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Shri Ashtapad Maha Tirth - II
Thus in the Jain tradition Kailash is considered as a tirth. The mountain is mentioned in their hagiographies under the name of Ashtapad as the first liberation mountain. Kailash is located on high plateau lands of Western Tibet, near the meeting point of the present day Chinese, Indian and Nepalese frontiers. The snow - capped 6,714 meter - tall mountain is known to Tibetans as Ti-se (or Gangsdkar Ti-se) while most non - Tibetans call Mount Kailash. Just to the south of it lies the sizeable lake of m Tsho Ma-pham (or mTsho Ma-dros-pa and Ma-pang for Bon-pos), also called Lake Mansarovar. Tibetans call Mt. Kailash also as Demchhok Kangripoch of Dharmapala. Demchhok is the main deity of the Kailash. In Jain writings there are detailed descriptions of Ashtapad and most Jaina scholars like Hemchandracharya consider Kailash as Ashtapad. Vividha tirth kalp refers Mansarovar close to Ashtapad. To discover the exact location of Ashtapad and to prove Kailash as Ashtapad we should study the Tibetan studies also. The Tibetan studies includes (1) Tibetan writings (2) Tibetan archaeological sites (3) Tibetan culture and religion (4) Descriptions of Kailash written by travelers and (5) Research work on Tibetology. A. Tibetan writings Tibetan literature, derived from ancient oral tradition and consisting in myths and legends about the origin of the country and people, genealogical lists of its kings, state records, ritual texts, etc. The Tibetan books though made of paper did not follow the scroll format of China but adopted the palm - leaf format of India. An honorific description for a Tibetan loose-leaf book is poti (skt. Punthi - Pustika). It is well known that one bundle of Tibetan loose leaves may contain more than one book, sometimes twenty to thirty tracts. 1. The Dunhuang Tests The manuscripts were obtained in 1907 by Aurel Stein in a long, sealed cache in the Buddhist cave at Dunhuang in the Gansu province of China. These Tibetan texts from Dunhuang were probably written in the 8th and 9th centuries. As far as they go, the texts reflect essentially the same outline of Tibetan history that is found in the later and more complete historical works.
2. Kanjur and Tanjur King Trhisong Detsen (755-797) established a collection of texts in his palace and the same was done in various monasteries. This collection was edited by Boston. The entire body of texts is divided into two parts. (1) The first part is bkagyur (pron. Kangur, here is spelled kanjur) which means “translation of the world) (bka) (2) The second part is the bs Tan Gyur (pron. Tengyur) which means translation of treaties. The complete kanjur and Tanjur published in 1981 in 120 volumes. 3. Chronicles (Gyelrap) In this category, the Bod kyi rgyal rabs (pron. Poki Gyelrap) was written by the Sakya-pa lama Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1147-1246). It contains the Tibetan History. 4. Annals (Tepther) (Debther dmar po) Important annals (debt ther, pron. Tepther) include the Red Annals (Tepther Marpo) and Blue Annals. The Red. Annals were composed in 1346 by Kun dga' rdo rje (pron. Kung Dorje).
Tibetan Sources for the Research of Ashtapad
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