SARAT CHANDRA DAS MY HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS …’ the Himalayan journey part of Das’s travelogue ... a monk of the Pema-yang-tse monastery of Sikkim, ... but the Spiritual Prime Minister

SARAT CHANDRA DAS MY HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS

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SARAT CHANDRA DAS

MY HIMALAYANJOURNEYS

MONFAKIRA

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SARAT CHANDRA DAS

MY HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS

Introduced, compiled and edited byTAPAS MOULIK

First MONFAKIRA Edition

November 2008

e-book edition : August 2015

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Contents

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INTRODUCTION

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SARAT CHANDRA DASB I O G R A P H Y

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JOURNEYS OF SARAT CHANDRA DASCONTEXT AND IMPLICATIONS

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A. W. CROFT

PREFATORY NOTE TO THE NARRATIVE OFA JOURNEY TO TASHI-LHUNPO IN 1879

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SARAT CHANDRA DAS

Extracts fromNARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO TASHI-LHUNPO IN 1879

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Extracts fromNARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO LHASA IN 1881-82

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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VISUAL DOCUMENTS

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INTRODUCTION

Sarat Chandra Das was ‘one of the greatest pioneers ofexploration and discovery in Tibet’ in nineteenth century, asdescribed by W. W. Rockhill, a well-known Tibetan traveller. In1879-82, when Tibet was a forbidden land for foreigners, Daswent to Tibet twice in the disguise of a Buddhist lama andsurveyed unknown regions of Kangchenjunga massif and Tibeton behalf of British Government of India. During his journeys,he crossed glacier passes higher than 20,000 ft without the aidof modern mountaineering equipment, which has been acknow-ledged as ‘one of the boldest journeys on record’ by famousBritish mountaineer Frank Smythe. Apart from a remarkablecontribution on the geographical research, Das, a scholar ofTibetan language and Buddhism, collected and later dispersedhuge information on the cultural and social life, religion andpolitics of Tibet.

Das’s rare travelogues, on how he crossed the Himalayasin both the journeys he made to Tibet, has been reprinted inthis book. In the shadows of Das’s famous works on explorationsin Tibet, these narratives of his Himalayan journeys have beenneglected so far. The rarity and uniqueness of these travelogues,which prompted the reprint, has been discussed below in detail.

The book also includes a sketch of the life of SaratChandra, as well as a brief assessment of the significance ofhis journeys in the contexts of geographical research, Tibetanstudies and international politics of that time relating Tibet.

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We sincerely appreciate the courtesy extended by RoyalGeographical Society of London for giving us the permission toreprint six rare images from their image library.

NARRATIVES OF THE HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS

In his first journey, Sarat Chandra Das went to Tashi-lhunpomonastery located near Shigatse of Tibet. Starting in June1879, he crossed the Kang La (16,373 ft) to enter Nepal fromSikkim. Then visiting Ghunsa (13,864 ft) and Kangbachen(15,553 ft) of Nepal in the northwestern valleys of Kangchen-junga, he crossed the Chabok (or Chathang) La (over 20,000ft) and Chorten Nyima La (18,650 ft) to enter Tibet. He reachedTashi-lhunpo on 7th July 1879.

In his more extensive second journey, undertaken in1881-82, Sarat Das left Darjeeling on 7th November 1881 andto enter Nepal from Sikkim crossed the Chumbok (or Chumbab)La, situated to the south of Kang La crossed by him in his firstjourney. Then he proceeded to Tibet by the route Ghunsa–Nango La (15,770 ft)– Kangla-chen Pass (over 20,000 ft) andreached Tashi-lhunpo on 9th December 1881. In this trip, heexplored a wide area of Tibet and visited Lhasa, Dongtse,Yarlung Valley and Sakya. Das returned to Darjeeling on 27thDecember 1882.

The account of the first journey of Sarat Das, titled‘Narrative of a Journey to Tashi-lhunpo in 1879’, was firstpublished as a Government Report of the Survey of IndiaDepartment in 1881. It was later reprinted in the ‘Journal ofthe Buddhist Text Society’ in 1900.

The account of the second journey of Das was publishedseparately in two parts, titled ‘Narrative of a journey to Lhasain 1881-82’ (published in 1885) and ‘Narrative of a journeyround Lake Yamdo (Palti), and in Lhokha, Yarlung, and Sakya,in 1882’ (published in 1887), both published as Government

Reports of the Survey of India. Later in 1901, they werepublished together as a book titled ‘Journey to Lhasa andCentral Tibet’ by the Royal Geographical Society of London,after being edited by a well-known Tibetan traveller, theAmerican diplomatist, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill.

But, the narrative of the first journey of Das in 1879,his first encounter with the desolate snowy regions of Himalayaswhich overwhelmed him, was not included in the book ‘Journeyto Lhasa and Central Tibet.’ The reason for this, as describedby the Editor, W. W. Rockhill, was— ‘As the route thereindescribed is the same as that followed by the traveller in hissecond and more extended journey of 1881-2, and as theresults of his studies in Tibet in 1879, as shown in this report,bear nearly exclusively on historical and religious subjects, ithas been deemed advisable to omit it from the presentpublication.’ But, in actual, the route as well as the time of twojourneys were different, second being in winter presenting acompletely different experience to Das. Moreover, Das himselfwas quite cautious about any repetitions while narrating hissecond journey. However, the first report remained unavailableas a book. Mr. D. W. Freshfield, who explored Kangchenjungaregion in 1899, included extracts from Sarat Das’s first narrativeas an appendix of his book ‘Round Kangchenjunga’, from whereit has been reprinted here.

Narratives of Das’s second journey in 1881-82 was inmuch more detail and impressed many, among which the Pekingcorrespondent of the London ‘Times’ wrote in 1885— ‘ThePandit’s narrative is written in a simple, natural and graphicstyle, more like that of Defoe than of our contemporarylitterateurs. Every detail of the journey is described, and yetthe interest never flags.’

In the October 1889 issue of ‘Nineteenth Century’,Graham Sandberg wrote— ‘The narrative of his travels is reallymost fascinating. If published, we believe it would form one ofthe most delightful books of travel ever written. Its simplenarrative style, most creditable to a Bengali, is relieved by the

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introduction, every few pages, of Tibetan legendary lore of avery interesting kind.’

The narratives were published, indeed, by RGS, but onlyafter being edited by Mr. Rockhill, who claims in the Introductionof the famous book ‘Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet’— ‘Itis these reports, which, with only such slight modifications ashave seemed absolutely necessary to make the narrativeconnected, are published in the present volume.’ In actual, Mr.Rockhill truncated the Himalayan journey part to almost one-fourth of its original, in the process depriving the readers ofmuch of its charm and simplicity.

In this regard, comments of Freshfield in his book ‘RoundKangchenjunga’ are worth noting. Freshfield said, ‘Mr. Rockhill,however, naturally did not do his work from a mountaineer’spoint of view. Anxious to preserve space for full details as toTibet itself, he cut down the Himalayan narrative somewhatclosely, and further changed it by modifying many of the morecharacteristic expressions of his author. For me there is anagreeable freshness and picturesqueness in a narrative ofmountaineering told by a Bengali Babu in his own exact words.I like to know his frame of mind, the legends and fairy talesthat to him were real, the dangers he imagined as well as theperils he really encountered. I believe many English readerswill find the same curious fascination that I have in the Babu’sunexpurgated description of how he crossed the snows on hisway to the Holy City, and perhaps be reminded, as I havebeen, of the Anglo-Saxon pilgrim who complained of “the bitterblasts of glaciers and the Pennine army of evil spirits” thatguarded the snows of the St. Bernard and the road to Rome.’

Mr. Freshfield included, in the appendix of his book ‘RoundKangchenjunga,’ the Himalayan journey part of Das’s traveloguefrom his original unedited report. This part also has beenreprinted here.

So, now with this book, the original unedited traveloguesof Sarat Chandra, on both of his Himalayan journeys, aremade available to the reader.

SARAT CHANDRA DAS(18. 07. 1849 - 05. 01. 1917)

Sarat Chandra Das was born in 1849, in a Hindu family ofvaidya, at Alampur of Chittagong District of the then EastBengal (Now in Bangladesh). According to his brother, NobinChandra Das, ‘from his boyhood, Sarat Chandra evinced thatfirm determination, and love of peril for its own sake, in whichis to be found the clue to his success in after-life.’ He receivedhis education from the Engineering Department of the PresidencyCollege at Calcutta and studied up to the highest class of CivilEngineering. As a brilliant student, Sarat Das came to thenotice of Sir Alfred Croft, the then director of public instructionof Bengal. Since then, Sir Croft guided him in geographicaland literary works and it was through his representations tothe Government of India that the dream of Das to journey intoTibet came true later.

In 1874, Sarat Chandra Das, while a student of thePresidency College, was appointed head master of the TibetanBoarding School, then opened at Darjeeling under the ordersof the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Campbell. Lama UgyenGya-tsho, a monk of the Pema-yang-tse monastery of Sikkim,held the post of Tibetan teacher in the same school. UgyenGya-tsho was related to the royal family of Sikkim. Here, atDarjeeling, Sarat Chandra engaged himself deeply in the studyof Tibetan language. He paid several visits in subsequent yearsto the monasteries and other places of interest in Independent

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Sikkim and made the acquaintance of the Raja and hisministers.

In 1878, Ugyen Gya-tsho was sent to Tashi-lhunpomonastery and Lhasa of Tibet with tribute from the Pema-yang-tse monastery. Sarat Das used this opportunity and senta letter through Gya-tsho seeking a position of student in themonasteries of Tashi-lhunpo or Lhasa. He was denied of theaccess to Lhasa, but the Spiritual Prime Minister of the TashiLama at Tashi-lhunpo invited ‘the Indian Pandit Sri SaratChandra Das’ to visit Tashi-lhunpo, where his name had beeninserted as a student of theology in the Grand Monastery.

Accordingly, in June 1879, Sarat Das, accompanied byLama Ugyen Gya-tsho, set out for Tashi-lhunpo of Tibet. As, inthose days, Tibet was a forbidden land for foreigners, Das hadto take the guise of a Buddhist Lama. British Government ofIndia, for their political interest, used this opportunity to surveythe unknown approaches to Tibet through Das. Das and Gya-tsho reached Tashi-lhunpo on 7th July 1879, exploring on theirway the unknown north and northwestern regions of Kang-chenjunga and crossing Chathang La (over 20,000 ft) to enterTibet via Nepal. After staying there for three months theyreturned to Darjeeling towards the close of the year. Theywere hospitably entertained by the Prime Minister and invitedto return to Tashi-lhunpo in the following year. The account ofthis first journey of Sarat Das, titled ‘Narrative of a Journeyto Tashi-lhunpo in 1879’ was first published as a GovernmentReport of the Survey of India Department in 1881.

Next year, in 1880, Sarat Chandra was prevented fromundertaking his second journey to Tibet owing to the disturbedstate of Sikkim. He left Darjeeling on 7th November 1881 andproceeded to Tibet for the second time, this time in winter,with his usual companion Ugyen Gya-tsho. They reached Tashi-lhunpo on 9th December 1881. During the stay here, Dasmade various excursions along both banks of the river Tsang-po and explored a vast region of Tibet. From Tashi-lhunpothey proceeded to Lhasa and stayed there for two weeks.

Here, Sarat Chandra was able to meet the Holy Dalai Lamathe 13th. He visited several monasteries and important placesand closely observed the cultural and social life, religion andpolitical scenario of Tibet. During his visit to the ancient monas-tery of Sakya, he found many rare books in Sanskrit hundredsof years old that had been believed to be lost forever. On hisreturn to India in late 1882, he brought back over two hundredvolumes of manuscripts and block prints, a number of them inSanskrit, obtained from the great libraries of Tibet. The accountof this second journey of Sarat Das was first published in twoparts, in 1885 and 1887, as Government Reports of the Surveyof India Department and were kept as strictly confidential untilabout 1890. Later, they were published together as a booktitled ‘Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet’ by the Royal Geo-graphical Society of London in 1901.

After his return to India, Sarat Chandra Das settled atDarjeeling and, with the vast knowledge he gathered about theculture and religion of Tibet, started contributing in literatureby writing in different journals. From 1881 to 1900, SaratChandra worked as the official translator of the Tibetan languagefor the Government of Bengal.

In October 1884, Das accompanied Colman Macaulay,Secretary to the Government of Bengal, to Lachen valley ofSikkim, in the Tibetan frontier, for a meeting with the TibetanJongpon (district chief) of Khamba. In October 1885, he againaccompanied Macaulay to Peking to help him in diplomaticnegotiations with Chinese Government, which is known as‘Macaulay Mission’. In China, Das impressed both the Chineselamas and ministers with his profound knowledge in Tibetanstudies and Buddhism. After these two tours of Das accom-panying Macaulay, his close connection with the British Govern-ment was clear to the Tibetans. Unfortunately, Tibetan autho-rities severely punished the Tibetans who helped Das duringhis stay in Tibet.

In 1887, Sarat Chandra visited Thailand to studyBuddhism, where the King, being deeply impressed by him,

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presented him with the medal ‘Tushitamat’. Das also visitedJapan in 1915.

In 1892, Das founded the ‘Buddhist Text Society of India’in Calcutta and acted as the secretary of it. He was also anassociate member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. TheGovernment of India awarded Sarat Chandra the title of ‘RaiBahadur’ for his achievements. The Royal Geographical Societyof London awarded him the ‘Back Premium’ in 1887 for hiscontribution towards geographical researches.

Das’s articles on Tibetan studies published in differentjournals (see Bibliography) and his lectures were put togetherand edited by his brother Nobin Chandra Das to publish inbook form titled ‘Indian Pandits in the Land of Snow’. After hisreturn from Tibet, Das started compiling his most famous lite-rary work, ‘A Tibetan-English dictionary, with Sanskrit synonyms’which was first published in 1902 from Calcutta. It is stillpopular and considered as a standard after more than hundredyears. Das also authored ‘An introduction to the grammar ofthe Tibetan language’ which was first published in 1915. Apartfrom these, Das wrote many books and articles in Sanskritand Tibetan and translated many Tibetan works to English.

At Darjeeling, Sarat Chandra named his house ‘LhasaVilla’ and played host to many notable guests including tibeto-logist Sir Charles Alfred Bell, Russian explorer Ekai Kawa-guchi, Madame Blavatsky and anthropologist Walter Evans-Wentz.

Sarat Chandra Das died on 5th January of 1917.

TAPAS MOULIK

JOURNEYS OF SARAT CHANDRA DASCONTEXT AND IMPLICATIONS

To evaluate the significance of the journeys made by SaratChandra Das, it is necessary to discuss briefly the politics,which revolved around Tibet that time.

In the nineteenth century, Tibet was a forbidden land forthe foreigners, especially to Europeans. Europeans who daredto venture inside Tibet, and Tibetans who helped them, werepunished brutally. As a result, in 1860’s, very little was knownof Tibet to the British Government of India. Even the exactlocations of the Capital city Lhasa and the second largest cityShigatse were not known to the British. Alike the scarcity ofgeographical information, political information regarding theactivities of other nations, like Russia and China, in Tibet hardlyreached the British intelligence barring few through the mission-aries posted near the borders of Tibet and the cross-borderIndian pilgrims and local traders. During this time, the news ofrapid advance of the Russian Tsarist army in Central Asiaalarmed the British Government, as the British capital Calcuttawas only three hundred miles south from the Tibetan border.A desperate need of information about Tibet was felt by theBritish, but no easy solution was available.

It is this time in 1863, that Captain Thomas GeorgeMontgomerie, a young Royal Engineers officer attached to thesurvey of India, suggested sending trained natives in disguiseto Tibet to survey the country secretly. This was perceived as

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a brilliant idea by the Government, probably because theEuropeans were safe and in case of a detection, an Indiannative could always be disowned to avoid political controversy.So, consequently, handpicked Indian recruits of Survey of Indiastarted entering Tibet in the disguise of Buddhist lamas. Thedrums of their rotating prayer wheels were used to contain thesurvey notes and sketch maps, the upper part of their walkingsticks were used to conceal the thermometer and their tintrunks had false bottoms to hide miniature sextants andtelescopes specially made by ordnance factories. Their Buddhistrosaries used to contain 100 beads instead of the normal 108,so that they can easily count their steps while travelling, tomeasure the distance traversed.

The first success by the above method was brought bypundit Nain Singh, who reached Lhasa in 1866 traversing 1200miles and spent there three months before returning toDehradun safely, though encountering lot of dangers in hisway. The risk taken by him was beyond imagination, as at anypoint, detection meant almost certain death. In fact, Nain Singhwitnessed the public beheading of a Chinese entrant to Lhasa,which unnerved him and prompted him to return back quickly.The survey observations made by Nain Singh was proved laterto be surprisingly accurate and for the first time nearly exactposition of Lhasa was known to the British intelligence. Thesuccess of Nain Singh prompted the British to carry out manysuch expeditions through Indian pundits, among which KishenSingh also reached Lhasa in 1880.

When Sarat Chandra Das managed an invitation to visitTashi-lhunpo near Shigatse of Tibet in 1879, British Governmentused the opportunity to survey the eastern approach to Tibetthrough him. Both his journeys to Tibet were mastermindedand aided by the British Government capitalizing Das’s deepinterest in Tibetan studies. Unlike his predecessors Das wasnot uncomfortable in the guise of a Buddhist lama for hisgenuine knowledge in Tibetan and Buddhism. He appeared soconvincing to the Tibetans that in the first visit he was invited

to return back to Tibet in the following year. While Nain Singhwas terrified in the fear of detection when asked merely toattend a mass prayer at Tashi-lhunpo monastery, Das managedaccess to the grand libraries of the monastery and carriedback lot of rare and valuable books. During his second visit,while Das could visit Lhasa, Dongtse and other important placesand even managed to see the Holy Dalai Lama, famous Russianexplorers Ekai Kawaguchi and Prejevalsky were prevented fromreaching Lhasa midway in their expeditions through Tibet. So,the journeys of Sarat Das were proved to be most successfulamong all such ventures carried out by Indian Pundits as alsomost useful to the British Government of India.

After his return from Tibet, in 1884, Sarat Das, as aninterpreter, accompanied Colman Macaulay, Secretary to theGovernment of Bengal, to Lachen valley of Sikkim, in theTibetan frontier, for a meeting with the Tibetan Jongpon (districtchief) of Khamba. The purpose of the meeting was to examinethe possibilities of trade between Tibet and British India. In1885, Sarat Chandra accompanied Macaulay to Peking to obtainChinese passports allowing a proposed British Mission to travelacross Tibet from India to China. The Chinese Governmentreluctantly granted the passports and the British Mission, knownas ‘Macaulay Mission’, gathered at Darjeeling in 1886. But, theMission had to be abandoned due to severe oppositions fromthe Tibetans who feared a British invasion in the disguise ofthe Mission.

These two tours of Das accompanying Macaulay, revealedto the Tibetans, his close connection with the British Govern-ment. Tibetan Government severely punished the Tibetans whohelped Das during his stay in Tibet. The prime minister ofTashi-lhunpo, who issued the passport to Das, was imprisonedand his servants were killed. Lama Sengchen Kyabying, Das’sguru during his stay at Tashi-lhunpo, was alleged of divulgingnational secrets to a foreigner and drowned alive in Tsang-po(Brahmaputra) in 1886. The entire Palhe family, who assistedDas in Lhasa, were shunned by the Lhasa aristocracy and ex-

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cluded from their positions in Tibetan Government. LamaSengchen Tulku, Abbot of Dongtse monastery and a famousscholar, was first imprisoned and then drowned in 1887.Sengchen’s assistant Sherab Gyatso was imprisoned andtortured, but succeeded to escape to India where he joinedthe Tibetan Boarding School at Darjeeling by arrangement ofDas.

Fear of the Tibetan Government was not unrealistic. Thegeographical and political information collected by Sarat Dasand his companion Ugyen Gya-tsho was of great help to theBritish intelligence. The Chorten Nyima La (which Das crossedto enter Tibet) approached from the Lachen valley of Sikkimproved to be the most direct route to Lhasa by which theBritish Army invaded Tibet in 1904 under the command of SirFrancis Younghusband.

Because of the misfortunes of Das’s hosts in Tibet dueto the political relations between British India and Tibet, con-tributions of Das has been seen and evaluated from differentangles. While some have acknowledged him as one of thegreatest pioneers of exploration and discovery in Tibet innineteenth century, others have described him merely as aBritish spy. So, it is best to discuss objectively, the contributionsDas made in the field of geographical research and Tibetanstudies.

In the field of geographical explorations, one can dividethe contributions of Das in two areas— first being in exploringthe unknown regions surrounding the Kangchenjunga mountainmassif.

Kangchenjunga (8585 m), the third highest peak of theworld, is situated at about 75 kms north of Darjeeling and isa huge massif. Unlike the main Himalayan range, which isaligned east to west, the Kangchenjunga massif extends northto south along the eastern border of Nepal and western borderof Sikkim. On the west it is cut off by the Kosi Valley from theother mountains of Nepal, and on the east by the Teestavalley from those of Tibet and Bhutan.

Renowned botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker, first carried outsystematic explorations up the Sikkimese as well as Nepalesevalleys of Kangchenjunga in 1848 (‘Himalayan Journals’ by J.D. Hooker, London, 1854). But, he didn’t reach the upper valleys.In his map, a broad blank separates the northwest and north-east of Kangchenjunga, where it is printed: ‘This country issaid to present a very elevated, rugged tract of lofty mountains,sparingly snowed, uninhabitable by man or domestic animals.’

These words excited some people and so the explorationswent on to fill in the ‘Hooker’s blank’. The regular survey ofthe Sikkim side began in 1878 and was further extended byW. W. Graham in 1883. Other prominent explorers of theSikkim side were J. Claude White (1887–1908), Major L. A.Waddell (1899) and Major O’Connor (1897). In these explora-tions, the northeastern side of Kangchenjunga which was withinthe limits of Independent Sikkim was known and to some ex-tent mapped which reduced the extent of the ‘Hooker’s blank’.

But, the Nepalese side, the northwestern valleys ofKangchenjunga, was closed to the European visitors. So, noexplorations could have been possible there. Sarat ChandraDas, in his first journey to Tashi-lhunpo in 1879, was first toexplore this region and produce sketch maps of north andnorthwestern sides of Kangchenjunga, which finally closed thegap left by Hooker. Although, the sketch maps produced byDas was preliminary in nature and contained some errors, ashe was not an experienced surveyor, it is with the referenceof his maps and the details of his narratives that D. W.Freshfield perfected the map of the Kanchenjunga massif intotality in 1899.

But, Das is more famous for his explorations in Tibetthough. He was the third Indian to reach Lhasa after NainSingh and Kishen Singh, and surveyed a wide region of Tibeton his way. During his stay at Tashi-lhunpo in 1882, Das madevarious excursions along both banks of the river Tsang-po andexplored from Sakya in the west to Samye and Tsetang in theeast. He discovered and first surveyed ‘Lake Palti (Yamdo),

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second’ and named the lake ‘Yamdo Croft’ in the honour of hismentor Sir Alfred Croft. This discovery by Das seemed to SirCroft so important that later in 1883 he sent Lama UgyenGya-tsho, Das’s companion in both of his journeys, only toverify the survey results of Das, which was vetted to beaccurate. Das’s explorations in Tibet is documented in hisfamous book ‘Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet’, and so feltunnecessary to elaborate here further.

Contribution of Das in Tibetan studies is equally, if notmore, important and it is this which differentiates him fromother contemporary Indian pundit explorers. His interest inTibetan language and Buddhism was genuine which he de-monstrated throughout his life by authoring numerous articleson Tibetan religion, culture and society in different journals.His masterly work, the Tibetan to English Dictionary withSanskrit synonyms published first in 1902, is still popular andconsidered as a standard after more than hundred years. Bygoing through his life-sketch and publications authored by him,one can estimate the vast contributions of Das in the field ofTibetan studies, a detailed evaluation of which has not beendone yet.

TAPAS MOULIK

MY HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS

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PREFATORY NOTE TO THE NARRATIVE OFA JOURNEY TO TASHI-LHUNPO IN 1879

Babu Sarat Chandra Das, the writer of this Narrative, was, in1874, while a student of the Engineering Department of theCalcutta Presidency College, appointed head master of theTibetan Boarding School, then opened at Darjeeling under theorders of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Campbell. BabuSarat Chandra applied himself assiduously to the study ofTibetan; and paid several visits in subsequent years to themonasteries and other places of interest in Independent Sikkim,where he made the acquaintance of the Raja, his ministers,and other persons of importance. In 1878 Lama Ugyen Gya-tsho, a monk of the Pema-yang-tse monastery, who held thepost of Tibetan teacher in the same school, was sent to Tashi-lhunpo and Lhasa with tribute from the Pema-yang-tsemonastery; and advantage was taken of this opportunity tofind out whether it would be possible for Babu Sarat ChandraDas to visit Tibet, as he much desired to do. The Lama metwith little encouragement at Lhasa; but at Tashi-lhunpo theSpiritual Prime Minister of the Tashi Lama, with the permissionof the latter, sent by the hands of Ugyen Gya-tsho an invitationto ‘the Indian Pandit Sri Sarat Chandra Das’ to visit Tashi-lhunpo, where his name had been inserted as a student in theGrand Monastery; offering him his choice of routes, and com-manding all Jongpons (district chiefs), or other persons to whomthe letter might be shown, to help forward the Pandit with all

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Documents

SARAT CHANDRA DAS MY HIMALAYAN JOURNEYS …’ the Himalayan journey part of Das’s travelogue ... a monk of the Pema-yang-tse monastery of Sikkim, ... but the Spiritual Prime Minister