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14-671: The languages include: Zhangzhung , the sacred language of the Bon religion , was spoken north of the Himalayas across western Tibet before being replaced by Tibetan. James Matisoff (2001) provides lexical and phonological evidence for the classification of Zhangzhung within West Himalayish. Widmer (2014:47) classifies the West Himalayish languages as follows. The recently discovered Dhuleli language has been added from Regmi & Prasain (2017). Widmer (2014:53–56) classifies Zhangzhung within

28-748: A Tibetan script were written in an older form of the Zhangzhung language. This identification has been accepted by Takeuchi Tsuguhito ( 武内紹人 ) , who called the language "Old Zhangzhung" and added two further manuscripts. Two of these manuscripts are in the Stein collection of the British Library (IOL Tib J 755 (Ch. Fragment 43) and Or.8212/188) and three in the Pelliot collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale (Pelliot tibétain 1247, 1251 and 1252). In each case,

42-463: A non- Qiangic language. Widmer (2014) classifies Zhangzhung within the eastern branch of West Himalayish, and lists the following cognates between Zhangzhung and Proto-West Himalayish. A number of scripts are recorded as being used for writing the Zhangzhung language. These are the Marchen script and its several descendants: F. W. Thomas suggested that three undeciphered Dunhuang manuscripts in

56-627: A young Tibetan into his personal employ in order to have someone with whom to practise speaking Tibetan. He also travelled in the small Himalayan state of Sikkim , and on one such visit he met Sir Basil Gould , who was then the British Representative for Tibet. Inspired to work in Tibet, in 1946 after he left the Army he sat the entrance exams for the Indian Civil Service . This was the first time

70-590: Is one of the most intriguing of all Bön scriptures, since it is the only lengthy bilingual work in Zhang-zhung and Tibetan (some of the shorter but still significant sources for Zhang-zhung are signalled in Orofino 1990)." Bradley (2002) says Zhangzhung "is now agreed" to have been a Kanauri or West Himalayish language. Guillaume Jacques (2009) rebuts earlier hypotheses that Zhangzhung might have originated in eastern (rather than western) Tibet by having determined it to be

84-563: The Eastern branch of West Himalayish, and notes that it appears particularly close to languages of the Central subgroup ( Bunan , Sunnami , and Rongpo ). Widmer (2017) notes that many Tibetan varieties in the western Tibetan Plateau have been influenced by West Himalayish languages. Widmer (2017) lists the following lexical items that differ in the Eastern and Western branches of West Himalayish. Widmer (2014:53-56) classifies Zhangzhung within

98-659: The eastern branch of West Himalayish, and lists the following cognates between Zhangzhung and Proto-West Himalayish. Zhangzhung language Zhangzhung ( Tibetan : ཞང་ཞུང་ , Wylie : zhang zhung ) is an extinct Sino-Tibetan language that was spoken in Zhangzhung in what is now western Tibet . It is attested in a bilingual text called A Cavern of Treasures ( mDzod phug ) and several shorter texts. A small number of documents preserved in Dunhuang contain an undeciphered language that has been called Old Zhangzhung , but

112-744: The exams had been held since the start of the war, and the last time they were ever held. Although he passed the exams, he was not able to take up an appointment in India. Having already begun to study Tibetan, he resolved to find a university where he could further his studies. However, as no university offered courses in Tibetan at that time he was convinced by Sir Harold Bailey that a sound knowledge of Sanskrit and Pali would be beneficial, so he gained entry to Queens' College, Cambridge in October 1946. While at Cambridge, he converted to Roman Catholicism, in part through

126-405: The identification is controversial. A Cavern of Treasures ( Tibetan : མཛོད་ཕུག་ , Wylie : mdzod phug ) is a terma uncovered by Shenchen Luga ( Tibetan : གཤེན་ཆེན་ཀླུ་དགའ་ , Wylie : gshen chen klu dga' ) in the early eleventh century. Martin identifies the importance of this scripture for studies of the Zhangzhung language: For students of Tibetan culture in general, the mDzod phug

140-578: The influence of his friend Bede Griffiths . In 1950, after having completed his studies at Cambridge, he was invited to teach a course in elementary Tibetan at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London . He was Professor of Tibetan at SOAS until his retirement in 1982. Snellgrove's research subsequent to his retirement was focused increasingly upon the art history of South East Asia . He died on 25 March 2016 in Pinerolo, Italy. Snellgrove

154-587: The language of these texts as a variant of Zhangzhung. David Snellgrove David Llewellyn Snellgrove , FBA (29 June 1920 – 25 March 2016) was a British Tibetologist noted for his pioneering work on Buddhism in Tibet as well as his many travelogues. Snellgrove was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire , and educated at Christ's Hospital near Horsham in West Sussex . He went on to study German and French at Southampton University . In 1941 he

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168-427: The relevant text is written on the reverse side of a scroll containing an earlier Chinese Buddhist text. The texts are written in a style of Tibetan script dating from the late 8th or early 9th centuries. Takeuchi and Nishida claim to have partially deciphered the documents, which they believe to be separate medical texts. However, David Snellgrove , and more recently Dan Martin, have rejected Thomas's identification of

182-827: Was called up to do his military service as a member of the Royal Engineers . He attended the Officers Cadet Training Unit in the Scottish seaside town of Dunbar , and was commissioned as an infantry officer. Thereafter he attended various intelligence courses and further training at the War Office in London, from where he requested a posting to India. Snellgrove arrived in Bombay in June 1943, and travelled cross-country to Calcutta . He

196-552: Was stationed at Barrackpore , some way up the Hooghly River . A few months after beginning his posting he contracted malaria and was sent to the military hospital at Lebong , just north of Darjeeling . It was while he was at Lebong that he began his future life's calling by purchasing some books about Tibet by Charles Bell as well as a Tibetan Grammar and Reader. Snellgrove returned to Darjeeling, from where he sometimes went on leave to Kalimpong . On one of these visits he took

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