Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
Tibetan (Bhoti)—An Endangered Script in Trans-Himalaya
Author(s): Nawang Tsering Shakspo
Source: The Tibet Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring 2005), pp. 61-64
Published by: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
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Tibetan (Bhoti) - An Endangered Script in Trans-
Himalaya
Nawang Tsering Shakspo
Due to the wealth ofLadakh's Tibetan Buddhist history and heritage, it is commonly
known as Western Tibet or Little Tibet. The people of Ladakh are of Tibetan ethnicity
and mainly follower of Mahayana Buddhism. The origins of Mahayana Buddhism
in Ladakh began with the visit of Guru Padmasambhava in the 7th century ad. Guru
Padmasambhava influenced both the culture and religion of Ladakh and this has
emerged into the Buddhism of Ladakh that we see today.
According to the 2002 census, the population of Leh, a district of the Ladakh
region is 1 1 7,637 which has a similar size of population living to the second district
of Ladakh, known as the Kargil district.
The Ladakhi language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan phylum of the Tibetan Burmese
line. This phylum is found among the western branches of the Tibetan language
family.
Ladakhi language is written in Tibetan scripture. The script came into being
during the reign of King Srong btsan sgam po, the most powerful ruler of Tibet in
the seventh century ad. The king had two illustrious ministers: Thon mi Sam bhota,
and the second minister born in Ladakh, Rig pa can. The king however delegated
the job of coining the Tibetan alphabet to the Tibetan minister Thon mi Sam bhota.
He resided for many years in Kashmir and in the plains of India to study Sanskrit.
Upon his return to Tibet in the middle of the seventh century, he laid the structure
for Tibetan grammar and literature.1 Prior to the seventh century, the population of
Baltistan and Ladakh conversed in Tibetan. Now spoken language and written
scriptures in Tibetan script are known as Ladakhi and Balti. The Buddhist write
their scriptures in Tibetan, contrary to the Shia-Muslims, who write in Arabic.
With the country's independence and adoption of the Jammu and Kashmir
constitution, both the Ladakhi and Balti languages received constitutional status
as state languages. Unlike the Tibetan language, the Baltis pronounce the prefixes
and suffixes very clearly. See the illustrated table below,
Word Tibetan Ladakhi Balti Tibetan Tibetan
Phonetic Phonetic Phonetic Spelling
Rice de das abras abras ^9^]
Sand che-ma pe-ma bye-a-m
Knife di ti gi-ri gi-ri 2)
Write de dis abris abris
Religion choe chos chos chos ÏN]
Salutation chag chag phyi-yag phy-yag S1*!
Four shi shi bshi bshi
Six tug tug trug trug ^
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62 THE TIBET JOURNAL
Hen cha cha bi-ya bya 91
Hundred gya rgya bar-rgya brgya ^§1
From the above table it is clear that the spoken dialect of Ladakh and Ba
Tibetan origin. As time passed in Central Tibetan and in Ladakh, the w
betan scripture took root. A number of writers and scholars emerged in L
tirelessly contributed to the evolution of the language. This sparked
gence of a variety of spoken languages.
In Baltistan, the spoken language remained static. There was no prog
towards the propagation of the Tibetan scripture, with exception of th
tions made by Baiti Lotsawa. He was one of the four main disciples o
Lotsawa, a translator from the 10th century ad. He was born of a humb
a village near Skardo. He was recognised as the incarnation of the first
Tulku, whose successive incarnations ascended to the seats of Head La
Likir monastery, Karsha and other monasteries in Zanskar.
The people of Baltis have a population numbering around six lacs (si
thousand) and are located in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Ka
Baltistan regions. Although discarded long ago, the Tibetan script wa
digenous script of the Balti people, and was used for writing their la
dialect. This script was popularly addressed as Bod-yik or Pot-yik
dropped the Tibetan script when the area became Islamic in the early 1
ad. Therefore Buddhist script was lost due to the influence of Islamic
culture. Although these changes occurred politically and culturally, t
Kargil in Ladakh and Baltistan in Pakistan continued to converse in Bai
of the greater Tibetan language and literature. Baltis address their lang
skat or Balti, the language of Shia Muslims or Puriki (the language of T
This trend has continued since their adoption of the Muslim culture an
since the early 15th century. Interestingly, unlike the Tibetan people,
served the essence of the written scripture in their pronunciation.
Ladakh 's royal family connects its genealogical root to the first kin
gNya' khri btsan po.2 One of his descendents Skyid de nyi ma mgon, t
Western Tibet divided Ladakh, Guge and Purang, and Zanskar among
sons. The eldest son, dPal gyi mgon (1000-1025) received Ladakh and
first ruler. His second son bKra shis mgon inherited Guge and Purang and
son IDe gtsug mgon inherited Zanskar, Spiti of present Himachal Prad
effect gives evidence that Himalayan countries such as Bhutan, Sikkim
Tawang spoke Tibetan and with the passage of time variations cam
language of the respective area. The pronunciation however of spoke
and Balti is closer to the classical orthography.3
The present population of Ladakh consists of three distinct races call
or Brogpa, Mon and Mongoloid or Tibetan race. The present populatio
Garkhon and Dha Hanu villages is believed to be Aryan or Brogpa race.
one find people, whose ancestors originate from Himachal and the plain
Ladakh once had a close trade link with the Mon people of Himacha
and their music and folklore have found a place in Ladakhi art and cul
tions. The third and the dominating population of Ladakh are the mo
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TIBETAN (BHOTI)-AN ENDANGERED SCRIPT IN TRANS-HI MAI, AYA 63
Tibetan race. The mongoloid or Tibetan race reached Ladakh with the first king of
Ladakh in the ninth century ad. They first settled in Gya and Shey. Shey is located
10 kilometres south of Leh. The population converses in a typical dialect, which
has similarities to the language of Western Tibet or Changpas (byang pa). It could
be established here that Shey had remained the capital of Ladakh for a long time.
Tibetan language and scripture gained prominence in the area with the emergence
of Lo tswa ba Rin chen bzang po (958-1055). The Guge-born scholar has founded
108 temples and shrines all over Ladakh. He has also built temples and shrines at
Zanskar, Nubra, Changthang, Purig and in several areas of Kargil. Rin chen bzang
po is often refereed to as the father of the Ladakhi culture and civilisation. He was
a member of the Kadampa sect, which was introduced during the 10th Century by
Atisha Dipankara, a high profile scholar of the Vikarmashila University. It is said
that Atisha travelled to Tibet via Western Tibet to pave the second revival of
Buddhism after its suppression by the cruel king Lang Darma in the early 10th
century.
Ladakh has never had the same reputation as the centre of Buddhist learning in
the past, yet Ladakhi scholars over time have greatly contributed to the enrichment
of the Tibetan language and religion. Now with the occupation of Tibet by the
China, Ladakh has emerged as the last refuge of Mahayana Buddhism and its
culture.
At present among the Himalayan countries, the base of four major Mahayana
Buddhist sects such as Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk remain only in Ladakh.
As in the past Ladakhi monks are continuing their presence at Sera, Ganden,
Drepung and Tashi Lhumpo which are established in South India. Other sects
such as Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Drigung have established themselves in
Darjeeling, Dehradun, and Shimla. At these centres, Ladakhi monks are maintaining
a high standard of educational excellence. The present Jangtse Choeje, the second
highest academic position in the field of Buddhist Metaphysics in Gelukpa tradition,
is an incarnate Lama from Ladakh
With the independence of the country in the year 1947, Ladakh has made many
noteworthy achievements in the field of teaching and the revitalisation of Tibetan
language including the establishment of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies
in Choglamsar, which was founded immediately after the take over of Tibet by
Communist China in the year 1960. This was the first step forward to representing
the spirit of Tibetan studies. Kushok Bakula Rinpoche, who at that time was the
spiritual and political head of Ladakh, was convinced that having a Buddhist
learning centre in the land of Lamas and Gonpas was a necessary step after Chinas
invasion of Tibet. He then brought this idea to the then Prime Minister Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, who being a farsighted and wise ruler, honoured the request of
the Ladakhi leader and fully realised the wishes of the Rinpoche and directed
required funds to the Institute. This then paved the way towards the establishment
of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies in Leh. In accordance with the provisions
of the Jammu and Kashmir State constitution, the Academy of Art, Culture and
Languages and the All India Radio in Leh works towards the dissemination of
teachings in the Ladakhi schools. This kind of development in the field of Tibetan
and Ladakhi languages and literature was not observed in other trans-Himalayan
regions.
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64 THE TIBET JOURNAL
Ladakh has been referred to as a trans-himalayan region. In India, it is bordered
on the West with Kashmir, a pre-dominant Muslim region, the region where Urdu
has sway, and in the south lies Himachal Pradesh, a predominant Hindu State,
where the Hindi language has an upper hand. Ladakh, which contains more land
area than the Jammu and Kashmir State, is however sparsely populated. Under
these circumstances, languages such as Hindi, Urdu and English are slowly over-
taking the Ladakhi language. The value of Tibetan or Ladakhi language has little
importance for these people.
Pakistan came into existence after independence of India from British rule and
the partition of the country the year 1947. Ladakh unified with India and the Balti
speaking part of Ladakh was annexed to Pakistan. Baltistan was a Tehsil of Ladakh.
The spoken language of the Baltis had very little chance to get corrupted because
half of their brothers could read Buddhist scriptures and converse in uncorrupted
speech or dialect. Also in those days the influence of modern languages such as
English, Urdu and Hindi was not as strong as it is today. Now with the spread of
modern education which discards tradition, there is a risk for Balti to loose the
Balti dialect more than ever. In fact now the spoken Balti is so corrupted that in
conversation half the words are Urdu. Therefore? it has become necessary for the
Ladakhis to avoid using Urdu, Hindi and English in spoken Ladakhi,
These days Ladakhi is not taught in the schools as a compulsory subject nor
Ladakhi or Tibetan is taught in the Buddhist Studies departments of various
universities of the country including that of Buddhist Studies Department of
University of Jammu, primarily established on the demands of the Buddhists of
Ladakh. The present academic curriculums which include teaching of Buddhism in
the universities through Pali or Sanskrit has little relevance for learning Mahayana
Buddhism, which is prevalent in the Himalayan states of the country including
Ladakh. Because of these reasons very few students learn the language or try to
have proficiency in it.
Contrary to this a movement for simplification of the language is gaining mo-
mentum. This new approach has little relation to the actual literary Tibetan or
Ladakhi languages. It teaches the local dialect but neglects the old scripture and
literature. This new campaign may sabotage the preservation of this language if
many changes are made and ultimately the language will stand with little to no
direction. Such campaign will ultimately sabotage the prospect of the language in
world literature.
Ladakh being locked between the speakers of two giant languages-Hindi and
Urdu, are like the Balti, who now write their language in Persian script. If serious
effort is not made towards the use and preservation of the indigenous Ladakhi/
Tibetan scriptures, the coming generation may write their cherished language in
Persian or Devanagari script.
Notes
1. Tashi Rabgias, Maryul la dwags kyi sngon rabs kun gsal me long (The History
of Ladakh Called "The Mirror Which Illuminates All"). Leh, 1984.
2. Nawang Tsering Shakspo, An Insight into Ladakh , Leh, 1993.
3. R.A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, Trans. J. E. S. Driver, London: Faber and Faber
Ltd., 1972
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