Written source · Tibetan and English

The Chronicles of Ladakh and minor chronicles

The royal chronicle of Ladakh in western Tibet, with A. H. Francke's 1926 edition and translation, including the Mongol-Tibetan invasion of the 1680s.

Full title Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Part II: The Chronicles of Ladakh and Minor Chronicles (Tibetan texts and English translations, Calcutta 1926)

ལ་དྭགས་རྒྱལ་རབས།

Ladakh royal chronicle (compiled to the 17th century, continued to the 1840s); edited and translated by A. H. Francke

Read the 4 passages Open the original book

The Ladakh royal chronicle (La dvags rgyal rabs) was compiled by court writers from the 17th century onward and continued into the 1840s, telling the story of the kings of Ladakh from legendary origins to the Dogra conquest of 1834 to 1842. The Moravian missionary and scholar A. H. Francke edited the Tibetan text from several manuscripts and translated it, with notes by himself and Karl Marx, as Antiquities of Indian Tibet, Part II (Calcutta, 1926), which also prints minor chronicles and land grants. The corpus holds two scans of this edition.

How they knew: Part eyewitness
Who “Tartar” means here: The chronicle speaks of Sog po (Mongols) and Hor, which Francke translates as Mongols, Turks, Turkomans or Mughals depending on context. The word Tartar is used only once by Francke, for Timur. The Mongols who invaded Ladakh were Tibetan-led forces with Khoshut or Dzungar Mongol troops sent from Lhasa.
Why read it: It gives the Ladakhi side of the war with the 'Mongol army' from Lhasa in the 1680s, ending with the Mongols building a moated fort, and shows how Tibetan 'Hor' could mean several different peoples.
Watch out: The early sections are legendary, the manuscripts differ, and Francke's dates are estimates. Notes by Francke and Marx are 20th-century commentary, not the chronicle, and are labelled as such.

What it says: 4 passages

Buildings Tashigang, western Tibetc. 1680s

The defeated Mongols build a moated fort

Editorial contextAfter the Kashmiri army routed the Tibetans near Basgo, the Mongol army fled to Tashigang, where, the chronicle says, they built a fort, surrounded it with a wall and ringed it with water, and stayed inside, secure against assault. The builders in this passage are the Mongols themselves.

the Mongol army in its flight [eventually] reached Bkra-sis-sgan. There they built a fort, shut it in with a wall, and surrounded it with water. Inside they made it secure against an assault of armies, and there they abode.

Chronicles of Ladakh (La dvags rgyal rabs), translated by A. H. Francke (1926)

See the original page (p. 115)

About Mongol army from Lhasa

Buildings Leh, Ladakhc. 1680 to 1720 (note early 20th century)

'It is generally asserted that it was built by the Mongols, which is an error'

Editorial contextThe chronicle credits King Nyima Namgyal with building a long mani wall near Leh. Karl Marx's note adds that local people generally claimed the wall was built by the Mongols, and calls that belief an error. A small but telling case of a structure popularly credited to the Mongols that the written record gives to someone else.

It is generally asserted that it was built by the Mongols, which is an error.

Karl Marx (Moravian missionary), note to Francke's edition

See the original page (p. 119)

About Ladakhi king Nyima Namgyal; Mongols in local belief

Keep in mind

An editorial note, not the chronicle text.

Daily life Basgo, Ladakhc. 1680s (Francke's dating uncertain)

A lama general leads the Mongols against Ladakh

Editorial contextThe chronicle tells how the Lhasa government, fearing the king of Ladakh, chose by divination a Mongol lama at Ganden monastery named Tshewang, who gave up his vows and led the Mongol tribe and a Tibetan army into Ladakh. The Ladakhis held Basgo castle for three years until the king called in the Mughal governor of Kashmir.

At that time there happened to be at Dgah-ldan lamasery a Mongol lama, called Tshe-dban. The calculations pointed out him [as the destined leader]. He, accordingly, turned layman, and, heading the Mongol tribe and a powerful army [of Tibetans], he [soon] reached [Ladakh].

Chronicles of Ladakh (La dvags rgyal rabs), translated by A. H. Francke (1926)

See the original page (p. 115)

About Mongols (Sog po) sent from Lhasa; Ladakhis

Keep in mind

Francke dates the war to about 1650; modern historians place the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal war in 1679 to 1684. Square brackets are Francke's.

Strange tales Nubra and Zanskar, Ladakhreported early 20th century

Ruins blamed on the Mongols, and a Mongol hand on show

Editorial contextIn his notes Francke records that popular tradition connected the many ruins at Mkhar-rdzong in Nubra with the Mongol general Galdan Tshewang, whose portrait head was kept at Diskit monastery in the hands of a guardian demon. Elsewhere in the book a missionary reports that at Phugtal monastery 'a dried human hand, which once was cut off a Mongol' was shown at a festival.

According to popular tradition the numerous ruins at Mkhar-rdzon in Nub-ra are connected with the Mongol general Dgah-ldan-tshe-dban, of whom a portrait head may be seen at the Bde-skyid monastery, where it is placed in the hands of the ogre Mgon-dkar.

A. H. Francke, translator's note (1926)

See the original page (p. 118)

About Mongols (in local memory)

Keep in mind

Popular tradition reported by the editor; the Phugtal hand is in the Rev. G. Hettasch's notes (p.152), not the chronicle.

The fine print

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

retrospective royal genealogy with contemporary sections; the minor chronicles include local records of the Mongol-Tibetan invasion of 1679-1684 and the Dogra conquest (1834-1842)

Research notes

Francke's text is a composite of several manuscripts (A, B, C, S); dating of early sections is legendary. Later editions: Petech 1977 (Kingdom of Ladakh).

Why it matters

Native chronicle of the western Tibetan borderland covered by Moorcroft (W019) and Vigne (W029); documents the 17th-century Mongol (Khoshut) campaign in Ladakh from the Ladakhi side.

Places named

Ladakh; Western Tibet (Guge, Purang); Baltistan; Kashmir

Peoples named

Tibetans and Tibetan polities

Tibetans and Tibetan polities

Mongols and the Mongol empire

Mongols

Persian, Arab, Ottoman and other Islamic states

Mughals

Other East, South and Southeast Asian peoples

Indians

Ladakhi kings (rNam rgyal dynasty); Tibetans (dGa' ldan pho brang); Mongols (Khoshut, 1679-1684 war); Mughals; Dogras; Baltis

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