Tibet

Prester John is the Dalai Lama

Editorial contextDividing 'Tartary' into six parts for his map, Strahlenberg makes the sixth Tibet and Tangut, 'where Dalai Lama, or Prester John, has his Residence'. The legendary Christian priest-king of the East has here become the Dalai Lama, head of the Buddhism of the Mongols and Kalmyks.

For the sixth Part, I have taken the Kingdoms of Thibet and Tanguth, where Dalai Lama, or Prester John, has his Residence, the Civil Government of which is entrusted to two Viceroys or Chans; but the Soldiers are a Sort of Kalmucks, call'd Coschuith, or Coschioth.

About Tibetans; Mongols and Kalmyks

Scholars who moved Atlantis to Spitsbergen

Editorial contextPallas rejects the theory, pushed by the Augustinian friar Georgi, that Tibetan and Mongol Buddhism grew out of Nestorian Christianity or Manichaeism, calling it a heap of rubble glued together in a polemical spirit. He lumps it with other learned fantasies: the Chinese and Indians as an Egyptian colony, the Lapps as Israelites, pagan gods as biblical patriarchs, and the recent placing of Atlantis and the first seat of all learning as far north as Spitsbergen.

With such learned bombast the Chinese and Indians have before now been made into an Egyptian colony, the Lapps into Israelites, the idols of heathendom into patriarchs of the Bible, and only recently the Atlanteans, and with them the first seat of all learning, have been moved as far as Spitsbergen

Working translation

Original wording

Mit dergleichen gelehrtem Schwall sind wohl eher die Chineser und Indianer zu einer ägyptischen Colonie, die Lappländer zu Israeliten, die Götzen des Heydenthums zu Patriarchen der Bibel gemacht, und noch neulich die Atlanten und mit ihnen, der erste Sitz aller Wissenschaften bis nach Spitzbergen verlegt worden

About Mongol and Tibetan Buddhists; European theorists

Prester John was really the Dalai Lama

Editorial contextStrahlenberg offers one example of how getting a name right can clear up history: the famous 'great priest John'. He says this priest, who sits between India and China in the land of Tangut, is the one Kalmyks and Mongols call Dalai Lama, with the added title 'Jegan', meaning holy. On the next page he claims the thirteenth-century friar envoys Carpini and Rubruck turned that title into the Christian name John, which is why the king of Portugal later sought Prester John in India and then in Abyssinia.

of the so-called great Priest John; he who has his seat between India and China in the land of Tangut … is called Dalai Lama by all Kalmyks, Mongols and … from which it is now clearly to be seen that this name came from the Indians as well as from the Kalmyks and Mongols

Working translation

Original wording

von dem sogenannten großen Priester Johann; dieser, welcher seinen Sitz zwischen Indien und China im Lande Tan-guht … hat, wird von allen Kalimucken, Mungalen und … Dalai Lama genannt … woraus nun klärlich zu ersehen, daß dieser Nahme sowol von den Indianern, als auch von den Kalmücken und Mungalen hergekommen

About Kalmyks and Mongols; medieval European envoys

Holy relics sold among the Tatar tribes

Editorial contextWarren Hastings's briefing memorandum for Bogle passes on what he had been told about Tibetan Buddhism: each Tatar tribe had its own living Buddha (Kutuktu), all of whom deferred to the Dalai Lama, 'so that his excrements are sold as charms at a great price among all the Tatar tribes of this religion'. It is a startling piece of hearsay from a governor who had never been there.

Among the different Tatar tribes which are of this religion, there are persons called Ku-tchuck-tus, who are likewise esteemed living Fos. … it is even pretended that the Ku-tchuck-tus admit a superiority in the Dalai Lama, so that his excrements are sold as charms at a great price among all the Tatar tribes of this religion.

About Mongol ("Tatar") Buddhist tribes

Chess with the Kalmuks at Teshu Lumbo

Editorial contextBogle's happiest hours at the Panchen Lama's monastery were spent playing chess with a party of Kalmuk pilgrims. He notes their rules (no castling, no stalemate) and how they played as a team: whenever a 'Siberian' sat down to play, two or three friends put their 'great bare heads together' over every move. Bogle learned to recruit his own team of Tatars and beat them.

In my first trials of skill with the Tatars, I used often to come off loser. For when a Siberian sits down to chess, he gets two or three of his countrymen to assist him; they lay all their great bare heads together canvassing and consulting about every move.

About Kalmuks (Mongol pilgrims; Markham glosses them as Sokpas of north-east Tibet)

A Tibetan prophecy: the Mongol whose house is 'a wooden net'

Editorial contextThe chronicle tells how the Tibetan lama Dagba Gyaltsan foretold to his nephew, the Sakya Pandita, that the ruler of 'the people called Monghol' would send an envoy named Dorda to summon him. The envoy's hat would look as if a sparrowhawk sat on it, his boots would be shaped like a pig's snout, and his house would look like a wooden net. The image fits the collapsible wooden lattice of the Mongol felt tent. The Sakya Pandita set out in 1244 and reached Godan Khan in 1247.

From now on, after some time, the ruler of the people called Monghol … will send you an envoy named Dorda from the northern region. His headgear will look as if a sparrowhawk were sitting on it, his boots will have the shape of a pig's snout, and his house will look like a wooden net

Working translation

Original wording

Von nun an nach einiger Zeit wird der Beherrscher des Monghol genannten Volkes … aus der nördlichen Gegend einen Gesandten, Namens Dorda, an dich senden. Die Kopfbekleidung desselben wird aussehen, als sässe ein Sperber darauf, seine Stiefeln werden die Gestalt eines Schweinsrüssels haben, und sein Haus wird wie ein hölzernes Netz aussehen

About Mongols, as foreseen by a Tibetan lama

Tibet: 'the kingdom of dwellers in houses'

Editorial contextThe Capuchin della Penna, who lived in Lhasa for many years, explains the name Tibet as a Tatar (Mongol) word: Tangat katzar, which he says means the kingdom of people who live in houses, because the Tatars lived in tents of felt or yak-hair cloth while Tibetans lived in houses. Whatever the real etymology, it shows how people at the time drew the line between the two peoples by their dwellings.

The word Tibet is a Tatar corruption, the proper term being Thobot, or Tangat katzar. Tangat means dwellers in houses, and katzar country or kingdom; so the whole expression signifies "the kingdom of dwellers in houses," the Tatars dwelling in tents of felt, or of a coarse material woven from the hair of the yak or hairy ox, and the Tibetans in houses.

About Tibetans contrasted with Tatars (Mongols)

Prester John's kingdom 'still in being'

Editorial contextAvril takes up the medieval legend of Prester John, the Christian king of the East. Following Marco Polo, he places John's kingdom in Tenduc or Tangut, between China and Mughal India, and a page earlier concludes that the Dalai Lama must be the real 'Prester John', a line of Christian rulers turned idolaters.

For the Kingdom of Tenduc, or as others read it, Tanchut, this Kingdom, I say, where Marcus Paulus places Preste-John, is still in being, if we may believe those who have travell'd through it, and lies between China and the Empire of the Great Mogul.

About Tartars of Tangut; the Dalai Lama

Mongols descended from the Asuras

Editorial contextAmong the opening legends of the Tibetan history, Das lists one that gives each great people a different origin: the Indians from the gods, the Chinese from the naga demigods, and the Mongolians from the asuras, the demons who fought the gods. It sits beside the story of the Tibetans' descent from a monkey.

The origin of the people of Aryavartta (India) from the gods, that of the Chinese from the Naga demi-gods, and that of the Mongolians from the Asura (demons who fought with the gods)

About Mongols, Chinese, Indians

Fighting on horseback 'the Kalmuk way'

Editorial contextThe Panchen Lama told Bogle that the Lhasa regent did not want Gorkha envoys to enter Tibet in case they learned 'the manner of the Kalmuks fighting on horseback', which Tibetans practised too, and showed him the style with his hands. It hints at how Mongol cavalry methods were treated as a military secret.

Gesub, among other reasons, objects to their coming into Tibet lest they should learn the manner of the Kalmuks fighting on horseback, which is practised in this country (describing it at the same time by motions), and should teach it to the Gorkha Rajah's people.

About Kalmuks (Mongols) and Tibetans

Yellow caps and red caps across all Tartary

Editorial contextWatching monks in yellow robes and conical yellow hats, Turner explains that Tibetan Buddhism is split into yellow-hat and red-hat sects that between them cover 'almost the whole of Tartary'. The red hats allow their priests to marry. The yellow, favoured by the Emperor of China, is the most orthodox and powerful.

I notice this peculiarity of colour in their dress, as it is a distinction adopted, to mark one of the two religious sects that divide almost the whole of Tartary, from Turkistan to the eastern limits of this continent. The other colour is red; and the tribes are known as belonging to the red, or the yellow cap.

About Tibetan and Mongol Buddhists

Tartar herdsmen and their yaks

Editorial contextNear his camp Turner met Dukba herders who lived only in tents. One brought him milk and butter. Their 200 to 300 yaks, owned by three families, grazed the mountains by day and at dusk were called in, tied in a double line before the tents and guarded by two big Tibetan mastiffs. They moved north to south with the seasons.

Near our encampment, was a party of Tartar herdsmen, called Dukba, whose sole occupation is tending cattle, and who always live in tents. One of them brought me a large quantity of milk, which was excellent, and some very good butter.

About Dukba herders of Tibet ('Tartar herdsmen')

A lama's castle of stone or brick, with no stairs or windows

Editorial contextRelaying Bogle, who lived five months with the Panchen Lama, Stewart describes one of the Lama's castles: stone or brick, many courts and halls, rooms finished in Chinese style with gilding and varnish. The surprise is what is missing: upper floors are reached by wooden or iron ladders, and light comes through covered holes in the ceilings. Stewart does not call this a Tartar building; it is the seat of the lama the Tartars revered.

The castle is of stone or brick, with many courts, lofty halls, terraces, and porticos ; and the apartments are in general roomy, and highly finished in the Chinese stile, with gilding, painting, and varnish. There are two conveniencies to which they are utter strangers, stair-cases and windows.

About Tibetans (the Panchen Lama's court)

The Kalmyk story of Shakyamuni

Editorial contextIn a footnote Strahlenberg records the Kalmyk account of 'Xacamuni', that is the Buddha Shakyamuni: once a prince in India, taken up to heaven alive for his holiness, whose celibate sons explain why lamas may not marry, and one of whom brought the religion to Tibet. It is a garbled but recognisable outline of Buddhist teaching as told to a Swedish captive.

They say that 4000 Years ago, he was only a Soveraign Prince, in India; But on Account of his unparallel'd Sanctity, God had taken him up to Heaven alive; But the Place whither he was translated, none of them pretend to know.

About Kalmyks (Buddhists)

Kalmuk pilgrims bring silver, furs and camels

Editorial contextWhile Bogle stayed at Teshu Lumbo a large Kalmuk caravan arrived to worship the Panchen Lama, offering silver, furs, silk and dromedaries. They stayed a month, went on to Lhasa, and then went home, about three months' journey north. Elsewhere Bogle says Kalmuk tribes came every year with camels loaded with Siberian furs and hides.

Among the rest of his votaries were a large caravan of Kalmuks, who offered up to his shrine talents of silver, furs, pieces of silk, and dromedaries. They remained about a month at Teshu Lumbo, and then proceeded to Lhasa, where, having spent about ten days, they returned to their own country, which was about three months' journey to the northward.

About Kalmuks (Mongol pilgrims)

Prester John was a mishearing

Editorial contextLike Strahlenberg before him, Fischer explains the legend of Prester John as a European mistake: the first Europeans in Tibet and Mongolia misheard a title, their fancy shaped it into 'Prêtre Jean' or 'Juan', and so it spread through the world. They forgot that Tibetans and Mongols spoke neither French, Italian nor Portuguese, and were pleased to find what they hoped for; later came strange etymologies and fables of an Indian 'Johannes Presbyter'.

the name Prêtre Jean or Juan was wrongly heard by the first Europeans who came there, then badly shaped by their fancy, and so sent out into the world. It did not occur to these good people that the Tibetans and Mongols among whom they found themselves understood neither French, nor Italian, nor Portuguese

Working translation

Original wording

der name Pretre Jean oder Juan, ist von den erstern Europäern, die dorthin gekommen, unrecht gehöret, hernach von ihrer fantasei übel gebildet, und so weiter in die welt geschikket worden. Diesen guten leuten fiele nicht ein, daß die Tibetaner und Mogolen, unter denen sie sich befanden, weder französisch, noch italiänisch noch portugiesisch verstunden

About Tibetans and Mongols; medieval European travellers

Eluth Tartars out, Manchu Tartar emperor in

Editorial contextStewart dates Tibet's dependence on China from the 'expulsion' of a Tartar people the OCR prints as 'Ehatli', almost certainly the Eluths (the Dzungar Oirats who seized Lhasa in 1717 and were driven out in 1720). On the same page he calls the Chinese emperor 'a Mantchou Tartar'. Two very different peoples share one label.

ever since the expulsion of the Ehatli Tartars, the kingdom of Thibet is regarded as depending on the empire of China, which they call Cathay; and there actually reside two mandarines, with a garrison of a thousand Chinese, at Lahassa the capital,

About Eluth (Dzungar Oirat) Tartars; Manchu Tartars of the Qing

Every northern empire was a 'Tatar confederacy'

Editorial contextIn his memorandum Hastings sketches Tibetan history from Chinese sources and calls every northern power a 'Tatar confederacy': the Typa (Tuoba) in the fourth century, the Turks in the eighth and ninth, and on the next page the Mongols under Möngke Khan. It shows 'Tatar' used as a catch-all for any steppe people in the 1770s.

In the fourth century, the Tatar confederacy of the Typa subdued the north and east of Tibet. In the eighth and ninth centuries, when the Tatar confederacy of the Turks became feeble, the power of those nations, which now acknowledge the supremacy of the Dalai Lama, was very great.

About Tuoba, Turks and Mongols, all called Tatars

The Torghut flight to China, as told by the Panchen Lama

Editorial contextThe Panchen Lama told Bogle he had been busy with Kalmuk business, and explained that some years before 'a tribe of Tatars' subject to Russia had gone over to China (the Torghut exodus from the Volga in 1771), that the Chinese emperor had imprisoned Russian envoys sent to reclaim them, and that war might follow. It shows news of the steppe travelling through Tibetan religious networks.

He told me that he had been so much engaged with some Kalmuks, and had so much to write on their account, that he had not been able to see me sooner; that several years ago a tribe of Tatars, who were subject to Russia, had gone over to the Chinese

About Torghut Kalmyks (a tribe of Tatars subject to Russia)

A Manchu 'Tartar' at the Tibetan court

Editorial contextTurner's most important informant, Soopoon Choomboo, the Panchen Lama's cup-bearer and second officer of the court, was Manchu by birth. Turner calls him a 'Mantchieux Tartar', using the European habit of calling the Manchu rulers of China Tartars. Two pages on he describes his 'Tartar' features: small eyes, thin eyebrows, high cheek bones, no beard.

Soopoon Choomboo, who was styled also Sadeek, held the second rank in the court of Teshoo Loomboo. He was by birth a Mantchieux Tartar

About Manchus ('Mantchieux Tartar')

Dice worn on every Tartar belt

Editorial contextTurner says that no journey, marriage or naming was done in Tibet without first seeking an omen, often from a monk skilled in divination. For small decisions people simply threw dice, which is why a pair of dice hangs from a Tartar belt. He cheerfully admits he travelled only when his own monk-diviner said so.

in trivial affairs, the mind is often governed by a casual cast of the die; and hence, dice are almost always found to constitute an appendage to a Tartar dress.

About Tibetans ('Tartar dress')

A lama builds a new wall against the conquerors

Editorial contextDescribing 'Giegazze' (Shigatse), seat of the lama second only to the Dalai Lama, Desideri praises the lama's courage in 1717. When the conquerors of Lhasa, the Dzungar Tartars, marched on the town to plunder its rich temple and monastery, he quickly fortified both with a new wall, armed his people and drove them off. On the next page Desideri adds that the damage from the siege was repaired and the town enlarged in 1720.

Every one admired his firmness and courage when he offered heroic resistance to the conquerors of Lhasa, who after the sack of this town marched on Giegazze to make the fabulously rich temple and the monastery share the same fate. In a short time he fortified both with a new wall, armed his people and forced the enemy to retreat.

About Dzungar Mongols ('the conquerors of Lhasa')

Tents woven from yak hair

Editorial contextOn the high plain beyond Phari and the Tongla mountain, Turner saw herds of yaks and 'Tartar tents' made entirely from the animals: the tent cloth woven from yak hair, and the guy ropes spun from it too. These are the black tents of Tibetan herders, quite different from the round felt yurts of the Mongols.

On its skirts were large herds of the bushy-tailed cattle, grazing; and we saw some Tartar tents, formed from the hair of these cattle, woven into cloth; the ropes also which fastened them to iron pins driven into the ground, were spun from the same materials.

About Tibetan herders ('Tartars')

Manchu 'Tartars' in a Tibetan garrison

Editorial contextAt Gyantse, a small town on the road to Lhasa, Campbell's informants reported a Chinese officer with three or four hundred soldiers, a few of them 'Mantchoo Tartars of the Chinese army' and the rest local Tibetans. Here 'Tartar' is simply the standard English word for the Manchus who ruled Qing China.

There is a Chinese officer stationed here with 3 or 400 soldiers, a few of whom are Mantchoo Tartars of the Chinese army. The rest are native Tibetans.

About Manchu soldiers of the Qing army ('Mantchoo Tartars')

'The high plains of Tartary' are not the centre of Asia

Editorial contextExplaining why he calls his book 'Central Asia', Humboldt warns that terms like 'Central Asia' and 'High Asia' are used loosely. Travellers from India who cross the Himalaya to the sacred lakes of Tibet, on the plateau once called 'the high plains of Tartary', are in fact as far from the true centre of Asia as a Siberian at Tobolsk.

When travellers from India cross the Himalaya … and reach the two Sacred Lakes, on the plateau that people once saw fit to call 'the high plains of Tartary', they are no doubt heading towards Central Asia, but they are still … as far from the centre of Asia as are the inhabitants of Siberia on the parallel of Tobolsk

Working translation

Original wording

Lorsque les voyageurs de l'Inde franchissent la chaîne de l'Himalaya … et arrivent aux deux Lacs Sacrés, sur le plateau que l'on a cru devoir nommer jadis « les hautes plaines de la Tartarie, » ils marchent sans doute vers l'Asie centrale, mais ils se trouvent encore … aussi éloignés du centre de l'Asie que le sont des habitants de la Sibérie sous le parallèle de Tobolsk

A Lama's tomb with 'Chinese, or Tartar' decoration

Editorial contextTurner describes the mausoleum of the previous Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo. He sorts its style carefully: Indian-looking pillars and arches inside, Chinese or 'Tartar' decoration outside (the tented canopy and imperial dragon), and a plain but solid stone building with cement. It is a good example of a traveller naming the traditions a building borrowed from.

the external decorations are of Chinese, or Tartar origin, similar to those of the watch tower, or temple of the former; the tented canopy and imperial dragon. As far as the mason has been concerned … a plain substantial building of stone, with cement.

About Tibetans (Gelug monastery)

A Tatar gift that made Bogle look Russian

Editorial contextAn eccentric official decided that English dress was exactly like Russian dress, because Bogle wore a tunic and square cap that the Lama had been given by 'some Turki Tatars'. Markham adds a footnote calling this 'an instance of the confusion caused by the indiscriminate use of the word Tatar or Tartar'.

the tunic which I wore, and also my cap, the cut of which was four-square instead of being round, had been made a present of to the Lama by some Turki Tatars.

About Turki Tatars (Central Asian Turks)

Tartar pilgrims from Russia, and letters from the Czar

Editorial contextAccording to Bogle, the Panchen Lama knew of only one European empire, Russia, because many of its Tartar subjects came to Tibet and the Czar had sent him letters and presents. The Lama admired Russia but could not believe it was a match for China ('Cathay').

Many of the Tartar subjects of Russia come to Thibet; and the Czar has even, at various times, sent letters and presents to the Lama.

About Buddhist Tartar subjects of Russia (Kalmyks, Buryats and others)

The Tatars' mare's-milk beer

Editorial contextDella Penna compares Tibetan barley brandy with 'the beer which the Tatars make from the milk of mares', which he says looks and tastes like water but is surprisingly strong. It is a passing but clear reference to Mongol distilled milk spirit (arkhi) or kumiss.

a kind of brandy (mixed with the beer referred to), which does not differ greatly from the beer which the Tatars make from the milk of mares, and which is like water in appearance and taste, but is of considerable strength.

About Tatars (Mongols)

Kumiss dried in bags under a horse's belly

Editorial contextServed soured milk (dhy) by the Lama of Phari, Turner compares it with the kumiss of the Tartars, made from mare's milk in the same way. He adds a hearsay detail: it is sometimes dried into chalk-like lumps, and the drying is done by hanging it in cloth bags under the horses' bellies.

The Kummuz of the Tartars is mare's milk, prepared by the same process: this is sometimes dried in masses till it resembles chalk; and is used to give a relish to the water which they drink, by solution with it. I have been told, that the operation of drying it, is sometimes performed by tying the Dhy tight in bags of cloth, and suspending it under their horses' bellies.

About Tartars (steppe nomads, in comparison)

Tibetan robbers 'erroneously styled Kalmaks'

Editorial contextOn a stage called 'the place of thieves', where robbers hid in underground burrows, Hodgson adds a footnote: the Catholic missionary Huc wrote much about Tibetan robbers, who were black-tent Tibetan nomads, 'erroneously styled Kalmaks'. It shows 'Kalmak' being stretched to cover any nomad raiders of Inner Asia.

M. Huc in his narrative speaks much of the robbers of Tibet, who, he says, are Kalos or black-tent nomadic Tibetans, erroneously styled Kalmaks. They are mounted gang robbers.

About Tibetan black-tent nomads (wrongly called Kalmyks)