

Huch a tempting opportunity for comparing analogous sentences of

the two texts. In T. (Table) all oracloo are concluded with the

pla:io verb ston; · in K. rtags-so or the periphrastic future tense

with (tgyur-ro are used, which do not occur in '1'. In K. we read

mes (ttlig-par {tgyur-ro, "a conflagration will break out;" the same

iA plainly expressed in 'J'. by the WOrdS mye nan zig on-bar ston,

I D K. rati-gi ne-bo on-bar q,gyur-ro; the same in T. gnen zig on·

z,ar ston. ~ K. rlui1 ccen-po q,bytcn-bar q,gy"r-ro; the same in T.

rlwi. lda1i-bar aton, etc. '1'. ha."' the plain and popular words through­

out' as t'ab-mo for (tlccrug-pa, bza bca ("food and drink") for bza

dmi skom-pa in K., and, as shown, in the names of the quarters

and divisions of tfie day. Note that the tes-mination o denoting the

stop, aud restricted to the written language (discussed farther on), is

absent in document Pelliot; there is always ston, not ston-no, and

at the end of the preface aton yin.

382

HER T H 0 IJ f) LA lf J.' t: R.

As to the time of the authorship of document Petliot, there can

be no doubt. that in the same manner as K. it is a production of

the ninth century. This is, first of all, proved by the date of K.,

which at the time of its introduction and translation was a live

source impressing the minds of the people, and henc~ gave the

impetus to further developments of the subject in a manner tangible

~nd palatable to the nation. Only at a time when the impression

of these things was deep, and the practice of such beliefs was still

fresh and vigorous, was the cast of these notions in the direct and

plastic language of the people possible. Secondly, the antiquity of

our document is evidenced by palaeographic and phonetic traits

(discussed hereafter) occurring in other writings of equal age; it

ranges in that period of language which is styled by the scho}arR

of Tibet ''oJd language" (brda r/1ih). Thirdly, there is the circum­

stantial evidence, the discovery of the document in the 1cave of \

Tun-huang by M. Pelliot (see p. 2).

Let us note en passant that the Indian system of crow augury

has been transmitted also to China. H. DoRio: in his excellent book

''Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine'' (pt. 1, Vol. II, p. 257,

Shanghai, 1912), has reve~ed a Chinese text on bird divination

which plainly betrays its connection with K. It is based in the

same manner on the division of the day into five parts and on

the local orientation of the cardinal points, eight of which artl

given ·by DoR:E. The presages are identical in tone with those of

K. and document Petliot; we meet predictions of wind and rain,

disputes, threatening of a disaster, rece'ption of a visit, death of a

•lomestic animal, recovery of a lost object, malady, happy events,

growth of fortune, gifts, arrival of a friend or a strangar, etc.,

without reference to any specific Chinese traits. 1)

l) In rl'ganl to beliefs in r.row aud raven in China, the reader may be rr.lerrctl to

DE GnOil'l', '!lit: lldiyiou~ Sltllcm of Clii.mt, Vol. V, 1'1'· 6:JS-640: .T. F. OAVIS, r:hillll,

383

JHRD DIVTN ATION .\ MONG TJH: TIRJ<~TAN~. 31

The Preface to the Table.

As M. BAcoT's rendering of the preface accompanying the Table

in· need of a revision, 1 take the liberty to offer a. new trans­is )ation of it, 1) discussing in the notes the chief points in which my

opinion deviates from that of M. BAcoT. A Lama, bsTan-pa du­

ldan by name, has been consulted by this gentleman, and has jotted

down for him a number of notes, explaining certain phrases in the

colloquial language. These notes are reproduced on, pp. 44 7-448

of the essay of M. BACOT, but apparently have not been utilized.

Most of the Lama's comments are correct, a few are wrong, and

some, though wrong, are yet interesting. Anything of interest in

bis explanations is embodied in the notes which follow. It may not

he amiss to give here a transliteration of the text, in order to

enable the reader to compare my translation with it immediately.

I u M. BAcoT's edition, the text (in Tibetan characters) appears as

J11rose; hut it is very essential to recognize its metrical composition.

The metre is rigorously adhered to in the twenty-nine verses, and

JR - ...... ...... .!. v .!... v , a dactyl followed by two trochees (the signs

- and ...... denote merely accentuated and unaccentuated, not long

Vol. II, Jl· 98 (London, 1867); J. DOOLI'JTI.~ Social Life of tke Cltine&e, p. 571 (Loa·

•Inn, I B68). The subject is still in need of special investigation. Crows and ra\•ens are cer­

tainly very far from being exclusively birds of ill omen or prod~ctive of evil, as DE GuoOT

i~ indined to think; on the contrary, the raven was even the emblem af filial piety,_!llkl

the appearance of one of red color was a lucky ~ugury, foreboding the success of the Chon

•lynasty (Cuu.a.NNFS, l.es memoires hi.Jtoriq.u de &-rntJ Tl'ien, Vol. I, P· 226). Other

llll~ur birds, as the mainah (LBOGF., The Chinese Clauicl, Vol. v, pt. n. P· 709; w 4TTF.Ks,.

&~n.'l' 011 i!ttJ Chine&e Langu&ge, p. 444; and foaKE, Lun·Mng, pt. II, p. 3) and the

mngpie, who knows the future (FoRKE, l. c., pt. I, p. 358; pt. II, p. 126), must be equally

taken into consideratioo.

I) In n hiiJJiograt'hical notice of M. B.a.cOT's study (ile11ue de l'Aiatoirt ties religiotl,,, 1 u 1 a, ,, .. 122) •. t · k d u · L b 1 • ·t ·t t••t t· · 1 · · .1

1s remnr e , " n cuncux prcam u e mcr1 r.ra1 • t:.rc .1rc nu c rur; mn1s 1

nr semblt• pins r.omJiris aujotml'hni.''

384

32 B E R T H 0 L D LA U I<' E R.

and short syllables). ') A. H. FR&NCKE 2) observes that in Ladakhi

poetry the dactyl is rather frequent, arising from a dissyllabic com­

pound with a suffix. This certainly holds good of all Tibetan dia­

lects and also of the written language. lu this composition, all the

dactyls are formed by the particle ni coupled with a trochaic ele­

ment. It is curious that all verses are constructed. in the same

wanner, having this ni in the third syllable (compare note to

V. 1 9). At the same time, there is obviously a cesura after ni. a)

Text of the Preface.

(The accents denote the metre.)

1 p'6-rog ni myi-i mg6n

2 dra·n-sron ni lha-i bka

3 b,'IJan q,brog ni q,br6n sa-i rkyen

4 y1'd-gi ni dbus mtit du

5 lha btsun ni bda ( + a) 4) skad skyel

6 pcy6,qs brgyad ni ltln da1i Jg,;

7 ,an ton ni t'abs gsum gs1i:1is

8 gt6r-ma ni bya-la gt6r

l) On Tibetan metric& compare H. 8Kcim, Beitriige zur tiJJetisclten Qrammutik,

Le~i.fographie MJ&d Metrik (Anltang zu den A!Jkandt. der · preus1uche1L .dkademie, 1 !108,

JlJl· 53-63). The author juatly empbaaizes that in the study o-r Tibeian works tlle---'111atre ia

to be investigated in the first line, and that it ahould be. kept ~·n mind in all text-critical

and ~erammatical q11eationa; but he overlooks the fact that ·ill is principle hau been fully

brought into effect by the present writer in Ein Suhngedicht ~r Bonpu (Den/&ichrijten

Wu:•er .4iadt:flli6, 1 900), where textual erititiam ia fundamentally based on metrical coo·

sideration• and statistical tables of the various metres.

2) Skelck of Ladaltlai. Grammar, p. 7 (Calcutta, HWl).

3) My reading of the text ia baaed only on the edition of M. BACOT, the general

accuracy oi which there ia no reason to doubt. Not h•vmg had. the privilege of checking

it with the original, I do not hold myself responsible for evrntual errors which may bavr

crept in there. In V. 20, gsan, printed in M. BACOT's text, is apparently n misprint for

g1a11; u,;,; (V. 24), for lteli (as in V. 6).

4) 'l'his graphic )leCJliiarity is explained Lelow, under the heading "Pnlacographtc Traits."

385

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS.

9 tsc6-t8co ni y6ris-su gyis

10 llui-i ni pcydg-du, qb1ll

11 grdgs dgu_-r ni ltds myi blta ( + a) •)

12 bzdn nan ni ltas-su gsltJi.

13 dran-sron ni lha qdsin ld

14 lha ston ni gnen-~ai by a ( + a) 1)

15 m1t sman ni ghen-gis gs1iris

16 droit zift ni brtlin-por St(<1i

17 p'6-rog ni dgun-gi by{i

18 (tdab drug ni gMg drug pri ( + a) 1)

19 /lui yul 11i mt'6-du p'y{n

20 dmyig rno ni sitan gsan bas

21 lhd-i ni man-nag st6n

22 myi rtOf! ni gcig-ma ml{s

23 yid lea ni sems rton cig

24 pcy6ys brgyad ni lten dan: dg1t

25 lhmi lhoit ni bzan-por st6n

26 t'ci!l t'ag ni f~brfti-du st6rz

27 krag !crag r1i rins-par st6n

28 krJg krog ni grog y01is Bfflf'fi

29 ,iu ,iu ni blir ston yin.

Translation.

1 The Raven is the protector of men,

:! And the officiating priest (carries out.) the order of the gods.

4 \Sending him, the Raven) into the middle of the country,

3 Wh~re he has occasion for feeding on yak-flesh in the out­

lying pasture-lands, 5 1'he Venerable of the Gods conveys (his will) by means of the

sound-language (of the Raven).

1 )_This !{rap hie peculiarity is explained below llntler the heading "Palaeographir Traits."

34 B t; It T II 0 L D L A U F E It.

6 When in the eight quarters, making nine with the addition of

the zenith,

7 He (the Raven) sounds his notes, the three means (to be observed)

are explained as follows:

8 The offering must be presented to the bird (the Raven),

9 And it should be a complete feeding in eacli instance.

10 (h~ this manner, the offering) is given into the handR of tho

god (or gods).

11 As to the omens, they are not drawn from the mere cries (of

the Raven),

12 But in the announcement of the omens a distinction is made

between good and evil cries.

13 The officiating priest is in possession of the know ledge ofthe gods,

14 He teaches (the orders of) the goJs, and it is the bird who is

his helpmate (in this task).

15 The remedies for warding off the demons are annouuced by the

helpmate.

16 Truthful in his speech, he proves trustworthy,

17 For the Raven is a. bird of Heaven;

18 He is possessed of six wings aud SJX pinions.

19 Tha.oks to his visits above in the land of the gods,

20 His sense of sight is keen, and his hearing is sharp.

21 (Hence he is able) to teach (mankind) the directions of the gods.

22 There is for man but one method of examining (the sounds of

the Raven),

23 And may you hence have faith and confidence (in his augurit>R)!

24 In the eight quarters, making nine with the addition of t.he

zenith, (the following sounds of the Raven occur:)

2!> The sound lltOJi llw~i. foretells a lucky omen.

26 The sound t'ag t'a!] forebodes an omen of middle quality.

387

JHRP DIVINATION AMONG TJH~ TIBETANS. 35

27 'l'he souna krag krag foretells the coming of a person from a

distance.

Z8 The sound krog krog announces the arrival of a friend.

29 'fhe sound ,iu ,iu is an augury of any future. event (as iuui­

cateJ in the Table).

NOTES.

, v. t. Tile nnen p'o-roy il> still called c<vs ::;/;yo1i (Ski'. tlharmapala), "pro­

tt•rt1w of reli~ion" (I.. SANDBERG, II and-book of Colloquial Tibetan, p. 170).

Tlw worJ 1111/UU is eruployed in tile sense of Sanskrit niitha. Our text givef:

tliP word ouly in the furm p'V-I'U!f, while in K. the for·m uya-1'0[} is used

t•xclul>i~ely. The l11llcr, a~:; shown by Mahavyutpatti, seems to be the recog­

nized form of the written language, while pc0·1'0g seems to be mllre popular;

tbc ·latter occurs, for example. in the Tibetan prose version of the A1•adana­

/;alpldatit, which has been written for children. The di~:;tinction of bya-rog as

"rrow," and p'o-1·oy as "raven," is based on the Sanskrit-Tibetan dictionary

A111arul•osha {T. ZACHARIAE, Die indischen WorlerbUchm·, p. 18), where 'fib.

by.:H'Ofl is the equivalent of Skr. vayasa ("crow"), and Tib. p<o-rog that of

Skr. dro1.w ("raven"), the two words being treated in different stanzas (ed. of

Vi,Jyabhu~al).a, Bibl. ind., p. 134, Calcutta, 1911).

The word bya-1·og appears twice in the Mahavyutpatti, section on birds

(Tanjur, Siitra, Vol. 123, fols. 265b, 266a, Palace edit.ion),- first, as tmnslation

of :::5.kr. dhvaitksha, "crow" (in Amarakosha 1·endered by sgra ldan), whe1·e

the synonyms spyi-brtol-can (th~ Palace edition writes sbyi-l'lol-can;, "the

impudent one," and kcva, a1·e added; second, as rendering of Skr. drotJakaka,

"raven," while the Sk1·. kaka and vayasa are rendered by 'fib. wa (not noted

with this meaning in our dictionaries), evidently an imitative sound, in the

same manner as Tib. kcva, k<va-ta, and kca-ta, 14 ra.ven," and ko-wag, a word

expressive of the voice of the raven. In Se tci ts"ing wen kien 1!!1 1ftl iJii 3t 'I "(Ch. 30, p. 2b) the following distinctions are marle: kca-ta. corresponds

to wu-ya ~- ~, Manchu gaha, Monp:ol ktiryii; Tib. bya-rvy, to ts<e-ya

~ ~, Manchu holon gaha, Mongol k.ho'l9 kiiryii; Tib. 1/o-roy, to hua po ya

1£ JfF ~ (."raven with colored neck"), Manchu ayan. gaha, Mongol torn/;

l~i,·ya. ln the Appendix to this dictionary (Ch. 4, p. 12) we find Tib. by.,.

''Of}= kuan I (acc01·dinp: to GtLES a species of stork). Manchu iungkeri •t•iwn.ru

(~or·ding to SACHAROV a kind of large homed owl!; and Tib. ka-l;a = hu 1• Utl 'Jiu n~ tdr. lfll T"h · '1 ,- t""""'f Mia, Manchu hurkun gtiwam. In these two car-;es thP.

1 elan names seem to be a•·tificial productions made nd hoc in order to

388

36 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

translate the Manchu words. 'l'he Pulyglol L·ist u[ llit·ds t~t Turki, Maucltu

and Chinese, published by E. D. Ross (Mem. A. S. B, Vol. II, No.9, 1909),

though in general a useful work, is incomplete in that the Appendix of the

Polyglot Dictionary, containing about two hunda·ed more names of bia'ds, has

not been utilized at all. For futuro woa·k of this kind the following suggestions

may be offered in regat·d to the methods of obtaining identifications of bird­

names. In my opinion, it is an incorrect procedure, in most cases, to ta·y to

identify any Oriental bird-name with a species of our own ornitholo~ical

nomenclature, because onr scientific research 4 has made ont infinitely more

species of birds than there are words for the species in any language; all we

can hope for, at the best, is to establish the genus, and in many cases we have

to be content to ascertain the family. Take, foa· example; the case of ca·ow or

raven, a popular name embracing a large family of birds, Corvidae. In 1877

A. DAVID and M. E. OUSTALET {Les oiseaux de la Chine, p. 366) stated that

neal'ly two hundred species of it were known on the globe, and twenty-seven

fl'om China. At 1prestmt we ce1·tainly know many more in addition. (A. LAUD·

MANN, Wissenachaftliche Ergebnisse der Reise von G. Merzbacher, Abltandlun­

gen der baye,·ischen Akademie, 1913, pp. 37-42, enumerates ten genem of

the family Co,·vidae from the region of the T'ien Shan.) Who can naftle those

twenty-soven species in Chinese? Nobody. Out· species are made ft·om points

pf view which are entirely foreign to ~he minds of Oriental peoples. They see

different "kinds," where our omithologist may establish ope species; and they

may have one word, where we are f01·ced to admit diffea·ent species, and even

yeuera; and they may even take the male and female of the sa me species for

two distinct bil'ds. It is furthea· necessary to disillusion oua· minds regarding

the production of the K'ien-lung lexicographea·s, which must be handled with

~~·eat caution and pitiless ct'iticism: it teems with. aa·tiflcial makeshifts in Man­

elm, Tibetan, and Mongol, which are not gent1ine constituents of these languages,

and is vitiated by nume1·ous 'blunders in spelling, wh_ich are to be corrected.

The compilers were philologists, not zoologists; and thei1· combinations of bird­

names in the val'ious languages otlea· no guaranty that these refer to really

idanti~l [Jenera, not to speak of species, the greater probability in each case

being that the species are entirely different (thm;, for instance, as may Le

determined, in the majority of Tibetan and Chinese bird-names). - 'fib. bylt

rug means "the black bird,'' and pco-rog '"the male black one."' There is u

liinlectic· foa·m ,o-rog, ;o-lng (WALSH, Vocabulm·y of the T1:ornowa Dialecl of' Tibetan, pp. 11, 28, Calcutta, 1905 ), with the prefixed ,a (here ,o in conse­

qaence of vowel-attraction) forming nouns (SCHIEFNER, Melanges asiatiques,

Vol. I, p. 362; and MAINWARING, Grammar of the Rong [Lepchu] Lanyuage,

p. 111 ). In meaning and grammatical formation this ,o-rog corresponds to

Lolo a-nye, "the black one," -i.e. the t•aven (T'oung Pa.o, 1912, p. 13). 'l'he

common raven, somewhat Jarge1· than the European species, is ubiquitous in

389

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBIHAN:O:. 37

Tibet. Some remarks on it are made by P. LANDON (Lha:sa, Vol. I, I'· ·10~,

London, 1905). According to H. V. SCHLAGINTWEIT (J. It A. S., 1863, p.15),

it occurs even in the ice-regions of the greatest elevation of the Himalaya :

"sOme of the species of cm·vus tibetanus accompanied Ub during our ascent u(

the lbi Gamin peak up to om· highest encampment at 19,326 feet." Of espe­

cial inter·est wit.h reference to the present case is the following observRtion of

luuaus MANNING, who travelled in Tibet 1811-12 (C. R. MARKUAM, Nart·u­

tiua of the Mission of George Bogle to Tibet, etc., p. 249, London, 187u):

"Many of the ravens about this lake·; and many in Lhasa, emit a peculiar anti

odraordinary sound, which I call metallic. ll is as if their throat w·as a metal

tube, with a stiff metal elastic musical spring lixerl in it, which, pulled aside

and Jet go, should give a vib1'ating note, sounding like the pronunciation of

the word poing, m· scroong, with the lips protruded, and with a certain musical

accent. The other is similar to that of the ravens iu Eu1'0pe, yet ~:;till has

something of the metallic sound in it. Whether there be two species of..avem;

here, or whether it be that the male and female of the same species have

each their peculiar note, I cannot say."

V. ~. Who is the drwi-s1•on (con·esponding to Skr. ri11hiJ:' The Lama

usTan-pa du-ldan, whose explanatory notes in Tibetan h<\Ve been published by

M. BACOT, on p. 447 comments that the raven p<o~rog is "the raven ~Staying

near the head of Vishi)U," and that Vishi)U should be unden;tood by the term

?·ishi. It is certainly the mythical bird Garu<).a, being the vehicle (valtarw.) of

'Visbl)u, which crossed the Lama's mind, and it will be. demonstrP.ted farther

ou ( V. 18) . that an assimilation between Raven and Garutj.a has indeed taken

place in Tibet (in the {''iikuna of Vasantaraja the Garu<).a commandi:! the ki.ika

as an omen-bird: HuLTZSCH, Prolegomena, p. 41). The beginnings of such an

adjustment are visible even in our text when, in V. 17~18, it is said that the

Raven is a bil·d of Heaven, and possessed of six wings and six pinions; he is,

in a word, looked upon as a solar biJ·d. Nevertheless, he is not identical with

the Garu9a, and 1 do not believe that the Lama's expl~nation is correct. Above

all, tb·ali-sron cannot be identified with Vishl)u or ~ny ·other god; for he. i:;

the person who executes the orders of the gods (V. 2; in this sense: at least,

it Meems to me, the passage should be understood), who has the knowledge of

tha gods (lha l!(isin, V. 13), and who teaches the gods (lha ston, V. 14). The

ltaven is his hel(Ullate (gnen-pa, V. 14), and he announces the will and tlat!

wit;hes of the gods transmitted by" the divine bird. The tlrait-sro1i, acro1·dingly,

a:~ a person with a pr·iestly function; and I should almost feel tempted to pm­

P~t>e for the word, in this case,· the translation "seer" or "augur." It; is U1e

rukuuika of the Sanskrit texts who is designated also yuru and ilcal·yn (HuL'rzscu P l . . , ro egomena, p. 6). Moreover, we know that the w01·d dra11-SJ'01t has obt · l ame• amonf! the Lamas a meaning like "officiatin~ priest, sac••ificant,"

B.I<~RTHOLD LAUFER.

JXSCIIKE (Dictiunary, p. 261) states sub voce, "At present the Lama that

offers sbyin-st•eg [a burnt-offering, Skt·. homa] is stated to bear that name,

and while he is attending to the sacred rites, he is not allowed to eat anything

but dkar-zas [white food, like milk, curd, cheese, or butter]." Inevitably

we must assume that our Table was not directly used by the laity, but that

it was placed in charge of ~ priest who had due conta·ol ovea· supernatural

events. The layman who had encountered the vision of a raven applied to him

fot· the propet· oracle to be ascertained from the cha1·t, and particularly, if

nec~ry, for the making of the required offering, which was a ritual act

along established rules. The Lama who fulfilled ,this function was called the

dran-sroti, The origin of this word is explained in the woa·k sGra sbyor (quoted

above, p. 19; Tanju1·, Suta·a, Vol. 124, fol. 6b) by the sentence kiiya-viik­

manobhit·-riju-fete iti rishi, rendered into Tibetan thus: lus dait nag daiz yid

llron-por gnas-sin sroiz-bns-na d1'a1i·St'01i c'en-po zes btags, "he who in regard

to his body (actions), speech, and heart, remains straight and keeps them

sta·aight, is designated a great ~ishi." Hence it follows that in the minds of

the Tibetans the compound dmit~sroit is formed of the words drm~t·po (Skr.

riju, "straight," in the literal and moral sense) and the verb sroit-ba, "to

straighten," and that the Tibetan interpretation is "one who is straight, up­

right in his conduct." Ant>thet· definition given in the same wm·k is "one who

is possessed of knowledge" (ies-pa-dan-ldan-pa). The notion of"hermit" given

in our Tibetan dictiona1·ies is appar-ently not implied in the Tibetan defini­

tions. It will thus be noticed that the Jit~ral interpretation of the word, "one

who straightens out affairt; in a straight maJner·," could result in the develop­

ment ot the notion "one who straightens out affairs relating to sacrifice,

augury or divination."

V. 3. 'fib. byait q.brug is identified by M. BACOT with the well-known

term byan t'ait, "the noa·thern table-lands.'' The two expression11 are evidently

synonymous (compare VASILYEV, Geography of Tibet, in Russian, p.11, St. Pet.,

1895). Byait ~brog appears as one of the thirteen districts assigned by the

)1ongru emperors to the hiet·a•·chs of Sa-skya (dPag bsam ljon bzait, p.159, 1.1);

but -I do not believe that a definite locality in the geogr·aphical sense is here

intended, any more than I believe that the word dbus ( "centt-e") in the following

verse need ·1-efe•· particulal'ly to the Tibetan provinr.e of that name. The term

byan. t'ait is also a geuet'81 designation to1· uncultivated yastoral high Iandi;

(the proper meaning of t'an is not "plain, steppe," as given in· our dictiona­

ries, but "plateau''), in opposition to 1·on t'an, the low lands of the valleys.

The forme•· is the habitat of pastor"al tribes; the lattel', the seat of the agri­

culturists. 'I he· fil'lit element in byait tan, in all likelihood, was not originally

the word byail, "north,'' but the word ljaft, "green" (byait and ljai' are

hottl sounded jait; ljm'1. t'nn, "g•·een plateau/' is the. name of a province in

391

I

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 39

111 -Na-ris ·~K'or-g~um, according to H. v. SoHLAGINTWEIT, Gtossa,·y of Tibetan

Geographical Terms, J. R. A. S., Vol. XX, 1863, p. 13); for in Ladaldt, tor

instance, the people apply the word byan tm·~ to the district of Ru-tog, situ­

ated on their eastern border, in the sense that it is more bleak and ume­

clairned than their own sheltered and less elevated valleys (compare H. STRA.CHEY,

J. A. S. B., Vol. XVII, 1848, p. 331 ). The same evidently holds good fot· our

text, for, in understanding byai~ q.b,·og literally, it would be unintelligible why

the Raven despatched into the centt·e of the country should be supposed to

~ain his livelihood in the pastures of the not·th. The "centre," it should be

understood, may be any settlement in Tibet with a sedentary farming popu­

lation; and the term byait q,brog may refer to any nomadic distl'ict in its prox­

iruity where the Raven stan<;ls a better chance for his food than among the

husbandmen. 'fhe wo1·d "centre" is probably chosen in view of the nine quar­

tcn; which come into question for the Raven's flight; he has to 11tart from a

nmtre to make for the various directions. In regard to man, the cultivated

hmd is conceived of as being centrally located, and surrounded nn its outskirts

hy the wild mountains with their gr;Gsy plateaus suitable for cattle-raising.

The tribal and~ ~;ocial Jj,j~iuu of the Tibetan people intu these two distind

groups of agriculturists and mttle-breeders meet~; its outward expr·es:sion 111 tltl'

juxtaposition of the word-groups denoting ,valley" and ,,mountain" (,pastun·,"

,plateau''), the one pertaining to cultivation, the other to everything uncultivatcJ

or of wild nature. The "valley pig" (lu1·t p'ag) is the dom~tic pig, a seden­

tary animal found only among the far'lllers, but never among the nomads:

:while the "mountain pig" (1·i p"ag) is the wild boar: hence 1'i and abbre­

viated into the prefix r-, with predilection, enters into the narnes of wild

animals ( W. Z. K. M., Vol. XIII, 1900, p. 206).

In regar·d to the yak-flesh we may remember the passage of the 1'\wy

.slut (BusHELL, The E'ady Hi~tm·y of Tib«t, p. 7): "When they entertaiu

envoys from foreign countries, they always bring unt a yak for the guest

himself to shoot, the flesh of which is afterwards served at the banquet." In

the legends of the Buryat, the crow is invited by people to tal\e part in a meal

furnished by a slaughter·ed ox (CHA.NGALOV and ZATOPL'Al"EV, GypHTcKiH cKaJKH

u nou"t;pbH, pp. 17, 21, Irkutsk, 1R89) .

. V. 5. Tib. lha btsun, correctly translated by M. BACOT "le dieu vent··raulc,"

wuuld 'corre:;pond to Skr. tLevabhadaitlo. It is notable thai tire t.:omin~,; ol lim 1' 11mu is the very first prediction appearing in the Table when the r·avlm·::.

vuice ~>ounds in the east during the first watch. His name appears ag<Liu in

Table VH, 6, where it is said that "the helper, or the assistance oi" the Veu­

erable One (btswt-pai-gilen), will come." (1 do not believe with M. BACOT that

~hese words mean ,nn par·ent. de distinction." In t:\ct, M. BACOT sides with rne In this op1· · t" · , • nron, ot· 111 J ahle V, :~, lre very aptly anti eorrcctly renders tht• terr11

392

40 B B R T If 0 L 0 LA U lo' t: R.

gil en lit a by ,dieu protecteur·"). The helper is rei erred to in V. 1 ;) (g11cn ), aud

the exp1·ession giien~bai byo. ("the helping bird'') in V. 14 leaves no doubt

that the raven is meaqt. It seem~; futile for the present to speculate on the

nature of this deity called lha bt.mn. All we may infer from thi~t text ~that

he Reems to be a supreme god pt·esiding over· the lha, that he resitles in the

region of the gods (lha yul, V. 19), and that he reveals his will to mankind

through the Raven, his messenger, whom he sen1b down on eaa·th. On the

whole, I am inclined' to regard this deity as a nati\·e Tibetan concept, not as

an adaptation to an Indian notion; possibly he is identical with the Spirit of'

Heav~n :JC jJI invoked by the Tibetan shamans, according to Kiu T'ang sh•t

(Ch. 196 J:., p. 1b). - As regards the name lha bl~'U''· an analogous expres­

sion is met in Taoism in the name of the deity T'ien bun ::JC .lJ (or Yuau shi T'ien tsun, the first of the three divinities forruin~ the trinity of the Thrt'l'

Pure Ones = lit); Tib. lha and Chin. {im correspond in meaning, bot!.

serving for the translation of Skr. deva; and Til). btauu and Chin. lsuu, as

already recognized by ABEL-RENliSAT and &IIJHNUt (Melanges asialiqu~.

Vol. I, p. 340}, are identical words.

M. BACOT ta-anslates, "Le dieu venet-able accompaKDe Ia parole qu'il prend

avec lui," by taking bda for the verb bda-ba. E\·en granted that the lat~r

could ~.have thi.- meaning; the consta·uction of the sentence remains ungraru­

matical, and the rendering gives no sense. In these ancient texts we must be

mindful of the fact that ~peJlings at variance with modem usage occur, or, in

other· words, that. different phonetic conditions are fixed in writing. Ther·e is

no difficulty in seeing that bda here stands for the common mode of writing

brJa; and brda skad is a very frequent compound, which, as correctly inter·­

preted by JXSO&KF., means (t) language expressed by signs or g~tures, (2) Jan­

gu.age expr·~ed by words. Here it refers to the prophetic sounds or language

of the Raven by means of which the Venerable One of the Gods conveys

(~kyel) bias will and wishes.

V. 6. Io the commentar·y of the Lama (p. 447), whea·e the ver~ of the

text, - which are explained, are repeated in la.rger· type, this ver-se terminates

with the word bcu, so that the Lama brings out ten quarters, adding the

nadi•· ("the region of the klu, the land below") as the tenth; but this is

evidently a slip which occurred in the copy taken by or for· the Lama.

-V. 7. The expression ,a1i ton presents some difficulties, as it is evidently

an archaic and antiquated term not recorded in our dictionar·ies. The Lama

maintains· silence abOut it. .M. BACOT has tentatively propcsed to take it in the

sense of ,an dan-po, and renders the sentenee, "Le meilleur est d'enoncer les

tr·ois moyens." But this is an enti1·eJy un-Tibetan way of speaking, and

M B"coT's conception of the sentenr.e contradicts the ia·on rules of Tibetan

393

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 41

word~position. Such a tt·anslation would only be permissible if the a·eading

were tabs gsum gsuns ,ait dan~po (red). Aside from this, the identification ot

,ait toit with ,an dait is hardly acceptable; it is not supported by any native

dictionary, nor can it be upheld by any phonetic law. Further·, the Sanskrit-.

Tibetan hybrid, in the written language usually ,ait~gi dah-po (more l!lt·ely

~ait dan), has only the meaning of the ordinal numeral "the first" (in the

enumeration of a series), while in the Sflnse of "first quality, best," it is a very

vulgar expreMion of the colloquial language, about the equivalent of Pidgin­

Engli~h "number one." A few considerations may place us on the tight track

ilS to the meaning of the phrase. The preceding verse, "in the eight quartet'l!

ot.c.," demanda a ¥erb; in looking up the parallel passages of K., we notice

thllt each of the determination» of the qua11ers it; followed then!! by the word~;

:Jkad •Jt"ufiS u.a, 60 if (Lbe crow) 110unds its voice,'' and this ill what i11 appar­

tmtly requia·ed and intended in this passage. In this C&l!e we recognize in wia

the ver·b gtun (compare aod for gsod in Table II, 8; VI, 2, and the phonetic

remarks below). which, as shown by JA.SCIIKE (Dictionary, pp 19a, 209a), iS"

indeed used in this sense in Ladakhi: skad tail-ce, "to utter sounds;'' ku~co,

IN~ra tait-ce, "to raise, to llet up a cry." But the phrase in question 04CUrs

also in writing, like many IJthers given by Ji\scHKE as dialectic expressions; a

nurnbea· of those c.ould be compiled from the prOtie version of Avadiinakalpalata.

The word ,an (probably derived from the :::iansk rit particle aitga, pw. "anru­

ltmd odea· aufl'ordernd") means "cry, clamor." SA RAT CKANDRA. DAs (Dictionary,

P· 1347) cites an example of this kind, without translating it, in the sentence

mi-yis bos kyan J ,ail mi k'ug, which evidently means, "Although the man

called, his cries did not draw any attention." GOI ... <ITUNSKI, in his MourOAcK.o­

pycrKIH c..tooaph (Vol. I. p. 7b), assigns to Mongol a'it, which has several other

meanings, also the significance "shouting of fighters, cries of camels and don­

keys." It is the same thing when JA.scnKE quotes ,ait as an interjtdion with

the meaning "well, then! now; then! eh bien!" It is an exclamation Another

u:se of ,an not noticed heretofore seems to be traceable to the same origin.

,A it appears as a particle joined to the impel"ative with m· without ciy, as well 811 to the prohibitive. In Bya ccos (see note to V. 28)," p. 39, we meet five

times with ~og ,ait. In sLob giter byed ts'ul-gyi bslab bya le tslan gnis, a small

work published by the monastery Kumbum (sKu qbum), we have sgrims siy

,an (fol. 6), gnas-par gyis s·ig ,an (fol. 7). ma byed ,m·t (foL 10), ma rgyugs

,ait (fol. 14), and many othea· examples. The meaning seems to con·espond to

F•·ench done (German doch) in cobnection with an imperative, and this appli­

cation seems to be derived fr·om the i)riginal significance "cry, exclamation/' In

the case above, ,ait is used as a noun synonymous with the woa·d akad of K .•

and J•efers to the cries of the raven which he emit.~ (gtmi j ·.in his flight toward

the various quarters.· The ph•·ase ,air tm·,. linked to the pt·eeeding ver·se is the

psychological subject governed by t'ab ... gsum gsui1s: the augury derived from

394

42 B E R T H 0 L D LA U F E R.

the sound!:! of the rnen voicet.l in the eight quarter!:! is explained as consil:lting

uf tha·ee means or modes of procedure. 'l'he explanation is inspired by the

Venerable of tho Gods. The thtee .rpeans al'e the ollel'ing (gloJ•-ma, Skr. bali),

the discrimination between good and evil cries (and accordingly auguries), and

the oracle proclaimed by the pa·iest, with his superior knowledge ot the super·

natural.

V. 8. Tib. gto1•-ma gtor-ba (as llas lla-ba in V. 11) is a hendiadyl:l

t~Lvorite in Tibetan and othe1· Indo-Chinese' languages. A. CoNRADY (Eiu~: iudo­

chiuesischc Causativ-Denominativ-Bildung, p. 81, Leipzig, 1896) has given a

uurubea· of good examples of this kind; others occu1· in Ein Suhngedicht der Btmpo,

l. c.J p. 27. Compare the synonyms of the ct·ow given in Ama1·akosha (l~ c.),­balipush¥l and balibhuj, - and the Tibetan synonyms gtor~mas t•gyas and gtur

::a in the 11 Dictionary of the 1-'rench Missionaries/' p. 86. Several others enu­

merated in the latter may be explained fi'Om Ama•·akosha: as ~tc'i-mecl = ul'ish!a; gzan gso = pambhtid; latl cig sl;ye:> = sal•ritpmja, which accol'dingly

does not mean "ne une seule fois," but "one bea1·ing young but once a year;"

bd(tg sgt•og (in the t1-anslation of AmaJ•a/;osha, sg1·ogs-pai bdag-ii.id-can) = iitmag Jwsha.

V. 9. M. BACOT tl'anslates, "Plus il y en a d'especes, mieux cela vaut."

He seems to have thought of ts'o ("number, host"), but, as ah·eady remark&!

by J.\SCHKE, this wot·d hardly ever stands alone; in fact, it is only used as a

suffix denoting a plural. As shown by the context, ts'o is written fot· (_tts'u

( 11 to feed, nourish"), and the duplication indicate~; the t'Cpeated action. Also the

Lama, as ~hown by the wording of his comment, ·takel:i ts'o as a ve~b by

saying that all bil·ds ts'o-nas eat the oOering; but, as he me1·ely repeats ts'o

in the same spelling all in the t.ext, it is not clear in which sense he under­

stands the verb. Gyis ce•·tainly is the imperative of bgyid-pa. V. 8 and to

have been correctly rendered by M. BACOT.

V. 10. The Lama understands this vers.-~, "The raven is a bil'd soaring in

the "sky" (m~m ldih-gi bya), aod possibly thinks again of the Gat'UI.la. It

seems to n•e that the Raven as a bird of Heaven is understood to be the

messenger sent down from heaven, as previously set foa·th, and it implies also

Uuat he is of celestial or·igiu, as specified in V. 19.

V. 11. 'fib. vragll is not used hea·e in the l'ense of ,glory," but with the

liter-al meaning "c1·y, outcry, clarr.oa·;" it i~; dea·ived from the verb s-grog·pa,

("to call, to shout"), which is identical with Chine..~ /;iau "f ("to call out;

the cries of certain animals and bil·ds''), in the same mannea· as Tib. s-urog­

JJa ("td hind") = Clain. hiao ~ ("t.o hind'')~ and Tih. ~~··fft'O[!s-pa (from f/1'0[1$,

395

BIRD DIVINATION AliONG THE TIBETANS. 43

. . d to be associated'?) = Chin. k.iao '* , "to be united, friend:slaip, intet·-"trJen , ~ cow·se'' (compare A. CoNRADY, Eine indochinesi.<1che Causativ-Denominativ-

J)ildung, pp. VII, VIII, Leipzig, 1896). Hua i yi yu (Hirth's copy in the Royal

Library of Bedin, Ch. 11, p. 67b) c01·rectly renders Tibetan g1·ag by miny

P.r6. _ Tib. dgur is not the word "crooked," as M. BACOT thinks, but is to

be analyzed into dgu-r, te•·minat.ive of dgu ("nine, many"·, and particle

expressing the plural (FOUCAUX, G1'ammaire de la langue tiblltaine, P· 27;

A. ScuiEPNER, Ueber l 1luralbezeichnungen im Tibetischen, § 2:i, in Mcm.

Acad. de St.-Petersbourg. Vol. XXV, NO. 1, 1877). The question may be raised

whether grags-dyu denotes the various kinds of cries of the t'a\'en, of an in­

definite number, or whether exactly nine sounds are under'Stood. It would be

rathet' tempting to assume the latter· pos.:;ibility, and to set the nine sound!:i

in ,·elation with the nine quarters; but at the end of the Preface only five

110unds of the raven are enumerated in accor-dance with K. Again, the fact

that this section of the Preface is preceded by the ver'Se, "In the eight quar­

ters, making nine with the zenith," leads one to think that, besid~ the seriel'

of five, a series of nine sounds, c01·responding to the nine quarters, may have

simultaneously existed, and that the matter is confused in this text .. A posi­

tive decision on this point, however, cannot be reached, and I prefer to regard

dgu as a mere designation of the plu1-al.

V. 12. As plainly stated in the first horizonta1 column of the Table, an

ulfering is necessary wheneve1· the voice of the Raven sounds ill luck. M. BACOT

translates this verse, "Le bon et le mauvais, apres qu'on l'a vu, qui en pat·le?"

lie accordingly accepts su as intet·r·ogative pt·onoun, while it is evidently the

pa•·ticle of the terminative belonging to ltas. Such slips are cer·tainly excus­

able, and have been committed by ot.het· translators. Thus, for example,

E. ScHLAGINTWF:IT (Di1• Lebensbeschreibuny von Padma Sambhana II, Abhaudl,

rlt:J' haye1·ischen .4/.;ad., -1903, p. 547) took the final s-o, denoting the stop, as

the noun su ("tooth"), and t1-anslated the Sflntence pat~f!.ita-rnams kun-yyis

ma t<ttb yrags-so mtscams gbyed·pas, "All pandits prai.!Jed him as the power·­

ful one of the Abhidharma; if a tooth i.'> hollow, its i'emoval is desit'8ble."

There is nothing to this effect· in the Tibetan wor·ds, which simply mean,

"He is known under· the name 'the One Unexcelled by all Pandits·' he--:be<Tan , 0

tiOlftua·y meditation," etc. In the same author's Die tibetischen Han.dschri(ten

de,· /;, Hof- und Stqatsbibliolhek zu Miinchen (Silzunysberichte dm• bayeri­

:JC/ten Akad., 1875, p. 7a) or.curs, in the title of a book, "the tooth of the ful­

filment of the great Lama Rig-~dsin;" the Tibetan bskail·su, of com'Se, is a

rne•·e g•·nphic vat·iant of bskcdts-so, and means "the fulfilment of vows.?'

V. 14. M. BACOT tal;;es gileH-bai bya in the sense of "devoil' des parents.'' lt nm\· b

J e grunted that these wol'd:s could have such a meaning, though a~; a

396

44 B E R T H 0 L D L A. U F E R.

rule bya-ba retains its suffix, when it has the role of the word assigned to

it by M. BAcoT. But the point is that such a viewing of the matte•· ha:; uo

sense in this context. I should think that bya is simply "bird," w. it occuJTetl

in V. 8; while ~be suffix bai oa· pai sufficiently indicates the wt·bal character

of gii.en, "to help, assist" (iu its sense somewhat synonymous with myon,

V. 1). 'l'he whole term is to be construed Jike a Sanskrit Bahuvribi: the

Lh·ail-sr01i is one having the bia·d as a helpe1-. The fact that the helpea· refers

to the Raven is manifest also from the following vet~.

V. 15. M. BAQOT translateR, •remooe de douleur,;parole ties parents." The

Uleaning of gii.en (V. 5) has been explained. The construction of tbe sentence

is simple: in regar·d to the remedies, they are announced or explained bs the

helper (the Raven). The only difficulty is presented by the word mu pr·eceding

.sman. Also M. BACOT has clearly seen that the word mu ("border, limit,'' ate.)

cannot here come into question. In my opinion, we have to apply the rule

laid down under V. 5, that a prefix has been jdi'Opped in mu; and I should

like to propose to read dmu or rmu "evil dem6n," which b·efits the case very

well; dmu is a demon causing blindness, dropsy, and other infirmities. In the

Table (X, 1) the corning of demons is indicated as an oracle, and the aulu r

is cet·tainly obliged also .to announce the means of escaping the evil effecll; or

consequences of an oracl~. In a wider sense, mu .smau, accoa:dingly, signifies

the remedies releasing the person concerned from any threatening calamity in

consequence .of a prediction.

V. 16. This verse is explained by our Lama commentator (p. 44~), •He

who does . not tell lies is reckoned as good by all ~en," which fail'ly repro­

duces ~he genea-a.l sense, while the translation of M. BACOT is untenable. lie

takes dran zii£ in the sense of ''en conduisant," and accordingly de1·ives it from

the ver·b t]dren-pa; but "en conduisant" could be expressed only by f¥lren ziit.

The deacl'iptive particle cii' is hardly evea· joined to a future tense (no example

fr·om literature is known to me), usually to a pa·esent tense, in the majority

of ~ to an adjective, rarely to a past tense (compar·e the examples in the

gt'llmmars of FoUCAUX, p. 19, and JXSCHKE, p. 56). The chances, as a rule, are

that the word preceding ciit is an adjective with verbal force. AB such it ie;

used. here, dt•ai£ standing fo1\ drait-po (any suffixes may be dropped in venie),

"honest, upright, iruthful," and this attribute refers to the truthful soumi­

language of the l"'LVen. The pht'a88 brtan-pm• ston cannot mean ,on montre

sa fermete;" ston-pa with the tet•minative means "to 8how one's ael·f,\;as; to pa·ove as, to fm·nish proof of being," etc .. 'l'he word brlau-po or brtan-pa

(also rton-pa, as in V. 23: brton-pa), with· or· without yid, means "to place

confidence in a person" (J.AscHKE, Dictionat·y, p. 215a); brlan-po, more spe­

cifically, l'efers to a per·manency of condition in which a person continues to

397

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 45

. the confidence once obtained, while brtan-pa. signifies a temponu·y ac-enJOY , It occurs in Saddharmapundarika, where FoUCAUX ( Pm·abole de l'en(ant

t•on . • •

1'·e· p 54 Paris, 1854) renders it by "homme digne de confiance,·~ and in egm ' · ' . Bharatae responsa (ed. ScHI~FNER, p. 46: fidem habere). The sense of th1s

verse, accordingly, is, "(Le c01·beau), en disant Ia vel'ite (ou, parce que seg

augures sont veritables), se prouve digne de confiance.''

v. 18. ·The two Tibetan expt·essions would theoretically cot-respond to Skt· .

. 'lha{pak3ha, sha!part~-a, but such Sanskrit tet·ms do not exist. The whole idea

apParently is not Indian. (M. BACOT's rendering, "six plumes devinrent six aila;,"

is not justified by the text, and yield::; no significance.) Hel''e we must briefly

touch on the religious ideas revealed by our text. Our knowledge of Tibeta'

folk-lore, and particularly of that of the past, is cer·tainly still so scanty that ~

fo•· some time to come. all speculations on such-like subjects must r·emain of a

more o•· Jess tentative charactE'r. But with all their· brevity, the twenty-nine

ve1"Ses of this Preface contain a good deal, aod also, fa·om the viewpoint of

reli~ious histoa·y, 1n·esent a document of some importance. Above all, we notice

that the ideas expressed by it at·e abient from the text of f(iikajariti, and

aptly fill the gap which we we•·e obliged to point out there. It is the role of '

the Raven ·as a bit-d of divination which is here tlepicted. At fia·st sight it is

tempting to regard this description as breathiug a cea'taio Tibetan spirit. We

know that tl!e Raven plays a part in the sacred pantomimic dances of the

Tibetan Lamas perfm·med at the time of the New Year; he makes attempts at

sf.ealing the strewing oblation (gtor-ma), and is driven away with long stickn

t~y two Atsar·a, skeleton ghouls, a skeleton being designed on their white

cotton garbs, and their masks having the appearance of skulls. The mask of

the Raven, though it is styled bya-rog by the Tibetans, has not at all the

foa·n• of this bi•·d, but that of the Indian Garu~a, with big curved and hooked

beak (while the raven's beak is straight). A specimen in the Field Museum,

•where aa·e complete sets of Tibetan masks, shows the Raven's mask of daa·k­

green coloa·, with red bill, a blue eye of wisdom on hi~; forehead, flamed eye­

hrows, and gold painted flam~ protrudin_g fa·om his jaws. The entire make-up

is so unlike a raven, that the Chinese workman of Peking wno · manufactur·es

the masks for the Lama temples of the capital styles it a para'Ot (ying wu).

Jn the Veda the eagle caaTies off the soma or amrita for· Indra, and in the K-. a!ltaka it is lndr-a him11elf .who in the foa·m of an eagle captua-es the beve~Jlge {A. A. MACDONELL, Vedic Mythology, p. 152; and H. 0LDENBERG, Die Religion

~~ Veda, p. 176). The Mahiibhai•ata (Astikapat"Van XXXII) tells how Garu~a, 10 ordea· to take hold of the amrita, defeats the host of the Deva, kills the

g.uardians, and extinguishes the fi••e surr·ounding the amrita. This Indian tradi­

taon seems to me in some way or other ~ be responsible for the cast of the

Raven in the 'fibetan saca·ed dances, and for certain elements of a snn-bird . I

398

4G BF.RTHOLn J.AUFF.R.

attached to the Raveu in •m•·· text. The Indian sotll'ce which has tmnsmitted

these ideas to Tibet certainly remains to be pointed out. If the raven was

made the substitute of the GaruQa in Tibet, thi:s may be due to the wo•·ld­

wide reputation of tbat bird as a clever pilfe1·er. The ancient.s regarded him

as an all-round tliief, particularly of sacrificial meat. In the sacred groves of

G1·eece many ravens subsisted on the flesh which they seized from the altars

and consumed in the trees (0. KELLER, Die antike Tie1·welt, Vol. II, p. 9:i).

The. Kachin of Burma look upon the raven as the vm·y first thief who sub­

sequently was duly imitated by man (Gil.BODES, Antlwopos, Vol. IV. 1909

p. 134). On the other hand, the Tibetan mask of the Raven reminds us of the first

of the seven degrees of initiation which the mystic successively assumed in tlu~

Mithraic cult, - the name of Raven (cora.r:); the othert-: being Occult, Soldier.

Lion, Persian, Runner of the Sun, and Father (F. CUMONT, The Mystaies vf

Mithra, p. 152). CUMONT regards these as animal disguises going back to a

prehistoric period when the deities themseh·es were represented unrler the fot·ms

of animals, and when the worshippe_r, in taking the name anJ semblance of his

gods, believed that he i:ientilied himself with them. To the primiti,·e titles ol

Raven and Lion others were HfLerwunl add&! for the· purpose of attaining the

sacred number seven, the ~eH~n degre&; of mitiatwn answering to the seven

planetary spheres which the soul was forced to traverse in order to reach the

abode of the blessed. It is in the Tibetan mystery-plays that we find the masks

of the Raven and the Lion. In the belief of the Persians, the Raven was saca·erl

to the God of Light and the Sun. On the Mithratc monuments he sits behin,l

Mithms, sacrificing a hull, and, according to 0. KELJ.EI\ (IJie autike Tiel"tt.'t'll, Vol.ll,

p. 104), the idea of the sacred Ravens assigned to Helios in Thessali~/ruay ~vc originated f1·om Persia. Tlw M'n WHtf.!s andsixpinions" a&~igned in our text to the

Raven in his quality a~ ~~ bud <•f !leaven canno_t be accounted for by any Indian

notions, and it may well be JouhLed whether this feature is due to a creation of

Tibetan mythology. It seems to rue that allfO this trait savo1·s ofMithraic elements,

somehow inspired by the grotesque monsten; of West-Asiatic imagination, var­

ticulady the winged gr·iffins (see, for e1amvte, PEltROT anti CHIPIEZ, Hi•tor'!t

uf A,·t irl Per8ia, Figs. 71, 72, 158, also 187; another Tibeto-Mithraic pamllel i»

pointt>d out by GRtiNWEDEL, Bae8slet·-Arcltiv, Vol. lll, 1912, p. HiJ. ,. Pel'·

Man antlueffi.\e on Tibetan religion is established, .though it re:m.\llS iJOr the

future to wo•'k up the details of tbe problem (GRiiNWEDEL, MytlwW,it• dt!1' Buddhismu~, p. 205, note :18). The historical foundation of the Bon religion

of Tibet, as shown by me ( 1'<oung Pau, 1908, p. 13), is Pea'lian. The .most

l'ignificant feature •·evealed by this Preface, as already pointed out, is thl'

Raven's function as the meiSenge•· of a god, so that his predictions appeal' n:-:

the expression of Iii vine will. The Raven as a heavenly messenger· is conscionll

of his p•·esolj!PS. The same illfl:t is exp•·e~ by PI.INY (Nat. lli.~t. x._ 12. ~ :l2;

399

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS • 47

.,t.l. MA l'HOl'l', Vol. II, p. 229): cor·vi in auspiciis soli videntur intellectnm

habere significationum suarum.

v. 19. M. BACOT renders thi:-; ve1·se, "La teJ'J'.e des dieux arrive au ciel."

He has apparently been led into erJ'OJ' (the same matter occurs in V. 3, 6, 7,

11 , 1~. 18) by assuming that the particle ni distinguishes the subject of the

sentence. This was the erroneows view of I. .T. ScHMIDT, which was refuted by

ScHIEFNER (Melanges asiatiques, Vol. I, p. 384). Ni is simply an emphatic

particle added to any wm·d or g1·oup of words in order· to single them out

(J.\sCHKt:, 1'ibetan Grammar, p. 66). It may follow any adverb and any phr:.u;e

· ~xpr~ing !ipace or time, the genitive, dative, instrumentalis, or locative; an~

in metrical compo!iition, it may t.ake any place where a syllable is to be filled

in (1a peculiar catte noL disculSSed in our gt"ammars is na. ni forming the unreal

conditional :;entence). There ure as~~uredly numerous cases where st1·ess is laid

upon the subject by the addition of this particle, then corresponding in meaning

to Japanese wa and ga; but this r·ule must not be turned into the opposite,

that wherever ni is employed, the Hubjeet is hinted at. Our· text is vet·y in-

1trnctive as to the application of ni, since in each ve1·se it occurs in the third

syllable with intentional regularity, and lends to the style a somewhat oracular

tinge. First of all, it is employed because of the metre to produce a dactyl in

the first foot of each vea·se: simultaneously, certain words, as pco-rog and d1•aii­

SJ'Oil in V. 1 !!.Dd 2, at·e singled out with strong emphasis by its pr·esence., In

V. 4, 10, 11, 16, 21, 23, it is entirely super·Ouous and merely a rhythmic fac­

tor. As to V. 3 and 19, we should have na in its place in a prose text, in

V. 21 nas, in V. 18 dai1, 1f the author should have pinned his faith to a pm-ely

tl'Oohaic met1·e, which is the most fr·equent in Tibetan, he could easily ltave

accomplished his purpose by d1·opping all the ni, and yet the sens~ of his

word:> would have remained exactly the same.

V. 22. M. DACOT rendet'S this verse, "Homme et raison ne_font pas un."

Whatever this may mean, it is evident that the Tibetan people do not indul~e­in metaphysical speculations of that sort, and that such a sentence has no

rui.sou d'iUre in this context. We notice that this text is a plain account of

the Rav~n as a bitd of augury, and that everything logically refers to it in a

palpably..--eoncr·ete manner·. For this reason we are justified in seeking the inter·­

fll'etation of the verb rtog-pa in the same direction. We met it in the Tibetan

title of the Kii.kajariti, whea·e it is used in r-egal'(l to the "examination" ofthe

l!Ounds or cries; of the cr·ow, and I believe it is here us.,d in exactly the same

~nse. The wo1·d myi preceding it is in parallel opposition to lhai of the pre­

Vtous ve1·se, and, like the latter·, may be 'construed as a genitive ("examination

or the angur·ies on the part of man") or in the senEe of a dative depP.ndinfl on '' c· 'c l.'l ("to man ... thm·e it.:"). The particle ma can, of com'Se, be lookerlnpon

400

48 B E R ·T H 0 L D L A U F E R.

as the 11egatiuu, as M. liACOT considers it, but. this doeti uot tuake sense. I pt·ete1·

to read gciy~ma, "unity, oneness," (rega1·ding -mu with words denoting space,

time, ~·<:.. see ScHlEFNER, Melanye.s asiatique.s, Vol. I. pp. ~85, ~So). and under­

stand .<the \'et'Se to the elfect that thet-e is for ru11.n only one and the same

method of examining the forebodings of the Raven, that ill, the method laid

down in the Table. This int.a~·pretation seems to be in keeping with the spirit

of the text. If the Raven is a heavenly bird, a mffisenger of the gods, and the

herald of their commands, if he is truthful aod trustworthy, iL is logical that

the't-e should be but one way of studying and interptoeting his notes. The comment

furnished by the Lama is quite in harmony with this point of view. lie lik~

wise unden;tands the words gcig ma mc'ia in a positive sense by trani:ICrillin).!

them gciy L.tdra byed, "make like one, might be one;" and his note mi l'amll·

cad t•tog-pa ni sufficiently indicates that these wot-ds mean an examination

referring to all men, and that t•tog-pa is not i1:tended for rtogs-pa, "knowl­

edge, perception." The copula mc'is belongs to the e.stilo culto.

Analogous examples for the W!e of gciy-ma are rkai1 gci.g-ma "one-­

footed," rkait gnis-ma "two-looted" (Scuu.:•·NiR . . Velanye& asiati.que:s, Vol. Ill,

p. 12); ral gcig-ma - Skr. ekajLl!iJ (P. CoRDIEtt, l. c., pp. 122, 194, 195); ljku•l

cig-ma "a moment," ljk,a:J ycig-mu "intilanLaneollllness" (in the philosoph~·

of the Sautrantika: VASILYEV, lkr lJudtlhumu:s, p. 305); and llkad ciy-ma·

jiid, "the sh01·t (instantaneous) du1·ation of life" (in the commentary of Suhril·

lekha). The title of a small treati~ describing the olferir_1gs to Vajrabhairava

is drug bcu-pa-ma. The title ratnamiila is once translated in the Tanj ut· 1•in

e'en p'ren-ba-ma (usually p're'i,-ba), where ma is to express the feminine gendet•

of Sanskrit; and so it may be concluded that the influence of Sanskrit is

responsible also for the other cues of this kind.

V. 23. M. BACOT translateti, "Croyauce et conliance de l'esprit font un."

This is in contradiction to an elementary t·ule of Tibetan gt·ammar. Tile

final ciy does not mean "one,'' but is the well-known sign of the impttrative :

besides, the fot·m rton is an imperati-.e in itself (from rten-pn), and also the

~ama has plainly indicated another imperative fonn, t'ob cig. The phrase :.:em.~

1•kn (rton) in this passage corroborates the interpretation given for brtan·pt'

in V. 16. Yid c'e.s may be taken as adverbialis ("with faith, faithfully"), nr

as a verb to be supplemented by the following ci!J ("have faith and" ... ). The

Lama explains this faith as "pra~yer to the gods" (lha-la gsol), which is hardly

necessary. Both faith and confidence, first of all, refer to the Raven and his

nugul'ies, as p1·esented in the Table; and faith in him naturally implies faith

in the gods: who sent him.

V. 27. In Table IV, 1, M. BAcOT translates the sentence riits-pa zig oit­

lm1' .>~lou hy "indiqne qu'nne pet-sonne vient en hate." But 1·ihs-po. zi[J is the

401

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 49

b·ect of th'e sentence, and means "a distant one, a person coming from a su ~ distance." True it is, riils-pa means also "swift, speedy." The spelling! however,

must never lead us astray: it is here intended for rii~-ba, meaning "distant"

as to space and time, hence. "long" (the K'ien-lung Polyglot Dictionary con­

tJ·onts it with yuan m and Manchu goro). The word rins-par in V. _27, in my opinion, contains an allusion to the passage of the Table quotoo.

){. Bacot's translation, "est signe de rapidite," has no meaning. Also the Lama

is on my sirie when he interprets mi yoil, "a man will come." - Compare

Subiishitaratnanidhi 66 (ed. Csmu, J. A. S. B., Vol. VII, 1912, Extra No.,

P· 116)~ rin ccen gliit-du rin-nas q,du, "they flock from a distance to the

ltdanJ of Jewels."

V. ~X. The foretelling of the arrival of a friend, in all likelihood, is fraught

with a deeper significance than may appear on the surface. In the Table

(VIII, u; and X, :3) we find twice the prophecy of a meeting with a great

·friend. The word u.setl in each case is g1·oy, which is pronounced and w•·itten

also rog, rogs. Now, the Tibetans, for this reason, pun the word (lr~ta-)ruy,

•raven" with J'O!J, yroy, "friend." An excellent example of this fact is furni;;hed

l.y the interesting little work Bya ccos rin e'en q,p'ren-ba, "The Preciow,

Wreath (ratnamii.ta) of the Teachings of Birds," the text of which has been

~Jtt.ed by S. CHANDRA VIDYABHUSAN under the title Bya-Chos or the Religion

u{ /Jirds: beiuy an Old Tibetan Story, Calcutta, 1903 (40 p.). JA.soHKE (Dic­

tiouary, p. 372) mentions this graceful work, styling it also Bya ;skad, "Bird

Voices,'' ot· Bya sg1·uits, "Bil·d Stories," and characterizing it as a book of

satirical fables, in which birds are introduced as speaking. am under the

impression that no satit·e is veiled under this text, at least not in the edition

quoted, and that it belongs to the clasR of Nlti~astra, as indicated by its very

title. In order to teach the birds the tenets of the Buddhist doctrine, Avalu­

k•t..e~vara tran.sforms himself into the king of the birds, the large cuckoo

(hokila), and finally attracts the attention of the other birds by his medi­

tation carded on fot· many years in a sandal-tree. The birds congt-egate around

him, and each recites in its language a numbet· of stanzas in praise or sup­

port of Buddhist ethical teachings (compare Mantic Uttair ou le langage des

oiseau.r, poeme de philosophic religieuse _ traduit du persan de Farid Uddin

Attar par M. GARCIN DE TASSY, Paris, 1863, and the same author's La p~ie philosophique et religieuse chez les Persans d'aprbl le Mantic Uttair, Paris, 1864; this Persian wot·k has doubtless received its impetus ft·om that genre

of l:iuddhist literature, as I hope to demonstrate in a future translation of the

:l:~betan Look). The Bya ccos is not a translation ft·om Sanskrit, but a witty

IiLt:tan production, though fundamentally based on Indian thought; it is full ~ .

fun and pun. The ve&'Ses recited by the bh·ds terminate in a refrain, and

lhili •·efa-ain consists of a catchwm·d flll'ming a pun upon the name of the par-

402

50 B Jt! R 'f II 0 L D L AUF E R.

ticular bird. The snipe (tin-tin·ma), for instance, puns upon gtiil 1·ifi,, "a deep

abyBS," in this style: "The ocean of the misea·y of Samsara is a deep abyss,

the· bell of Mara is a deep abyss," etc. Or the jack-daw (skyun-ka) puns upon the verb skyun·ba, "to leave behind;" the owl (ug-pa), on u-sdug ( = u-tug),

"destitute;" the ptarmigan (gon-mo), on go-dka, "difficult to understand.'' And

the watchword of the raven (p'o-rog) is grogs ymi grogs yon, "a friend will

come, a friend will come," exactly as in the above verse of the document

Pelliot. In this case, the coming of the friend is interpreted in the fig~rative

sense of Buddhist blessings. The Raven speaks thus:

"When moral obligations have been fulfilled, happiness wiH come as a friend.

"When alms have been distributed, wealth will come in the future as a friend.

"When religious functions have been performed, thy tutelary deity will

come as a friend.

"Wh~n the vows are pure, the delight of heaven will come as a friend.

"When the sacrificial feast was vigo1·ous, the Protectol' of Religion (dhw·

mapala) will come as a fl"iend.

"When thy achievements correspond to the length of thy life, Buddha, in

the future, will come as a friend.

"Thill siddhi of 't'le friend who will come' take to heart and keep in mind!''

The coming of the friend appears also in K. (1, south; III, north), and

from the viewpoint of Sanskrit, a play upon words can h!lrdly be intended.

We might therefore infer that simply the t1·ansmission of this Indian idea. p;ave

rise in Tibet to the formation of the quibble "raven - friend," which is ap­

parent in Bya c'os (compare also the identical formations ,a-rog, 14 frien•l,'' and

,o-roy, •raven"). The date of this work is unfortunately unknown; the mention

of the Siddha Saraha in the introduction, in a measure, may yield a tenninus

a quo. At any rate, Bya c'o~J is fa1· posterior to K. and document Pelliut.

DIJes the prophecy gt·oy yo1"t in the latter imply an alluhion to the name of

the raven? 'fhe case would be interesting from a philological point of view; if

the allusion could be established as a positive fact, it would prove that the

word groy was sounded rog as early as the ninth century, foa· only under this

coodition.is the bon mot possible; o1· another possibility would be that the two

forms grog and rog co-existed at that time. At any rate, there is in our text

an obvious relation between the sound krog krog and the word grog, accord­

ingly a divination founded on punning {krog krog is a recognized wo~ll of

the language and recorded as such in Za-ma-tog: Studieu :: 1o· Sprachwissen­

schaft de1• Tibeter, p. 574). Tbi.~ etymological kind of augury finds an interest·

ing analogy among the Arabs, among whom the appearance of a raven imli­

cates parting or pilgrimage, as the word fo1· a·aven comes from a root meaning

"to be a st1·anger;" the name for the hoopoe suggests "guidance," whence its

appearance is of good omen to the wanderer (HASTINGS, Encyclopa~dirt of

ltl'ligion, Vol. JV, p. 81G). Amon~ birds, the ancient Arabic poet~< most frc-

403

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 51

uently mention a black and white spotted species of crow and a black one

!hich it is disastrous to scare, and whose c1·oaking signifies sepa1-ation from

a mista·ess (G. JACOB, Altarabisches Beduinenleben, p. 22, Berlin, 1897). Another

explanation than the above is given by D. C. PHILLOTT (Note on the Common

Raven, J. A. S. B., N. 8., Vol. 111, '1908, p. 115); the Arabs, according to

him. call the raven "raven of separation," becau~e it separated itself from

Noah and failed to return. This bird of ill omen alights on the deserted

habitations of men; it mourns like one afflicted; when it sees friends together,

it c&'oaks, and it:; croaking foretells "separation;" and when it sees well-peopled

habitations, it announces their· ruin and desolation. If it ct·oaks thrice, the

omen is evil; but if twice, it is good. Possibly the two explanations exist side

by side. - Similar etymological punning in augury takes place in Annam with

reference to the bird khtk. "Le mot khuch, etranger, devient par corruption

p~toise, khec, com me le nom de l'oiseau. De Ia un jeu de mots sur le nom de

l'oiseau: Si le khec Cl'ie a Ia pot·te d'entree, c'est signa de l'arrivee de visiteut'S

venant de loin: s'il cl'ie derriere Ia rnaison, ce soot des parents qui vont

arrivet·" (L. CADitRE, B. E. F. E. 0., Vol. I, 1901, p. 196).

V. 29. M. BACOT translates "est signa d'intermediaire." I do not believe

that this is the sense intended, as omens of middle quality (q,brih) a1·e referred

to in V. 26. The Lama unde1·stands that "the sound ,iu ,iu is continuaHy his

(the raven's) note." It is not intelligible to me how he arrives at this view of

the matte1·. The pht-ase bar ston is soruewhttt embat·r~ing. I should be

tnclined to const1·ue bar as an abbreviation of bar-c'ad, "accident, calamity,"

and as refet·ring to the p1·ophecy of calamities given in K., whe1-e this word is

used; but the fact remains that it does not occur in out· Table, and it i$ cel·­

tainl)'_ to this om· Tabl~ that we have to look for the interpretation of the

term, as in the two preceding vet-ses. There we observe that the greatet· !lumber

of oracles close with the words oil bar ston, and· that in fact each of the

ninety oracles ends in the two syllables bar ston, or, what is pt·actically the

l>llme, par ston. Thi::i typical fot·mula, I believe, 15hould be recognized in the

ba•• ston of V. 29, which accordingly means that the sound ,iu ,iu, points to

any of the ninety oracles enumerated in the Table, and therewith the Preface

is happily cl~d with a direct appeal to the .latter. This conception of the

mattea· is satisfactory also from a grammatical point of view; for bar in this

caHe is ba + r, and the te1·minative is requh·ed in connection with ston, as

shown by V. 25-27 and the ninety examples of the Table, while baJ• taken

in the sense of "intermediate, middle," would be the formless casus indefinitw,

and decidedly present a grammatical anomaly.

---,------

404

52 RER.THOLD LAUFER.

Palreographic Traif.8 •

. The plain consonant, according to the rules of Tibeto-lndian

writing, implies the vowel a. In s~ven cases we find an additional

letter a following a consonant in this document, where no a is

adn1issible in modern writing. The word dgra is four ·times written

this. way (Table II, 9; IV, 4; V, 2; VIII, 8); further, the suffix

pa in V. 18, blta in V. 11, and bya in V. 14. Mr. BARNETT (in

A. Stein, Ancient Khotan, Vol. I, p. 549) has made a similar ob~_

servation iu the fragments of the <;alutambasutra. He says that

before a short pause a final a sometimes appearR to be lengthened

to a, the letter a being added on the line; and on p. 500 he adds

in a note that this lengthening seems due to the short pause fol­

lowing. I regret being unable to share this opinion ; I can see no

reason (and Mr. BARNETT gives ·none) why this addition of a should

indicate a lengthening of the vowel. True it is, a subjoined a (the

so-called a (tdogs) denotes a in the Tibetan transcription of Sanskrit

~ords ; and it may even be granted with reserve that in the word

gao (p. 553, note 6), as Mr. BARNKTT is inclined to think, the sub­

joined letter a may be intended to give the phonetic valu~ of long

o. 1} But there must be some difference between a written beneath

and a written alongside a consonant. Why, if the lengthening of the

vowel is intended, is the letter a not subscribed too in thH other

1) An aoalogou• caae ia known to me in the Tibetan veraion of the Jiitakamtlli:J, a

print of 14.30, where (vol. II, fol. g) the word rgya-mh'o is equipped with au additional

letter • under the leUer U. - The subacribed letter a occurs also in 1'ibetlin tranacrijl·

tiona of Chineae word•; and it would be wrong to conclude, that, becauae it denotealrogtb

io Sanakrit words, it doee ao alio in the cue of Chioeae, which ha• no long vowel•. In tbe

Tibetall ioacription of 822, line 16 (see plate in BusHILL, 1'/le Early Hi1lory of Tibtl),

we have Tib. In•• !Ju (each with subjoined a) aa transcriptions of Chin. Jt Jit witt 1011

(Japaoeae lJJm lJH). Moat certainly, the additional a was not intended by the 'I'ibetans to

expre&a a Chineae tz, but a peculiar Chinese timbre of "• which was not sufficiently re}Jro·

dDced by the })lain Tibetan u.

405

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 53

cases mentioned? The further q tiestion arises, If the ancient

Tibetan language should have made a clear distinction between short

and long a, and if an attempt at discrimination between the two.

in writing should have been contemplated, why is this distinction

not carried through with regular and convincing persisten~y? Why

does it only appear in a few isolated cases? And if this project

were once set on foot, bow could it happen that it was .dropped

so soon, as not a trace of it bas survived in later literature? Con­

siderations like thesP should render us cautions in accepting tLe

view of Mr. BARNETT. It is highly improbable that long a (and in

general long vowels) existed in Tibetan. It seems to me that long

vowels are in Tibetan merely of secondary origin, being the out­

eome of a fusion of two joining vowels, or arising from the elision

of final consonants. 1) In our text \Ve notice that the word bya,

1) Jiiscuu (Tibetan Grammflor, p. 4), who aasuredly poueased a good ear, expreuly

states, •It ought to be specially remarked that all vowels, including • and o (unlike the

Sanskrit vowels from which they have taken their signa) are short, since no long vowela

at all occur in the Tibetall language, except under particular circaaa.tancea melltioaed

below." Compare the same author'• Ueber ditJ Pjowtilr der tiMtucAe. Sprt~clu (JIOJUJI6-

6en"clzte Berli1teT .4./cadlfllie, 1866, p. 1112). For the aame rcuon I am unable to ahare &be

opinion of }ir. WADDELL (J. R . .J. S., 1909, p. 94.6) whea he tria to make ont short

and long i in the Tibetan inacription of •· n. 783. 1'he abort i following ita Indian Deva­

nagari prototype, according to Mr. WADDJ:LL, ia represented there by a reversion or the

tail of the superposed aign to the left, which is not found in modern Tibetan maouscri}lta.

Hut what evidence is there that the letter i with tail to the left a~ould denote in Tibetan

a abort, and i with tail to the right a long vo"el P Thia ia an arbitrary and unfounded

opinion. Why should - taking the uawplea from the text of the inscription aa tran­

acribed by Mr. Waddell - gyi, lcyi, 1rid, "'!Ji, ,.;, yi•, ,;,;, lr·n..,, {Jdi, etc., hue a &hort

i, but llru, lin, gcig (gtlig in line 2 ia a misprint), dgyu, ziri, 6km, bZi, citi, i~-6a, lc'ri•, dri•, p'yin, p'ri•, rAin, lei, etc., have a long i, - words which at preaent are all

pronounced with the vowel short P There are, further, aeveril ineonsisteneiea due either to

&be original or to Mr. Waddell'• tranacript. The interrogative pronoun ci baa \be long

vowel in line 3, the short vowel in line 4.6; the particle of the genitive kyi, otherwiae

•hort, becomes long in line 68 ; rl@.in is long in line 65, but •hort in line 66; -4, the sign

of the genitive, is usually long, but short in line 60. The author remarks that the di.

~inction of the short i by reversal of the superscribed limb baa not been noted in every

lnatance. On p. 1276, where two other inacriptions are tranacribed, he sa1a, "ln this cop7

406

54 R E RT H 0 I. D LAUFER.

"bird," ia followed by the letter a in but a single case (V. 14),

while in two other cases (V. 8 and 1 7) it is written without it.

Why should it be bya in the one, and by a in the two other cases?

In fact, howeYer, the vowel of bya is not long, but short or quite

indeterminate in ~~gard to length. Nor can it be argued with

Mr. B.a.&Jffil' that the juxtaposition of a and the alleged vocalic

lengthening are due to the pause, for we have b!fa +a at the close

of V. 14, and bya without a at the close of V. 17. Now, what is

the dittiac&ioa between the long and abort i baa not been recorded.'' An important palaeo·

graphic ud phoaetic fact ia revealed by theae inscriptions: in the one case it ia dnlt

with ia a perfectly arbitrary manner, as suits the author's convenience; in the other cue it

ia ai•ply auppreaed. This ia a aingolar method of editing tuta. The 1tudent who ia deair­

ooa of iaveatigating this phenomenon will therefore turn away from these artifacta and for

the tice being hue recourae to the facaimile reproduction of the Tibeto-Chineae inscriptio&

of •· u. 8.91 appended to Dr. HuanELL's FArly Hutory of Tibet, where the 1ame diatiac­

tioa of Uae two i'a occurs. The ia&oriptiona publiahed by Mr. WADDELL, for thia anlleevcral

olher reuoa1, will have to be studied ann.- .in the future, on the buia of facsimile l'Obbinga

ae&aally takea froa the 1tonea. In regard to this peculiar form of i, Mr. W.&DD&L ia

wroag ia lllt!rtias tbt it i1 not found in modern Tibetan manuscripts. It occurs in all

pod auueripta and printa denotiag the vocalic r and I of Sanakrit worda, II m:\y bt

aeea. for uaaple, in pl. I of Cu.tNDIA DAs, Tlae Sacred 11rui (J,...•erat~rl C4art~cterl of

1'iJJ.t (J. ~- S. B., ~ol. LVII, pt. l, 1888); and this is the only positive fact which wre

thu fat_ bow aboa& the meaning of thia ai!(n in Tibetan. ·It ia frequently employed in

P',- ,...., •i-1. NJ.I bp, a manuscript of tbe India Office Library alluded to by ScHill'·

NU (M~ MictifKU, Vol. VIII, p. 6i4), in words as mi, Jia, p'yi1, k'ri, t,ldi, aud in

the partielea of the geaitive lryi and -i, buL with no apparent r.-gularity. The aign, further,

G~:Cilrl ia tae roek-earved in~eription1 of Ladakh published by A. H. I''RAMCU: (I .dian

~.n,..,.,, Vol. _lXXII, lVOa, pp. 861-363, pl. Vlll); there we rueet it in the ending•

of tile guitive, gi and ..;, which proves how unfounded Waddell's opinion is, for the aur1·

poeitio' t~& the geaitive sign -i should be short in' Ladakh and long in Central Tibet

woaltl \tl abaurd. Th• distinction of the two i'a, in my opinion, does not relate to quantity,

whicll dicl aot exiat, but wu made to upreas two different phonetic ulues or timbre• of

i, which are determined farther on. The vowel system of Tibetan, also at the time of the

iatrodaetioa of writing, wu far richer than it appear& from the five maiQ vowela c, e, i,

o, •• tile oaly ODel u:preaaed in writing; and lor a certain length of time aD attem1't at

ditcriaiutiDg between two val11es of i seems to have been made. - The inverted sign i

i1 atill employed also, for typographical reasons, in cases where there is no apace for

the ordiaary vowel-sign; 11 oecurs, for instance, when in the line above a word with

the ~owel-aign 11 1 (especially the combinations '!I"• ·ru hanging beneath the line proper) i1

pri!lt~.

407

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 55

the rule? Our material is certainly still too scanty to admit of

positive conclusions. We haYe to wait till more ancient documents

turn up. Meanwhile it is in1cumbent upon us to record all pecul­

iarities le cas eclleant, and to beware of premature and generalized

judgments, which will do more harm than good to the future stu­

dent, and which may be exploded at any moment by the reading

of a new document. A concl~sion as to the existence of long and

short vowels in ancient Tibetan is certainly a case of i01portance,

not only for Tibetan but also for Indo-Chinese philology, aa the latter

is vitally affected by the former; but such a case must be founded

on facts, not on guesswork. Basing my opinion on the documef'lt

Petliot, I am under the impression that the addition of the letter

a is not charged with a phonetic value, but has a mere graphic

function. The writing of such words as dgra and blta with an

additional a moves along the same line as words like dga, bka,

mk'a, dma, etc., where the vowel a is still expressed by the presence

of the letter a to avoid ambiguity, as without it the readings dag,

bale, dam, would be possible (CsoMA, Grammar of tlte Tibetat& Lan­

guage, p. 17). Writing was then 1n its initial stage; and the rule

as to when the letter a was a nP.eessity, and when it could be

dispensed with, was not yet clearly d.lveloped. To all appearances

it was then granted a wider latitude; and for the sake of greater

disti~ctness, the a was rather added than omitted. In other cases

it is neglected where it is demanded by modern rule: thus, in the

('a,listambasutra, the word rnkca is once expressed by the two letters

mk' (Ancient Klwtan, p. 552, D 9). One point is clear, that at the

time when, and in those localities where, the da drag was still in

vogue, the rule necessarily had to meet a more extensive appli­

cation; for there the word brda, for instance, if unaccompanied

by the letter a, could have as well been read bard. As this word

is written bda in our text, it was ,certainly necessary to acid the·

408

·56 B E R T II 0 L () L A U F E R.

letter a; but it is just this word brda which even IL1 modern prints

is spelled with a as well as without it;· the spelling with a is, for

example, the rule in Kcien-lung's Dictionary i11 Four Languages. 1f

it should turn out through further investigations that this a occurs

with special predilection in the suffixes pa, ba, etc., at the end of

a sentence, it may very well be that it is a graphic sign employed

to mark a certain stress or emphasis,~ or to denote a stop.

Our text is characterized by two negative features, the

absence of the final o, which may be explained by the fact that

this text is written in colloquial style, whereas the final o is restricted

to the written language; 1) and the lack of the so-called da drag.

l} U ia in full swing in the Stein fragmenla of tbe r·llut"m.IJuuirt~ and in tbe agraftiti

llf Endere, aa well as in the ancient inacriptiona of Lbua, - all documents of the written

language. The origin and meaning of thia final o hue Dot yd ben explained. ·A. C:;oMA

( Grcm•ar of the ·I wet a,. Language, p. 84.) baa merely noticed the fact. When FoUCAUX

( Gralli•aire de Ia langrAe ti/Jitoirut, p. 17) obaerves that the particle o h~s the signification

of the verba "to be, to have, to make," thii ia only to the point in that the aenten~. 'in

1ome in1tancea, may thua be tranalated by us, but it ia not correct from a Tibetan view­

point. From Jiacu.u: (llikta• Grammar, p. 45) it only appears that the principal verb

of a aonteDce closing it receives in written Tibetan in moat caaes the mark o, by which

the end of a period may be known. This o, in my opinion, is identical with the now anti­

quated demonstrati.-e pronoun o (compare Lepcha o-re) which, according to ScurnN&R

(ErgiiUV~~gi1J, etc., p. 49), nry rarely occurs. He points out padmt~ o-11i, "this lotus," in

the Kanjur (Vol. 74, Col. 4.6), and grori-k'yer t~-air f!-9TO, "to go into that town," in

~Dsaii.I-IJZ.. (compare also Jlila"9e1 uiatitjws, Vol. I, p. 385; and Ueber PluralJJeuich­

••"f!•, I. e., u 21, 22}. lD the Tibetan prose veraioD of .J.padii.fuJkalpala{ii. (p. 262, line

20) we lad, k'ged •i ... lru 10 lin ni• ska•-pa •II srid, "this your body seems to be

dried np like wood;•• and (p. 184, liae 19), o ri-dr1ags g~er-logs ~i-o us, "thia one here

ia that gazelle gSer-lop by name.'' The latter example ia Yery inatrnr.ti•e in ahowing ih~ 11ronoan o preceding a DOun, and again at the end of the aentence linked to the related

pronoun fl/.li, ~i-o apparently meaning "tbia ia." The frequent phrue D-114, abbreYiated

iato tnt, embodie~ a 1nrvival of thia pronoun, the literal meaning being •if thia ia 10."

1'he pronoun o itaelf rt.preeenta the remain• or the entire vowel aerie.~ which must have

originally had pronominal aignificance. In Ladikhi (A. H. FBANCU, Slcetcla of lAdaihi

Gra• .. r, p. 28, Calcutta, 1901) we bave i or i-IJo, "this," and 11 or 4·00, •that." In

eastern Tibet we have · e, for enmple e·de 111i, •that man" (beaide o-de; A. DESGODINS,

Esui d11 gra•at~ire tAiltltciru, p. 39, Hongkoog, '1899), and in Tung and Sikkim u-di

(Jiscux•, DietW..ry, p. 4.99, and G. S.u•aa:uo, p. 81; al10 according to the writer'• own

!!~•enfliion), wi~h t)le !IQrvivfil fNair, 11-w, •hi&her," ill the written langnage. Alao the

409

HIRD DIVINATION .UlONG THE TIBETANH.

This term means "strong d·" or r'strengthening d." A. CsoKA was

already acquainted with the occurrence of this phenomenon in an­

cient orthography, as shown by the spellings ~tond-ka, dbyard-ka,.

rgyald-ka (Grammar of the Tibetan Language, p. 28); gsand-tam,

kcyerd-tam, gsold-tam (p. 29); gaand-to, gyurd-to, gsQld-to (p. 30),

and his note on p. 11. FoucAux ( Grammaire de la langue tibetaine,

p. 14), in accordance with Csoma, speaks of three ancient double

affixes, - nd or nt, rd or rt, ld or lt (the d was evidently pronounced

with au.lauucltiirfung, aa the final media in many modern dialects),:__

and adds that this d is now omitted, and that probably, under the

influence of this ancient spelling, gyur-to, gyur-tam, zin•to, are still

written. The terminations to and tam cannot be considered as sur­

vivals; for the deDtal is uuthiug but the very da -drag itaelf, the

terminations proper being o (see the note below) and am. It ie

therefore wrong to say that the dra drag is obsolete: it is obsolete

only as -a graphic element, in that it is no longer actually written;

peraonal pronoun& 11-cag, w-6u-cag, o-cag, o-11lol, etc. must be explained from thi• deJaoastra·

tive pronoun. In the 1ame ananner, there was extant in a primeval period of the laoguage a

complete vowel series in the d group of the demonstrative pronoun, of which only f!.l/i and

d,; have aurvived. But we have such remnanta aa da nali antl.{la raAI, •tbia moraiug ;"'

da lo, "thiB year;" do JIU!J, •this evening;" do gdo!i, •to-aight;" do fulg or do •otJ, "to•

day,'' - examples in which da and do doubtlesa have the function of a demoutrative

pronoun. - The l'ibetao verb ia, etrictly •peakiog, a verbal nouo, which for ~his reuon

could ea1ily be connected with a demonatrative pronoun: the aenteace 1UI.r ~nt•cni-tio

l,iteralty mean11 "by me t~i1 feeiog (is done)." The fact that this final o ia not a. verbal

l11l"rticle proper follows from itl auociation with any word category; i1 aay be joiaed to

a noun, an adjective, a pronoun, a numeral, the original function of the demon1trativc

pronoun still being in prominence, with the signi6cance of a completed action or de.Crip­

tiou (hence the Tibetan name for this final is rd1ogt 11•ig, "word of compl.:tion," wbilt ita

other deaignation, liar lndx-IJt~, rl!fera to . itl position at the end of the sentence). There ia.

for instance, b1faN 1Jco1 f!.9YIIr-r-o-cog (LAUJ'ER, Dokwaftlle, 1, p. 49), aad 1uch combina•

lions appear aa aubject or object within a aentenre; compare g1ol-l-u me•otJ-d.o •nm .riy* •dllld ~A. H. F&ANCU, Der . Wi11Ur1RytA•• Jn 'CIIMirugtt, p. 9}, •g11ard U•• prayers

and these offerings!" (where FBANCitX.. p. 66, comments that •the termination o ia here.

inexplicable, un"leaa it may have ari1en from the emphatic articlea 6o, txl'). - b ia aote­

wortby that at the conclueion of \he Preface we iod, not ston-11o, but the popular #fill yia.

410

BERT II 0 L D LAUFER.

but it is fully alive phonetically, as soon as certain affixes, to which

also ci1i, ces, and cig belong (Studien zur Sprachwusenschaft der

Tibeter, Sitzungaberichte der bayeruchen Akad., 1898, p. 584), are

joined to the word. We are easily deceived by the appearance of

writing. In the Tibetan alphabet is deYeloped the principle of writ­

ing separately each syllable of a word and of a~y composite forma­

tion; this, however, does not mean at all that what is separated

by the use of the. syllabic dot in writirlg presents also an inde­

pendent part phonetically. If dissyllabic words, as me-tog, me-lo1i,

mu-ge, p'o-ita, {a-ga(-pa), are written in two syllables for the

mere reason that the monosyllable is the basic principle of Tibetan

writing, it does not follow that these words are compounds; on

the contrary, they are stem words consisting of two syllables, and

should phonetically be written metog, meloi,, muge, pcoita, t'aga

(from t'ag, "to weave"). In the same manner we find rdaogs-so

written in two syllables, and rdaogso written in one graphic syl­

lable; the pronunciation is not ·rdsogs so, but rdsogs._o, In other

words, this is not a case of phonetic, but merely of graphic redu­

plication, caused by the principle of writing. . Likewise it does not

make any difference from a phonetic viewpoint whether the Tibetan

spells gyurd-to or gyW'·to ~ phonetically it is neither the one nor

the other, but gyurt-o. Consequently the rule as expressed by

JlSCHKB (Tibetan Grammar, p. 45, and Dictionary, p. 246) - "da

drag ia -a term uaed by grammarians for the now obsolete d as

second final, after n, r, l, e. g. in kund, changing the termination

du into tu; flo, ro, lo into: tC); nam, ram, Ia~ into tam" - is, frow

a scientific standpoint, wrong. The rule ought to be formulated

that a •mber of stems at present terminating in n, r, l, were for·

merly rii.pable of assuming a final d sharpened into t, and quite

regularly assumed the terminations -u, -o, and -am; of course, the

proper form of the particle denoting the terminative is -u, and not

411

BIRD DIYINATION AMONG TIU: TIBETANS. 59

'"' tu, du, su, as our grammars merely state for practical purposes,

the consonants r, t, and d being inserted for euphonic reasons, and

su joined to a word with final s being solely a graphic picture of

uo phonetic value (e. g., nags-au of writing = naga-u phonetically).

The presence of the da drag was known to us for a long time

only through the medium of·the native grammarians, till Mr. BuuU:Tl'

(J. R. A. S., 1903, p. 110, and Ancient Klwtan, Vol. I, p. 5•9)

found it written in a large number of cases in the Steia frag­

ments of yaliatambasiltra. Bat, .Mr. BAIUUrrr observes, HiD i.olaied

instances it is omitted in our MS. from roots that elsewhere have

it, a fact indicating that it was already beginning to be dropped

in actaal speech." This is a point which I venture to challenge.

Spelling and speech are in Tibetan two matters distinct; &Dd, as

shown above, spelling is not a true mirror of the phonetic atate

in the present case. The vacillating spelling in the l(ali8tambal'idra

simply proves that there was no hard and fast rule for the appli­

cation of this d in writing; but it does not at all prove that if

or because it was not written, it was not sounded, at least iu

many cases.') In other cases when it was omitted, there was surely

no necessity for it; and the problem, after all, amount. to thia,

What is the significance of this additional d? This question

is raised neither by Mr. BAB.NBTT, nor by Mr. A. H. FRAICCKt:

·(Ancient Khotan, p. 564), nor by Mr. WA.DDELL (J. R. A. S., 1909,

- ---- -----·-

I) There is a practical example in our Preface from which it may be cleaoHtraied

that the dtl drag, though not tixed in writing, nevertheleaa may have been eoundetl (tee

note on p. 61). }t'~rther, Mr. Barnett may be refuted with e:a:amples furnished by hi~ owa

text In D 3 (p. 651) occura the writing rkye?t ~di, and in the next line ikynuJ ~­Now, ahould this indicate two ditferent J>rOnuociatione co-existing at that time? Certaialy

not. The pronunciation simply was rkyendi in either case. The two apelliaga solely iDilicate

two modes of writing these words io that period; they could be written either way, say, ~or instance, in the same manner as we· have the two systems of Webster and Worcester 111

English spelling, and the latter daya' questionable boon of simJililied spolliug.

412

60 B E R T H 0 L D LA L F E R.

pp. 942, 1250), who notes the absence of da drag iu the inscription

of A. D. 783 and its occurrence in another inscription from the

first part of the ninth century. The latter document, according to

Mr. WADDBLL, retained the old popular [why popular?] style of:

orthography, while it is lacking in the older inscription, because

it was revised by the staff of scholarly Indian and Tibetan monks

working under the orders of King Kcri-sron lde-btsan [there is no

evidence for such a statement]. The document Pelliot is highly

popular and even written in the language of ihe people, and shows

no trace of the writing of a da drag. The whole argumentation

of .Mr. Waddell, owing to its subjectiH character, is not convin­

-cing; 1} and it is difficult to see how anybody could argue out this

case -with any chance of success, without previouRly examining

what a do. drag is.

First, we have to note that the application of this sign is not

quite so obsolete as heretofore stated. It is upheld, no doubt under

the force of tradition, in many manuscripts; I observed it repeat­

edly, fo.r instance, in eighteenth century gold and silver written

manuscripts of the A•hta•aluurikaprajiwparamita with the Tibetan

title su-rab-kyi pea rold tu pcyin-pa. The mere occurrence of a dn

drag is therefore no absolute valid proof for the antiquity of a

1) Oa this occasion Mr. W ADDKLL re•arka that &be dra!/ "bas always f?] been

recogoiad b7 'he. Eogliah lexicographers or Tibetan u s genuine archaism." Tbe Kogli&h

lexicographen or Tibet•n! - I regret that they are unknown to me. 'i'be first Tibet..u

dictionary edited by ScHRoTBR (Serampore, 182.6) is based on tbe materials ~r a Roman

Catholic miuionary, Fathcu Jnvenal (see 1'Ae ,lcadt:111!J, 1893, pp. 466, 590; Father

l"ulX, .T. A. S. B., Vol. VIII, 1912, p. 385, without knowledge of this article, attribute•

the materials of this dictionary to Orazio delle Penna). Csoma, u knowo to everybodJ.

was a Hungarian. I. J. Schmid,, A. Schiefoer, H. A. Jiacbke, were German•. Vuilye,, to

whom alao Tibetan lexicograt1by owe'- much, wu a Russian. "'Lea miuionnairrs catboliquct

du Thibet," fignring ~ the authors on the title-page of the Tibetan·Latio-Freneh Uictio·

nary pobliabed at Hongkong in 1899, were usor,edly ool Englishmen; and Sarat Chandra

Das ia a Bengali. Or d!;)eB Mr. Waddell's pbiloaophy include every Engliah-apeakiog or

.Eaglish-writing person ~ category of Engliabmen?

413

BIRI> DIVI.NATION AMONG 'THJ•: TIBETANS. 61

manuscript; :nor does_ its suppression constitute evidence against

antiquity, as demonstrated by the document PeUiot and the inscrip­

tion of 783. Secondly, we have to consult the Tibetan gramma­

rians, and to study what· they know anent the subject. The most

complete native grammar is Si-tui Butn-rtag11, edited in 1743 by

gTsug-lag .c'os-kyi snail-ba of Si-tu in the province of Kcam~, and

reprinted by the Bengal Secretariat P1·ess in 1895,1) In this work,

grammatic-1 rules are illustrated by numerous examples, and the

da drag, wherever applicable, is strictly maintained. Thus we meet

00 p. 19 the forms kund-tu, pca-rold-tu, mtlard-tu, q,dsind-la, 2) ·

'.uuind-na, q,d11erd-la, q,dserd-na, BtBald-la, ataald-na; on p. 24, {tbreld;

on p. 30, bstand kymi, q,byord kyan, ataald lcyati; on P· 33,

gyurd tam, Qtscald t,am; on p. 102, batand, bkand, bkard, bstard;

bcala;- mnand, bgard, baald, mkcyend, mtlard, qkcruld, q,drmd byed,

t,tdserd byed, gaold byed, mt'ard byed, q,p'end byed, batund bzin-pa,

!)Bolt) bzin-pa, etc., but gnon bzin-pa, gtor bzin-pa; on p. 103,

rtsold, rold, sbrand, zind, smind, byind, p'yind, t'ard, tlard, but

dul, Sar, bor, tBcOT~ t'al, further stond, &tend, rtend, abyind, skurd,

spruld, speld, lend, smond, seld, nand, but sgrun, snron, sgyur, k'ur;

on p. 108, sto11d-ka ('autumn'), berd-ka ('staff'), mlccyend-pa, pcand­

pal, pcyind-pa, stond-pa; and on p. 110,- dkond-cog, rind-e'en, lltand

cig. On pp. 15 and 16 the part played by this d is explained

1) Thia work ia mentioned by A. CsoiU, Eraxrneration of Uutorical aNi Grammati­

t:al IYorb to btJ met fDitll i11 'l'iiH:t (J. A.. S. B., Vol. VII, 1838, p. 152); but Situ or

lhoiD-bu-pa are aot the namea of the author, as alated by Csoma, but merely titles. He

is •tyled •the great Pat1~ita of Situ" {compare Si-tui """ rtll!JI, p. 137, nad CHANDRA

l>u, Dicti01uuy, pp. XXXl aad 19,~2). · ·

2) While the preface of fkJcw•~'.J'elliot ~ V. 13) haa iJtUill-111. Ia V. :J rltfen, while

'~!I~ is repeatedly found io the frag~~ata of £:dli•t•mh••utra; ia V. 1' 1ton m ioatead

of llu~td "i; ia V. 23 rtora cirJ iaatead of rttmd ci!J. But ia the latter example, cirJ ia the .

!•lace of iig, aa required by Uie JlfeleDt rulft, is testimony of the efl'ect of ada drii!J; the l•alatal c 0 :z • • • • 11 . r c 11 ccrtaJDly a compoa1te sound of the value of t1, and, though not actua y •rattea th .•. .

• e w' drag may ha.ve neveribclesa been actually sounded - rto•t-lilfl.

414 ci!>

62 H E U. •r ll 0 I. H L A U 1<' }~ H.

as purely euphonic (brjod bde-ba), and there is surely much in

favor of such a view' at least in the final stage of the develop­

ment of the matt.er, though this do~ not exclude the idea that iQ

a former period of the language a more specific function of a for­

mative charact.er may have been attached to it. When in the fraiJ­

ments of the (:alutamba,utra the adverb on kyan is written ond

· kyan, we doubUeu have here a wholly secondary application sug­

gested by analogy where no other than a euphonic reason for the

presence of d can be given; for the element 01& has arisen from

o-na ("if t\lis is so"), hence the d canuot have originally inheretl

in it, but must be a later addition to faciliiate1>ronunciation (com­

parable to the French euphonic t in a-t-il, etc.). The euphonic

character of da drag is visible also in its restriction to stems termi­

nating in t1, r, l; und even in these limited groups a certain selection

seems to take place, in that certain stems are not capable of teceiv·

ing it, as evidenced by the examples quoted, and many others oc­

curring iu literature. Thus, t'ar-ba forms only t'ar-ro, never tear-to.

while skul-ba always forms bslcul-to. Au irateresting case is presented

by the verb •kur-ba, which io the sense "to abuse'' forms slcur•f'O,

but in the sense "to send" skur-to. , Here we almost gain the

impression that the additional d was resorted to ~n order tod19criw­

inate between two different homophonous words.

In questioning the fo)'mative elements of the language, we observe

that' there is an affix -d forming transitive verbs from iotrausitiYt!

or ~ominal roots: for example, skye-ba, "to be b~ro," - slcye-d-pa.

"to beget;" nu-ma, "breast," - nu-d-pa, "W suckle t '.rbye-ba,

bl ,,

"to open" (intr.), f)bye-d-pa, "to open" (tr.); t.rdu-ba, "to asaem e

(iutr.) - 11du-d-pa? "to assemble, gather"' (tr.); t,tbu-ba, "to be

_lighted, kindled,'' -t.tlm-d-pa, ·~to blow;" dmu, "low," - :uno-tl

·:P 1 f. 415

BIRD J>IVINATION AMONG 'flU.: TlHJ.:TAN~.

d) "to blame, contempt." 1) Also byed-lfla, "to do," com.; (dow- -pa, r

pared with bya, "to be done, action," belongs. here; and I am in-

clined to think that byed (phonetically byod or b'od) has arisen

from a contraction of bya + yod, lit. "he is doing." It is conceiv­

able that this final -d may in general be a remnant of the

copula yod: as, for instance, ago (]bye, "the door is open;" ago {tbyed

(= t_tbye + yod, qbyod), "(I am) opening the door." This possible

origin of the transitive -d w1>uld account also for the fact that

formations with -d denote a state or condition, as there are rga•

d-pa, "old man," from rga-ba, 11 to be old;" na-d, "disease," from

na-ba, "to be sick." If this -d is a survival of a former yod, then

nad formed of na + yod is 11 the state of being ill ; " rgad formed

of rg!a + yod is literally 1'one being old." Likewise we have ~tgro­

ba and qgrod-pa (also bgrod-pa), 11to go, travel," without apparent

distinction of meaning at present, while the latter originally meant

•·to be on a journey."

The conclusions to be derived from these considerations may be

summed up as follows. It is probable that the so-called da drag,

iu the beginning, was a formative element of grammatical char­

acter, or at least derived from such an element. In the earliest

period of literature, this significance had entirely" vanished from

the consciousness of the speakers; and we the.g/ find the d applied

in the n, .r, and l stems inserted between stem and suffix for purely

euphonic reasons. The degree to which the euphonic d was culti-

l) Compare SHTSH~RBATSB.OI in CollectW. of .Jrtiele• i" llo•or of Laaa,.rki(Vol. I,

P· 641i, St. l)eteraburg, 1907). The author who abataina froiD indicating what he owea to

his predecessors ia neither the diacoverer of thia law nor olhen JlrOJIOunded by him. The

~aae under consideration haa already been treated by A. CoNB.ADY (Eine indoclline•ilclu;

Cau,atiu-lJenominatiP-Bildll"f, p. 4.6); before the time when Professor Conrady published his

fundamental book, I enjoyed the 11rivilege, in the course of over a year, of being engaged

With hiin in so many diseuaaiooa of the Tibetan verb, that I am oo longer cousciou1 of

IYhnt ia originally due to him or to me.

64 H ERT H 0 L H LA U •• E H.

vated must have varied In different localities, or, what amounts to

the same, dialects; it was not a stable or an indispensable constituent

of the language, but could be ~d with a certain amount of free­

dom. This accounts for its uncertai~tt,y in writing, being omitted in

some ancient documents, and being fixed in others, and even in

these not consistently. The state of writing, in this case, does uot

allow of any safe inferences as to· phonetic facts. In the spellings

t-o, t-am, t-u, still in vogue in the modern written language, the

da drag is pr~ctically preserved, the alteration inspired by simpli­

fication being of a graphic, not phonetic nature. :For this reason

it is justifiable to conclude that also in other cases tue da dray,

without its specification in writing, may have coutiuued to be

articulated.

Phonology of the 1'ibetan Language of tile Ninth Century.

The Tibetan scholars distillguish two main periods in· the devel.;.

opment of their language, which they designate as "old language"

(brda riiit't) and "new language" (brda gsar). 1) The difference be­

tween the two is largely lexicographical and phonetical, the latter

distinction being reflected in the mode of spelling; the grammat­

ical differences are but slight, while stylistic_ variation commands

a wide latitude. The existence of a large number of al·chaic terms

in the older writings, no longer understood at present, has led the

TibetanR to prepare extensive glossaries, in which' those words and

1) The translations "old and new orthography" proposed by JisCRII.& ~Dictional'¥ •

p. 298) take the meaning of these terms in too narrow a sense. Questions of spelling in

Tibetan are at the same time those of phonetics and grammar, and in the native glossa·

ries the two terms strictly refer to old and new words. They contequently bear on graiD·

mar and lexicography, and comprise the language in its total range. For the distinctions

made by Mr. W ADDKLL (J. B. A.. S., 1909, pp. 1269, 1275) of pre-classic and cla~~ir 11eriods (even "fully-fledged classical style," and aemi-claasic, p. 945) I see no nece88ity i

the Tibetan division i11 ~lear nntl to the point, an1l i' quite autticicnt.

BIRD J>I\'INA'l'lON HHING Tim 'l'IHJo:TA.X~. 65

phrases are defined in modern language. The most useful of these

works_ is the Li-sii gur kcati. 1) The well-known dictionary rTogs­

pa'r 8 lq-ba 1) contains a long list of such words in verses; and the

lCan-skya Hutuktu of Peking, Rol-pai rdo-rje (Lalitavajra), a volu­

minous writer, who has composed a number of special glossaries

for various. departments of literature, offers in this series a 11 List

of aucieut compared with the modern wor'ds" (brda gsar rilili-gi

11kor). 3) T.here is, further, a work under the title Bod yul-gyi skad

ysar riii1i-gi.- n1am-par dbye-ba rta bdun snmi-ba, which has been

cart•fully utilized iu the 11 Dictionnaire thihetain-latin-fran~ais par

lcs Missiouuaires catholiques du Thibet" (Hongkong, 1899).4) It is

a particular merit of this dictionary that the words and phrases of

the aucieut style are clearly indicated as such, and identified with

the corresponding terms of the modern style (by the reference

..t = R, ancien = r{.:ent). This as well as another feature, the treat­

meut of synonyms, constitutes a point in which the French work

iff' superior to Jii.scbke. JlscHKE, it is true, includes a goodly num­

ber of archaisms. (though far from being complete), bot in moRt

rases does not indicate them as such. As regards spelling, the

l-) 8-cH.IItol'--and lloKHTLINali.'s YeruieAt~i6, p. 64.; Scurt:PNKR, Me!4age1 •iialil}w~tl,

Vol. I, p. 3. There ia a good Pelring edition (26 fola.) with interltnear Mongol version,

vrinted in 174.1.

2) Keleti uen&le, 1907, p. 181.

3) It. i1 (lobliahe,l in Vol. 1 of hia Collected Worka ~111Jl,~111) printed in Peking

(eomJlare .4lila,gu tui.atiquel, Vol.. I. p. 4oll).

4) Accctrding to kind information given by }<"ather A. DISGOOINS in a letter dated

from. Hongkong, October 7, 1901. }<'ather l>eagodina, with whom I waa in correapondence

on Tibetan subjects from 1897 to 1901, and whose memory is very deat: to me, waa good

enough to furnish me with a lid of the ~even Tibetan dictionaries compiled for his great

enlerpr!ae. It was at my inatigation that Father Deagodins consented to aend to Europe

lbe aingle sheets of his Dictionary aa tbeJ lefl the pret .. ao that I waa in a poaition t.o

~ake practical u~~e of his material in my work aa early as 1897 and 1898. I& aeems

•uagular that, Jaerhaps with the sole exception of Mr. v. Zar.,h, 1-have thus far remai111·d alnue in rl' · · 1 • 1 · f h" d" . l I f . "t --- .~O<~IIIXIng t 1e spemn 1mporlanee o t as JCtlonary nnt t 1e way o usn1g a .

418

66 .H E R1T H 0 I. D L A U _., E R.

system now generally adopted is traced by Tibetan tradition to

the reform of two scholars, dPal-brtsegs (Qrikuta) from sKa-ba, ~)

and kLui rgyal-mtian (Na.gadhvaja) from Cog-ro, 2) assisted by a

stafl of scholars, at the time of King Kcri-lde sron-btsan (first part

of the ninth century; according to T=ang 1hu, his reign began ;n

816).3) Prior to this time, as we are informed by Rin-ccen ccos

skyoil bzail-po (1440-1526) in hisj remarkable work Za-ma-tog,

there were difterent systems of spelling in vogue, but all traceable

1) dPal-brtaega took part in the redaction of the first catalogue of the Tibetan

Tripi~aka (Doiuraeale, I, pp. 60-U), waa fap;~iliar with tbe Chineae language (Romat~,

p. 4), •nd 8g11rea u tranalator in tbe Kanjur (J•nalel d• Mwl11 O.imet, Vul. 11, pp. 182,

i33, 33'1). Ia the Taajur, Cor iDBtance, he cooperated with Sanajuadeva in the traaalation

of Nigirjuna'a Suhrillekha (translated by H. WENZIL, p. 32), and in that of Candrago·

min'• Qikahalekha (ed. by A. hANOVBKI,- Zap., Vol. IV, Jlp. 53-81). Hia portrai~ is in

GaiiNW.II:DEL, JlgtlaoiiJgie de1 Buddki1mu1, ll· 411.

2) Thia name occur• in the liat of namea of the 'l'ibetau miniatera in the Lhua

inscription nf 822 reprodnced by BvsH•LJ. (The E11rly Hiltory of Tibet, .T. B . .4. S.,

1880) ~he belonged to the' Board of Miniatera of Forei~n Affairs (p'Ji 6/o• IJka-la gtog1·

pa). The name Cog (or Cog) -ro i1 transcribed io Chineae Slat4-lu Jl JJ., which io&li·

cates that the former character was lounded io the T'aog period cuk (compare Hakka cltr.J:,

Yang-chou t~Wk, Hokk. ciwlt, and CONBADY, ., indoeAiNelilclre OatuatiP·De110711i"alii1-

Bild•.g, p. 11~6). Au analogoua case occurs in YiUin 1Ai: tJj ~~~ =, Tib. c'01, indicated

by P&LLJOT (.TQJ~nuzl a1itl.lique, Mars-Avril, 1913, p. 466), and formerly by E. v. ZACII

(CAiat1 llninl, Vol. XXIV, 1900, p. 266b). Compare p. '16, No. 14.

3) Thia king waa honored witl1 tbe epithet Ral-pa-can (Skr. ke1arin), "wea_!ing loag

hair," becauee he wore his hair in long 8owing locka. F. KurP&N (Dill la•ailclle llier•r·

die ,..J. Kirc,e, p. 72), with his sarcastic humor, hu described how the weak an~t

monarch became a plaything in the banda of the clergy and allowed the Lama11 to ait oo

the ribbons_ raatened to hia locka; -be intended, of course, to imbibe the strength .ulf -holi­

neaa of the clergy, Mr. WADDELL (.T. R . .4. S., 1909, p. 1263) tdea to establish two ne~

facta, - firat that the king wore a cue, and secondly that the cue is· a. Chineae cuatoDl

introduced by the king into 'l'ibet (the undignilled vernacular word "pigtail" used by

Mr. Waddell, in my opinion, is out of place in an hiatorical treatise). The attribution of

a cue to the king is a rather inconaiderate invention. No Tibetan badition ascribes to hilll

a cue or its introduction from China; on the contrary, it is expressly ·related that tbe

ribbons mentioned ·above were fastened to the hair of bia head (db• 1/cra, see dPag 11111111

ljon 6za1i, p. 1'15, line 14). The difference between wearing long hair and a cue is seiC­

evident. Neither could the kiog have introduced any cue from China, since io the age of

the T•aug 1lynaety, as known to rvcry onr., thr. Chinr.sr. did not wear cues; nor iii the cne

a Cbinrse invention at all.

419

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG 'fHE TIBETANS. 67

to the· teachings of Tcon-mi Sambhota, who, during the reign of

King Sron-btsan sgam-po (seventh century), introduced writing from

India, to Tibet.•) That reform of the language is expressly recorded

in Tibetan history. I. J. ScHMIDT 2) has already pointed out this

flict from the Bodhi-m6r, the Kalmuk version of the Tibetan rGyal

rabs, where it is said that at the time of King Kcri-lde sron-btsan

(the name as given by ScHKIDT is erroneous), besides the new trans­

lations, also all previous translations were "recast and rendered

clearer according to a more recent and corrected language." In

dPag bsam ljon bzan (p. 175, line 12) the same is told still more

Jistinctly in the words that the translations were made atr~sb (gsar­

du a it) in a newly cast language. Tue reftex of this tradition is

conspicuous in the colophons of numerous treatises of the Kanjur

translated at that period, where we meet the same phrase, slcad gsar

lad legis !cyan bcos-nas gtan-la pcab-pa.

In order to study successfully the phonology of a Tibetan text

of the ninth century, it is an essential point to form a correct

idea of the condition of the language in that period. This task has

not yet been attempted. The material for the solution of this

1) h is known to what f~nciful conclusions Messrs. B•RN&Tl' (.1. R . .J. S., 1903,

11. 112) aod Faucu ('bcil,.t KAota•, p. 565; lndi.n .intigruzry, 1903, p. 363; Me ••

A. S. B., Vol. I, 1905, p. U) have been driven in regard to the introduction of Tibetan

writing. Mr. BARNKTI', aenaibly enough, later withdrew hia former view; while Mr.

~·1.\NC&.E, who_ atampa u a myth, without any historical criticiam, every Tibetan. account

not suiting hia fancy, continoes to create hia own mythology. There ia no reaaon to

dwell on these fantuiea, or to wute time in their discuJBion. .Mr. W.t.DDBLL (.T. R. 4.. S.,

l909, PfJ. 94.6-947) haa already risen againat these views with what aeems to me to be

flerfect joatice, and it gives me pleuore to ackoowledge that I Cally concur in Mr. W A.D•

DKLL's opinion on this point.

2) GesclticAte der 011-Mo.golen, p. 858. The passage of rGgal ra61 (fol. 89) rr.ns

thus: c•os t'a»U-cad dad g•ar 6cad-1t!Jil gtan·la p'a6, •all religious treatises were cast

into a new loaguage and re-edited." Jiscuu: translate• the ph rue g1ar. gcod-pa by "to

inquire into, investigate, examine;" but the literal sigailicance is "to cut anew, to do some­

thing from a fresh start, to recast." !\n examination of the language of the teJ:ts w01ald have

sense only if alterations in the language, its style, phonology, and spelling, were to be made,

420

68 }U~ R 'f H 0 L I> I. A U F F. R.

problem Is 4eposited in the Tibcto-Chineso inscriptions of the T'ang

period and in the Chinese transcriptions of Tibetan words embodied

in the Chinese Annals of the 1.'cang Dynasty. T,he bilingual epi­

graphieal material in which Tibetan. words are recorded, in compar­

ison with their -renderings in Chinese characters reproducing the

con~mporaneous Tibetan pronunciation of the language of Lhasa,

is of primary importance; for it enables us to frame certain con­

clusions as to the Chinese method of transcribing Tibetan sounds,

and to restore . the Tibetan pronunciation o( the ninth century on

the basis of the ancient Chinese sounds. Thus fquipped with a

certain -fund of laws, we may hope to attack the Tibetan words

in the Tang Annals. The most important document for our pur­

pose is the sworn treaty concluded between Tibet and China in

821, and commemorated on stone in 822, known to the Chinese

archreologists under the name Tang T'u-po ltui meng pei f! pJ: If fl B9. iiJI!. This inscription has been mad~ the object of a

rAmarkable study by the eminent scholar Lo Chen-yu II t,fi 3i in No-. 7 of the journal SMn cltou kuo kuc,ng tsi (Shanghai, 1909).')

This article is accompanied by two half-tone plates reproducing the

four sides of the stone monument erected in Lhasa, which is 14

feet 7 inches (Chinese) high and 3 feet 11/ 2 inches wide. The recto

contains a parallel Tibetan and Chinese text; the verso, a Tibetan

text exclusively. The lateral surfaces are 'covered with the names of

the ministers who swore to the treaty. There were sev:enteen 1'ibetan

and ~eventeen Chinese officials participating in the ratification. The

names of the Tibetan officials· ar¢ grouped on one of the small

sides; th()se of the Chinese, on the other. Both series ·of names are

given in interlinear ve1sions,- the 'Eibetau names being transcribed

in Chinese, the Chinese names in Tibetan. It is obvious that from

1) Comparr P. Pt:I.LioT, B. E. 1' .. 1!:. 0., Vol. IX, 19U9, p. 578.

421

BlRU DIVINATION AMONG THE TIH~TANl':'.

1.1. philological point of view, material of the first order is here offered

to us. From the reproductions of Lo Cheu-yii it follows that

BusHELL, 1) who has given a translation. of the Chinese text, 2) merely·

reproduced half of the· stone. The first plate attached to his paper

contains the list of the Tibetan ministers, which is, accordingly,

one of the small sides of the stone; this part is ·not translated· by

Hushell or referred to in his text; his second plate gives the

recto of the stone, while the verso and the other small side with

the names of the Chinese ministers are wanting. Bushell's photo­

lithographic reproduction is very readable, and my readiu~ of the

'l'i~e~,~ names is based on his Plate I. The Chinese reprud uctiou

iij too much reduced, and the glossy paper on which it is printed

considerably enhances the difficulty of reading. But Lo Cheo-yu

Jeserves our thanks for having added in print a transcript of thu

entire Chinese portion of the monument, inclusive of the ~thirty­

four names as far as dtcipherable; this part of his work proved to

we of great utility, as Boshell's small scale reproduction, hi many

l) .1'je &rlv HUiu'l of 'Net (.1. R. 4.. S., 1880).

2) A drawback to BuaHk:LL'a trualalioo is that it •l•l'ears as a aolid cuherenL account,

wi\110ut indicntion oC the many gaps in the text. Uuahell filled lllese from the text u

1•ublisbed in the Ta T1'i719 i #'rmg cji, As the notes of Lo Cben-yii rectify and lllll•l•le­

mcut thi11 edition of the text on uveral pointa. a new translation of this important moau­

mcut would Dot be a futile task. if made on the basis of Lo (;bcn-yii's transcript. in which

the lacunea are exactly indicated. - A. H. FRANCKE (Epigrapizia l•dica, Vol. X.l909-

W, I'll· 89-Da) has given, after BUSilELL's rubbing (Pl. II), a transcript or the 1'ibetan

vcniun. and what, from a Tibetan point of view. be believes to be a translation of it.

llpuu:LL'a Plate I, the list of tile Tibetan officials, is not mentioned by l<'rancke. It goes

w~\hout aaying that this Tibetan to.d, as well as the other Tibetan epigra1;nical documents

o.f the T•ang period, cannot be translated merely by the aid .or our imperfect 'l'ibetan dic­

l•onaries; sinology ia aomewbat needed io do them. These document!! were drafted iu the

'l'i~to-Chineae goYernment chancery of· Lhasa; and the Tibetan phraseology is to some

extent modelled after the Chinese documeutary atyle, and must be carefully studied in the

light of the latter. Busni!:LL ([•. 102), it seems to me, is not correct in elating that the

Chine~e text of the monument is a translation of the 'l'ibetan original; the question as to

which of the two is the original is immateri;al. Both eJpreu the same sense, and tl"erc

•lrafteJ. aimultaueously by the Tibetu·Chinese clerical sta[ of Lhasa.

422

70 Bl<~H.TJIOLD LAUFER.

passages, left me in the lurch. The account of the erection ot' tuo

monument as given in the 'l'ibetan annals (rGyal rabs, fol. 92)

may be of some interest. "During the reign of King Ra.l-pa-can,

the son-in-law and father-in-law (the sovereigns of Tibet and China]

were still in a state of war, and the Tibetan army, several teo~:~

of thousands, conquered all fortified places of China. The Ho-shaug

of China and the clergy of Tibet intervened and concluded a sworn

pact. The son-in-law despatched pleasing gifts, and an honest agree­

ment was reached. In the frontier-post rMe-ru in China, the two

sovereigns each erected a temple and had a design of sun and moon

engraved on a bowlder, which was to symbolize that, as sun auJ

moon form a pair in the sky, so the sovereign son-in-law and father­

in-law are on earth. It was agreed that the. Tibetan army should not

ad vance below r.M.e-ru in China, or the Chinese army above this place.

In order to preserve the boundary-line, they erected ,visible landmarks

in the shape of earth-mounds where earth was available, or stone-heaps

where stone was available. 'rhen they fixed regulations vouching for

the prosperity of Tibet and China, and invoking as witnesses the

Triratna, Sun and Moon, Stars and Planets, and tbe gods of vengeance, 1)

1) This passage occurs iA the iuacription = if li • Jf ~ a- }J & ~ ~~ 1i :1a1 (BUSHJ:LL: ;fa) m. Tib. (line 62) dl:on mc'o!l ~··m dal'

1Jp'ag1-pq.i ~pti-NIIIJIII gili, zlll dllti gz11 1tM-la yat~ dpa.i-du g&ol-te, "the 1'hree Precious

Onea (Skr. triTIIt••), the Venerable Sainta, Suo and l\loon, Planets and Stars they invoked

u witnes,ea.''. Mr. FaA:NCilE (l. c., p. 98) traoalatea, "The three godti (I), tbe august heavtlo,

etc., are uk.ed to witneu it." He haa th11 wa·ong a·eadiug f!.p'ag&-pai nam-k'a whore da•­

pll, "holy," is clearly in tho text; tho plural &\l8iJ rnams is inferred by me from the

conte1t (the atone is mutilated in this spot). '!'he 'l'ibetao phrase,, as read by me, e~acdy

corresponds ia meaning to the Chinese cAu Aien 1kC11g, "the holy sages • ., '!'hero ia no

word for "heaven" in the Chinese text, nor a Tibetan word for "heaven" ita the above cor·

responding passage in rGyal rt.&IJ&; consequently 11am·k'• cannot be 11ought in the TibetaA

version of tho inscription, either. The gods of vengeance (lltt.c g"" naa•.r) are omitted in

the inscription, presum~bly for the reason that no uact Uhinese equivalent for this

1'ibetan term could be found. 'l'he interpretation as above given ia derh·ed from JascUll

(Dictionary, p. lU2), with whom I. J. ScUJUD'r (Ge1cAicAte der 081-Jiongolet~, p. 861),

translating from the .Rf)dlli-miir ("die riicbenden Tenggeri"), agrees. '!'he gi"uln are a cla&B

423

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG TH}~ TIBETANS. 71

the two sovereigns swore a solemn oath by their heads. 1) The text of

of demons whose specific nature is still aomewbil.t uncertain; in the Bon relif!ion they

form •~ triad with the Hu and aa 6dag (see the writer's EiN Sukngedicltt der Boitpo).

1'he word gAll• means also a species of wild aheep, argali ( OrJU 11111111011 L. or Ooi1

I1odga011i Blyth., see M. D.!UVERGU, Bull. Mr1aee d'hitt. nal., Vol. IV, 1898, p. 216;

tho dofinition of CHAlfDBA DAS [Dictionary, p. 490]- "not the o,;, ammo• hut the Ooia

Jiod_rJI011i"- is wrong, as both names, in fact, refer to the same species). Now, we read in

Kiu Ta1tg aku (Ch. 196 .J:, p. lb), in regard to theaucient T'u-po, $ Jj JJf ::<; jJJ, "they -serve the spirits of 11gua11 ti ;" 11gua11 (this 1·eading is given in the Glossary of

f"''D 1/ue, Ch. 23, by the characters ?Ei. ~ ngu baa; Tib. gfMn --and Chin. 1iua11 are I R 1=1

1,ea·haps allied words; .Brit ya reads yiian JC) likewise refera to a species of wild aheep,

or argali, and ti is a ram. We know nothing to the etfect that the Tibetaoa ever

woa·shipped argali, DOl' can tlae Chinese words be e1plained as the transcription of

11. Tibetan word. It seems to me that Chin. 11guan ti is a literal translation of a Tih.

gl.a•·p'o (or -p'a, "male of an animal") 'caused by the double signi6cance of the Tibetan

word gi'tall, and that tho Chinese annalist means to convey the idea that the Tibetans

worship a class of spirits styled gAan. On two former occaaions it was pointed out by

me that tho word giu&n, presumably for euphemistic reasons, is frequently written gran

{"friend, helper"). In the Table of doet~ment Pelliot (V, 3) we meet the oracle,g'" lJ.a

1l:!Je1-po-la ~J.tl't'·ba-zig o.i-6ar aton, where I am unde1· the impression that gflell lka should

be taken iu the sense of glta" llta, and accordingly be translated, "It indicates that a

terrific spirit doing harm to men will come" (the injnry is not done to the god, aa

M. llACOl' translate&).

1) 'l'ib. d6u 6anu1i dati IJro 6or-ro. Jascau: (Dictioaary, p. 882a) baa already given

tbe correct translation of this phrase. Mr. WADDELL (J. R . .4.. S., 1908. p. 1270) has

wi~;understood it by translating db• snlllti 91141't.-lte •(the king) was sick with hia head."

The word 1nuti in this passage has nothing to do with the word 1il1111t, "disease/' but is

the verb anaui-6a (causative from nuri-6a, "ainall"), "to make amaH, diminish, reduce.';

'l'he phrase tl6u s,iu1i is a fo•·m of adjuration co.-responding to our "I will lose my head,

if · · .'• The beginning of the inscription therefore is, "Laud was granted (1a gnaii-, which

Jous not mean 'honor be givea') • . . 'l'he Cather, the sovereign K'ri·sroil lde-btsan (the

translation "the king's father's father" is wrong; the father, ya6, is a well-known attri­

bute of King K'ri-sroil] formerly made the g~·ant under his oath." On this mistranslation

the following &peculation is based (}1. 1268): "King K'ri-sron ldc-btsan ia stigmatized aa

beiug uf unsound mind - ·~ coudition regarding which there never has been the slightest

hint in tho national histories - and the rule of the kings generally is declared to have

caused a cycle of misfortunes to the country." The entire ,"historical" interpretation of

this inscription is unfortun!l.tely not based on the natiooa) histories, but is a d1·cam of

the author .. There is nothing in the text or "the Sacred Cross of the Bon," which is

t•lainly a Svastika designed on the sih·er. patent (lhiul-gyi !Ji·ge, translation of !Ji• p'ai

~ J:¥ ). nm· is there "the P'an country of the Secret Presence of the Bon deity,"

which simply weans "the district of tJ.P'all in sKu 11'ulis" (name of a locality). Neither

the h·unslution nor the exrtlauation of this inscription r!ln be accepted.

424

72 8 10~ T II 0 ld.) I, AU I<' B H.

6he treaty was inscribed on three stone tablets. On the two large

surfaces was w1itten the text containing the sworn treaty concluded

between the two sovereigns; on the two small sides of the stone

was written · the list lof the names 1) of the Tibetan and Chinese

officials who were accredited as ministers of state. One of these

stone monuments was erected at Lhasa, another in front of~ the

-palace of- the Chinese emperor, another· at tMe-ru on th~ frontier

of China and Tibet. 'If re(ardless of the tezt of this tr~aty, the

Tibetans should march their army iuto China, the Chinese should

read three times the text of the inacription in front of the palace

o( the emperor of China, -. then the Tibetans will all be van­

quished. On the other band, if the Cbineae should march their

army into Tibet, all Chinese will be vauquisbed in case the text

of the inscription of Lhasa should tbr.,e time~ be read,' ..:.... this

oat~ was stipulated between the state miuisters of 1.'ibe,t and China

and sealed with the signets of the two sovereigns."

The purpose of the following study is purely philological, not

epigraphical or historical, though it simultaneously furnishes a not

unimpo~tant· contribution to the then existing offices in Tibet; the

latter subject, however, calls for a special investigation, foJ which

also the numerous references i~ the Tibetan aunals must be uti­

lized, and it ia therefore here di~carded for the timtr being. The

inquiry is restricted to the Chinese transcriptions of Tibetan words;

their pronunciation is ascertained by restoring, as , far as possible,

the Chinese sounds, such as were in vogue during the Tcang period.

It will be recognized . that the Chinese applied a rigorous and logi­

cal method to iheir transcriptions of Tibetan words, and that in

this manner a solid basis is o~tained .for framing a number of

1) Tib. ~in nu. Tlae same expre&&ioo written •!Iii& ru1 occors likewise io the io'icrip­

~ioo 0( 822 (~mparo No. 11, p. 74), wlaoro it correapoods to Chin. •i•!! 10ei ~ ~ •

425

Hlltll HIVJNATION A~IONH TJ(Io; TIB.Jt~TA~H. 73

important couclusions as to the state of Tibetan phonology in the

ninth century, with entirely convincing results, which are fully C~f\·

firmed by the conditions of the ancient Tihetan documents. ~.,irst.

the material itself is revie-wed, to place everybody in a position to

form his own opinion, then the conclusions to be drawn from lt

are discussed. The single items are numbered in the same manner . ·'

as bas been done by Lo Chen-yii. Nos. 1-8 contain no transcrip-

tions, and are therefore of no avail for our purpose; in Nos. 4-8,

the Tibetan text,· with the exception of a few words, is hopelessly

destroyed. Nos. 9-20 run as follows:

9. Cah-arid-lcyi 1) blon-po c'en-po zan kcri bt•an 2) k'od ne stan=

0 0 . " * ., JiJ 2f lt $ fAljil fi Jt )l IJ .,9!, ;I ts'ai siang t'u''!l

ling chat~g sll.i Bhat~g kci li tsan kcu(t) ning ae tang. The nawt! of

this mini~ter, accordingly, was sounded /c'ri tsan kcod(t) nc 3) 1ta1i.

His Tibetan title means "great minister of state," rendered into

Chinese 11minister and superintendent of affairs." ')

10. C'ab-srid-kyi blon-po c'en-po zan kcri bzw lta mt'o/t '= * ~ fij 2fo jJ: • 1AJ ~ :Jr. ~ 5) I( ii tscai aia11g tttng

pcing c/,ang ahi shang kci li ze (je) team (tan) tcung. The Tibetan

name of this minister, accordingly, was articulated kcri .ie(r) tam­

t'o-it (for explanation see farther on).

1) By t~e . tranacription £ tho inverted vowel 1iga i commented on p. 1)3 ahoulll be

understood. lt1 phonetic val11e will be discussed hereafter.

2) The two wo~s .t•r~ ill1a are destroyed ou tbe atone, but can be correctly rc:.turecl

~11 the basis of the Chineae equivaleats .t•i li ~11111; Chin . .t•i li corrospoad~t-to 'l'ib. k'_ci 111 No~ 10, and Chio. III&IC is the frequeat and regular transcriptiun of 'fib.-M1a11.

3) A11 indicatud by Chin. ning, the vowel of Tib. 11e was nasalized (pronouncci like l-'rench tulia).

4) See GILJI!S, D;cli011ary, 2d eel., p. 1132b.

o) Lo Chen-yi.i tranacribea tbi1 character I&, but thia i1 an error. Tho ropro~ction . ,~, 01

BusHELL •howa that tho character ia as given abou, and tbia ia the ooe required for

lhe rendering of tbe 'l'ibetan sounds. 'fhi11 reading, moreover, is confirmed by Ki11 Tang

'"" (Ch. 196 1\, p. llb), where euctly the aame perao11ago ia mentiotled .d,). filjj, :f£ ~ wb · IPJ JIAIJ ~

0 10 825 was sent on a friendly mission to the Chinese Cou1·t.

74

11. C"ab-srid-k!Ji blo11-po t/en-po blon rgyat bza1i, t,ulu.s kwi, 1) = 0 0 ' * iHJ JiJ 2f :lt $ • ~ - tf· Mt $ ts'ai , sitmg t'ung p'iuy

cltaflg ski lutt lcia(p) (~'ap) tsang 2) nu 3) se kw·i. The name of this

I minister was pronounced g'al (or ~'al) za1i dus kUJi.

12. Bod len-poi blon-po tscal-gyi t'ab8 dmi, myitt rus = 0 0 *~ 3l ~ * ~ Jl ;f ~· ~- Ta Po cltu liao ngan teng t'an~ c~e

ming ,wei. 'flhe. Tibetan is a free translation from Chine~:~e, the phrase

teng t'an, ''those who ascended the altar" (in order to swear to the

treaty) being ~mitted. Note that. Bod c'en-po, ''Great Bod," doe~

not occur in Tibt-tan records, but is only a stock phrase modelled

in tbe Tibeto-Chinese chancery of Lhasa after the Great '!"aug

Dynasty jc If. 13. na1i blon mc'ims zai, rgyal bzer k'on ne btsaJ& = - • ~

rAJ AA ~ )l $ Jt nang lun clt'em (clt'en) sltatl!J kia(p) (r'ap)

ze (je) kcu(t) ning tsan. In the name of the Minister of the Interior

we note the pronunciations lim (or c'im) £or mc'ima, ze _lor bzet, ""··

and again the nasalized vowel in nf.

14. p'yi blon blca-la gtot;s-pa Cog-ro l blon bt1an bzer Ito go1i -0

1} Ia Bualhell's reproductiou, k41i. But the rubbiag was shar11ly cut oil' urouud tbulic

laal two worda, w that the sigo u may have been lost during this proceas. 'l'he Clliae~c

traDiicril'tivu h11g calla. for a Tibctaa l&o•u or """I· :!) It doubtleea reprea;eats i'U aucient •za•g (•dzll11fl); COW flare tho Ja11ancsc rcudiag ;u.

~lao ia l"ii4• 1Ai 'fib. IJ:afi.-po ia traoael"ibed - 1~ aud 'l'ib. blu b:aft ll Jl (1!:. \, ZAcH, Till~tica, ClliNt:. Rem~. VoJ. XXIV, HJOO,p. 256a). 'l'he character ;,d 114119

11unea in TIUig 8h• (Ch. 216 li, p. 6a) to render 'fib. gt1att, tho DIU&u: of the Wl&ill

river of Ceatral 'fibeL

3) N• :!f 11eems to have had the phonetic value du (Ja11anese do), 11nd d• 1.; i•

intended for 'fib. ~drtl. Aa analogous uamt•le occur11 ia Kiu Tall!J ''"' in the uawe of

the) 1'ibetaa kiag K'i "" 1i lung :HJ ~ ~ "W- an&weriag to 'l'ib~ K'ri du """

(ua~ually atyled Du 1r01i mtt.it-pu). Cou1pare lo Jl traascribiug 'furkish dii (CIIAVANNU

aud PEUIC.'r, Journal aliatigrtc, 1913, No. 1, p. 175). 'l'he character lie Jj\ rendering

'l'ib. ltlc (prono~uced de in the nioth century) in the n~ri.e of King K'ri ~t'oli Ide 6t1a•

~ I!-tf J jt (Kiu Ta71!JIItu, Ch. 196 J:., p. Sb), oft'ors another instance

of Cllioc!'e iuitinl I concspoodiug to d in a fol'tJign language.

BIIW IHVINATION AMO~lt TIJJ.: TIBETAX~. 7fi

iJt ifa1/JP Jl :1fl iLt Jl /B. ~ Jt ~ ± ~ p'i lun kia lo 1) ttt(k)

po ~u (cuk) lu lun tsan ze (je) t'u kung. The Tibetan words were

accordingly articulated at that time, p''i lon ka-la tog-pa (the Minister

of Foreign Affairs) eog-ro Lon tsan ze(r) to, go1i.

15. Bnam pcyi-pa mc'imB Za1t brtan bzer snag ~) cig = .,OJ, Jfj *It 111 ~ rAJ !! ~ .,m .mi m se nam (nan) p'i po clt'em ~clt't1u)

8/tang tan ze (je) se nak (no) shi. Tibetan pronunciation, snam pc'i­

pa c'im Za!i tan .U(r) snag(k) c't".

16. m1ian pon ba1"t-so o-cog gi blo (tbal blon kru bzan gyes rma = 0

;¥ ~ Jln- P Jl tA Jl * Mt ~ -.Ji- 0 ~ 3) ngan piu (pon, pun) mong (Cantonese and Hakka mang, Japanese bo). "' lw

(Cantonese u, Ningpo wu, Japanese o) 4 ) su. (•cuk) pu lo mo (Hakka

l) Sounded la; see VoLPJCELLI, Prononciation ancienne du ckitroil, pp. 161, 181,

183 (.Actes Xle Congri:1 Or., !'aria, 1&98).

2) Written as if it were 1tag, but the seeming t may have been intended fot· 11

which is J'CI}Uired by the Chiueae transcript; likewise in No. 17. The palaeographie featuret;

ur 1'ibetan epigraphy of the 1"aog v'edod remain to be studied in detail. - The cluu­

•acter ~ is sounded nak io Korean, naku in Japanese. The phonetic element ~

has the value nik; in the Manichean treatise translated by M. CHA VANNU and M. Pn­

LIOT (Journal aliatique, 1911, No. 3, P· o38) it is combined with the t·adical Jl into II

chl\racter which otherwise does not occua·; but as the Pahlavi equivalent rendered by it

i~ 11ag, this artificial character must have had also the sound nair, in the same manner

II~~· 3) Lo Chen-yii tmnscl'ibes the last two characters ~ 0 . The first of thebe cloes

not seem to be ~ , though I cannot make it out in the reproduction of Busm:u., which

is too much reduced; but 4; cnnnot be the conect reading, as the sound miug .it; iocapa·

hie uf reproducing anything like Tib. gye1.-_ The second character left a blank by Lo, I

di~tinct,ly read mo (anciently ma), ~~~ above, 'in l}usHELL'a (>late, and this very wtll liD·

tiwers as transcription uf 'l'ib. rma (sounded ma).

·J.) 'l'be equation p = Tib. o allows us to restore theoretically the nawe ( Jf!.) or King K'ri 1ro1i Ide htsan given in Tang 1k11 (Ch. 216 Y., l'· ·lb) ·in the form

ll~t .'" t'i p Jfi {I into 'l'ib. 0 ro Ide. Chin. lu = Tib. ro we had in No. 14. 'l'be

nocwnt. sounds of t'i were •te, de (.Japanese tei, dei), hence Tib. de o1· lde frequently

uc\:unio~ in the namlls of the kings way be infened (it occurs likewise in the name of

the ancestor ilD. of the 'l'ibetans, llu t'i plt si !JC IS ~ iJJ ~ ff where t' i rm coa·~·.es.ponds to Tib. tle-po or tde-pu; the other elements or this n:unc are truatcd f;u·tbcr

on). A name or the form 0 ro Ide, bowuver, docs not occua· in 'l'ibetau a·ecunls; but in

76 B Jo: H T II 0 L It LA U Jt' E R.

mat, Korean mal; ancient sounds *mwat and mwar 1)) lu'' l..·l~ li tsCl'uy

0 mo (ma). The sign of the genitive, gi, is not transcribed iu 0

Chinese. Tib. m1ian, accordingly, was sounded 1ian; blo was sounded

blo (Chin. pu-lo), not lo, as at present; (tbal was sounded bal, or

possibly mbal or f!1Wal; .b·u was sounded kru (Chin. ku-li), not a~J

now tru or tu; rma was sounded ma. Tib. rmian pon must be a

compound written for mna dpon ("rulers and lords''), the prefix d

being altered into n under the influence of the initial guttural nasal

1i and then pronounced and written i~an pon. The meaning of the

above passage is, "The minister K ru bzati gyelf rma, who was in

charge of the sepulchres of the sovereigns and lords." It was hitherto

unknown that such an office existed in Tibet, and this fact is of

great culture-historical interest. We know that the ancient kiuHs

of Tibet were buried under elevated tumuli, and the rGyal rabs

has carefully recorded' the ·e%act locality and its name where eaeh

king was interred.'.!.) The Tang '''"' (Ch. 216 ""J', p. 6) imparts a

the inscription of 788 edited and traaslated by Mr. WADDELL (J. R . ..J. S., 1909, p. U31)

the aame of a primeval kiilg 0 Ide •P• r11fll is moation~d. I am therefore inclined tu

regard tho Chinese tranacription H• lu t•i as a reproduction of Tib. 0 Ide, the Chinese

syllable lu rendering the profb: I in ld11, which was aonnded on account of the preceding

vuwel, a• still at present. the prefix is articalatod in tho second element pf- a cuQJpound

when tho fint terminates in a vowel. Tho name 0 Ide has not yet been -pointed ou.t a:~

a name or title of Kiag K'ri-ITon ia aay Tibetan document; it remains tg. be seen

wheth~r it will be coafirmed. Tho comment made by Mr. W.\DDTLLL (p. ~83} on thl' kin11

named 0 Ide 'P•. rg1fll is erroneous; he does aot follow tho Seven Celestial Rulers in

Tibetan traditioa. This ·king whom Mr. WADDELL baa in mind is iityled in rGyal, rtlDs

"Sp• de g•1i rygal" (mentioned also by RocKHILL, Tile Life of lite Buddha, p. 20!l, but

tho name does not moan •tho tiger·haired king"), but there is no reason to assume tbat

he is identical with 0 Ide 'P" rgy"al. Although Mr. WADDEl.L (p. 949, DOI6 a} Cll'I"Cblil)

states that there seem~:d ·no trac~ of a final d in tho word o, Mr. A. II F.IIA.NCl\t.

(J. J.. S. B., Vol. VI, HHO, p. 94} boldly and arbitrarily alters this name iuto OJ ldt

•pu rgyal, and trarisla{es thia Od lde by "beautiful light," which is pure fancy, as i~o the

whole article in which Mr. F&.&.NCKK, to his great satia~faclion, shifts the theatre uf

action of 'l'ibetan tradition connected ~ith King gNa. k'ri 6ts~-po from c_entral tu

western Tibet.

1} CHAVA.NNI!:S and PEJ.LlOT, Joul'nal a8ialique, 1911, No. 3, P· oHl.

2} The inlllrwent of King Sron-btsao sgam-po is thus described iu rG!jal rf/.6& (Ch.

BIIW IHVINATION AMONG TIIF. TIHETANS. 77

vivid description of the sepulchral mounds Ji ~ of the 'ribetan

nobles scattered along the upper course of the Huang-ho, white

tigers being painted on the red-plastered walls of the buildings

belonging Ao the tombs; when alive, they donned a tigers-kiu ID

battle, so the tiger was the emblem of their valor after death.

17. bkai pcrin blon e'en 1) ka :.!.) blon snag bzer Ita 1/en = JQ' $

0

~ fh 0 11JP ~ JIR ~ ~ ~ $L ki slti cltung pco (pu) Q kia

hm se nak (no) ze (je) Ita (lw) yen.

18. rtsis-pa ccen-po 0 3} blon stag zigs rgan kcod = Ji Jel

')

iJt fJf ~ tft ~ .l!t 0 4) 1r :Jt }l tse-se po cit'~ pu ngo(k) lun

18, fol. 76): "His sepulchre (ba1i-so) was erected at ~c·on-po (in Yar-lui1), being a mile

all around. It was quadrangular in shape, and there was a vault made in the centre.

The body of the great king of the law (Skr. dkaJ·maraja) was laid in a composition ar loam, silk and paper, 11laced on a chariot, and to the accompaniment of music intl,r·rcd

in the sepulchre. The vault in the interior was entirely filled with treasures, hence the

sepulchre became known under the nllme Na1i brgyan ('Having ornaments in the interior').

~'ive chapels were set up in the interior, and the erection of quadrangular sepulchr·os

took its origin from that time. They are styled sKu-t·i 1mug-po ('red grave-mounds')." I. J

St'llltlll'f (Guchicl&te der 01t-Mongolen, p. 3i7), translating from Bodki-miir, the Kalmuk

version of rGyaJ rabs, erroneously writes the latter name ,]1uri, and makes an image

of the king fashioned from clay and buried in tbe tomb, while the burial of the bod)

is not mentioned. The Kalmuk version is not accessible to me; the Tibetan te1t is clert.rl)

wurded as translated above. The same work (fol. 87) imparts t-he followi_ng information

on the tomb of King K'ri-sroli lde-bhan: "His sepulchre was erected on :\lu-ra· mountain,

in the rear, apd to the right, of thal of his father. The king had it built dur'i-ng his

lifetime. The posth11moos name f!.l"rul ri 9t1Uf1 snan was confen·ed upon him. At the

foot <>f his sepulchre there is a memorial inscription in atone. The sepulchre became

known by the name P'yi rgyan call ('Ornamented in the exterior')."

l) See dPag b1a111 /jon !Jzan, p. lol, I. 25. This term is not.explained in our Tibetan

dictionaries. The Chinese rendering showa that it is the question of supervising censors.

2) l<'or !Jka.

3) This word is badly mutilated in the stone. The Cbineae parallel is 11go(.t), so that

I infer Tib. rt'tog, a well-known clan name. The 1'ibetans have no family nar.aes but clan

names (Tib. ru1, Chin. t&u ~; eomp)Lre the account on the Tang-hiang in Ta•g sit,,

HocKnH.L's translation in Tlte Land of the Lama&, p. 338) named for the localities from

which the clans originated.

4) This lacune corresponds to Tib. 1tag. The character~ ta may be inferred from t=f

the nam L . . ~ ~ .-t'k :~ '1'·•- l''l . . 1'' ' (I c rm /Jt. fa ]e ~ · ( tu •. • 011 ,flag rji') 10 ang .um ( :1. 21" p t=f ...

" Y., l'· Ga).

430

78 H E R T If 0 L J) L A U I<' E .K.

se 0 si(k) !tan 1) kcu(t). The word rtsis-pa was accordingly sounded

tsis-pa. The Chinese transcription of this ministry (instead of trans­

lation as in the preceding cases) indicates that there was no cor­

relate institution for it in China. In the modern administration of

Tibet, the rtsis dpon had charge of the accounts, 2) from which it

may be inferred that the rtsis-pa c'en-po of the Tcang peri~d bad

a similar function.

19. p'yi blon qbro zmi (the remainder is almost destroyed atid

cannot be positively deciphered) = *Jt ~~ & J1 ffiJ p'i lun mu­

lu ,],ang. The transcription mu (compare Japanese botsu.)-lu hints

at a pronunciation bro for 'fib. qbro.

20. zal-ce-ba 3) c'en-po zal-ce 0 0 god(?) blo1~ rgyud 'lion li

btsan = 1fJJ iJ fli}'· ~ 0 li j!i iff JH jt hing P" shang situ

0 lun kie (?'' et) ngan (yen) li tsan. The transcription of rgyud is

of importance; it was sounded g'ut or ?''ut, the prefix r being silent.

1) Chin. nan, accordingly, renders Tib. rgan, which, after the elimination of the prcfil

,., was presumably sounded xan. In a paasage of Yiia• 11\i, the aame Tibetau word i•

transcribed A•• Jj! (E. v. ZAcH, l. c., p. 25o). Chin. A, therefore, in tranacriptions, does

not usually correspond to Tib. A, but to Tib. g with or without prefix. The foll<)'tving

case is of especial interest. Tib. Ia p'uu, "radish,'' ia a Chinese Joan word derived from

lo p'o ~~ llJ (see BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. 2, No. 39); consequently also 'fib.

gtui la p'ug, "carrot," muat be the equivalent of Chin. A• to p'o RJ} JlliJ of tho

same meaning: so that we obtain the equation Chin. ltu M (Japanese to) = Tib. gwti.

Ji'o1· this reaaon wo are justified in identifying also the name Hu a with Tib .. G111i

in the n~me of tho ancestor of the Tibetan& mentioned on p. 76, note 4; and G•ui f'!IY"l•

as correctly stated by CHANDIU. DAs (Dictio11ary, p. 221), according to Tibetan traditiuu,

ill tho naiUo of one of tho early kings of 'l'ibot (the sawo name occurll also in Gnti,; p1i

btsml, son and successor of King K'ri·lroi,, and in Spu de g•ni btsan).

2) Roca:HILL, J .. R. A.. S., 1891, p. 220.

S) Jii.sCHKE Wl'ites thia word Ull c'e, which is a secondary development; it is prop·

orly zaJ lee ("mouth and tongue"), thua written, for instance, A.vadanakalpalafii ('l'ibetan

prose ed., p. 71, 7) and CHANDRA. D.a.s (Dicti01lary, p. 1068). The Table (II, G) olfers tbc

S(IOJliug za-lce, which, together with the spelling of the inscription, shows that tho wol1i

wns (ll'Onouoccd zal·ce in the ninth century. As proved by the- Chinese translation }ftj I

it bad, besides the meanings "lawsuit, litigation, judgment," also the significance 11 f

"pnni,;bmmaf." 'rib. (''f:ll·JlO, "the gt·cat one," appears ll~ fl~IHlcring of rJ.in, :thali!J .fh/1.

431

HllW DIVINATION AMONH THI<; THH;'fA.N:;. 79

There are, further, in the inscription, two interesting parallels

of geographical names. In line 44 we meet Tib. stse zu,,i l?eg (or

ts'eg) transcribing Chin. t8iang kim ku !If. !f! ~ ("Valley of the

General"), and in line 46 Tib. 5en *u hyvan transcribing Chin.

ts'iilg sui hien m .1];:. fi- 0 The Tibetan word Bt8e was pronounced

tsij (the sign e including also nasalized o). The addition of the

prefixed sibilant 8- does not -prove that this 8 was sounded, but, as

in so many other cases, it owes its existence only to the tendency

of preserving the high tone which indeed is inherent in the Chinese

word tsiang. The Tibetan word tse without the prefix would have

the deep tone, while the prefix indicates that it is to be read in

the high tone; the Chinese equivalent t8iang (Cantonese tson,q,

Hakka tsiotl!J) undeniably proves that the palatal sibilant was also

the initial intended in the Tibetan word. It is entirely out of the

question to regard the s in 8t8e as the articulated initial conso­

nant, and only the. desire for regulating the tone can be made

responsible for the presence of the prefixed s. 1) We have here,

accordingly, unassailable evidence for the fact that the tone system

cxilited in the language of Lhasa at least as early as the first

1) An o.nalogous example i• presented by Tib. spar k'a being a transcription of

Chin. pa kua J\. !1\ . Chin. *pat, pat· (compare Tib. pir = Chin. pit -) never h~tl

nn initi~&l a, and there is no reo.son whatever why the Tibetans should articulate aput• a

Chinese jiat"; of course, they did not, nor do they do so, but say par; the unprotected par,

however, has with them the deep tone, while, if tho prefix 1 is supersc1ibed, it receive~

the high tone, aud the high tone is required by the Chinl'se word; the letters is simply n

graphic index of the high tone. Also tho high-toned aspirate k'a instead of lea, which we

should expect, seems to be somehow conditioned by tho tone of Chin. kua. rice ver1a,

Chin. mo-mo 1J. ) with the even lower tone is written in Tibetan mog-mog (·~steamed

llleat-balla"), having likewise the low tone, but not smog, which would indicate mog in the

high tone. - Anothe1· interestinJ~; loan·word is lcog-tae (rtse), "table," derived from Chin.

rho(k)-tse ~ T; the final g indicates that the loan is old. The prefix l merely bas

lhe function of expressing the higjl tone of the Chinese word; the Tibetans certainly

pronounce only cog-tat~ (Inter spellings nrc cog-ls'e and C0f1·1s'o, thr. latter in Li-.;ii .f/U1"­

A·'·ui, fol. 2!1).

432

RO 8 E K T H 0 r~ D I. AU •• •: R.

part of the ninth century, and the reason for its coming into

existence will immediately be recognized from our general discussion

of the phonetic condition of the language in that period. Another

interesting example of the presence .and eifect of tone at that time '

will be given hereafter in dealing with the word zan. Tib. ZU'Ii as

equivalent for kiln !fl is conceivable only when the Tibetans heard

or understood the latter word as cun or swi with a similar pro-\

nunciation, as still existing in the dialects of Wen-chou, N(og-po,

and Yang-chou (compare W. ciung, N. cuing, Y. chiing, given in

GILES's Dictionary); for Tib. z and j are regular equivalents of. the

Chinese palatals c and s (compare Tib. kong jo = Chin. kung {,.

~ j:, Tib. zo transcribed in Ohio. so). 1)

The word cceg (or tsceg) is a Tibetan word, and has nothing to

do with Chinese leu. The Tibetan transcription ce1i for Chin. tscing

is striking; it is not known to me whether the latter w01·d may

have had an initial tenuis in the Tcang period. Simi ~ was then

doubtless sounded su or zu; we shall haYe to come back to the

question why the Tibetan transcription is .~u. The Tibetan hyvan :!)

consists in writing of \initial h with subscribed y (ya btags) autl

following va zur which is 'the semi-vowel !! ; phonetically, the word

is lt'1Jan, so that the pronunciation of Jli must then have het>u

something like the Korean reading !ti{m, or like !tiuan. 3)

l) Tho cate ia fully diacuued farther on, where more eJnmples will be found.

2) 8usuu.L (1. c., p. 105, note f) haa wrongly printed it inuc.

3) It hu ~n auerted that Chin. Lo 1ie- ~ (I'•• Tattg 1hu, Ch. 196 a, p. 1b)

~od Lo 10 jl ~ ( l"'o•g 1lul, Ch. 216 a, p. 1) are intended to render Lluz-1a, the

capital of Tibet (BuSHELL, I. c., p. 98, note 6; RoCKHILL, J. R . .J. S., 1891, p.l90; and

'caAVUNF.S, Doc.•e•t1, p. l 'iS). Thie identification aeeme to me rather improbable .. Tht

1'ibetan word lila ia phonetically x,la; the initial xis not a prefi:s which co11ld be dropped,

but an integral part of the stem, which is still preserved in all dialects. It ia not

likely that the form. x,l11 would be rendered in Chinese eJcluaively by the one ayllable

lo (formerly Ia, ra). .The strict reconstruction of La 1ie and Lo 10 is Ra 1a; and Ra "'

("r.o"t's l.l\nd"), as i11 well known, it~ the 1\nciont name of thu city of J,hasa, before it

433

1:J1RD DIViNATION AMONG THE 'riBETANs. 81

In connection with this list of Tibetan offices and officials it

01ay be appropriate to examine the designations of the Tibetan

Boards. of Ministry, as handed down in Tcang situ (Ch. 216 _t, p. 1). Not only are the Tibetan names here transcribed, but also

their meaning is added in Chinese, so that for the restoration of

the Tibetan originals a double test is afforded, - phonetic and

aemasiological. Nine ministries are distinguished:

1. lun .ch'i ga 1f, styled also ta lu.n jc mfi (that is, "great

lun," Tib. blon len) with the meaning -jc :;f(f, 11great minister."

BusH&LL (l. c., p. 6) transcribes the title lunc/,'ai, although the

Glossary of the T'ang 1hu (Ch. 23) indicates the reading of the

character 1f as ch'i ( A 11: ). From the double interpretation of

the term lun ch'i it follows that it represents Tib. blon c'e, "great

minister."

2. lun clt'i ltu mang I I }g *, styled also siao lun .1]\ -(that is, "small luu," Tib. blon c'uti) with the meaning lltJ :if, "as­

sistant minister." Chin. mang strictly corrt>sponds to Tib. man, "many." Chin. initial It, as noticed above under No. 18, represents

Tib. g with or without prefix, and Chin. u represent~ Tib. o, so

that Chin. hu, I am inclined to think, is the equivalent of Tib.

mgo, "head." In this manner we obtain Tib. blon c'e mgo ma1i,

"the many heads (assistants) of the great minister." I baTe not

yet been able to trace this expression in any Tibetan record, but

it may turn up some day.

---rec:eh·ea tbe lal.ter nmo (CHANDJU. DAs, Dielimulry, p. 1161). Tho Chinese, as shown by

their modo of truacription, were acquainted with tbe name BA-1a, and perpetuated it

~Yen after the chango of the name in Tibet. KoEPPEN (Die lamai1cke Hierarckie, p. 382)

iadicatoa Jr4lllmg aa a designation of tho city after VIGNE, and explaina this yul gswit,

•Jand of tho teaching." Tbis, of courae, is impossible: those words could mean only

•t'tt~ching, or word• of tbe land." But tho reconstruction. is orroneoua: V lONE's tranaerip­

tion il' intended for yul gzu,i, "centre, capital of tho land.·"

434

H2 BE R T ll 0 L JJ L A li F E H.

3. si(t) pien clt'e pu ~ ~ ~ 1) mi with the siguificance tu

ku fJS ~, "commander-in-chief," corresponding to Tib. srid:l.) dpon

c'e-po (arid, "government, ruler, commander;" Jpon, ·• master, lord;"

le-po, "the great one"), "the great commander."

4. nang lu.n clt'e pu Jl ~ :ll. im, with the meaning nei ta

sia11g J1\J 7c iJ, "chief minister of the interior," corresponding to

Tib. na1i blon (exactly so in the inscription No. 13) c'e-po, "great

minister of the interior." 3)

l) In the inacription tJf. 2) Another explanation iii poiisible. Chin. 1i ~ ia aliO cap~bltl of rendering a Tibet­

an initial s-, when followed Ly n consonant, Db bhown h) ~i lug i,Bt !Jf = Tib. 1ro11

in the name of K't·i du. 1r01i mentiunbd on p. 'j -'· Tbuorcl11:ully we llhould thus arri~e at a

Tibetan word *.rpon (=Chin. 1i pin.), wbicb would repre•ent the etjuin:.lect of dpon. While

this alternation between preliHd d and 1 ia po .. ible, the•o ia aa )et no evideoctl that

dpon was alao ancientlJ sounded •.rpuu; but the ca~ll Je.erl "~ cou.ideration, if such 11

reading &hould ever occur in an ancient text. l'rov isione.l!y 1 therefore prrfer to adhere

to the restitution ~rid dpo11.

3) He is styled also lu11 m.z,'t je ~ * 'i~. Tbe latter word is repeatedly util­

ized in the inscription to render Tib. OZP.r, which I think is an ancient form of rje, "lord."

Tho Tib. !Jlmt maii bier or rje, accordingly, would mean "the first among the many

ministers." This expression appeal'S aho as the title of military ollicers, as in Tang shu. (Cb.

216 T>, P· 4 b): m i!i 7C Bm ~ * ~ & ft 1:: :!& -m. I "the Clllll·

mander-iu-chir.f of the Southern Circuit Mo lung k'i si pi (probably Tib. Mod 1ro,i t'n

1py•), with the title !Jlo11 rnait rje." Kiu Tang shu imparts onlv his title without hi~

name. In this respect great caution is neces&ary, in that the T'an~ Annals frequently

deaignato Tibetan officials merely by their title&, not by their names. The commancier in

quoetion was captured in 802 by Wei Kao, snd sent on to the Chinese emperor, who gave

hiru a bouse to live in. On this occasion it is repeated in Kiu Tu.ng shu (Ch. 196 J;,

p. 8 b) that mang je denotes with the Tibetans the great minister of the interior. 'l'he

title wu;.,i rje, indeed, occurs in Tibetan: a coatemporary of King lCt·i sro;, was Sva ma,i

rje g1al (dPag bsam ljo11 b::an, p. 171), and tbe son of King Ma,i sro,i wns (iD«I sroll

malt rje (ibid., p. 150). Analogous titles are ma,i sro,i, ma,i btsun, ma,i b::a (title of 11

consort of King St·o;, btsan). - In the following passa~e a gloss is impnrtcd for tho

word je. In Tang s/m (Ch. 21G r., p. 7 a) wcntion is wnda of a general Slt.ang !c'u11gje

~ ~ j.!(. I military go\·crnor of Lo men ch'uan ~ p, )ii ' with the family

uame Mo *,and the name ( :t'; ) Nu11g li je :Jl jJ ~ , "which is like the Chinese

title la11g ('gentleman') ~ifj J:fl (ig ~ ~~." f'hin. mo (ancient sounds *mwat and

•mwar), I am indineu to think, is intended for the 'l'ibetau local ant! clau name "Alar or

435

BUm DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBBTANS. 83

5 . . nang lun mi ling pu ft ~ Jl fl. iJi with the meaning

Jtllff, "asRistant minister" (that is, of No. 4). The sound mi was

anciently bi (compare the Japanese reading belci). Since the ministers

of the interior are divided into three classes, the first and the third

of which are designated as i'great" and "small," the Chinese tran­

scription bi-ling-pu naturally refers to the Tibetan word (lbrin-po,

··the middle one of three." We arrive at the result: Tib. nmiblon

~.tbri/t-po, "the middle minister of the interior," or "the minister of

middle rank."

6:" tWTifJ luu clt'ung ft ~ "'JE with the meaning .d' Jt{J , "small

minister," corresponding to 'rib. na1i blon c'wi, "small minister of

the interior." 1)

7. ytl xa11 (han) po clt'e pu Pfc< ~ ~ ~ im. meaning cMng

slti ta siang ~ $-* :;jfi (translated by BusHELL [l. c., p. 6] "chief

~Bal (I ascription N°. 16); the words nung li je seem to represent Tib. lu,i ri rje, "the

lord of valleys and mountains," and it is this Tibetan word rje to which the Chinese

gloss lang refers. The words 8ka11.g 1c•rmg je ('l'ib. za1i ~c•o;t [?J rje) are certainly not part

of the name, but a title. In Sung ski (Ch. 492, p. 1) we meet under the year 1021) the

title of a 1'ibetan minister Lun k'ung je ~ "J:}.L *"' (Tib. bton k'o;t [?] rje). ilBB ~l.;o" ~{f

1) It is notable that both Tib. c' u,"t and Chin. JE agree in tone, which is the high

toac. The importance of the tone for Tibeto-Chinese transcriptions ia discussed on pp. 79

notl 105. - In 751 and 7()4 thu Chinue- vanqui&hed Ko-lo·feng, king of Nan-chao, who took

r.efug., with the Tibetans. These conferred upon him the title t.1an p'u ckung J{ f} ~, that is, "younger brother of the 6t1an-p'u" (not pu, as is always wrongly res~ored; sec

the note on this subject farther on), cAung in the language of the "barbarians" :.ignifying

"younger brother." M. P.ELJ.IOT (B. E. F. E. 0., Vol. IV, 1904, p.l53), who has translated

this passage, observes, "C'est probablement lc (~•ng tibetain." This is not quite euct.

'I'ho Tibetan word here intended is gcu;t (gfu,i, pronoun~il cui't in the high tone), the

resl'eetful woril (ze-sai ekad) for a younger brother (otherwise nu-bo:, with which Chin.

}I exactly harmonizes in 11ound and tone; this equation (as many other examples in the

inscription) proves that the 11refi:xed g was not then articulated. The 'l'ibotan word c' u.i

(C'uit), "small, young," may denote the younger of two brothers, but cannot be rendered

by the Chinese palatal tcnuis, only by the aspirate, as proved by the above case Tib.

c'uil, "small," = Chin. -Jt c~~•u1lg. A Tibetan initial aspirate is regularly rt>produced by

the corresponding Chinese aspirate.

436

84 U B R T 11 0 L D L A U F E R.

consulting minister"), corresponding to Tib. yul 1) rgart-po cce-po.

Chin. !tan answers to Tib. rgan, as we saw in the inscription

No. 18; rgatt-po is still the elder or head man of a village, and

the Tibetan term relates to local (yul) administration.

8 and 9 do not require any further discussion. 'fhey are Tib.

yul rgan Qbrin-po (Chin. yu lwn mi lin_q pu), "the middle minister

of local administration;" and Tib. yul rgan-po c'm"t (Chin. yu han

po cltcung), "the small minister of local administration."

These nine Boards are styled collectively sltang lun ch'e pu ·{u l-iu

fi\J ~ ~ iHl ~!I 1 which is considered by me as a transcription

of Tib. za~i blon c'e-po dgu, "the Nine Great Ministers." The word

zai1, is fully discussed on p. 104. The word t'u ~ formerly had the

initial d (Japanese reading dochi1 Annamese dout), the word kii£

~ had the initial g (Japanese gu) . .:)

The phonetic phenomena to be inferred froru the Chinese tran­

scriptions of Tibetan words may be summed up as follows.

We gain an important clew as to the determination of the two

vowel signs for i, the graphic differentiation of which in the an­

cient texts has been discussed above (p. 53). The inverted i, tran­

scribed by me ~' occurs in four examp!es: myi/t (= moderu miJ't) =

4; 1 pcyi = *Jt, k'r~ = ~ if, zigs = 1j' sik. J) Hence it fol-

l) Lhia. yu Pi« = Tib. y.U occurs likewise in proper nam~s. The Suny ski (Cb.

492, p. 2) mention11 uadar tho )ear !191 a governor ( tJr ill! = Tib. c'e·po, "great")

of Si Liaag·chou i!§ 1i< Jtl 1

b~ nawc Ngo yii tan lij' ~ f}- ,corro11ponding to Tib.

mNa (compare 1rJf Jl! = Tib. m Na-ri(1)) !fUl brtan; and under 994 a governor Yu lung

po IJt ft j}t , being Tib. Yul lrr.»i·po.

2) It renders the syllable go in Gotama (T. WATTER3, Essays on the Chinese Lan·

guage, p. 388}, in Gopala (Life of }Juan T1ang) and Su11ar~tagotra (Memoirs of Huan 'l'sang).

3) A fifth eumple is afforded by ~ sit tranacribing Tib. srid in the third Minis·

tt~rial Board mentioned in Tang 11tu, and md ia written with invllrted ~ in the sworn

treaty of 822 (9-ll).

437

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETAN~. 85

lows that the ancient Tibetan sound ~ exactly corresponded to the

plain, short Cl:iinese i. For the. vowel i written in the regular

modern form we have three examples; namely, mc'ims = ~ c'om,.

rui& = ji ~m t&e (t&i)-se, and cig = rn S&. These varying Chi­

nese transcriptions prove that this Tibetan vowel did not sound to

the Chinese ear like a definite i, but must have been of somewhat

indistinct value, something between i, i, 1} and o.

Tho comparison of allied words which Tibetan and Chinese have

10 common is apt to confirm this result. 'J.lhere are Chinese sp

I!!J (•• four") corresponding to Tibetan (b)zi, Chinese s~ JE ("to

die") corresponding to Tibetan si, indicating that Tibetan i was an

equivalent of this indistinct Chinese vowel ~· The two Tibetan signs

for i, therefore, have great significance in the comparative study

of Indo-Chinese languatges; and their distinction in the ancient

monuments must be conscientiously noted and registered, instead of

being neglected, :.l) as was done by Mr. W ADDl!:LL. The inscription

of 822 indicates that the two timbres of i were still fairly discrim­

inated, but that they were already on the verge of a mutual

fusion, as shown by a certain wavering in the employment of the

two signs. Thus we find in line 43 gnis, but in line 50 gii!s; in

line 43 Icy!, in line 50 lcyi; and other inconsistencies. Perhaps the

phonetic differentiation was already wiped out at that period, and

only the graphic distinction upheld on traditional. grounds.

1) Compare Scu.uNI., 4.11cil1flt Clliru1e P!wttetic1 (Tong Pa.o, Vol. VIII, 1897,

p. 369). - On the other haod, Chin. i is ronderod by Tib. e in tho nien-hao Ki11g lwng

~ ft transcribed Tib. Ke,i Ia;, (in tho inscription or 783), probably aounded Ku,'t

(c~mparo ciHt han J\ a = Tib. ce1t han [ib1d.; accordingly, Tib. e ::3 Chin. u]). Jt'ot·

thts reason it is poasible that Chin. lting, aa beard at th-at time by \be Tibetan&, was

sounded lc'ung (com11are Korean /cyiJng). Chin. ti ~ (in ltua.ng tt) is transcribed by Tib.

te (compare Jap. tei, Annameao de). Yice fJer&a., Tib. •e in the inscription (above, Nos. 9

and 13) is rendered by Chin. ning {but Hakka lm, Korean yih•g), which, io my opinion,

goes to show that Tib. ne waa nasalized: 11€(ne) or "R· . 2> 'fho hypotht:sis or t be two i's lerving for lhc distinction of short aud long i i•

herewith exploded once for ull.

438

86 B E R T II 0 L D LA U }' E R.

The most signal fact to be gleaned from the 'J'ibeto-Chinese

concordances is that phonetic decomposition, which was hitherto

regarded as a comparatiYely recent process of the language, was in

full swing as early as the first half of the ninth century.. 'l'h~

~;uperscribed and prefixed letters were already mute at that time in

the dialect of Lhasa: blon was articulated lo11, btsan was tsan, b.:a,i

was ;'tui, bier was :er, bka was ka, lta was ta, Ito was to, gto•1s

was lo!f, rqyal was gyal, rgan was gan (probably xcm); brtau wa-;

even sounded tan .~. Superscribed s, however, liecn;s to have bceu

preserved throughout: the pronunciation of stang and s71am is iudt­

cated as stang and snam, tbat of s11ag and slaJ as snag and sla~'·

Pcyi was sounded p'! i; the alteration of the palatalized· (mouille)

labials into palatal c anJ ~' had apparently no~ yet taken dfect.

In the combination of two monosyllableli iuto a unit, the prefix of

the second element, when the first terminates in a vowel, was articu­

lated and connected into a syllable with the first element, exactly

in the same manner as at present. This is exemplified by the in­

teresting transcription t'am-t'ung for Tib. lta mtoi't tNo. 10), which

simultaneously proves that the word mtcoit wheu isolated was pro­

nounced tto1"t, and by the transcription ngan pen for Tib. m1ia dpo1~

(No. 16).1) Compare in recent times the name of the monastery

dGa-ldan, pronounced Gan-dan, hence Chin. Kan-tan it 7J-; and

Tib. slcyt dman ("woman"), pronounced lcyen (or kyer) man, hence

transcribed king mien Jj{ jj in the Tibetan vocabulary inserted in

Tcao-chou ting chi ~t .fflJI t;, 1907 (Ch. 16, p. 48).

Of final consonants, d, 2) g, n, and it were sounded. Final s was

1) Compare alao the above zait !Jlon c'c dgu, which, judging from the Chinez;emode

of transcription, must have beoo articulated c•et-gu.

2) Final d was prooou11ced in Rod, aa indicated by the transcription ilf *ptsl, pot,

pun. It is incorrect, as Mr. RocKHILL (J. R . .d. S., Vol. XXIII, 1901, p. 5) asserts, to say that

"tho wortl Bod is now, and probably always has been, pronounced like the lt'rench peu.''

439

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 87

sounded when it followed a vowel ((tdus), but it was eliminated

when following a consonant (mccims was sounded ccim, zigs as zik). 1)

In regard to final l, I feel somewhat doubtful. If my id~ntifi­

cation of lfi« !Jii, which had no final consonant, with Tib. yul,

holds good, thi~ would rather indicate that final 'rib. l was not

sounded, or but indistinctly. The trauscri!Jlion *Jt l.:iap ('>'' ap) for

ry:;ul in the inscription No. 11, however, may point to a pronun­

" ial ion !T!Jal (g 'a!, '>''a!). 0 n the other hand, in the list of royal

uames iu 1"ml!J ''"' (Ch. 216 _t, p. 2a) we find the word r,qyal

rendered by ~ /.:i(' (BusHELL [l. c., p. 9] transcribes luia; Glossary

of Tcm1g situ i; ~ leu ya) in the first of King SroJt btsan's an-

JA~tiiH, in the l'hooelic Tables of hi~ Dictiuuary (p. XVI), indicates the pronunciation

bhud for :Spiti, rod for 1\.'ams, bhr•' for Tsang and D. In the latter the initial i:o an

usp1rnltl media, and, beside~. the word has the deep tone; it has accordingly nothing in

cummon with French peu. Mr. RocKHILL himselC (p. 6) indicates that in the tenth and

eleventh centuries the sound peu was traoscribfd ~ :fj pu·te and * (or 1EJ) 44= po t'tJ; but surely it was not the sound peu, but the sound bod, which is clearly enough

indicated by these transcriptions, If bod was thua sounded in the tenth and eleventh ten·

turi~s, we are bound to )'resume that this pronunciation held its ground also in the pre­

lcding 'l"ang period. Skr. Bko!a and Ptolemy's B~iiT«I alford additional evidence for

an ancient indigenous Bod sounded bot.

1) In final s a distinction must be drawn between the sutlix ·S (called Tib. ya,i

ojug) and radical s inhering in the stem. The latter seems to ha,·c survived until com­

paratively recent times, if we may rely upon tho transcription 1fiij ~m\ ~ Wu-se tsang of

the J.fi11!J shi for 'l'ib. dBus gTsai' (the two large provinces of Central '1'ibet); the Chi·

ne;,c equivalent must be based o~ a Tibetan pronunciation n.r t&ait during thu M ing

period, while the ntw transcripti~n iMJWei, rendering the word dBu.r in the age of the

~hil-c.hu, clearly indicates that the final phonetic decay resultin[[ in the modern vui, vii,

',,, is an aftcr-~1ing tlveuL On the other hand, the name vf the temple bSam·!Ja'i is tran­

scribed Sam-ye = Jf~ by the Chinese pilgrim Ki-ye in the ·latter part of the tenth

century (CnAVANNiiS, B. 1:.'. J•: E. 0., Vol. lV, 1904, p. 81, who did not identify this

locality; this implies that Ki-ye mnde his return from India to China by way of Nepal

and 1'ibet). 1'ib. yas is ya + 1 of the instrumental case (th.- temple was fine "beyond

imagination," bsam·!J«s); sam·!Jii. is still the current pronunciation in Ceoh·al Tibet (JASCHKE,

T~bdan Grammar, p. 6); but a~ the ancient pronunciation or lilt Wa&!/a(compare ll~ ~ 1 ava), it is necessary to assume that Ki·ye, at the time of his sojourn in the famous

monastery,, heard the pronunciation Sam-ya. If he hud heard yas, h~ could easily have

expressed it by the addition of ~, as it occurs in Jf~ ~ ~ !lasmitl, "jessami~o."

440

88 "BERTHOLD LAUFEH.

cestors, il ~ fi ,$ Kia si tung mo, which I provisionally take

as reproducing Tib. rgyal stoii.·mo; further, 1X ye in ~ ~ cor­

responding to Tib. B1d rgyal, "king of 'l'ibet," as title of King

Sro1i. btsan, and Jf ye in -* ~ Jf Su p 'o ye = Su pr,"v .rgyal,

the Tibetan name and title of Fan-ni; and in ft.l ~ $A ~ If Hz' (Tib. Gwi) t'i ('"de = 'rib. Ide) pco -si ye (= 'l1ib. rgyal), the

ancestor of the 'l'ibetans. 'l'he Chinese symbols employed in these

cases, /cia and ye, correspond to an ancient pronunciation •gia (:r' a)

(Annamese gia, ja), without a final consonant, so that they seem

to be indicative of a Tibetan sound gya' (g' a>, :r' a). Final l was

articulated in the tribal name Bal-ti (rGyal rabs: sbal-ti), as shown

by the Chinese rendering Pu-lu !fh $ (CHAVANNEl=i, Documeuts,

p. 149), the ancient sounds uf this pu beiug *ba and •b'a (Ningpo

ba, Japanese botsu, Korean pal; it renders the syllable blta in Skr.

Bhamatra), so that Pu-lu appears as a reproduction of Tib. Bal. 1)

An interesting example Qf the treatment ,f Tib. final I in

Chinese -is afforded by tbe Chinese word p'eng alta, ucarbonate of

soda, natron'' (natrium carbonicum), which has not yet been explained.

Li Shi-chen (Pen tscao kang mu, :[i "$, Cb. 11, p. 12) confesses

his ignorance in the matter ( :::t ti * m); and WATTERS (E11says

on the Chinue Language, p. 378) is wrong in deriving the Chinese

word from Tib. 'ba tsa (to which it has not the slightest simi­

larity), "called also pen-cha," which is certainly nothing but tLe

Chinese, and not a Tibetan word. The first and oldest meution of

the term, as far as I kuow, is made in Kir' Wu Tai slti (Ch. 138,

p. 1 b), where ta p'eng aha -jc Jll& ~ ("sand of the great rukh")

is enumerated among the products of. the 'l1'u-po. This very name

is suggestive of being the transcription of a foreign word (the

1) Io Toug Pao, 1908, p. 3, Po-la was connected by me with Bolor, the ancient

name of Bahietao; but Bolor seems to be dorived from Bal.

441

BIRD I>IVINATION AMONG THE TIBETAN~. 89

character iiJ) certainly is an artificial formation, the two other

character~:; given by WATTERs are taken from the Pen tB'ao). 'rhe

ancient sounds of the phonetic element p(eng m are *bung, and the'

Tibetan word answering in sense to the Chinese is bu.l (JlsCHKE,

Dictionary, p. 370), so that Chin. pceng (bung) appears as a repro­

Juction of rr~b. lml, 1) simultaneously proving that the final l 10

bul was sounded; both worcb agree also in the low tone.:!)

l) Alao in tbe aacionl allied wurd• of tho two languages, 'l'ib. final l corrrsponds to

a final nasal in Chineao: for ina lance, diltd, "siher" ..,. Hakka •gyi•, }'ukien •gu•g {jJl (yi•); 'fib. (1)/Jnd, "aaako" = Cantonoae and Hakka •011g m (•a•g, Jap. bo). In other

caaca 'fib. final 11 ia tho equivalent of Chin. fioal naaal, as Tib. (1!-b)rag, "dragon'' = Chin.

IM11!J (Jap. riu) Jig. Bot Tib. bun(·b11), •bee" =Chin. ju11g (Korean pong) ~; Tib. ,.,,;.

ho,i (IIW,i), •camel" = Chin. pong, f(}11fl ~ 1 "bump of a r.amel" (Tib. rita ia related

Lo ,·,io[J, "hump"); Tib. •a,i, •many" == Chin . ..,.g ~ and 1JI; Tib. #pyail(-h),

""olf" ==Chin . .,ug}(e. (Korean pilo1tg, Jap. bu), "Tibetan mastiff."

2) On p'eng Ilia see P. CIBOT (Mim. ctnec. le1 OAi•ou, Vol. XI, pp. 343-346); KLAI'·

lloTu (.d1iat. Magazi,., Vul. II, pp. 256-261, Weimar, 1802); Sou&EIJUN, Elwle1 ~r~r la

,udii:re medicate ckinoue (millerauz), p. lS (Paris, 1866); F. DE MtLY, Ul lapidaire&

'c4i~toil, p. 141; H. H. HAYUEN, Geology of the Pr0fli•c61 of Tlalfg tlfltl 0 i• CeNtral

1'iiJ~t (Me•oir& Geoiogiclll S~~nq of IruJia, Vol. XXXVI, pt. 2, 1907, p. 16). - The

Cbineae loan-ftllrds in Tib11tan hue not yet been atudiell, and are hardly indicated in

our Tibetan di~tionariea. Sowo of them are even paaaed olf aa Sanskrit: Cor iostance,pi­

";a,; or pi-bait, "guitar," j, uul tu bo. derived from Skr. "i(~a, which is impouible; in

fact, it ia to be connected wiLb Chin. fE f!! p'i·p'a, ancient aounda */Ji./Ja (Japanr.se

~•-~t~a, Mongol biba). The naaalizalion of the final vowel wa or /Ja ia a peenliarity of

T1beLan aometimea practised in foreign words (compare pi-pi-li,i, "pepper"= Skr. pip~.

Tho T11•g hia11g 5{: lJi , a Tibetan tribe in the region of the Kakunor, aceordiug to

S .. i 1hu (Ch. 83, p. S), were in posaession of p'i·p'a; according to Chineao tradition, the 1"•trumeat originated among the Hu i\ij , a vague expresaion gonerallt ~eferrin1 to

pt:oplea of Central Aaia, Iranian~ and Turks. GILt.:> (BiograpAic~:~l lJictio•tJry, p. S!i\1)

a,cribea ita introduction into Chioa to the Princes& or Wu-aun. The Djagatai word for it 1• Jiiiilr (Kel~ti Szemle, l\J02, p. 161). Tho fact that tbe Tibetan and Chinese words refer

lu the aame object is evidenced by the Polyglot Dictionary of K' ien-luug. Ia the latte1

we meet also 'fib. COli, "bell"= Chin. chu1tg -. There arc, furthe~,1'ib.p'iii, "llitcher,

cup" == Chin. p'ing }OC; 'fib. la-c' a, "&oaling-wal," frow ('hin.la !Ji\, "wax;" 'fib. mog

(-ia), "mushroom"= Chin. mo-tu Jl ifi; Tib. t1'n. (the double u indicates the fourth

tone of Chinese), "vinegar" = Chin. t1'u M; Tib. giu (ga}roait. (bam), "bezoar" = Chin.

•iu huang lJ:: Jf (Jap. giil·kwu); 'fib. kau, "watermelon"= Chin"'-"~ua J1l; Tib. •a1i,

"onnce" = Chin .. lia•g ~ (Korean riang, J lA}>· rio). Tib. pi-pi, "flute/1 and bid-bid, "hautboy

442

90 BERT II 0 L D LA U FE}(.

On the whole, the probability is greater that the final l was

reed," muat be conaected \Vith pi ~ (•6i, 6Jt; Koreau p'ill, origiaall7 a hora used by tho

K'iang to frii&J.tea honea (definition or SAIIO IOt:ll), but thea ia the cowpouud pi-li ! ~ a pipe (A. C. Mouu:, C6i11e1P. Mu1ical lnstrllllunll, J. C.i. Br. R . .A. S., 190.8_. p. 84),

in 11114"!1 clacao li lt'i t'u IAi (Ch. 9, p. 53) figured and described as a reed flute with

three holes, metal mouthpieec aad broadeaing fuaael, 5.37 iacbes long, used for dance

music by the Turkish tl"ibe Jrarla Jt Jfi Pi . The word, therefore, is presumably of

'l'urkish origia, but it is much older than the eighteenth centur~·. We meet it iu the

tmnscrip~ion pci-li ~ -:iJk iu the (•hapter on music in Ki11 1 'a"!l 1l11t (Ch. 29, p. 8 b), ..... , ft where it is defined as a copper horn jfP] f1J , two feet '••og, of the shape of an ol·

bora, ia usc amoag tho Wcalcrn Jung i!§ Jjt. Accordiag to another traditiou, it origi­

nated in Kucha, 'furkislaa (Ko chi Icing yitan, Ch. 47, p. 6 b). 'fbo original Turkish form

seems to have been !Jeri or /liiri (H. Vauaiu.Y, JJ'e priwiti11e Cttltvr tJ,:, lllrlio-tataruclun

J'olie1, p. 145, notea u. worcliJor~~, "trUIIIjlet," properly "reed"); aud we lind this word in

Mongol biiriyii, "trumpet," from which !\l•nchu but¥ ar.d IJulm aeem to· bo derived.

The latter corresponds iu the l'ul)glot l>ictiouary tu ('bin. la-pa ~~J ~\, Mou~tol

gkolitt buriyii, "br~us. trumJIOt,'' aud 'J"JII. :a1il du... 'l'bc Mungo! word rapal giveu in the

firat edition of GJJ.lS, and repeated by MOlll t:, doc~ ooL c1nl (~1ougol hu neither initial

r aor a p); nor can Chin. la-pa be deri1cd frow Maut·bu Jt~ba, a:~ &tnted in the second edition,

the latter being merelJ a traaaeript of ( 'hiaoae, ali -lready pointed out by SACHA ROY. u-pa

i& neither Muogol our Tibetu; it ia listed among the musical iostruments of 'furkistan

111 l!.tl k1a11g cAi ffiJ G1l ~ (Ch. 2, I'· 8), publiahed 17'i2 (Wn.n:, Nol111,p. 64). 'l'be

uJUIIl"al uJ~trumeut ta11 tu11g T f) ,left uauplaioed by Mouu; (I. c., p. 103), ia 'J'ib.

,·tcu tJ,,;, tho well· known trumpet made from a hum au thigh-bone; I met also the trao­

•cription MJJ ~ . <\,mong 'the interesting ioan-wof(i:l of cultivated plants, we have

Tib. ~t-r!.bru (prouollnded 1e-ru), "pomegranate" (ptmica granatum L.), derived from Cbiu.

::(1 fftl ,;,;.[;,, aucicnlly 1t(1h.i)-ru (J apaaese -ro). The pomegranate does not thrive io

Tibet, and, 18 ia well kaowa, wu iotroduced into China by General Chnng Kcien (Bau­

sctrNIIDU, Bot • .rU.., pt. J, p. 25, pt. 3, No. 280; HI&TJJ, 'Foung Pao, Vol. VI, 1895,

?· 439; PC# t1cao t411g •• * iJ, Ch. 30, p. 8). Whether Chin. rw, ro, is connected

with Greek JtHI or Arabic r•mmi111, Amharic rliman (SCHR.\DF.& in HEtrN, Kulturpdauzcn

uad Haaatiero, 8th ed., p. 247), I do oot venture to decide. 'fbc Tibetan word must be

regarded as a loan (r~m Chinese, and not aa indigenous, as W. ScuoTT (Entwurf einer

Be1cllrtilnmg der cA.i,esi.JclleM Litteratur, p. 123, note, Berlin, 1854) was inclined to

believe, who explained the word as being compo11ed of 'l'ib. 1e, "rose," and r.tbru, "graio,

1eed.'' These 'l'ibetaa words (the meanings "pome1ranate" and "rosebush". interchange io

South-Slavic) wne rloubtleu 'chose a as element• of the transcription, boca use they COJI­

Yeyecl to the national mind some tangible significance with reference to the object (in

the aame mannor aa there are numerous analogous cases in the Chinese transcriptions of

foreign words). The Ceatral·Tibetan pronunciation 1en-r!u and Ladiikhi .rem-ru represent

secondary doulopmenta 6uggested by the mode of llpetlin~. and applic~otion of phonetic

lawll baaed thereoa (nasalization of ihe prefix fJ, transcribed ·i~.tn m in Hua i yi yu).

443

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 91

articulated than that it was suppressed, and the same remark holds good

of final r. For the latter we have the only example in the word

bzer, transcribed by Chin. ze (Nos. 10, 13-15, above). In this case

the Chinese traascription certainly is not conclusive, since Chinese

lacks . final r, and, taking into consideration that the other finals

were beard, there seems good reason to assume that bztr was pro­

nounced zer at that period.

The subjoiued r was still clearly sounded in the guttural and

labial series. 'l'he word Jln~ as evidenced by the Chinese tran·

scription kci-li, 1) was actually heard as kcri (not as at present, t'•);

Lolo 1ebu.u. (P. VJu, Di.cl.fr•"rais·lulo, 11. 176, Hongkong, 190\1) possibly points to a

former 'J'ibetao articulation 1eb-ru.

1} The T'ang ADDah employ various methoda of ~ranscribing the word k'ri ("throae")

in tho begiDDing of the Dames of the ~fibetiUl kings, .z ~ t .z -:Jr. t - ..

(h /1), aad al::~o on!~ - and H (k"i). Probably also k'o (ka) li Pf - in the

ume Kco li l&'o t1u lif ¥ Jif ~ (being idoatical with the Tibetaa king l.'ri-14ie

uori-btaao) ia the equivalent of 'l'!ib. tcri. The Chinese rendering of hia oame baa aot

) ot b&ea eltJlained. '!'he element~ 1;,. sro,i 6tsa11, tho Chinese e•uivalent.a of wlaich are

well k.llOWil to us, caanot be made respou~ible for ChiD. teo tsu (ancieat aounda k• tsd).

In' rG!J4l rabs this king is designated also Kcri gtsug Ide 6tsa R..l-Pf1.·Ca1l; so that we

are hound to a~&ume that the Chinese name xco-li Ita-tid ia intended for the first two

dcwenh of this Tibetan n'Fe• Acri ytsug. It is singular, however, at tir&t sight, that in

lllis case the t){eliicd !J iJ Cl!lflltiSCd by the ,Chinese ayllable f&co (lea), while ill allother

royal name Tib. gt1119 is transcribed in Chinese ro~ardlesa of the p.-efil (see p. 92, aote

2). Tho Tibetan l1reli1 is often preserved in the second ~lemont of a compound if the.

first word terminate• in a vowel; tho word• Icc,.; gt1ug coold be sounded kcrilr-tsllg, aod

la~neo the Chiaeae mode oi transcription. The ~aae is DDilogoua to that of Ita IIU'cni

1•u•oted out un Jl. SG. AD intere&ting Chioeae traascriptioa of a Tibetan word sbowing the

l're~rvatiuo of r is the word p'11·lu tfJ tl· "woollen doth,'' a reprodudion of Tib.

/J '"9 As far as I know, the Chinese term does oot occur in the T'ang period, but oal)

frum under the Yiiaa. 'l'he mode of writing (Manchu /lcll,..,) pr•III'PQti• .a Tibet.aD }ITO·

nunciation p'ru', for the 11honetie elemoat I• '8 is devoid of alinal:cbusonut. lu tho

age of tho 'f'aog, when the word aoundetl p't-wg also ill tile dialect of Lhaaa, a comple­

ment sounding l.lt, for inst.aoce Jt, woulcl have doubtle11 beea choun ill formiag the

hCcund character in the word. '!'he very modo of tranacri11tion tbua betrays a poal·'l"aag

origin, but it must result from a time wlaea tlae ioitiala 1/r were atill ia full awiag aacl

had not yet undergone tho laul•erlclli16ung into the cet·eb&·ala tcr, I' (see also KL&PROTU,

1Je~criptio11 du TufJet, p. ~0, Pari1, 1831; T. W 4TTEIS, &1tJys on the Ckitte111 Lc,.guagtt. p. 378).

444

92 B B R T llO L D L .\ U Io' B R.

kru (ktl-li) was sounded kru; the word t.tb1·o (No. 19) was sou.nded

bro, and qbrii't, as shown by the Chinese tranttcription bi·lii1, was

articulated briti, 1) and blo was blo. In the combination :sr, the r

seems to have been dropped, if the identification of .:m sit in T'ang

situ with '11ib. sricl holds good.:!)

l) Another good eJIUuplo of the initialll or being sounded with perfect cleaune&s is

l'r~seuted by the word m lif fu-lu (*b~-ro), iwparttld in the Tcaog .~onals as a gloss

for the 'l'ibetan word meaning "a felt tent.'' 1'he wo1d intended apparently is 'l'ib. "'.ra,

"felt toot," atill sounded bra in western 'l'iu,et and so likewise in the T<aog period. '('be

Chineae syllable liN reproduces tho initial b, and the &) Hable ta~ the Tib. ra. his atrao!le,

however, that the Chinese did not chooao in this case an element ""• Ia; but thia ma)· lie

oaaily accounted for by tho fad that tbe ab~ve Chinese word Ia~ weans "a hut, a boul."

aad alao the tent oroctod for tho wedding ceremon_,.. A• in ao many other caaos, tbe

Chineae aolectod a word approsiwatel~ imllatne of :bo foreigo &uund, and •imultanooubl_,

iodicativo of tho aignilicance of the foreign wurd. The T1b~tao •·ord pr, •teat," can

COrtain}y not be 1011ght in tho ( ')& 1neae tr&D~M:fillliOD, &I m DO\·er had the IOUnda 'f"

or b. A good modern oum1•le of Chioeae reudcrinK of 'fib. br is ::t;- :;;1\ Jin = Tib. L/u!.-brai'; in this compuund the aecond clement ia atill pronounced IJra,, (but

never tfai') throu~hout 1'ibt:t, wbilc lo-IJra;,, "palace," i11 always p'o-tja1i. These ttv11

elements M-ati, therof9Je, aeem to bo twu word~ of different origin.

2) But tho word non io tbo namea of several king• wa~ duubtlou articulated ~ru11,

as evidenced by the traascriptiona in the T'ang A anals * (t1ug; Japanese '"• 111)

W (lung), 1i l11•g ~ W, 1u lung ~ fl and li lurag ~ fl. Mr. Ron..llll.L

(The Life of the Buddha, p. 211) is iaclined tu think that Chin. xc; t1ung lurag tw•

renders Tib. xcri Ida• noit bt1an; but Cb in. t1ung cannot reproduce Tib. Ida• (pro­

nouaced da•). In my opioioo, the Chinese words aro intended only for xc,;, II"Oi• otla11.

Ja regard to the name of Kiog K'i li 10 t1a11 - f$ Bj jt{, Mr. RocKHILL (p. 217)

takes it as •giving a quito correct pronunciation of tho four first syllables of his Tibetan

aame," that is, K'ri ltk gllll!J bt1an. But Chin. li canoot ropreleot an equivaloat ofTib.

(l)de, which, as pointed out un p. 74., is rendered by Chin. lie Jl· The Chinese word•

euctly roproduce the Tibetan words K'ri (g)twg (b)t.ran. The character Bj is eounded

ia Caatoaose "'·•i, Korean 1a~k, c~u!&, Japanese 1A'IIku, and aeema to have had in the

or=aag period tho value of *IIIII&, *dzuk. BusmtLL (Tne Etlrly History of Ti!Jet) unfortu·

aately availed himself of the Wade syatom in the transcription of Tibetan 11ames. so

that they aro useless for the purpose of identificatiou, aad wrote names aometimo•

coa1iatiog of fin aod aix ayllablea into one solid word without divisions, which led bia

auccoaaors iato error; for iastaace, HEauu:r Mt!ELLEa (Tibtt ill ltiner gtlcltic!Uliclu•

Erdwicltlu•g, z. f. 11ergl. ReclttnDilltt~lclt.fl.l!_, Vol. XX, p. 8:?5), who transcribn Clt'i•~•·

Mi-l""l instead nf Kci •• ri l••g. An error of tran&cri)•tioa was committed by BusHELL

(('l'· ll, 39) in the name writtea by him after Kiu 'JCaag 1.b SoluiluglitAtlan (and so

re110ated by RocllllLL, l'· 21g, and MUKLLE&, I. c.), where P"o ( ~, confouoded with

445

lilRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 9~

Initial and final consonants, in general, were still intact, but

prefixed consonants were doomed to being silent. It it natural that

tones began to be developed in consequence of this phonetic disintegra·

tion (p. 79); for we know, particularly from CoNRADY's researches,

~) ~i lwng lie t1a11 (corresponding to Tib. pco 1rori lde bt1an) must be read. The

~a11g 1bv. (Ch.: 2~6 .1, l'· Sa) writes the ~awe name ~ ~ ft: Jit Jf So (ancient

aound ••) 1i ltUtg Ia t1a11; nevertheless HusREI.J.'s So &i lung lie t1an remain a inexact,

u we ht.Ve either P'o 1i lu11g lie tlaM of the Kiu T-ang &hu or So 1i lung la t1a11 of

tile '!'-_, '-'•· Tbe latter l}'elljD!f, however, i& erroneous. The historical obaervation

inaerted by Mr. RoCUIILL ahowa that lhia i' a case of importance, u, accordit~g to him,

tbia name baa not >et been traced in 'ribetan history. But if names are wrongly tran­

scribed and inexac!-ly reatored, any attempt at identification is naturally hopeless at the

outlOt. All the Tibetan words-- and namea encountered in the T'ang Annals are capable

of sigorous philological research; and when thia is properly carried through, much of the

alleged diversity 'between Chinese and Tibetan traditions (Busur.LT., p. 4) will be blown

Ul' into the air. Mr. Roc&l!ILL'a conclusion that in the T'ang 1hu the king So 1i l11ng

lUI t1a11 is inserted between K'i li 10 llan and Kci li t1at1, whereii.S all Tibe~an histories

are- unanimoua in affirming that x<ri &roft succeeded his father on the throne, is not at

all to the l'oint; likewiae liusHELL (p. 5) is wrong in making So 1i l11ng lie t1an and

K.'i ' t1a11 two individuals and two ditftlrent king!~. They deai~nate, indeed, one and the

lame personage, who is none other than the Tibetan king K'ri &rm't lde bt~atl. This name

apveara in both 'l_"Cat~g 81111. ns that of the king who died in 7o5 (BusHELL, l'· 39), but

t~ia ia the same king llrevioualy st;led K'i li .so t1a11 (K'ri gt1ug bt1an), so that it is

evident beyond cavil that it ia aim11ly a clerical error which here cre11t in when

the annaliat copied from bit state documents. It was K'ri gt1Hg htsan who died in that

) ear; a11d it was his son xc,.i .sru,'t lde bt1an who succeedell to him, and who was

•t) ltd _;;, Jhe annalist meant ot· ought to say - also Yo SI'Ori. This reading of Kiu

'rug 1.lw is doubtless correct, whereas the 1u of the New Annals mu11t be a clerical

error. 'l'ib. 'P'o, "the male," is an ancient title occurring in the names of the Tibetan

kinga, &II will be soen below ia a discuasion of the word bt&a,.·po, which had originally

the furm htlaM pr:o, "the warlike one, the male." Like~wise rgyal-po, "the king," was

originally rgyal 'l''o, "the Yictorioua male" (compare W AllDELL, J. R_ A. S., 1909, p. 1268,

whoae explanation is certainly a fantaay; tho title p'o implies nothing derogatory) .. It is

worthy of note that also the chief conaort of the king, P'o yoit (or "YYO'Ii-} bza, bore the

title 1lo in her name, whereas hia other wives were not entitled to this privilege. In the

t~anscription ~ Jf ;t} ¥o lut~g ( BusmtLL, p. 9, mung) jo ( = Tib . .fo) tho same

htle P:o lrO'it appear's in "the name of the fifth of King Sroit htaan's ancestcus ( T'ang

•4w, Ch. 216 .1, p. 2 a). The titl~ ¥o rgyal occurs in tho name $ fh JT Su tJ'O ye

(•gia), adopted by Fan Ni ~ ~ on his election as king of the 'feu-fa (BusHELL,

p .. 6), and in the name of the ancestQr ifl. of the T'u-po, 'ij~ tJl !fh ~ Jf Hu

(Ttb. gu,i) t'i ('l'ib. Ide) p'u (Tib. (1lo) 1i (ponibly Tib. 1rid) ye (Tib. rgyal) = Tib. Grn~ (see p. 78) Ide p'o wid rgyal.

446

94 llERTIIOLD LAUI<'ElL

that tones are the substitutes of eliminated consonants. Presuming ,

that writing, when introduced in the first half of the seventh cen­

tury, rather faithfully fixed the condition of the language as~ then

spoken, we are confronted by the fact that the first stage m the

process inaugurating the remarkable phonetic decomposition of the

Tibetan language took place within a period of hardly u century

an.d a half. In the first part of the ninth century a deep gulf was

yawning between the methods of writing and speaking, and due

regard must be taken of this fact in our studies of the manuscripts

of that epoch. The natural tendency of writing words in the same

manner as they came from the lips of the speakers was then

steadily growing. The inscription of 822 (above, No. 17) furnishes

a curious example in writing the word bka with the single letter

A:, which, even more than the Chinese transcription !cia, is· undubi­

table proof that it was sounded simply ka.')

1) For the present I refrain from a discussion of the laws underlying the Chinese

method of transcribing Tibetan words, as several intricate point. remain to be cll'ared

up. It will be observed that this method in some respects dilfors from what we are wont

to have in tho case of Sanskrit, Turkish, and Persian tranacriptions, and that in the face

of Tibetan the Chinese were compelled to struggle with difficulties which they did not

encounter in other foreign languages. It is manifest that the Chinese tranocriptions, as

we han them oott, were recorded at the time when the decomposition of the Tibetan

prelins and initiall had set in, and when the tone system sprug into existence. The

tones coqld aot oeeapo the Chine1e ear, and were h1und to influence their manner of

traascrib~ng,_ The fact that tbe now initial• were affected by the eliminations of the pre­

lisod consonaote, moat of whi..:h were grammatical elements of formative functions, i~

evident from what we obaerve in the modern dialects; thus far, however, we are not in

a po11itiou to frame an.' deliaite conclusions in 1·e~ard to such changes during the ninth

century. Nevertheless the~ must have takeu place, as we see from several parallels in

the inscription of 822. Whereas all the Tibetan true initial aspirates are exactly repro­

dut~ed by the corresponding Chinese aspirate, we notice t'kat Chinese has an aspirate

where 'l'ibetan offers a teauis + silent prolix; fo1· instance, 'fib. (l)ta = Chin. tcan "'i (No. 10), aud Tib. (l)to = Chin. tcu ± (No. 14). Whether Tib. t wall really aspirated

or changed into the aspirate media de, l do not venture to decide; but tho Chinese

transcriptions are n clear index of the fact that the tenuis had undergone some sort of

•·evolution prompted b~ tLe elision of the pretheu l. Tn other in~lnnt~es, judging from

447

BIHD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 95

Phonology of Document Pelliot.

We now enter into a discussion of the phonology of the text

of document Pelliot. M. BAcoT himself has noted the addition of

tho Chinese transcriptions, the tenuis remained uualfected; as, gtog1 = tulc ~, lwtan = tan ..§.. This case ia of importance when we meet 'l'ibetan names in the Chinese annals

and are intent on restoring them to their original forms. •rake, for instance, the name of·

the king lit ± lJt reo t'• tu(k) (T-ang 1l1u, Ch. 216 ..1:., p. 2 a), the second in the

aeries of the ancestors of King Sroit 6t1a11. At firat sight, I felt much tempted to recognize

in the first two elements the Tib. t'o t•o occurring in the name of King Lka f"o t'o ri of

Tibetan tradition, but due regard paid to the case just cited makes me skeptical: the

Chinese dental aspirate may correspond to thia sound in Tibetan, but it may express also

Tib. It (hence also rl, and probably 1t). Since ± in the inscription is the equivalent of

llo, it may very well be that this is tho case also in the above name, which may be

restored reo lto. 6dag ( 1l *dak; Japanese tab, do; Korean t'al). This consider'ation has

a bearing also on the interpretation of the tribal name P.± tlf 1•u po (fan), the second

element of which has correctly been identified with 'l'ib. bod; for the first element, Tib.

1toil, "upper," and mt•o, •high," have been 11roposed (the various theories are clearly set

forth by L. Fua, EI!Jmologie, Aidoire, orllaograpke du mol Tibet, Yerk. 1'1!. Or.-Ccngr.,

pp. ~3-81; and Yuu: and Bua.nLJ,, l/o61on-Job1on, p. 917). The first objection to he

raised to these identifications is that they are merely ba~ed on guesswork, and not ou

any actual name of Tibet found in Tibetan records. Neither in rG!fal r.zt1 nor in any

other Tibetan history did I ever come across such a name as stod bod o1· mt'o hod, but

Tibet and Tibetans are simply called Bod, with or without the usual suffixes. It is true,

Mr. RoCKIHLT. (J. R . ..J. S., 1801, p. 5) is very positive in his assertion that "Tibetans

from Central Tibet have at all time:~ spoken of that portion of the country as Teu-Peu

(1tod bod) or •Up1>er Tibet,' it being along the upper courses of tho princiJlal rivers

which ftow eastward into China or the Indian Ocean" (in hie Tlae Life of tke Buddka,

1[1. 216, he still adho1·ed to the fanciful tcub-p'od etymology of ScHIEPNI!:B), but no docu­

mentary evidence for this statement is presented; and, as long as such is not forthcoming,

I decline to believe iu such iuveated geographical names as 1/od bod and mt'o bud,

alleged to have rosulted in the Chinese word Tu-po of the Tcang 11eriod. From a philo­

logical }>Oint of view, it is entirely impossiblo to restore Chin. tcu P± to 'l'ib. stod, for iu

tho same manner as its phonetic elemont ±, it was never provided with a fiual con­

souant; it may be restored to a 'rib. teo, Ito or 1/o (mtco seems ve1-y doubtful). The T'ang

:nnnl~ impart an alleged older name ~ ~ T'u-(a, which was subsequently corrupted

iHt mt into '1"-u-po. Mr. ltOC.:KHILL (1. c., P· 190) commonts on this name that "the old

sound of fa in T'u-fa was bat or pat; consoquently T'ufa represents Teu-peu (1tod hod),

our 'l'ibet." I regret being unable to follolf this demonstration; t<u cannot represent lu, and pat does not represent hod. 'l'he word t'u 3'j; was anciently possessed of a final k,

so that we hnve t'uk pat, which certainly has nothing to do with 1tod bod or mt'o bod,

o:· anythin~ like it. 1t is clearly indicatell iu the 'fc"ng Annals that the wol·d Tufa

448

...

96 B E R T II 0 L ]) L A U I<' E H.

the subscribed letter y after m when followed by the vowels e or

i. We fiud here myed med, "there is not;" bud-myed = bud-

med, "woman;" 1) mye me, "fire;" myi = mi, 11 man ;'' myi

(appa1·ently a nickname) was not of Tibetan origin, but derived from Li Lu-ku ~J JJ\! »A of the Southern Liang dynasty and carried over to the Kciang tribes by his son }'an Ni

~ ~. The name 1cu.-fa, accordingly, ill not capable of restitution into Tibetan, and

the alleged chan~-;c of ~be tribal name from T'd-pat into TM-pot is merely inspired by

a certain reaemblance of the&e names. Nor can the Ar.abic designation ~ of I~takhri,

Khordiidba, etc , which hu been varioubly spelled Tobbat, Tihbat, etc., be Eet in relation

with this alleged T'u(k)·pat, as only the consonawul are ex pressed by Arabic writing, ano.l

the vowels are optional; it offers no valid 1,roof for the attempt at restoring the

original Tibetan form, but it showa in the ense of Ii;itakhri that a name for T1bet with

the consonants Tbt e1isted toward the rod of the sixth century. T11-po must be regardeo.l

as the com:ct and original tribal designation; but as to the proper Tibetan equnalcnt of

rd:, we have to await thorough evidence. It is hoped that a Tibetan glos1 for it will

turn up in some document Pelliot. - The identitieation of Tibetan proper names in thct1

Tcang annals with those of the Tibetan annal:~ is beset with difficulties, as many names

of the Chinese annals are not mentioned by the Tibetans or given by them in a form

not identical with the Chinese. Tho famous minister m Gar, as already recognized by

RccKHILL (Tke Life of th.e Buddlla, 11. 2l6), is identical with Lu tu119 tsa11 ~ Jl{ J{ with the name Kii 'tit Jt in Kiu. Tang 1ku (BusuELr., /.c., p. 12). Theoretically I

"3r should restore Lu. tung taan to Tib. Lug 1ton btsau, but rG!Jal rabs has preserved to us

this name in the form Se Je stoi• btsan (S<.:HMIDT, Gelcllich.te der Ost-Mongolcn, p. 359,

transcribes according to Bodl1i-mJr: Sulc 8Duug bDsa11); Se le, nevertheless, cannot be

the model of Chin. lu(k). Lu tung tsan had live son~,- Tsan si jo J( ~ ~, Kcin ling

~ ~ (perhaps Tib. dKon gliit), Tsan p'o jt ~ ('fib. bTsan-pco), Si to lean ~ _$. T, Po lun fA ~ (Tib. Po-blun). The third and lifth are not name~, but mere

titles. In rGyal '1'ab1 (fol. 77) I lind only two sons of the minister mention~~·- gNa (in

another passage 1Na•) bt1an ldem-bu and sTag-ra J;coit lud. E1cept the element btsan,

there is nolhing in these nametl that rould be identified with n~y vart of the Chinese

transcriptions.

l) The word b11.d-wud has been interpreted by A. ScHlt:F.Nl::R (Melanges asiatique1,

Vol. I, p. 358) as moaning "the powerless one" (die l"·aftlose) on the mere assumption

thnt the element b•d has de\·eioped irom hod, aud iha~ bod .i& a verdum;ur.g of the verb

pcod, "to be able, capable," which, according to him, holds good nlso for the word Bod,

"Tibet." Tbeae far-fetched etymologies are based on o. now outgrown view of things pho·

netic. Tb., vowel u has not arisen from o owing to triibung, as a~sumed by ScHIEFNEII,

nor is there anything like a scluoiichung of au aspimte sound to a media. B11d, bod, ad pcod are three co-existing, distinct matters of independent valuation, and withont mutual

phonetic relationship. 'l'bere is no phonetic law to connflct them. The whole explanation

is no~ prompted by any rigorous application of phonology, but doubtless ins11ired by tho

449

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 91

mi, "not;" dmyig = mig, "eye." The same phenomenon has been

observed in the fragments of the 9alistambasutra found by A. Stein

(Ancient Khotan, Vol. I, pp. 549, 564; observations of BARNETT

and FRANCKE} .and in the inscription of King K'ri-sron lde-btsan of

the year A. D. 783 (WADDEI.L, J. R. A. S., 1909, p. 945). 1)

Thes~ authors merely point out this case as an instance of archaic

orthography, as also M. BACOT speaks of ucertains archa1smes de

graphie et d'orthographe." But it should be understood that this

peculiar way of writing naturally corresponds to a phonetic phe­

nomenon; the subjoined letter y (callea in Tibetan ya otags) indi­

cates the palatalization of the consonant to which it is attached.

How this process came about is easily to be seen in the case of

the negative copuia mged, formed of tlle negation ma + the copula

yod, yielding myod, in phonetic writing m'od. Tbe letter e covers

Sanskrit word abalii given as a synonym of the word "woman" in .Jmaralcolha (ed. Bibl.

ind., p. 140). But we only have to cast onr eyes on the Tibt~tan n:rsion to fee that abala

corresponds, not to Tib. bud-11ud, but to Tib. 1tobs-med, while Tib. bud-111(d appears as

equivalent of Skr. 1tri. ( ·,Jil~equcntly Skr. abala cannot be made responsible for Tib. bud­

med; there is no relatiun between the two; 'l'ib. 1tobs-med is an artificial rendering of

Skr. abala. The main objection to be raised to ScHI:<:l'N.t:R'a etymology, howerer, ia that

it flatly contu.dicts the natural facts. The Tibetan woman is very far ftom being weak

or without strength, but i& physically w111l developed, - an observation made by all trav­

eller~. nor did it escape the Chinese writers on Tibet. "Tibetan women are robust and

the men weak, and one may frequently see women performing io the place of their hus­

bands the socage services which the peoplt owe" (RocKBIU, J. R. 4. S., 1891, p. 230).

It is not neceseary to .:xpand on this subject, but "the weak se:.." would bo ~pplicablo 1n Tibet only to man. A. more plausible e1planation of the word may now be oft'et·ed

It was, of •:ourse, doubtful whether the second element 111ed was really identical with the

negative copula ttted; it may have been, after all, a different word. But the old form

ln•J-wyed confirms the opinion that this med has arisen from myiJd, ma y~d. In the fir~t element the word b1l (•child, son;" bu-mo, "girl, daughter") may clearly be recognized,

anJ b~td (as other monosyllahles terminating in d) is a contraction of bu + yod, "the

condition of being a child or girl." Bud-med, accordingly, means "one who is no lc.nger

a girl, an adult woman,'' and in this sense the word is i!Jdeed utilized.

l) 1t occurs likewise in the inscription of 822, presenting the interesting eumple

"'Yi ri ru1; As has been pointed out, this upression is employed on the same occasion in

rGyal rab1 in the form min ru1, so that the identification of my~n with miri. is abso­

lutely certain.

450

98 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

also the vocalic tim bra o. 1) The word myi accords m sound with

Uussian ~u. 2)

This alternation between hard and palatalized consonants, re­

stricted to the guttural. and labial series ·and to dental n, is still

conspicuous in the modern language, and has already . been noted

by A. ScHIEFNBR in his 1'Tibetische Studien." 3) As tom, ScHIEFNER

ref~rs to the pairs min - myin, ''name;" mid - myad, "gu!let;"

smig- smyig, "reed., He correctly compares Tib. mig, "eye," with

Burmese m!Jak, and he also knows that the older furms myed and

myin have been preserved along with med and min; there are such

alternations as kcem - k'yem, kcab kcyab, gon - gyon, (tOO

qbyo, pee - pcye, nag - nag, rnil rii.il, and many others. In

Ladak and Lahul we find the labial tenues, aspirates and mediae;

where the written language offers the corresponding palatalized

sounds, as may be gleaned from the Phonetic '!'able preceding

J.A.scHKE's Dictionary (p. XVIII) and F. B. SHA.WE. 4)

The verb gsod, "to kill," appears as sod without the preijx

twice (Ta~le II, 8; VI, 2) and with it once (XI, 3), which indi­

cates that the spelling was as vacillating at that time as it is

now.~) The stem· of the verb is sad (Ladakhi sat), as shown also

by Burmese Bat and Chinese sat ~. Likewise we have toJi in

lieu of gto1i 1n V. 7. Also in this case the stem is tmi or to·1i. li)

1) This is beat attested by the Tibetan transcription ce,i (cr,i) of Chin. co,i ~ (in the nien-hao Clt~ng-han) in the iuacription of 788 (W ADDI!:LL, J. R . .d. S., 190~.

Jl. 960, l. 29; the writing eel' ,ia 1 haa must bo duo to a slip in copying tho te1t of tbe

inscriptiouj.

2) The Chinese transcriptions asbid liS again. Compare above under No. 20 Till.

rgyud =Chin. g'ut, y'ut.

3) MC/ange1 a&iatigueJ, Vol. I, pp. 370-371.

4) J . .d. S. B., Vol. LXIII, pt. l, 1894, p. 12.

· 5) LAUFER, Ein Siikngedickt der Bonpo, I. c., p. 21.

6) Compare such cases a8 occurring in the inscription, mfoit sounded fo,i, gtogs

~ouudod tog, etc.

451

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 99

These spellings cannot therefore be explained as irregularities or

negligence on the part of the writer. From a grammatical stand­

point they are perfectly legitimate, for the prefixes g ~?.nd b are

purely formative elements indicating tenses of the verb. The Tibetan

grammarians are fully conscious of this process, as shown by me

on a former occasion ; 1) the prefix b denotes the past and the

active, the prefixes g and d the present, the prefix q, the passive

and future, the prefix m an invariable state.

The prefix r is omitted in bda = brda (V. 5 ), the prefix. q, in

tlo tio (V. 9), the prefix d (or r) in mu (V. 15). We acco.rdingly

meet symptoms of simplified spelling prompted, as we saw above,

by the phonetic conditions prevailing at that time.

The prefix l appears in lteit (V. 6, 24) in the place of s (ste1i);

compare ldib-pa and sdib-pa, !ita, "five," in Ladakhi sna, lga and

sga, "ginger," lbu-ba and sbu-ba, "bubble."

The sound n in lieu of l appears in nam nans, "daybreak,'' for

the normal nam lai~s. ScmEFNER 2) has pointed out the same form

in the 'q,Dsa1is-blun (where also lana occurs), and considers both

forms as equally legitimate.

In Table I, 6, we meet the word me-tog, "flower," in the form

men-tog, which, according to JlscHJn:, still occurs in the West Tib­

etan dialects; but it is heard also in eastern Tibet. Mr. BARNETT 3)

bas pointed out th~ form me-{og in the fragments of the 9alistam­

baautra, and, as ~he m is not palatalized, arrays it as an exception

among the palatalized m. The assumption that men presents the

older form may account for the preservation of the hard m.

Of great interest is the form nam-ka, 11 heaven" (Table I, 9),

1) Stu.dien zur SpracAwislenscAaft der Tibeter, pp. 529, 543.

2) Ergiinzungen und BericMigungen zu Schmidt'• .J.u1gabe de1 IJsanglun, p. 9,

St. Pet., 1862.

3) .J.ncient Khotan, p. 649.

452

100 BERTH 0 L D LA U YE R.

which occurs also once in the fragments of the Qalistambasftira

found by A. Stein (Ancient Khotan, p. 555), while in other cases

it is written nam·mkca. This case is of importance, because the

word bas been looked upon as a loan from Sanskrit. 0. BoEHTLINGK 1)

was the first to entertain this opinion. W. ScHO'M' 2) explained namkca

as developed from nabk'a, f'since evidently it has arisen from the

combination of two Sanskrit synonyms for 'air' and 'heaven,' nab'as

and lc'a." In a rather dogmatic form the same question is taken

up again by Mr. W .&DDELL, 3) who makes the statement, "For the

concep~ion of heaven in the Indian and Western sense the Tibetans

use the word mila, which they clearly borrowed from the Sanslirit

k'a, as they evidently had no indigenous word of their own to

express it." The somewhat generous application of t!clearly' and

"evidently" does not appeal to everybody; what is evident to one

is not always so to another, as opinions largely vary on the nature

and quality of evidence. The Kiu T'ang situ (Ch. 196 _t , p. 1)

informs us that the shamans of the Tibetans invoke the gods of

Heaven and Earth ( 1} ~ if Iff T * :lib ), and that in the

prayer during sacrifice the spirit of Heaven JC jfrfiJ is implored. 4)

If the Tibetan shamans invoked the deity of Heaven, they mu:'lt

"evidently" have possessed a word by which to call it; and that

1) lu his article Ueber eine ti!Jetische Uebersetzunp des .dmarako1ha (Bull. del' .dead.

de St. Peter16ourg, Vol. III, No. 14, pp. 209-219).

:C.) A._l~ai,~Ae Studien I (.J.Dka1ldlungen BerliNer .d"ademie, 1860, p. 614, note 2). 'l'he

occasion Cor this observation is afforded by the Manchu word ablca, which ~CHOTT, on

hardly plausible grounds, considers aa a corruption of Tib. namkca.

8) J. R. 4. S., 1909, p. 931, note 3.

6) Compare HUSBEI.L, Tlte E11rl!l Ili1tory of Tibet, p. 7; and F. GRJ,;NAILD, Missiml

1einti,Mw a.., l11/uuae .J1ie, Vol. Ir, p. 404.(Paria, 1898). Also the Tan9 IJiaug }t Jft, a Tibetan tribe inhabiting the aouthwe~tern part of Kan-su and the region of the Kuku·

nor, worshipped Heaven with aacrific~s of oxen and aheep every tliree yean at a jtathering

of thei1· clans ( =· ~ - ~ -t" ~ lJ=- + Jtl ~ 7( 0

Sui shu, Ch. 83,

p. 3). Any Buddhist or Indian influence is here excluded in view of the period in question

(1>89-618).

453

HIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETAN::;, 101

this word was of Sanskrit origin, is highly improbable. The Chi­

uese account shows us that the Tibetans, in .the same manner as

the rrurkish, Mongol, and other tribes of Asia, in times prior to.

ludiau iufluence, had a well established worship of Heaven and

.Earth (as well as of the astral bodies), and. this implies the fact

tuat au indigenous word for "heaven" was theirs. 'l'bis word was

gnam, nam, or nam-ka, and there is no reason, from its phonetic make­

up, why it should not plainly be a Tibetan word. The Tibetan

lexicographers are very familiar with Sanskrit loan-words, and neYer

fail to point them out in every case; this is not done, however,

in the case of the word for "heaven." The archaic form nartt-ka

bears out the fact that nam is a good native word, for the suffix

ka is never attached to a Sanskrit Joan-word. 1) In the sarue man­

ner as the prefix g is noteworthy in gnam, so the prefix m must

not be overlooked in the word ?l)k'a; the spelling narn-kca (but

frequently enough also nam-mlc'a) is a purely graphic expediency,

and the outward resemblance to Skr. klta is accident~]. ScHIEFNER 2)

compared Tib. mlcca with Chin. k'i *t; this equation is untenable

chiefly for the reason that rrib. a cannot correspond to Chin. i,

but it shows that Schiefner had sense enough to regard rnk'a as a

truly Tibetan word. It is widely diffused in the allied languages. 3)

Lolo mulc'ia.i (ai = a) 4) pres'3ots a counterpart to Tib. namk'a.

The word zan lon occurs three times in the Table. In one pas­

sage (IV, 3), M. BAcoT takes it in the sense of "minister" and ac­

cordingly accepts it as an equivalent of iat't blon. In Ill,&, he trans­

lates it "news;" and in XI, 5, we read uindiqne que l'oncle viendra.

l) On the suffix lea (tea, ga) see ScmEFNER, MelatJges aJJitJtigues, Vol. I, p. 380.

2) L. c., p. 340.

3) Compare the list of words for "heaven'' io Mission D'0LLONE, Langue1 des peuples

no, cllinois de la Chine, p. 24, Paris, 1912, particularly such forms as he lea, mu Ito,

m'keu:k, nalcamu, monglcele.

4) P. VIAL, Dictionuaire fi·anrai&·lolo, p. 83 (Hongkong, 1909).

454

102 B E R T H 0 L D LA U FER.

aux nouvelles," where the text offers bdag zan lon-du oii,-bar ston.

In the latter case, M. BAcoT separates the compound, and assumes

za1i·(po) = maternal uncle, amf lon = tidings, message j hut this

is no very possible. Further, the- Nord bdag 1) must not be OYer­

looked in this sentence, and o1i-bu in connection with the termina­

tiYe means "to become;" so that I think the sense of the sentence

is, ·'It indicates that I shall become a zmi lon." It goes without

saying that in the three passages this word is one and the same,

and can but have the same significance. rrhe word lon, accordingly,

is written without tha prefix b. 'J1bis way of writing cannot be

considered an anomaly, but exactly correspouds to the pronunciation

of' the word at that period, as we esta.blished on the basis of the

transcription lun ~ (= Tib. blon) furuisherl by the Annals of

the Tcang Dynasty (Kiu Tcang shu, Ch. 196 _t , p. 1 ; T'ang shu,

Ch. 216 _t, p. 1) and the inscription of 822. The word btsan,

the title of the kings of Tibet, was likewise sounded tsan, as evi­

denced by, the Chinese transcription tsan jf. 2 ) The prefixed media

l) Tho word !Jdag, tho p{lraoual pronoun of the tint porsoo, oc~urs several tiwe~ 111

tho anawera of tho Tablo (VII, 1; VIII, 7, o; XI, 7). lo tl.t1:; connection it should be

remembered that bdag &grog, "crying bdag," is one of the B)Dunyms of the raven q;iHo

in the Dictionary of the :French Missionaries, p. 8fl); it iij evidently nn imitation of Skr.

iitmagllo4ha, a synonym ;of the crow, which is rendered iu the 'l'1Ldan version of .Amara·

ko1Aa (od. Bibl. ind., p. 134) &grogs-pai bdag-i"tid·calf.

2) It has, beon asserted tha,t' the Chinese terw tsan·p"11 ft ~-- eurre~pood:~ to

'riuetan 61141<-po (BusHELL, The Ea,.ly Ili&tory uf 'Ilbet, p. 104, note a; CHAVANNES,

DoCJJ•ent•, pp. 150, 186). But thie iJootitication is not e1act; the Chinese words very

accurately reproduce the Tibetan form (b)t1a11-pGo, as i~ e\ iJenced first uy the presence of

the labial aspirate in tho Chinese word pc•. and secondly by the gloss e1pressly girea in

T'an!l 1hu (Ch. 216 J:., p. 1): ~ ~ 8 l!f "a man is called io 'I'ihetao p'u." This

exphmation loaves no doubt that the Tibetan noun pco "man,'' and not the mere aullis

t-o, i~ intended, which, hy the way, is transcribed in Chinese pu iHi, as shown uy mao~

eumples in Tang du; for instance, in tho titles of the ministers, as nang lun chco pu

Jt ill ~ iH! = Tib. nati blon cce.po, "great minister of the interior." This readiog

(b)t3an-p0 o is confirmed by a Lhasa inscription ,of the ninth .century published by Mr. WAD·

DiLL (J. R . .J. S., 1909, pp. 1269, 1280), where the word is written twice btsa11·:lo; it

455

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 103

b, accordingly, is not an integral part of these two stems, but an

additional prefix. which must have a grammatical function; and

this, in my opinion, is that it forms nomina actioni&, in a similar

manner as it designates a past action in connection with verbal

roots. The stem tsan means "powerful, warlike, heroic;" b-tsan, 11ooe

having the title or dignity of tsan"; b-lon, "one who has the function

of, or acts as, minister." What is a zan lon? 1) Mr. WADDELL

(J. R. A. S., 1909, p. 1274) explains that- this term means "uncle­

minister," and designates. "a sort of privy councillor, a title pre­

viously borne apparently only by the highest ministers, some or

certainly does not mean, ar. alleged by Mr. WADD.KLL, "the mighty father'' (father is

1/a; p'o never means "father," but only •male, man"), but "the martial mao," "the male

hero" (t1an, as T-ang du aaya, means l&ia,g laiung 5JI il ). 'l'he stress laid on the word

"male" is very natural, as there always were, and a till are, also queens ruling Tibetan

tribes (compare the ac~unt of the Tibetan Women's Kingdom in Sui sku, Ch. 83). 'l'he

contrast is clearly enough e1pre811ed in the 'Fang 1nu, which adds, "The wife of the

'l'san-pcu is called •o "'""9 * ~ ." Whatever the latter element way represent, it is

evident that the first is tho TihetaD word mo, "woman." (A royal cooaor~ is·· called io

Tibetan lcam-mo, btsun-mo, or ccuit-ma; probably the Chineae mo-mMng repre11eut11 uo

ancient Tibetan word still unknown to us, which would bo mo· moit; Chinese "'""£1 pho­

netically corresponds to Tib; mo,i, as proved by Hua i yi yii [Ch. -13, p. 66], where Tib.

r,-ta-•u,i C"camol"J is transliterated in Chinese ~ ~{if it; in 1·Gyal ralJI [ful. 79] one

of the wives of King Sroil-btsan is styled Moit lza kcri lcam, which indeed goes to prove

that a word 11101i in the sense of "royal consort" must have tlli&ted in ancient Tihetno.)

'l'he king is therefore styled the "male warrior" in opposition to the nttribute "female"

appearing in the title of his queen. The inscription of 822 (see the facsimile in BusH­

ELL's papet·, pl. II, line 2) writes the word btsan-po; WADDELL sets the date of his

inscription on inward evidence in 842-4; so that it must be granted that both wa~s of

writing co-uisted at that period. Tho writing bt1an-p'o doubtless is the older one, and

appears as the index of the ancient matriarchal conditions of 'l'ibet at a stage when

masculine power gradually emerged from the institution of female {>fllJ>Onderance. When

the sway of the Central Tibetan kings was ultimately established in the male line of

succession, the plain bt1an-po, without emphasis of &OI, was allowed to take -its permanent

place. Note that according to 'Fang &Au (BUSHELL, l. c., p. ~8) the ioh11bitants of the

Women's Kingdom elected a man as their ruler from 742.

1) JA.SCHKE (Dictio11ar!J, p. 471) quotes the word from rOyal rabs, saying that it

seems to be a kiod or title given to a ministet• (or magistrate); wisely enough, he makes

it a separate heading, and does not link it with the word za1i-po, "uncle." So do also

the French Missionaries' (p. 846).

456

104 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

mo$t of whom were of the blood-royal.'' This is a surmise which

. is not founded on any evidence.

The Tibetan administrative system is entirely based on Chinese

institutions; and the official style of the 'fibetan chancery, as clearly

demonstrated by the 'l'ibetan inscriptions of the 'l''ang period, is

modelled on that of China.') For the explanation of Tibetan terms

reiating .to officialdom, we have iu the majority of cases to look

to China. What a za1i lon is, 1s plainly stated in Tca~g slm (t. c.),

where we meet it in the garb alta·ng lu" fl.J ~. 'l1he nine Tibetan

1) A feature to which Mr. WADDELL in his Lltasa ./!,'diets, and Mr. A. H. )'aucu

in hia renderintp; of the inscription of 822, did not pay attention, wherefore they miued

the meaning of senral phrases which cannot he derived from a literal tranalation or thfl

Tibetan words in their ordinary senae, but which must he viewed through Chinese •poc­

taclea, and taken as imitations of Chinese documentary and epigraphical style. But this

subject calls for a apecial in~eatigation. To this Chinese official terminology belongs, for

example, the Tibetan designation of the people &II "black-headed" (mgo nag), which is

purely and simply copied from Chinou phraseology, as it is likewise when it occura io

~he Orkhon inacriptione and among tho llongols. Mr. WAD DILL (J. R. A. S., I ~UII,

p. 1265) remarh on thi1 term that it •probably may deoot~;~ that io thoae day• the

'l'ibetaua did not wear capa; indeed, the cap• at the present Ul) are all of Cbinelie

pattern and manufactured in China.'' In thia caae, Mr. W ALWUL must unfortunate!)

forego tho claim to originality, for tb" proeent writer wu the first to advance tbi• ex­

planation, but with roforunce to ancient Cbina (1'ow•g Pao, 1908, p. 40), and supported

it alao with good reasona bued on the peculiar ceremonial character of Chinese head-gear.

With regard to ~ibet, however, this interpretation is out of place. There, it is plainly 11.

loan-word, an artificial imitation of Chinese official speech. Further, .Mr. W ADDJ-.;LL's

obaorvation that all Tibetan ca11s are of Chinese pattern and manufacture is erroneous,

ae a glance at RocKHILL's Note~ Oll the Etlt11ology of Tibet (pp. 688-689, lleport U. S.

Nat. Mu1., 1898) and hi• platea 8-4. will cooviace one. The Tibetan nolllads living on

tho high aad cold platoaut& naturally alwap wore fur cap• and msoufactured them them­

selves, and there ia a large variety of types of indigenous be!ld-gllar, without Chioesfl

affinities, everywhere io eastern Tibet and in the Kukunor region (so also F. GllENAIW,

Mi11ion scient. dan1 Ia haute A.1ie, Vol. II, p. 340, Paris, 1898); evfln tho round felt

caps made in Peking for the Mongol and Tibetan market do not at all represent a

Chinese but a Mongol-Tibetan style of cap. As in so many other cases, thll Chinese have

takon into their bands an indu&try of thei1· subjected neighbors, and cater to their taste.

'l'ihetau olticials certainly wear the caps of the Chinese otlicial costume made in, and

imported !rom, China, but that is all. And thll manifold styles of priestly head·gear, par­

tially like the pa~1 iva traced to lodian traditions, certain)~· do not come from China.

457

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETAN8. 105

Boards of Ministry are there enumerated, which it ia sa.id are

designated with the general name fA}' ri ~ ill~ .fl ahang lun

chco pu tcu lciil (~du gu), which, as stated, may be tiaken a& ban~

scription of Tibetan zai" (b)lon le-po dgu, "the Nine Gnat Boaru.••

Tbe word zati cannot. be explained through Tibetan, and indeed is

nothing but the Tibetan transcription of Chinese IMttg 1IJ; and_ . .zan (b)lo~,, "chief minister," corresponds in meaning to 1/urng .Au. '(llf if, "President of a Board,'' a term rendered in the inacrip\ion (aboye,

No .. 20) by Tib. c'IJ&-po. 'rib. zait is a strictly phone.tic transcriptiOJl

of '(At , as both agree in tone, altang4 having the sinking lower

tone, and zan being low-toned; the Tibetans cannot wri~ Chinese

sltat~g4 with the •oiceleu palatal sibilant 8, as all words with this

initial sound have the high tone, but for this reason must. resort

to the deep-toned z. 1) The tone, as pointed out before, is a matter

1) In the Tibetan vocabulary contained in Ch. 11 or Hua i yi !JU (Hirth'a CO}lY in

t~e, Uo) al Library of Berlin), the Tibetan words are all transliterated in Chinese charac­

terl according to their Tibetan &[lelliog (the transliterations do not reproduce tbe Tibetan

pronunciation), and the rule is usually obaened to tranaeribe a Tibetan word witll iaitial

z b~· moans of a Uhineae ay liable iu the lower tone; for example, Tib. zii' to be read

dt..:,.n ~ Tib. zag to be read laia fi' , Tib. zu to be read jo :f}t. or ,,t., liltL . If J 11'18 ' ~~ • • • • ;v.'

Tib. ;. renders Chin. llaui .:* ia the inscription of 822 (see abo,·e, P·: 79), thia escep-

tioa ie only seeming, and confirms the rule; for 1laui bas the rising upper wae, conN·

q11ently the Tibetans rendered it with 8u in the high tone, being their tone aeareat t(l

the Chinese, while Tib. z• has the deep to11e. J'ice """'• Cbinete J ia traaacribed by the

Tibetan• z, for eum11le, 1lt;•g ifj' "province" being tr .. aeribecl 'Tib. iiil ia ~11/ell!ci

l4m !fil (regarding thie work compare T'ou•g Pao, 1907, p. 403), aad Tib, l it ttan­

acdbed by Chin. ii, for inatance, Tib. 8o = ~ zo at the ead of royal namea, oecarri ..

in three names of King Sro,i bt1aa's ancestors (T'aag '"•· Cb. 216 .1:., P· i a): .:fl -* lt- Kie (*kut, Korean kal) li li(t) zo = 'rib. Gal(?) ri ("monntaio") zUI (?) lo;

fh ~ * pco lung zo = 1'ib. Fo M'O'it Jo; and ~~i * ~ Xu (*gio, .g•) 1(){i);

zo = 'l'ib. Go(?) zuv (?) lo. There is no doubt of the identification of Cbia. io wi~h. Tib.

lu, as this Tibetan word is indeed found with four of the so-called •sis: terrestrial /Agl (la-i leg1 dt·•g): ,0 801 De ao, 'l'i lo, ,I lo (dPag b14a lj01• bzaft, p. 160, 1. 12): TIJea

We' have allied words iu both languages: as Tib. Ia, "Beall, meat" ... Chin. zti-.(jo•) ~ ; Tib. 8e1, "kuowleJge, to know" = Chin. ci ftJJ and 1f ; Tib (b)ca, "te~" - Chin.li

458

106 B E R T II 0 L D L A lJ .!-' E R.

of importance in the study of Tibeto-Chinese and Chinese-Tibetan

transcriptions. The fact that Tibetan za1i really corresponds to

Chinese ff;J is evidenced by the inscription of 822, where the word

zan in the titles of the Tibetan ministers repeatedly occurs, being

rendered in each case by Chin. ahang (above, Nos. 9, 10, 13, 15,

19). It is therefore beyond any doubt that the equation 'rib. za/t

= Chin •. 1hang ff;J belonged to the permanent equipment of the

Tibeto-Cbinese chancery in the first part of the ninib century. 1)

The most interesting phonetic phenomenon of our text. is the

writing d•yi9; for mig, "eye." There cannot be any doubt of this

idon~ification, u the word is required by the context, as it is deter­

wined by the adjective rno, "sharp," and tbe phrase dmyig nzo is

a parallelism to the following ana1• g1an 1 "to bave a sharp ear."

+; Tib. lee, "tongue" = Chin. le W . The words zo, "milk'' = Ci."tn. zu ~,and lie, "louse'' == Cbio. ii(t) "j,, seem to belong to ao earlier stage of relationship between

tho two lnguages.

l) Tbe word 1/aarag appears as the first element io tbe names of three Tibetan geo·

erals wbo attacked China io 765 (Kiu Ttmg .thu, Cb. 1911 J:, p. 10 a; BustJILI., 1'J4e

Early HiiiOV of Tibet, p. 45): Shang kie si t1an m.o flij' f!i ,rn1

J} ~, who d1~d

ia 797; SAdng .ri l•ng !san (At ,~1 Jl{ }t (Tib . .Za,i stan btsan); and Slung ye .n

rat Jt ,~\ (a fourth is called Ma chung ying J~ 1J! ~ ). Under the year 768

(i6id., Cb. 196 T>, p. l) a general Shang si m.o ~ .m ~ (BusuEn, p. 48: Slla•!J

111111 liD) ia mentioned. Tang shu (Ch. 216 T>, p. 6 b) bas a Tibetan commander-in-chief

SM.•g ''" #lang fAt ilf- (Tib. za,i t'a? 1Jza;1). In these cases Chin. &nang eorre·

•poads to ~ib. ·£4,i, whicl is a well-known ciao name based oo the district of tbi1 name

ia the province of gT•a;i (CHA:Nl.HtA DAs, DictW.•ry, p. 1065). Ooe of the winiaters or

King K'ri-~ro,'t was ia,'t Aa•.r b::a,i (dP~~g 61tJa lj011 luil, p. 170); in rGyal rab1 we

meet a minister Zai& dbll ri;~. and the well-known translator Bai.dl.e re-lel Ide with tho

clan nami Zait ,.a-na•, that is, from Sna-nam in Zait. (CHA.:MDRA DAB, p. 766, is wroag

to refer in this case to Samarkand; as a clan nme Sna-nam relates to- a plaoo in tlae

district iaii ia tho province gTsaie). - In the iconographical work "'fho ~hreo Huadrad

Gods of Narthang" (section Rin f.tb!Juie, fob. 1!2, 113) a deity is reproaonted ill three

forms under the name Zale IJio• t·do-rje bdud {1-dul. 1'Do-rj# bdud f,td.Z (with the titlo aiad

office of u,;, bl01l),1 "the Subduer of M~ra by meaw of tho Vajra," appeara aa a~sorcorer •t the time of K'ri-aron lde-btaao (Roma11, p. 122). - Also tho T'u-yii-hu bad ille office of 1hang 1/au (Sua &hu, Ch. 83, p. 1 b).

459

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 107

Also the Lama bsTan-pa du-ldan (p. 448, line 3) has perfectly

understood the word in the sense of mig. The spelling dmyig is

neither erroneous nor arbitrary, but proves that at the time when,

and in the locality where, •Our text was written, the word was actually

articulated dmyig, as here spelled; for in the dialect of the Jyaruog, ')

inhabiting the north western part of the present Chinese proYince

of Sze-ch'uan, I actually beard the word articulated dmye. 'fhe form

dmig is still fouud in modern popular texts; for instance, twice in

tbe small work Sa bdag lclu _qitan·gyi byad grol, along with the

orthography mig four times (b'in Sithngedicltt der Bonpo, l. c., p. 21 ).

It is therefore patent how important it is to observe. carefully auch

l) The Jyarung styled Kio-ch'uan ~ Jll by the Chinese (see M. Juu:TJ:L,

L'cpiyraphie cltittuile "" 11/Jet, p. 31, Paris, l8SO) are a group of Tibetan tribea inhabit·

in~ the high mountaiu-ulleya of Sze-ch'uan Province. Tho name is written in Tibetan

rg!fa·!Oit which ia espJ1Lined as "Chinese ravines." Of their language We p0il8111 only

bcunt vocabularies. B. Hou~.>sus (EIIa!ls 07j t/;e Language1, etc., of .Vep'll and TiJJet, l•P·

66-S2, I.ondoo, ISH) offen a vocabulary of 17G word~. T. Dt: LACOUPElliE (Le1 lat~pu

de Ia Chine avant le1 Ckinois, pp. 78-80, Paris, 1888) has some remarki 011 tbe

la1gu~gc. A. v._ RosTUOII.N haf published a vocabulary in a volume of Z. D. M. G.

(owing to a misplacement of myt notes referring to it, I regret being unable for the present

to giye ao exact reference). Jyarung is one of the most archaic Tibetan dialecta in which

ool only lhe ancient prelhes are atill articulated (rg!lal "king," Ito/; "thousand," ita

"horse''), but alao iingle and Hen doublt~ prefisea appear where literary Tibetan hill uooc

1t all; they are supermen in prefixes, or, if it is permissibl~ to coin the word, iuper­

prefilists. They say, for example, drmi for common Tib. mi, ;mao"; the prefh d Jar,.d~ eaters the names for the organs of the body; a~ dmye "eye," desnii (ma) "aoae,'' dtl., ·,

(10) "tooth," drnii' (n.a) "ear," delmi' (lee) "tongue," demjii' "chin," demlci' (slce) "neck.··

This corroborates my opinion that the prefixes are ~urvivals of ancient numerativea; for

this reason they are not stable, but variable; in the various dialects. The J yarung lan­

guage not only bad numeratives different from standard Tibetan, but also arranged its

words under difl'erent categories, 110 th~t they apptJar with prefixes entirely at variance

with other dialects: thus, tayalr, •band" (p'yag), po,ii', "sil\'er" (d,iul). The stems, accord·

iugly, are ,ii, .iul (Hakka :t'in, Burmese .i10e), po and d being prefixes. The Jyarung

numerals arc l lctig or l&ti', 2 lmis, 3 ksam, 4 l.:bli, 5 kmu, 6 /ceo, 7 lclni1, 8 vryad,

U.k,iu, 10 lei. Tbe numemls 4-7 aad 9,-a~ va;il\nct: with standard Tibetan, have been

raised into the k· category in analogy with 1-3, which agree with studard Tibetan.

It is of especial. interest that in the _numer!\l 3, ksam, J yarung agrees in the a vowel

with Chinese 11am where standard Tibetan has u (gsum), and that in the numeral 6,

k,iu, Jyarung agrees in the u vowel with Chinese im where standard Tibetan has a (l,ia),

460

108 BERTHOLD LAUFER.

variations of spelling, even in recent manuscripts and prints, and

it is obYious also that they cannot always be laid down as clerical

errors. This hu likewise a bearing upon ancient manuscripts; the

mere occurrence of abnormal, obsolete, . or dialectic forms is not.

1uflicient eYidence for pronouncing the verdict that the said manu­

script or work is old, while certainly the total evidence presented

by archaisms will always influence our judgment in favor of a

greater antiquity. It would be, for example, perfectly coaceivable

to me that a Jyarung Lama who, owing to the far-reaching diYer­

gence of hia tongue from the written language, is forced to study

the latter thoroughly, as we, for instance, would study Latin, will

be inclined to write the word mig in the form dm!lig or dmig.

Analogous to the latter is-the form dmag-pa (Table XI, 1) for the

more common mag-pa; and as the prefix d before m, in cases where

the . written language. is without a prefix, is a characteristic of the

.Jyarung dialect, the conclusion way be hazarded that· the document

Pelliot was compoaed either iu a locality where a dialect identical

with, or ~lied to, Jyarung was spoken, or that, regardless of the

locality wher.e the composition took place, the author of the document

wu connnant with a language related in phonology to Jyarung.

What is the meaning of the prefixed dental d? lu the written

language we fiud such formations as ma, "below," - dma, ''to

be low;" mati, "many," - dmmis, "multitude," and dmag, "army;"

mig, "eye,'' - dmig, "hole." The formations with the prefix d

apparently are secondary derivatives from the stem beginning with

m. Comparison with the allied languages tends to confirm this

opinion; mig is the Tibetan stem-word, as shown by Lepcha a­

mile, Burmese myale (myet), Kuki-Chin mit, mi(le), 1) Chinese mule

~ . In all Indo-Chinese languages we observe that nouns are clas-

1) STEM KoNOW, Z. D. M. G., Vol. LVI, 1902, p. 506.

461

BIRD DIVINATION AMONG THE TIBETANS. 109

sified into certain categories, · and tbat each of these categories is

associated with a particular numerative. The numerative is the index

or outward symbol of the mental association underlying these cate­

gories of ideas. 'rhese numeratives, witb a few exceptions, have

tiisappeared from modern Tibetan, but they are preserved in .many

of tbe so-called prefixes which represent their survivals, and this

is the usual function of prefixes in nouns_ (though they certainly

have also other origins and functions). 'l'he original significance of

the majority of them can no longer be made out, and will probably

remain obscure; the numerous variations of prefixes in the dialects

indieate that there has been a large number of differing numera­

tives from remote times. A few examples may serve as illustration.

The prefi:r: m appears io oonnection with words denoting organs

of the body, and it is curious that there are groups with the same

initial sounds. There is a ml group, - mc'ed "body," mc'e-ba

"tusk," mler-pa "spleen," mlin-pa "liver,'' mc'an "side of tbe

breas,t," mc'u "lip," mc'i-ma ''tear," mc'it-ma "spittle;" there is

a mg group, - mgo "head," mgur, mgul "throat," mgrin-pa "neck,''

a m/c' group, - ,.k'al-ma "kidneys," mk'riB-pa "bile," mkcrig-ma

i'wriat," mk'ur-ba "cheek." The occurrence of the prefix m in

U.eae fifteen words belonging to the same category of idea cannot

be accidental, an~ the supposition of a former nuruerative m joined

to names of bodily parts seems a plausible explanation for its pres­

ence. The following groups are also suggestive: ldad-pa "to chew,"

ldan-pa "cheek," and ldag-pa, "to lick ; " lte-ba "navel," lto-ba

"stomach,"· and ltog1-pa "hunger;" rlcanpa "foot," rke "waist,"

rkan "palate," rkub "anus."

. Tbe laws of 1andhi, as established by the Tibetan grammarians, 1)

1) The generally adopted metrical versions are. given in teit and translation in

'/)tudiea zur Sprac4willenlcil4ft dn· Ti6etn- (Sit::unglberichte der 6a!J"'isclmc · .dkade111ie,

1898, pp. 679-687).

462

110 BERTHOLD LA U.F'ER.

are not strictly observed. The indefinite article zig is correctly em­

ployed after nouns ending in a vowel, n and m: dgra zig, giten

zig, mye nan zig, gtam zig; rton cig in v. 23 is correct owing to

the existing da drug; 1) cig correctly in myi. rgod cig; ri-dag1 zig

iutead of sig. or designations of the genititep we find ·-i, kyi, and

gi, but not gyi: lhai, pcyogs.-lcyi, bud-myed-lcyi, dgu1i-gi; but yul-gi,

U.n-lofi-gi, instead of gyi; likewise in the instrumental case, giien­

gil, gcan-zan-gil. The termination of the terminative is du: za'li­

lon-du, {lbrin-du, p'yag du (instead of tu), mt'o du (V. 19) instead

of mtco-ru or mtcor, but dgu-r (V. 11), bza·n-por (V. 25), ritis-par

(V. 27); also ltaa-su (V. 12) is a regular formation. The suffix tu

after vowels occurs in modern manuscripts likewise. 2) The particle

te of the gerund, with its variants, is utili:Led according to rule:

,"/"yer-te, lccrid-de, r.ied-de, . si-8te.

1) Compare the rule aa formulated in Za-ma-tog, I. c., p. 684; and above, p. 61, note 2.

2) EiM SUAngedicAt d" Bonpo, l. c., p. 22.

A.DDITIO:NA.L Nons. - Regarding the crow of orientation employed by the navigators

(p. 11, note), ace now also R. OTTO FRA:NKE (ITtgkanilciiya, p. 156, Giittingen, 1913).

lf&AlUtE claims for ~mself the pl'iority in havin~ established the fact of this practice

of marinen; but MI~AYEV, at any rate, was· the first to e1plaio correctly -the term

d~tl.

On p. 29, after line 21, the following waa omitted througb au oversight of the printer:

Ia K. we meet the sentence fag riiu·lfl !'!lro-bor ~yur-ro, "you will set out on a distant

journey;" the aame is e1pressed in the Table in genuinely popular style by lam riti-por

tJgo.-pa. Note ou . ~- 95. In regard to 'l''n-po see also HiaTH, Sinologi1cke Beitriige zur Ge­

~e/Uc~ tkr Tiirt-Yullter (Bull" .Jc. St.-Pet., 1900, p. 242). The sole object of the note

above referred to waa to discu.aa the relation of the Chinese to the Tibetan and alleged

· Tibetu. namee.

463