6. Rupati and His Platoon

Indian King Rupati and his platoon's escape to Tibet is another popular theory, referred to in many writings and talks to trace the origin of Tibetan people to India. This version is based on the Tibetan translation of Lopon Prajnavarman's [Tib: sLob dpon Shes rab go cha] commentary on the 1st century text Devitasayastrotika, known in Tibetan as Lha las phul 'byung tod pa^[1]. Devtisayastotratika text is a eulogy to Buddha written by Acharya Samkarasvami [Tib: sLob dpon bde byed bdag po], and translated into Tibetan by Indian saint Sarvazanyadeva and Lotsawa Bende Rinchen, and edited by Lotsawa Bende Paltseg Rakshita. sLob pon She rab Go cha composed the detail commentary of the text [Tib: bsTod pa rGya cher bShed pa] and this commentary was translated into Tibetan by Indian mKhen po Zanadana and Lotsawa dGe sLong Rin chen bZang po [958-1055].

In the commentary translation we find:

Following the defeat at Mahabharata war with the Pandava, one called Rupati along with one of the king's platoons disguised as women fled and settled in the Himalayan hills. Descendents of this settlement are known even today as Bod [Tibet].^[2]

The above excerpt from the text has been used widely by the later scholars as a legitimate source to trace the origin of the Tibetan race and sometimes the origin of the Tibetan king to India.

Bu ston quotes Lha las phul 'byung stod pa text and took the Boddhisattva monkey theory as the possible source of the Tibetan race. Bu ston's work, rGya bod chos 'byung [1322 CE], the Tibetan text and the English translation "History of Buddhism in India and Tibet" by E. Obermillar, are both widely found in the bibliography of many writings by Tibetan and foreign scholars.

Regarding the origin of the Tibetan race, it writes:

As concerns the way how the human generation first appeared in Tibet, we read in the Commentary on the Devaticayastotra that at the time when the five Pandavas were fighting with the 12 armies of the Kauravas, the Rupati with 1000 warriors, in the disguise of women, fled into the rocky district of the Himalayas. Of these (the Tibetans) are considered to be the offspring. In the Tibetan legends it is said that (the Tibetans) are the descendants of a monkey and the fiendess of a rock. A detailed account of this is to be found elsewhere.^[3]

Gos lo tsa ba gshon nu dpal [1392-1481], in his Deb ther sngon po "The Blue Annals", which he wrote between 1476-1478 AD, says that in the beginning of the Kaliyuga [degeneration era], before the appearance of the Teacher Muni [Buddha], when the Pandava brothers of Mahabharata war were victorious, a king named Rupati fled along with his platoon to the snowy mountains disguised as women and settled in the region. Descendants of this settlement are said to be Bod, Tibet. His work is said to be based on Deb ther dMar po "Red Annals" by Tshal pa Kung dga' rdo rje, Bu ston's rGya bod chos 'byung and Nel pa Pandita Grags pa smon lam tshul khrims's Nel pa'i chos 'byung. The text is widely referred by the later scholars and well known to foreign scholars, too, because of the English translation by George N. Roerich. The text refers to sLob dpon Shes rab go cha's commentary on "Devtisayastotratika", Lha las phul 'byung gi bstod pa.

The name Rupati frequently comes up in most of the writings as one who escaped to Tibet and became the first king of Tibet, but the text here refers to the origin of the Tibetan race and not the single person of the king. The original translation of the text, as in the sDe dge bstan 'gyur, has 21 sholokas, in which there is neither direct reference to any Rupati nor of any journey to the Himalayas. But the commentary [Tibetan translation] on the third sholoka has a sentence on some Rupati having fled to the Himalayas with his platoons disguised as women after the war. It is doubtful if the original Indian commentary has this account or not. We need to see the original Sanskrit version of the commentary by Acharya Prajnavarman and compare the Tibetan translation. As the Indian epic Mahabharata does not say anything about Rupati or his fleeing to Tibet along with his platoon, the veracity of the translation or its content is doubtful. Even if some Rupati fled and settled in the Himalayan hills, we need to see the exact word used in the Sanskrit text for Tibet. If it was referred as "Himadri or Himparvat", it would mean Himalayan ranges. That would include Nepal too, and mistranslation as in Manjushrimulkalpa, 'Jam dpal tsa rgyud^[4] could have happened here also. Leaving that aside, here the text is talking of Mahabharata war, the time before Buddha Shakyamuni's time. Kunkyen Padma Karpo and Desrid Sangay Gyatso's quote from 'Jam dpal rtsa rgyud, "Hundred years after me or from me…" is further rendered irrelevant.

Therefore, the monkey and rock-ogress, and the flight of Rupati do not hold a strong ground as reliable sources for the origin of Tibet and Tibetan, neither as a myth nor as a historical event. The two different theories just came at a convenient time to impress the Tibetans of their long destined connection with the Buddha and his teaching.

In the word of Professor Samten Karmay:

Tibetan speculations concerning the myths of creation of the universe and the origin of the Tibetan people are contained for the most part in Buddhist works. Thanks to the work of Western Tibetologists, the Buddhist versions of the myths are now well known, particularly the myth according to which man was born from a monkey (believed to be the emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the patron saint of Tibet) and a she-demon of the rocks (a manifestation of the Goddess Tara). Although this myth (Bodhisattva monkey and rock-ogress) is widespread in later Buddhist literature, it does not date far back into Tibetan history and the earliest texts in which it is mentioned date from around the thirteenth century.^[5]

Now, let us examine what early oral and Bonpo scriptures and texts have to say about the origin of Tibetans or human, or for that matter, the universe.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Lha-las phul byung gi bstod pa, bKa' bgyud nyam sKyong tsog pa, CIHTS Varanasi, 1983 [The work of Prajnavarman]

[2]:

ibid, page 147. This has been referred by Shakabpa Tsepon also in his Tibet-A Political History, page 1. Reprint 1984, New York. [He made reference to dPa bo gTsug lag phreng ba's mKhas pa'i dga' ston, and Bu ston chos 'byung.

[3]:

Bu-ston, p-181

[4]:

Deb ther sngon po [Blue Annals] p-xx, "The Tibetan text of the Tantra ('Phag pa 'jam dpal rtsa ba'i rgyud, sNar thang bKa' 'gyur, rGyud, vol.XI/da, fol. 453a) gives Lha ldan instead of Nepala of the Sanskirt text, and translates Himadri by Gangs can ri. 'Gos lo tsa ba understood Lha lden to refer to Lhasa, and Gangs can ri to Tibet. [Blue Annals introduction by G.N. Roerich]

[5]:

Samten Karmay, The Arrow and the Spindle, p-248