Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 51

MARCH, 1330 ]
VOTES ON KHOTAX AND LADAKI
NOTES ON KHOTAN AND LADAKTI.
(From a Tibetan point of victo.)
BY PROF. A. H. FRANCKE, PH.D. (Continued from rcl. LVIII, p. 152.)
IV.
The End of Buddhism in Turkestan. After the year 745 A.D., when the Uigurs had beaten the ot! er Turkish tribes, who were related to them, their power increased in Central Asia. It was only balanced by that of the Tibetans, who were, however, soon weakened by their internal religious wars, which became disastrous when king Ral-pa-can was murdered by his brother Glan-dar-ma, and when Buddhists and Bonpos fought for the supremacy. These quarrels lasted till c. 840 A.D. and robbed Tibet of her entire power, so that Turkestan became an easy prey to the Turks.
As regards Islâm, it had been at the gates of the country since the eighth century, but not before the middle of the tenth century, when the ruler of Kashgar accepted its doctrines, did it become a danger. Then large portions of Turkestan were conquered by the Muhammadan Turks : Yarkand, Khotan, Kuchá, and finally the most eastern territories. That was the time of emigration of the Turkestan Buddhists into India and Tibet. It apparently started in the days of Glau-dar-ma, and continued during the tenth and eleventh centuries, coming to an end about the year 1200 A.D. It had two principal phases: the first was the enmity of the Bonpos to the Buddhists in the ninth century, and the second the enmity of the Muham. madans to the Buddhists in the tenth and eleventh centuries. This cmigration is referred to in the prophecies of Li-yul and Gośpinga. Rockhill gives an extract about it in his Life of the Buddha. It was found also embodied in the list of kings of Khotan, evidently in the wrong place, and had to be taken out of the context and treated as a separate chapter.
Rockhill's story (Life of the Buddha, p. 240 f.) is somewhat as follows: 1600 years after the Buddha's nirvana, there was a king of Khotan, who was an unbeliever and persecuted the priests. Irreligious ministers and other enemies confiscated the buildings of the Bud. dhists, and so the congregation assembled in the Thsar-ma Monastery and resolved to emi. grate. After a number of miracles, Vaisravana, in the shape of a white ox, led the emigrants to Thsal-byi, whence a message was sent to the king of Tibet, who at the time was the seventh successor to the king who had introduced Buddhism into Tibet. His wife was a Chinese princess, a Kon-jo. The king of Tibet invited them to come, and they soon arrived at Bru-shal or Gilgit. There they were joined by more emigrants from An-tse (Kucha), Shu-lig (Kashgar), Tokara (near Kuchâ), Gilgit and Kashmir. In Bru-shal they were told that the king of Tibet was a Bodhisattva. They went to him, and lived for three years in peace in Tibet. Then an epidemic broke out in the country, which carried off many people. Even the queen was seized by it and died. The king thereupon ordered the emigrants to leave the country. At first they went to Gandhåra, where they became witnesses of the murder of the king by his brother, similar to that of Ral-pa-can. Finally they went to Central India, where they came to rest.
Rockhill, in searching for the Tibetan king who lived seven generations after Sron-btsan. sgam-po, came to the conclusion that he must be Rel.pa-can, although there is no evidence that this king was married to a Chinese princess. This king might certainly have welcomed Buddhist emigrants; but, as he could not be credited with turning them out after a stay of three years only, Rockhill decided that this unfriendly act was executed by his murderer and successor, Glai-dar-ma.
Now let us leave Rockhill, and let us try to explain matters from a Tibetan point of view. As regards Tibet, the first great persecution of Buddhists certainly took place under Glao-dar-ma, the Bonpo, c. 814 A.D. Although it was started in Tibet, it may have passed over to Turkestan; for in those days Turkestan was a province of the Tibetan empire. If we examine the names of the Tibetan officers and soldiers stationed in Turkestan at that time, we notice that Buddhist names are very rare among them. Most of the names are of