Old Tibetan Chronicle

[1][2] An enormous number of early manuscripts in a variety of languages were collected by Aurel Stein and Paul Pelliot at the famous sealed-up Library Cave (no.

[4] In addition, two folios from a single original manuscript, Pelliot tibétain 1144 and IOL Tib J 1375, overlap with narratives found in the Chronicle, though differing in certain details.

The Chronicle then continues with a narrative of the following emperors, before coming to Trisong Detsen (r. 756-c.800), in which his victory over the rival Tibetan king Lig Myi-rhya is celebrated.

The Chronicle then returns to the reign of an earlier emperor Tridu Songtsen (676–704), and his victory over a claim to rule Tibetan by the Gar clan.

[8] However, the Chronicle does say that, during the reign of king Trisong Detsen (Khri srong lde brtsan- ruled from 755 to 797 or 804 CE), "The incomparable religion of the Buddha had been received and there were viharas (monasteries) in the centre as well as the borderlands of the country.

Ariane Macdonald and Yoshiro Imaeda have argued that the problems with chronology arose because the Chronicle was composed from a variety of different sources.

[10] Geza Uray on the other hand has argued that the scroll of Pelliot tibétain 1287 was cut up and rearranged some time after it was originally written, and the chronological problem results from this.