Art. IV.—A Sculptured Tope on an old Stone at Dras, Ladak

Extract

Dras is a village on the banks of a stream of the same name, about the distance of one march beyond the Bul-tul pass, on the road from Cashmere to Leh. There are two sculptured stones at this place, and as Cunningham has described them in his work on Ladak, I shall quote from him:

“On the side of the road, between the hamlet of Styalbo and the village of Drás, there are two pillars of granitic mica-slate, which the people call Chomo, or ‘The Women,’ but which, I believe, have no connection with Tibetan Buddhism, as the nearly obliterated inscriptions are in Kashmiri Tákri, and not in Tibetan characters. The eastern pillar has one principal figure, a four-armed female, and two attendant females, one on each side, and each with one leg bent. They all wear necklaces, earrings, amulets, and anklets. On the pedestal are several small kneeling figures with their hands raised and joined in attitudes of prayer. This pillar is six feet nine inches high, one foot six inches broad, and one foot thick. The western pillar has the same principal figure, also a four-armed female, with two attendant females on each side. This pillar is six feet high, two feet nine inches broad, and one foot thick. From the style of these figures, as well as from the nature of the alphabetical characters, I have no hesitation in stating my opinion that they are Brahminical statues erected by some Kashmirian Hindus. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that there is a third undoubted Hindu pillar standing close to them, which I believe to be a Sati pillar. On one side is sculptured a horseman, which is the usual emblem, placed on the piUar of a Rajputni Sati, to denote that her husband was a soldier. On the back of the pillar there is an inscription of eight lines in Kashmirian Tákri, which I am. unable to translate satisfactorily.”—pp. 381–82.