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JULY, 1908.)
REFERENCES TO THE BHOTTAS OR BHAUTTAS.
181
REFERENCES TO THE BHOTTAS OR BHAUTTAS IN THE RAJATARANGINI
OF KASHMIR, Translations and Notes on the Sanskrit Texts
BY PANDIT DAYA RAM SAHNI. Notes from the Tibetan Records
BY A. H. FRANCKE,
The References oontained in Kalhana's Bājatarangini. Kalhana Rajat. I, 912 contains a note on & raiding expedition into Kashmir undertaken by impure Dāradas, Bhauffas, and Mleochas in the days of Mihirakula, o. 510 A. D.
Kalbaņa Rajat. IV, 168, refers to Lalitāditya-Maktāpida's expeditions against the Bhauttas, probably c. 722 A. D.
Kalhaņa kājat. VIII., 2886-2888. The pretender Bhoja, who rebelled in the reign of King Jayasimha, 1120-1149 A. D., is advised by his Dard allies to march through the Bhautta territory to the seat of the powerful Trillaka. Whether he acted according to this advice or not, we do not know.
Tibetan Notes.
It is only with regard to the second reference that any light can be thrown from the Tibetan records.
The Tibetan emperor Khri-srong-lde-btsan, who reigned from c. 728 to 786 A. D., is said in the rGyal-rabs to have conquered all the neighbouring nations, the Chinese, the Baltis, the Turks, and the Dards of Gilgit (Brushal). All Western Tibet was in his power. His successful campaigns must have taken place after 750 A, D, for in 751 A. D. the Arabs gained a victory over the Chinese and compelled the latter to abandon Gilgit, as well as their other possessions in the extreme West. See Stein's Ancient Khotan, Sect. II and III.
That Khri-srong-lde-btsan's name was known in Western Tibet, is made probable by the Baln-mkhar Inscription (see ante, Vol. XXXIV, p. 203), where the custom-house officer mentioned in the inscription was plainly called after the emperor, his name being Khri-shong 'abum-ydugs. The power of the Tibetan empire in those days is attested by the Annals of the Chinese Tang dynasty, aud perhaps also by the eighth century Inscription at Endere in Tibetan, which speaks of a victory of the Tibetans over the Chinese. See Stein, Ancient Khotan, Detailed Report, p. 569, Inacription 0. So that it is quite possible that before 750 A. D., the Kashmiris did assist the Chinese daring their successful wars with the Tibetans, the object of which was to gain a foothold at Gilgit, as shown by Chavannes and Stein. .
As Kalhana's Rajatarangini has been already exhaustively treated by Dr. M. A. Stein, it is necessary to do more here than merely mention the references to the Bhauttas which are cuntained in that work.
+ I wish to draw attention to Sarat Ch. Das' note on Braithea, Bruzka, or Brwka (forms of the name of Brushal, se, Gilgit). He says: “We have in the Ka-'agyur certain treatises in ingomprehensible syllables seserted to be in the Brasha language." These treatises are apparently written in the ancient Dard language, and should be of the greatest importance as relics of an ancient Dard literaturo.
• (For srong).
