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1. A Bibliography of Ladakh. By John Bray with Nawang Tsering Shakspo.
Aris & Phillips Ltd, Warminster, 1988; 153pp.
Although contemporary Ladakh represents a distinct cultural entity, it is included within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. So
far as its historical and cultural roots are concerned, they cannot be fully understood or assessed without taking into account
Tibetan history and religion. Before the western regions of the Himalayas became populated and organized into political
entities of any significance by Tibetan aristocratic families who fled or migrated from the central parts of Tibet, Ladakh and
its surrounding regions were inhabited by people of different origin. There exists a certain amount of archaeological and
epigraphic evidence to indicate that Buddhism was present in some places, which at present form parts of Ladakh before it
became inhabited by the people of Tibetan stock. However, Buddhism as it is now practised in Ladakh and other essential
cultural elements were brought from Tibet. The eventual emergence of Ladakh as a separate political and religio-cultural
entity dates back to the eleventh century, the time when in Western Tibet (often referred to in Tibetan as mNga' ris) there
were established two other kingdoms, namely Guge and Purangs. Apart from these three important kingdoms, there came
into being some other minor principalities or regions, such as Zangskar, which strove with varied success to retain their
individual identity. Thus the whole of the western Himalayas eventually became interspersed with pockets of small political
units that constantly interacted with each other. As the historical events progressed, Guge, Purangs, and other lesser
principalities gradually lost their political importance and power, but Ladakh succeeded in retaining its independent status up
to 1842, when it was annexed to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. With the gradual spread of Islam from the west and the
territorial intrusions of the political powers that professed it, Ladakh became subject to Moslem influences and eventually a
sizable proportion of its population became converted to Islam. Thus it becomes apparent as one traces the historical events
that the political and cultural history of Ladakh, apart from its own internal life, has been frequently exposed and subject to
influences from its neighbours; for instance active social and religious contacts with Tibet remained alive till 1959 when
Tibet lost its own independence.
Taking into account the complexities and peculiar patterns in which Ladakhi history and culture developed, the primary
information on Ladakh is derived from two major sources: one is internal and one external. The internal sources are
constituted by the literary and architectural remains of Ladakh itself. There are some important written records, documents
and inscriptions, and apart from the living tradition, the ruined or still surviving religious and civil buildings represent the
essential source of our information. Of the external information available, one must attach great importance to the Tibetan
sources. There is also a certain amount of important information to be gained on Ladakh's history from the records left by its
western and northern neighbours. Furthermore, there exists a fair number of travelogues, letters and studies left by western
visitors, adventurers, missionaries and scholars, especially from the period when the British ruled India.
Any attempt to provide a meaningful bibliographical reference book on Ladakh's history, religion, monuments and social life,
should take account of these complex and diversified sources of information. Perhaps it would be too much to expect of
anyone to produce a detailed classification or evaluation of all such sources, but it seems reasonable to assume that at least
some sort of broad categories for listing books and articles should become self-imposing as an apparent necessity.
Alphabetical entries, the way in which John Bray's bibliography is arranged, are quite useful and one must remain grateful to
people who produce such bibliographies for their time consuming work. However, since John Bray made an effort to compile
a comprehensive bibliography on a whole variety of subjects, and since he annotated his entries, one would expect that a need
to classify the materials into some general categories would become apparent in the course of his work; such a classification
would give the whole bibliography a definite clarity. If he had just simply divided his materials into primary and secondary
sources or into those written in western languages and in Tibetan and other oriental languages, his bibliography would
certainly become better organized, and it would provide a clear indication with regard to the nature and importance of the
listed references. Instead one has to go through the whole bibliography to find what one is looking for.
The whole work as it is published contains a brief introduction, 124 pages of annotated entries, and an index of 18 pages
which is to serve as a guide to subject areas. The index does meet some of the suggestions made above, but as the author
himself admits it is very general and more indicative than exhaustive.
Apart from a number of ordinary typographical errors, the publication contains some unexpected mistakes and
inconsistencies. The 1910 (a) entry under A.H. Francke concerning gNya khri btsan po has "the king of Ladakh" though it
should read "the king of Tibet". The history of Ladakh "written" by bSod-nams Tshe-brtan Yo-seb dGe-rgan and "edited" by
his son bSod-nams sKyabs-ldan dGe-rgan has two title pages, one in English and one in Tibetan. The actual entry in the
bibliography does not correspond to the data of any of the two titles but represents their compromised version, and it contains
a mistake (chi for 'chi).
There is one important work which the author does not mention. It is a bibliography of 11822 items in 732 pages compiled by
H.K. Kuløy and Y. Imaeda (Bibliography of Tibetan Studies, Naritasan Shinshoji, 1986). This work includes the majority of
books and articles that are included in John Bray's bibliography but perhaps it appeared too late to be fully explored.

2. Finally I would like to conclude by saying that the observations made above are not intended to degrade the value of John
Bray's efforts and work. His bibliography does represent a useful tool and it should be welcome as a valid contribution in the
field of research on Ladakh.
Tadeusz Skorupski
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